Each month I want to provide you with regular updates about what’s going on in our nation’s capital and throughout the 4th District of Kansas. Here’s what happened in July.
Assassination Attempt on PresidentTrump and Secret Service Accountability Like many across our country, I was shocked by the horrific assassination attempt at a political rally in July. I’m grateful that President Trump was spared and mourn for the attendee who lost his life and those who were injured. Republicans and Democrats have come together in the weeks since to loudly state that there is no place for political violence in the United States. Our constitutional republic allows us to make our voices heard at the ballot box and citizens should continue to advocate for policy positions and candidates that they believe represent their values, but vitriol and violence is not the way we move our country forward.
While we need to uncover more facts about the assassination attempt of former President Trump, one thing is clear – it was a massive failure by the Secret Service.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted to the House Oversight Committee that failing to protect a former president and current presidential candidate from an assassination attempt was a colossal failure that resulted in the death and injuries of innocent rallygoers. As the person at fault for the shortcomings of the agency she led on that day, I’m glad that she heeded the calls of Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and resigned.
But more work and accountability are still needed to ensure nothing like this ever happens again, especially as the election draws near. To that end, the House passed a resolution to establish the bipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump. The vote to establish the task force was 416 to 0.
The Task Force will be empowered with all investigative authority of the House of Representatives, including subpoena authority, as it seeks to understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination and ensure accountability to prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again.
New Bill to Combat National Debt as It Reaches Historic High Our national debt has surpassed $35 trillion for the first time ever. This has devastating consequences for future generations and is already negatively affecting taxpayers and our economy. In order to change our dangerous trajectory, we need more taxpayers to be knowledgeable about how this crisis is affecting them.
Recently, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and I introduced legislation informing taxpayers of their share of the national debt, which is now more than $200,000 per taxpayer. The Debt Per Taxpayer Information Act would show the true cost to our country by requiring the IRS to display the total federal government revenue, outlays, and deficit; the total gross federal debt; and an estimate of the debt for taxpayers on their annual W-2 tax forms.
It’s a hopeful sign that this legislation passed out of the House Budget Committee by an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority, and I look forward to seeing it move forward.
Border Data Confirms Border Czar’s Failure Customs and Border Protection recently released June’s border encounter data, and it’s not good. Total nationwide encounters were 205,019, with more than 130,000 of those encounters occurring along the southern border. Perhaps more concerning, though, is that northern border apprehensions between ports of entry totaled 3,600 – more than quadruple the 844 apprehensions in June 2023.
The House passed H.R. 2 to secure the border more than a year ago, and the Senate should have already considered it. But even without H.R. 2, the president has the authority to enforce the laws on the books or simply reverse his damaging executive orders to secure our border and our nation, making the border crisis not a policy failure, but a failure in leadership by the Biden-Harris administration. Appointed the administration’s “border czar,” Vice President Harris has done nothing to address the worsening crisis at the border.
Passing the SAVE Act
In July the House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a critical election security bill that I was proud to cosponsor. Five Democrats joined every Republican in voting for the bill. While federal law already makes it illegal for a noncitizen to vote in federal elections, this bill enhances the integrity of U.S. elections by requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. It would direct states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls and give them the support to do this.
In many states, illegal migrants are eligible for driver’s licenses and other benefits, providing ample opportunities to illegally register to vote in federal elections when they sign up for these documents. Given the millions of illegal migrants released into the country under the Biden-Harris administration and the 1.8 million known gotaways, this is a real concern. A 2014 study that analyzed the 2008 and 2010 elections concluded that noncitizens had illegally voted in U.S. elections and that the votes of noncitizens likely determined the outcome in certain races.
In an election year, this critical bill has the power to enhance election security and minimize election interference. The SAVE Act helps protect one of our most precious rights as American citizens and restore confidence in our election system. I hope the Senate takes up this bill soon so it is closer to becoming law.
Rejecting Biden’s Disastrous EVTax Credit Most Americans, suffering from the pains of Bidenomics, don’t want or can’t afford electric vehicles. Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris administration’s socalled Inflation Reduction Act thought it necessary to offer generous tax subsidies for EVs, even though only 18% of U.S. adults say they would be “likely” or “very likely” to buy a new or used EV.
Unfortunately, these tax credits are a huge cost to taxpayers. And, as they’re currently regulated, they won’t even necessarily help American businesses or manufacturers. The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly brushed aside bipartisan calls to ensure that the EV subsidies don’t go to foreign adversaries, namely, China. In their May final implementation regulations, the administration included a rule that contradicts the law as written in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act and has a loophole that allows for U.S. dollars to flow to China – allowing Chinese billionaires with unofficial ties to the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese battery manufacturers to receive U.S. tax subsidies.
That is why I am a proud cosponsor of House Joint Resolution (H.J.Res.) 148, which passed out of the Ways and Means Committee in July. This common sense resolution disapproves of the current ruling on EV tax credits and would repeal the illegal rule. I look forward to voting on this resolution on the House floor soon to ensure American tax dollars do not enrich China.
Connect with Me
Interested in receiving regular updates about what’s going on in Congress? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter at estes. house.gov and please don’t hesitate to reach out to my District Office in Wichita at 316-262-8992 if you have questions, concerns or need help with a federal agency.
Ron Estes, one of only a handful of engineers in Congress, worked in the aerospace, energy and manufacturing sectors before representing Kansas’ 4th Congressional District since 2017. He is a fifth-generation Kansan, former state treasurer, and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, Budget Committee, and Education and the Workforce Committee.
