Washington is practically a ghost town with the midterms almost two weeks away. Most staff and members of Congress are on the campaign trail, except for a few members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who held hearings this week on several of President Trump’s judicial nominees. There were only four Republican senators in attendance and every Democrat member of the committee boycotted the hearings.
The biggest hurdle we will face once the election is over and Congress returns will be government funding. Before Congress left, they passed several funding bills and signed a CR (continuing resolution) for the remaining bills that keeps spending levels identical to the FY 2018 spending levels. Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Energy and Water Development, the Legislative Branch, Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education spending bills for FY 2019 have been passed and signed into law. This comprises approximately 75% of government funding passed through the appropriations process. We still have several bills to go: Agriculture; Commerce, Science, Justice; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Interior; State, Foreign Operations; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. In the bills left, the most contentious issue will absolutely be the funding of the President’s wall on our southernmost border. The midterms will largely determine who fights the hardest for or against this measure.
Another measure that was delayed with the CR was the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. We are working carefully to assure the funding in this bill has much-needed accountability and actually helps the group it was intended to help: women.
Both of these issues will have to be addressed in some way during the lame duck period because funding for both will expire December 7. As stated before, the outcome of the midterms will be the biggest determinate of what happens during lame duck and the remainder of President Trump’s first term in office.
At CWA we want to make sure you are prepared for the midterms and know what’s on the ballot this year. All 435 seats of the House are up for election, one-third of the Senate, and of course, local and state races are on the ballot as well.
But what’s at stake this go-around and why should you vote? What’s really on the ballot?
There is so much that we can do with a pro-life House and Senate and so much we would have to stop with a Pelosi-led, anti-life House. We’ve seen very concerning SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) language woven into almost every bill and amendment the Democrats propose that compromises First Amendment protected freedom of religion and circumvents the Civil Rights Act. We know, based on the 2016 Democrat platform, that the democrats want to get rid of the long-standing Hyde amendment that prevents government funding from paying for abortions. The Hyde amendment continues to have support from approximately 60% of Americans. Not only this, but many of the Administration’s good policies that we have fought for, like the Mexico City policy, the proposed Title X rule that we asked for your help commenting that would eliminate Title X family planning funding for abortion providers (this is still under review by HHS by the way), government-sponsored fetal tissue research and so many other measures can be stopped or supported by Congress. Unless Congress funds, or in the case of the Hyde amendment, does not fund, these measures and programs, no amount of work the administration does can stop this. We absolutely must have a pro-life, pro-family House to back up the administration’s pro-life and pro-family policies.
If Democrats take control of the House, their first move will likely be impeaching the President. If Republicans maintain control of the House they will continue to support the President’s good policies. With a pro-life House and Senate majority, we can stop Planned Parenthood’s government funding, we can maintain protections for the unborn, we can protect religious liberty for all Americans.
Before the confirmation hearings of Justice Kavanaugh, the conservative base was not as motivated as the liberal base to show up in November. This is typical with the ebb and flow of politics; usually after one party takes control of the White House, part or all of Congress flips to the other party. However, those hearings showed us what is at stake: the rule of law. During the Kavanaugh hearings, CWA staff were threatened, screamed at, spit on (that was me … gross) and told by these women they hoped we would get raped. This last week alone, two Republican state representatives were assaulted, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) received a letter at her home with riacin, one Republican campaign staffer was assaulted by a Democrat. No one on the left is calling for this to stop. This behavior is abhorrent and must be shut down. We must return to civility; we cannot allow this violence to continue; this is not America.
Having Democrat members of Congress and Senators inciting violence against Republicans, or ANYONE, is unacceptable. Whip Scalise was shot in broad daylight a little over a year and a half ago because of rhetoric the left pushed that said “people will die if Republicans succeed.” That rhetoric hasn’t died down, it has amped up and radical leftists have doubled down on their calls for violence against conservatives.
Even with a pro-life President, there is too much at stake to allow mob rule and anti-life politicians to take over. On November 6, you are not just voting for a representative or a senator, you’re voting for the policy and direction of the nation for next two years. You’re voting for or against tax cuts and pro-family tax policies; you’re voting for or against the government paying for abortions; you’re voting for the rule of law or mob rule.