Scalise: Republicans Are Pushing Back Against Biden Administration Overreach

Press Conference

"We've got a busy week this week. You're going to see, starting tonight, a number of pieces of legislation pushing back on the real radical extremism from [President] Biden and all of his different agencies that are going after hardworking families. If you look at [H.J.Res.44], and I think [Congressman Mills] talked about it really well: the idea that the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] would try to retroactively make felons out of millions of Americans who just want to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

"We've seen -- from the very beginning -- [President] Biden wants to take away gun rights of law-abiding citizens. He's tried it multiple different ways, but coming through the backdoor -- trying to retroactively make felons out of people, including military veterans who lost limbs fighting for our freedoms -- is shameful, and we're standing up against that. I think you're going to see a bipartisan vote on the Floor for that bill this evening.

"We're starting, also, bringing some of the legislation -- we've got two different bills covering a few of the different angles and attacks we're seeing from the Biden Administration trying to take away people's gas stoves. This is almost laughable -- except it's real. The idea that the federal government wants to tell you what car you can buy by trying to ban the combustion engine through rules by unelected bureaucrats. Now, they want to tell you what kind of stove you have to operate in your home, and having to pick a less efficient -- and more costly -- option by banning gas stoves. We're pushing back against that, too.

"We're also bringing up a veto override today, on a piece of legislation where you saw D.C. going after cops once again, siding with some of the far-Left groups who want to make it harder for cops to do their jobs: protecting our communities and keeping people safe. We're bringing that just today, tonight, and then you're going to see us continue throughout the week.

"The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, a bill that says unelected bureaucrats shouldn't be able to come up with an idea that they haven't even passed through Congress that has devastating impacts on the economy. Time and time again, we see rules coming out of agencies that nobody can explain. Yeah, maybe we've seen them come out of states like New York and California, where those crazy ideas are running over a million people out of their states to other states. If they bring those crazy ideas to the United States, there's nowhere else to go if they ruin this country. And so the REINS Act says if a rule or regulation by an unelected bureaucrat has a major impact on the economy, it's got to go through Congress first.

"We're up for election every two years. We have to go before the voters and be held accountable for the actions that are being taken. Shouldn't we be the ones that have to decide whether or not an idea -- from an unelected agency -- ultimately happens or not? If they want to be legislators, they should run for Congress, but they shouldn't be able to have devastating impacts on families [by] raising costs. You think inflation is high and as a problem? We agree with you. One of the problems you see [with] inflation so high is because all these unelected bureaucrats are coming up with crazy ideas, and those crazy ideas don't just stay in the agency. They actually go all across this country and raise costs and harm hardworking families.

"Enough is enough. We're pushing back on all of that this week with the bills we're bringing forward with that."

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