Update from Rep. Ralph Norman

October 2021

In This Email:

• A Breakdown of Government Spending Proposals
• An Update on the Recent Refugee and Border Crisis

Government Spending Proposals

Congress has been weaving a tangled web where spending is concerned. There are two major spending proposals under consideration:

Proposal #1 is a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill which, I believe, has some appropriate spending for actual infrastructure but also a lot of unnecessary waste. This proposal passed the Senate but is currently being held up in the House for reasons I’ll cover below.

Proposal #2 is a $3.5 trillion package for social and domestic spending. While the details of this package are still up in the air, the list of far-left proposals include “free” college tuition, a pilot program to determine how to tax Americans based on mileage driven, Green New Deal efforts, on and on.

Members on both sides of the aisle have expressed serious concern about the cost and government overreach that Proposal #2 represents. But here’s where the web gets tangled: many liberal members of the House are refusing to vote for Bill #1 unless and until Proposal #2 first passes the Senate.

As I’ve said in the past, while I support investments that benefit our infrastructure, the price tags of these two bills are far too much to ask; especially for bills riddled with spending completely unrelated to real infrastructure.

On a separate but related front, the federal government has reached the limit of money it’s legally allowed to borrow. Congress must now consider how far to extend that limit.

From my perspective, our $28.8 trillion (and rapidly growing) debt is one of the most critical issues facing our nation. I believe it will cripple future generations unless Congress and the White House are committed to balancing the federal budget and paying the debt down.

Unfortunately, however, I see no meaningful efforts in Washington to support spending reductions, caps, offsets, or even eliminating wasteful programs that are no longer needed. Nor does there appear to be any long-term (e.g. 10+ year) effort in Congress for the federal government to return to a balanced budget. Instead, it’s just trillions upon trillions of spending, much of it in pursuit of a liberal agenda we cannot afford.

As your representative in Congress, I am determined to continue doing everything within my ability to support responsible spending, a balanced budget, and paying down our national debt. I believe anything less is irresponsible.

An Update on the Recent Refugee and Border Crisis

I continue to be angered by the surge along the U.S. / Mexico border. Many people saw the recent footage of thousands of immigrants camped out under the Del Rio bridge in Texas seeking refuge and asylum in the United States. Following questions from ABC News and other outlets, responses from the Department of Homeland Security indicates as many as 10,000 of those migrants have since been released into the U.S. While exact numbers for September should be published soon by the U.S. Border Patrol, the agency has revealed over 208,000 encounters of immigrants along our southern border in August.

There are public health concerns as well. Last week, for example, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said the rate of illness among those apprehended at the border is approximately 20%. Though he did not specify any one illness, this report comes after the White House announced asylum seekers would not be required to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or negative Covid-19 test before entering our borders.

From my perspective, the President’s immigration policies are largely responsible for this renewed surge along our southern border. From reimplementing “Catch & Release into the U.S.” to stopping new border wall construction and trying to halt our “Remain in Mexico” asylum policy, it’s no wonder to me that our Border Patrol is now at a 21-year high for encounters, according to the Washington Post.

I am doing everything possible to shed light on this issue in Congress. Please be sure to follow me on Facebook or through my website for more updates.

Do you need assistance with the government?

If you or someone you know needs assistance with any branch of the federal government, my congressional office in Rock Hill is here to help. Whether it's the IRS, Social Security, immigration, passports, veterans’ affairs, or anything else related to the federal government, please give us a call at (803) 327-1114.

Meanwhile, if you have questions about legislation in Congress, my office in Washington, D.C. can answer those. Last year, we responded to over 29,000 inquiries from constituents about bills and policies. You can reach my D.C. office at (202) 225-5501.

The most important job I have in Congress is to help folks here at home in South Carolina. Please don't hesitate to call my offices at the numbers listed above. You can also reply to this email or click the button below to contact me online anytime.

You can also like my Facebook page to stay up to date on my work for you in Congress.

Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-5)

569 Cannon HOB

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-5501