The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of June 9, 2025
President Trump and House Republicans ran on the promise to combat bloated government spending by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. As part of this mission, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) investigated where taxpayer dollars were being squandered – and what they found was shocking.
Our government had appropriated:
- $1 million for voter ID in Haiti
- $6 million for "Net Zero Cities" in Mexico
- $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street
- $2.1 million for climate resilience in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa
- $500,000 for electric busses in Rwanda
- $33,000 for "Being LGBTI in the Caribbean"
- $643,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in the Western Balkans
- $567,000for LBGTQI+ programs in Uganda
- $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies, and condoms in Zambia
- $5.1 million to strengthen the "resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movements"
- $135 million in contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO)
Last week, the Trump Administration transmitted a request to Congress to rescind previously appropriated funds per a rescissions package under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). This package slashes $8.3 billion in woke foreign aid spending, like that listed above, and $1.1 billion of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
For far too long, Washington has run on out-of-control spending at the expense and detriment of the American taxpayer. The rescission request sent to Congress by the Trump Administration takes the federal government in a new direction where we actually cut waste, fraud, and abuse and hold agencies accountable to the American people.
House Republicans are bringing legislation to cut $9.4 billion in wasteful government spending, fulfilling the promise we made to the American people to restore fiscal sanity to Washington and reverse years of reckless spending that drives inflation.
H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, introduced by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, codifies President Trump’s rescissions request to cut wasteful spending on foreign aid initiatives within the State Department and USAID and on woke public broadcasting at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including NPR and PBS.
House Republicans are fighting to get our government back on track, and we won’t stop working to cut bloated spending, restore common sense to the federal government, and change the trajectory of Washington spending.
Supporting D.C. Police Officers and Protecting Our Capital
As crime skyrocketed in our nation’s capital, Democrats went after the police working to protect the community instead of the criminals. Local Washington officials imposed policies to strip police officers of due process and collective bargaining rights, leading to increased crime and low recruitment and retention for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
The D.C. Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 gives more power to anti-police activists, allows individual police officers to be targeted by protestors, and strips officers of collective bargaining rights regarding discipline.
Under the D.C. Council’s emergency legislative powers, these harmful and out-of-touch policies have been in place since 2020; meanwhile, D.C. police staffing reached the half-century low as homicides rose. In 2023, D.C. saw violent crime surge by 40 percent and experienced its deadliest year in more than 20 years.
D.C.’s police officers shouldn’t have to decide between keeping our capital safe with no support or protecting themselves. The best way to ensure residents of and visitors to our nation’s capital can explore D.C. safely is to invest in the Metropolitan Police Department and make sure they have the resources and support necessary to keep crime off the streets – not antagonize them and take away their rights.
Congress has a duty to oversee the governance of D.C. and make sure the MPD has what they need to effectively fight crime and keep Washingtonians and visitors safe. House Republicans are bringing legislation to make sure our men and women in blue feel supported by restoring fairness in the disciplinary process.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino’s legislation, H.R. 2096, the Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act, restores two provisions supporting law enforcement recently removed by the D.C. Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 – specifically, collective bargaining rights for MPD officers and a statute of limitations on disciplinary cases – so D.C.’s law enforcement can be better supported as they fight to keep our capital safe.
D.C. can’t afford to lose more good police officers – House Republicans will always stand with our men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day to keep our communities safe. Who will Democrats stand with: the police or the criminals?
Ridding Washington of Harmful Sanctuary Policies
Across the country, woke Democrat politicians have put in place “sanctuary” policies for their cities, preventing compliance with federal immigration law and threatening the safety of the American citizens in their jurisdictions. One of these cities includes Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital.
The D.C. Council has enacted several sanctuary policies over the years, including legislation in 2020 entitled the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act, which prohibits D.C. from inquiring about the immigration status of an individual in custody and blocks the release of someone for transfer to a federal immigration agency.
This is unacceptable. Federal immigration law is in place for a reason: to defend the safety of our nation and the American people. It’s past time we hold cities in defiance of federal law accountable, especially the city where our federal government is based and that belongs to all Americans.
House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to strip D.C. of its sanctuary policies and reinstate the rule of law in our nation’s capital. This legislation takes important action to codify President Trump’s executive order entitled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” by addressing a provision calling for better coordination between local law enforcement and the federal government on illegal immigrants and the overseeing of the city’s sanctuary status.
H.R. 2056, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act, introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins, puts an end to the D.C. Council’s sanctuary policies blocking D.C. employees from providing an individual’s immigration status and enforces compliance with lawful DHS or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests.
Americans should be able to visit our nation’s capital without fearing for their safety – House Republicans are restoring the rule of law in Washington, D.C., by ensuring illegal immigrants are held accountable and the city complies with federal immigration law.
Preventing Illegal Aliens from Voting in U.S. Elections
On November 21, 2022, the D.C. Council voted to disregard federal law and enact a bill that allows noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in D.C. local elections. The bill, the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act, disenfranchises American citizens and could have a ripple effect across other large U.S. cities.
To add insult to injury, this legislation makes no exception for foreign nationals or diplomats voting in D.C. elections. This means that representatives from other countries, including agents of the Chinese Communist Party, could potentially vote in D.C. elections, even though their interests are often separate or opposed to American interests.
This D.C. law is unjust and against federal law, minimizing the voice of American citizens by diluting their votes with votes from foreign diplomats and illegal immigrants. Even Democrats realize the absurdity of this law – D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser withheld her signature on the bill, expressing her opposition, and the Washington Post Editorial Board published an article on their stance against this legislation.
In February 2023, House Republicans, along with 42 Democrats, passed a resolution to overturn the D.C. Council’s bill to allow illegal immigrants to vote: H.J. Res. 24. Despite bipartisan support, Senate Democrats refused to take up the legislation and the law has gone into effect. Additionally, last Congress, House Republicans passed H.R. 192 to repeal the harmful legislation with bipartisan support – but again, the Democrat Senate refused to consider it.
It’s common sense: Only American citizens should be able to vote in U.S. elections, as is dictated by federal law.
Rep. August Pfluger’s legislation, H.R. 884, repeals the D.C. Council’s Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 and prevents individuals who are not United States citizens from voting in elections in the District of Columbia.
Once again, House Republicans are fighting to keep illegal immigrants and foreign diplomats out of U.S. elections.
Cracking Down on Fentanyl to Save American Lives
Thanks to Biden’s border crisis, fentanyl has poured across our southern border, destroying lives, families, and communities. But still Democrats deny the problems that resulted from President Biden’s open border policies and refuse to take action on the mass poisoning of Americans.
Synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, lead to nearly 70 percent of overdose deaths, as the drug can be deadly in even small doses and is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. In 2022, more than 200 people died from fentanyl and opioid-related overdoses every day, and fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old – taking more lives than heart disease, cancer, suicide, and homicide.
If the temporary order scheduling fentanyl related substances (FRS) ends, several FRS will become street-legal, law enforcement will lose authority to seize them, and drug traffickers will continue to funnel increasingly deadly drugs into the United States.
This should not be partisan – lives are at stake. In 2022, drug overdoses claimed the lives of over 100,000 Americans, 67 percent of which involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and the DEA seized over 379 million doses of fentanyl – enough to kill every American.
S. 331, the HALT Fentanyl Act, introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy, permanently classifies fentanyl-related substances (FRS) in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, guarantees law enforcement has the resources to keep these drugs off the street, and allows for further research of FRS.
House Republicans are doing everything in our power to stop fentanyl from claiming more American lives – everyone should support our efforts to halt this deadly crisis.
Distribution channels: U.S. Politics
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