Lawmaker Demands Air Force Justify Threatening Troops’ Careers for Attending Conservative ‘Turning Point’ Rally

Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana is pressuring the Air Force to conduct an investigation of text messages warning against attending a conservative rally, according to a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

A master sergeant at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota urged leaders to caution their troops about the potential for violence aimed at military members at a conservative rally or participating in the featured political advocacy group in leaked text messages on November 17, Fox News first reported. Banks, who chairs the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee and heads the chamber’s Anti-Woke Caucus, said the texts from an unidentified leader defamed a conservative organization and interfered in an Airman’s right to free assembly and the political process, the letter stated.

Read the full story

GOP Lawmakers Say Marine Corps’ Diversity-Focused Officer Program May Discriminate Based on Race, Gender

Two Republican lawmakers are questioning whether a Marine Corps program created to attract minorities to apply as officers may discriminate based on applicants’ race or gender, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The “Diversity Aimed Officer Program” (DAOP) takes enlisted Marines and exposes them to senior leaders and the officer training environment near Washington, D.C., with hopes the exposure will convince them to seek careers as officers, according to the program page. But, Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Mark Alford of Missouri allege the program appears structured to prioritize female and non-white applicants, contradicting the service’s legal obligation to a merit-based recruiting and promotion process, according to a letter addressed to Dr. Michael Strobl, the Marine Corps human resources chief, dated Oct 2.

Read the full story

The House GOP Effort to Defund ‘Wokeness’

Through executive orders and budget requests, the Biden administration has sought to embed “diversity, equity, and inclusion” principles across the entirety of the federal government – and in turn to touch the lives of every American. Now members of the Republican House majority, who see this whole-of-government effort as a woke assault on America and its core values, are working to combat it using the power of the purse.

In a series of letters to House appropriations leaders, Rep. Jim Banks and like-minded colleagues have identified and called for the defunding of all “‘woke’ programs and initiatives that are rooted in discrimination and promote far-left ideology in the federal government” in 2024 spending bills.

Read the full story

House GOP Locates Emails, Texts Showing Pelosi Office Directly Involved in Failed January 6 Security

House Republicans gathered a trove of text and email messages showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office was directly involved in the creation and editing of the Capitol security plan that failed during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and that security officials later declared they had been “denied again and again” the resources needed to protect one of the nation’s most important homes of democracy.

The internal communications were made public Wednesday in a report compiled by Republican Reps. Rodney Davis, Jim Banks, Troy Nehls, Jim Jordan and Kelly Armstrong that encompasses the results of months of investigation they did of evidence that had been ignored by the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee. The lawmakers were authorized by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to do their own probe.

Read the full story

‘An Attack on All Trump Voters’: Elise Stefanik Unloads on ‘Sham’ Jan. 6 Show

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York slammed the Jan. 6 committee as a “sham” focused on attacking people who voted for former President Donald Trump during a Sunday night appearance on Fox News.

“This is an attack on all Trump voters and really, it’s a partisan attempt by Nancy Pelosi for her hand-picked members of Congress to go after President Trump and all Republicans because they know that they are going to lose at the ballot box this November,” Stefanik told “Life, Liberty & Levin” host Mark Levin.

Read the full story

Petition to Discharge Rep. Steube’s Transgender Sports Bill Garners More than 60 Signatures in House

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives this week are working to force a floor vote a bill authored by a Florida Congressman that would ban biological males from competing in female athletics. 

“I, Jim Banks, move to discharge the Committee on Education and Labor from the consideration of the bill (H.R. 426) entitled, a bill to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth, which was referred to said committee January 21st, 2021, in support of which motion the undersigned Members of the House of Representatives affix their signatures…” said a Discharge Petition authored by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN-03). 

Read the full story

Virginia Reps. Cline and Good Cosponsor Multiple Bills Protesting Vaccine Mandates

Congressmen Ben Cline (R-Virginia-06) and Bob Good (R-Virginia-05) are protesting Democrat-led COVID-19 vaccine mandates by cosponsored multiple bills. House Republicans lack the ability to pass bills without Democratic buy-in, but that hasn’t stopped them from introducing multiple bills targeting mandates in November. Cline touted his support for the bills in a Tuesday newsletter.

“Businesses across the country are desperate for workers, and our Nation is facing a critical supply chain shortage. As grocery store shelves sit empty, and communities struggle to recover, President Biden should be doing everything possible to encourage Americans to show up to work. Instead, it is the Administration’s plan to implement a vaccine mandate that would force millions of Americans out of work,” he wrote.

Read the full story

Former Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien Endorses J.D. Vance in Ohio GOP Senate Primary

Former President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor Robert O’Brien endorsed J.D. Vance in the highly-contested GOP primary to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.

In the endorsement released by Vance’s campaign, O’Brien called Vance “a strong leader who will fight for President Trump’s America First foreign policy.”

Read the full story

Pelosi Rejects Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan From January 6 Commission

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked the appointment of two GOP Representatives, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN-03) to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

The committee was originally intended to be composed of 13 members — 5 of whom the minority leader would have consultation on. However, of those 5 members, Pelosi rejected the appointment of the top two members.

Read the full story