Monthly Commitment Checklist

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a few of the ways that I am keeping my commitment to the people of the Big First.

A few weeks ago, I released my commitment to the Big First, which is a legislative roadmap for the 118th Congress that details my plans for an economy that is strong, a government that is accountable, a future that is built on freedom, and a nation that is safe.

Here are some of the ways I am working to get America back on track.

To create an economy that is strong, I voted ``yes'' on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which the House just passed. Kansas families and small businesses are already paying the price of President Biden's inflation tax. The last thing we need is 87,000 more IRS agents and 1.2 million more audits.

I voted ``yes'' on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act because it is a clear-cut way to fight back against one of the most egregious pieces of legislation from the last Congress.

The $72 billion of taxpayer money that Washington Democrats allocated to the IRS last year would have ballooned the agency to a size larger than the Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and Border Patrol combined. I am committed to creating an economy that is strong by stopping President Biden's audit army, and I am keeping my commitment.

To create a government that is accountable, I voted ``yes'' on the Strategic Production Response Act, which the House also passed. President Biden has been playing fast and loose with one of our country's most important national security assets. His administration's energy policies have caused prices to skyrocket at the pump, and using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a political tool to mask that failure has led to severe U.S. energy insecurity and depletion of our oil reserves, which poses a threat to our national security.

I voted ``yes'' on the Strategic Production Response Act, which is a step toward ending President Biden's war on fossil fuels, empowering domestic energy producers, and resurrecting American energy independence by protecting our SPR from an administration that clearly doesn't understand how important it is. I made a commitment to hold the government accountable, and I am keeping that commitment.

To create a future that is built on freedom, I voted ``yes'' on the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which the House passed. This vote was crystal clear: If a child is born alive following an abortion or an attempted abortion, that newborn child deserves the same standard of medical care that any newborn deserves.

It is horrifying that we need to address issues like this in a free country, but Washington Democrats have advocated for unthinkable, gruesome policies that constitute an all-out attack on human life. I am proud to be a pro-life Member of Congress, and I will always support policies that protect life. I made a commitment to building a future based on freedom by supporting the God-given right to life held by unborn American citizens, and I am keeping my commitment.

To create a nation that is safe, I will vote to denounce the horrors of socialism later this week. I hope that all of my colleagues can get behind this. Socialism ideology runs counter to everything we stand for in America because it requires the concentration of power, which results in totalitarianism. Democracy, on the other hand, enshrines individual liberty and gives people a voice in who governs them. Socialism creates famine, devastation, and bloodshed. It tears families apart, creates exile and mass theft, and flatly denies individual rights as fundamental as personal property.

You don't have to look very far, Mr. Speaker, into the history of socialism to find these abuses and atrocities. They happen every time a country tries socialism on for size.

It seems that certain people in America would like to experiment with socialism, but enough socialist experiments have been conducted already, and the verdict is clear: Socialism has no place on American soil.

I made a commitment to ensuring that America is a nation that is safe, which means continuing to stand strong as a world leader in democracy and freedom. I am keeping that commitment.

When we reflect on our work, it helps us to stay the course in the future, and we still have a lot of work to do in the 118th Congress. We need to create a balanced budget and strengthen the supply chain. We need to lower taxes and secure the southern border. We need to fully fund a robust police and military. We need a comprehensive reauthorization of the farm bill with strengthened crop insurance. We need a maintained stepped-up basis tax provision and global food security legislation that stops wars before they start.

I will be keeping all of these commitments to the people of the Big First, and I will continue to spend time thinking, praying, and reflecting on how best to serve the people in my district. I did not come to Congress to be a caretaker in the slow demise of America. I am here to fight and work to make America stronger. With all of us working together, our brightest days are yet to come.

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