House Republicans unveil 'Commitment to America'

This week, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) and the House Republican Conference released the 'Commitment to America,' a legislative platform geared toward strengthening our economy, securing our border, safeguarding our freedoms, and making the federal government more accountable to you, the American people.

Under the last 18 months of one-party Democrat rule, President Biden and Speaker Pelosi have put our country on the path to economic destruction. While Democrats are embracing open borders and rampant Washington spending, House Republicans are focused on common sense policies that will put America back on the path to prosperity.

Click here to learn more about our solutions.

Standing with the 21st century worker

Combating learning loss from COVID-19 shutdowns

We know that school closures have had a devastating impact on America’s students. As the new school year begins, the Department of Education released a report this month, showing that math and reading skills declined more sharply during the pandemic than they have in decades. 

During an Education & Labor Committee hearing on Tuesday, I asked Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, what could be done to give our students the greatest opportunity to succeed despite these disruptions.

Click here to listen to our full exchange.

Crisis at the southern border

The Biden Border Crisis shows no sign of slowing down as our country is experiencing record levels of illegal crossings. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently released updated figures and they are alarming -- last month alone, there were 203,597 encounters at our southern border. Fentanyl also continues to flow across our border, exacerbating our public health crisis as 12,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized at our border just this fiscal year.

President Biden's open-border policies have incentivized massive waves of illegal immigration as more than 3.5 million illegal aliens have been apprehended trying to enter our country since Inauguration Day. The Biden administration must take immediate action to secure our border and protect America’s sovereignty.

Pandemic unemployment subject to widespread fraud

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, millions of Americans experienced unprecedented job loss, and Congress took action to help bridge the gap. However, House Democrats needlessly extended federally-funded temporary unemployment programs under the American Rescue Plan Act a year into the pandemic and long after the vast majority of Americans had the opportunity to return to work. Moreover, two-thirds of those who received the extended payments made more money from unemployment than they would have made when they were working! As a result, we’ve seen the cost of this program skyrocket to over $900 billion while fewer people went back to work. Even worse, the Department of Labor (DOL) estimates potential fraud payments could be as high as $186 billion!

As senior Republican on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) subcommittee on the House Education and Labor Committee, I spoke about this issue during my opening statement in a hearing this week. The Biden administration issued guidance allowing states to ignore suspicious overpayments...  they should be helping states to recover stolen money, not putting roadblocks in their way or encouraging them to ignore fraudulent behavior! Congress must carry out its oversight functions to ensure this never happens again.

Click here to hear my full remarks.

I had the pleasure of welcoming the Georgia Independent Auto Dealers Association to my office to discuss the effects of inflation on businesses and solutions to reform our tax code.

Participating in the annual Congressional Ryder Cup

I had a great time captaining the Republican team in the annual Congressional Ryder Cup invitational. The Congressional Ryder Cup is a longstanding tradition on Capitol Hill that brings together lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to raise money for charity.

Thank you to everyone who came out, and a special thank you to retiring Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) who has helped organize this event for many years.

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Sincerely,

Rick Allen
Member of Congress