Time for School Safety Act
America Grieves
There are no adequate words to express the horror at Robb Elementary in Texas. Something this horrific, children being slaughtered in their school, it does not get worse than this.
I went to the Senate floor asking for unanimous consent for passage of the Luke and Alex School Safety Act. It's legislation created with help from parents of the Parkland school shooting. It passed our committee unanimously, twice. It's a good idea and could save lives. It is an action, when people are calling for action following this most recent tragedy.
The bill would codify into law a clearinghouse of information for the best school safety practices. The clearinghouse, available at SchoolSafety.gov, informs parents, teachers and school officials of the best practices for improving school security and publishes information on available grant programs and federal resources. It is named after Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, two students killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida.
It is just sad that this body can't pass this bill when about a month ago, they passed an identical bill that applied to churches. This one applies to schools, and yet it's inappropriate, according to the Majority Leader, to pass this non-partisan bill by unanimous consent.
No to the WHO
This week I introduced the "No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act" to require that any convention or agreement resulting from the work of the World Health Organization's (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body be deemed a treaty, requiring the advice and consent of a supermajority of the Senate. The legislation comes as the WHO pushes for broad new powers under a new "international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response."
After the Biden Administration's failed COVID-19 response and the WHO's mismanagement of the pandemic, Americans remain skeptical of continuing infringements on personal liberties and freedoms. The legislation would provide more transparency in WHO agreements and a constitutional check on the administration.
Read more in the Daily Caller.
Disastrous Open Borders
The crisis on the southern border is now leading to 7,800 illegal immigrants crossing into this country every single day. All a disastrous result of President Biden's open border policies.
Turning a blind eye to willful and continued violations of the immigration laws will encourage further illegal immigration and embolden criminal aliens already unlawfully present in our communities. I joined my colleagues in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information on the Doyle Memorandum and the department's continued dismantling of the U.S. legal immigration process.
Protecting Cadets and Midshipmen from Covid Punishment
I joined my Republican colleagues in introducing the Defending Freedom of Conscience for Cadets and Midshipmen Act. The legislation would protect cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from being punished for their choice to not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
USAFA recently announced that unvaccinated seniors would not be commissioned. Cadets and midshipmen who do not commission could be forced to repay tuition, room, and board expenses for their time at the Academy.
This act will clarify that cadets and midshipmen cannot be denied graduation for not being vaccinated against COVID-19, prevent them from being dismissed from their service academy as a result of refusing to be vaccinated, and prevent any cadet who is not allowed to commission due to their COVID-19 vaccination status from being subject to repayment claims.
- Private Military Housing Investigation Follow Up -
As Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, I helped lead a hearing in conjunction with the release of this eight-month bipartisan report examining the mistreatment of military families in privatized housing.
Following that hearing, we sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requesting several new actions in response to the findings from our report. Read more here.
Service members and their families represent the finest among us. When stationed in U.S. military installations, these men and women should expect to live in conditions that will not damage the health and safety of themselves and their families.
