On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-5) introduced the Earmark Elimination Act of 2020 in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before 2011, earmarks were a frequent source of corruption and furthering of personal agendas by Members of Congress. In 2011, Congress passed a temporary ban on earmarks, which every session of Congress has since renewed. There is now, however, an effort by some in Cong... Read more »
Dr. Robert Lesslie, M.D. is a highly respected physician and author in South Carolina who is Board-certified in both emergency and occupational medicine. Last night, he sent me very well-written current analysis of the Coronavirus (see link below). I'd like to quote some of his guidance here: ********** 1. Don’t panic. There is no evidence that this is the end of the world. No trumpets blowing yet... Read more »
Do you remember those strange TV commercials from Tom Steyer before he dropped out of the Democrat presidential race? You know, the ones that claimed he could “beat Trump on the economy”? Those were always good for a few laughs. This morning, we added yet ANOTHER link to the long chain of evidence proving how well our economy is actually doing. Economists missed the mark big time last month. They ... Read more »
Just moments ago, I voted in favor of an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to help fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) here in the U.S. This bill is now on its way over to the Senate and my hope is that it'll quickly pass that chamber and be on the President’s desk by tomorrow (Thurs.) evening. This legislation, H.R. 6074, allocates money for vaccine development, stockpiles of equipmen... Read more »
On the Coronavirus (COVID-19), more than 100 presumed or confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported around the country as of Tuesday night, according to CBS news, and nine (9) people have succumb to the disease. As of yesterday afternoon, however, South Carolina DHEC officials reported there were no confirmed cases in South Carolina. According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is a mo... Read more »
Did you know that former Members of Congress can receive a pension even after being convicted of a crime? Moments ago, I filed a bill that would put a stop to that. Under current law, if a pension-eligible Member of Congress is convicted of certain crimes, he or she can still receive that pension until a “final conviction" is reached. The problem is that a criminal conviction isn’t “final” until a... Read more »
On Tuesday, February 25th, U.S. Congressman Ralph Norman joined Congressmen Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), co-chairs of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, in introducing H. Res. 864, a bipartisan resolution recognizing National CTE Month, which is observed every February and celebrates the value and impact of career and technical education programs across the nat... Read more »
On the 2nd Amendment front, last week I co-sponsored an important new bill that seeks to clarify rules about the lawful transport of firearms. For context, back in 1986 a law was passed called the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA). Among other provisions, that bill “protects those who are transporting firearms for lawful purposes from local restrictions which would otherwise prohibit passage.”... Read more »
Back in 1972, a proposed amendment was sent out to all 50 states for ratification. It was called the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and it simply proclaimed, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Remember, three-quarters of the states (38 of 50) must ratify an amendment before it becomes part of our Constitution. St... Read more »
Did you know if someone does NOT speak English, that could actually be a qualifying factor for whether they’re entitled to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments? Let’s take two separate people. Both of them 45 years old with unskilled work experience. In fact, both of them are exactly the same in every respect **except** one of them speaks English while the other does not. N... Read more »
