WEST VIRGINIA - OPPOSE S.1 (HR1 IN THE HOUSE)

 

Conservatives, This Saturday, March 20th at 1pm a coalition of conservatives will be gathering at the West Virginia state capitol to urge Sen. Joe Manchin to oppose S.1 (H.R.1 in the House), and to hold the line against its radical policies. If you are outside West Virginia, but would still like to join us, sign up here. Pelosi is doubling down on a bad idea, and has scheduled votes on two amnesty bills for this week. Last night,Vice President Garrett Bess walked Sentinels through these two bills as well as other legislation moving through Congress. Listen to the recording here. Amnesty Bills The House will be voting on two amnesty bills this week, the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R.6) and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R.1603). H.R.6 is among Speaker Pelosi’s highest priority legislation. It is a practice to reserve bill numbers H.R.1 through 10 for the Speaker of the House. If you look at those bill numbers, you can see what a Speaker’s priorities are. Heritage Action will be key voting NO on both bills. 1.) American Dream and Promise Act (H.R.6): This bill would codify the Obama administration’s unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program by allowing so-called Dreamers (illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children) and immigrants eligible for Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure to be given permanent lawful status and be set on a pathway to citizenship. This is amnesty. Granting amnesty to illegal immigrants would encourage more illegal immigration, incentivize criminal behavior, reward law breaking, and provide preferential treatment to illegal immigrants. 2.) Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R.1603): This bill would allow illegal immigrants working in agriculture to gain legal status and a pathway to citizenship. It would do this by creating a “certified agricultural worker” program. In order to be eligible for the program, individuals must be “inadmissible or deportable from the United States,” meaning they are here illegally. In addition, once these illegal workers have been granted legal status, their children and spouses can then be granted “certified agricultural dependent” status. This would exponentially expand the population that this bill would grant amnesty to. Once someone is granted “certified agricultural worker” status, these individuals and their families would then have the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents, which in turn would afford them a pathway to citizenship. Again, this is amnesty. It is clear that by any measure the crisis at the border has only grown under the Biden administration. The Heritage Foundation’s new immigration policy tracker documents the changes the administration has made. Under the Biden administration, the number of daily illegal border crossings has grown now to six times what the Obama administration considered a crisis. >> Take Action: Urge your congressman to say no to amnesty and vote NO on both the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R.6) and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R.1603). Equal Rights Amendment This week the House will vote on H.J.Res.17, which attempts to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This is a case of both bad policy and bad process. The policy: The constitutional amendment’s effort claims to establish equal rights for men and women. In reality, no one could be hurt more by this amendment than women. It posits a “right” that would be left open to the interpretation of courts and judges. While the definition of “sex” was not up for debate 100 years ago, efforts like the Equality Act would allow biological males into places where women don’t feel safe, like domestic violence shelters, bathrooms, and even prisons. Pro-life groups worry the ERA could be a method to add a constitutional right to taxpayer-funded abortion. Rather than protecting women’s rights, the ERA would open doors to litigation on the definition of “sex” that would erode protections and opportunity for women. The process: The ERA was proposed in 1972 by House Joint Resolution 208 as an amendment to the Constitution to be ratified by the states, which were ultimately given ten years to ratify. The deadline passed in 1982, fewer than the required 38 states had ratified the amendment, and it failed. When the ratification deadline had passed, supporters were only one or two states short of the needed number of states. States have also revoked their support of ratification in subsequent years. However, the Left still aspires to removing the ratification deadline in hopes of reaching their goal of ratifying the ERA. Because the deadline for ratification has expired, the resolution is dead. Congress can no more amend House Joint Resolution 208 than it could amend a resolution introduced last year, during the 116th Congress. The reason is simple. Neither of them exists. Congress should oppose H.J.Res.17. It is bad policy and a bad process. Election Integrity The Senate is expected to introduce S.1 this week, the companion version of the House’s H.R.1, and hold hearings later this month. While some differences in text between the two versions are likely, the intent of the bills is the same. It is the simple truth that “not since the Alien and Sedition Acts has one political party in Congress sought to bend the power of the federal government, on partisan lines, toward crushing political opposition to this extent. H.R. 1 is not merely a bad idea; it is a scandal.” Heritage Action is taking a two pronged approach in the fight for election integrity. We must block H.R.1/S.1 at the federal level, and we must advance election integrity reforms at the state level. We have launched www.saveourelections.com to help with this effort. While Heritage Action has targeted resources toward eight states that have high national political importance, Sentinels should focus on efforts in their state as well. We need conservatives in every state leading on this issue. Be sure to reach out to your regional coordinator for ideas on how you can get involved. Janae Stracke Grassroots Director Heritage Action