House GOP Leadership Pulls Both FISA Bills Following Backlash

House Republican leadership pulled two bills reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from the floor, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faced backlash for allowing two bills to be introduced on the surveillance law.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a member of the House Rules Committee, confirmed to the Washington Examiner late Monday evening that neither of the bills reforming Section 702 would come to the floor for a vote this week. 

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Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie Says It Is ‘Economically Illiterate and Morally Deficient’ to Send More Money to Ukraine on Episode 45 of ‘Tucker on X’

In episode 45 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) who is against sending more aid money to Ukraine in the country’s fight against Russia.

Kicking off the 19-minute episode, Carlson said the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress will not accept the responsibility for the fact that the U.S. is “measurably weaker” for its support of Ukraine over the past two years in the country’s fight against Putin.

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House Passes Bill to Permanently Freeze $6 Billion in Iranian Funds from Hostage Deal

Iran Money

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to permanently freeze $6 billion in Iranian funds that the Biden administration had agreed to release as part of a hostage exchange with Tehran earlier this year.

The measure passed in a 307-119 vote, with almost all Republicans supporting it, The Hill reported. Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie was the sole GOP dissident and sided with 118 Democrats.

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Jim Jordan Subpoenas Bank of America over Sharing Customer Data with FBI

Jim Jordan and Bank of America

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Thursday served Bank of America with a subpoena, seeking information related to the firm’s voluntary sharing of customer data with the FBI to aid its Jan. 6 investigations.

“In 2021, BoA provided the FBI—voluntarily and without any legal process—with a list of individuals who made transactions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area using a BoA credit or debit card between January 5 and January 7, 2021,” the Judiciary Committee stated in a press release. “When that information was brought to the attention of Steven Jensen, the FBI’s then-Section Chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, he acted to ‘pull’ the BoA information from FBI systems because ‘the leads lacked allegations of federal criminal conduct.'”

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Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly’s Support for Censoring Viewpoints on Social Media Is Taken Out of Context: Spox

During a Zoom call this past week with federal government finance officials, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) called for censorship of unfavorable remarks on social media. He was referring to posts raising alarm about the financial stableness of banks after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which resulted in long lines of customers attempting to take their money out and the Biden administration stepping in to guarantee deposits of over $250,000, amounts the law doesn’t insure. 

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, expressed his concern in an op-ed for The New York Post titled “Censorship addicts: Democrats seek to squelch speech on banks.” He said, “Rather than convince citizens that their deposits are safe, it is easier to just silence anyone who disagrees with you. So now ‘the expense’ of free speech is too high if it might undermine faith in our banks’ stability.”

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Commentary: Dems Inexplicably Block Demand for FBI to Cough Up Ray Epps Documents

For those who do not know who Ray Epps is and why he matters—and this includes most Democrats and many journalists—U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) served up a handy reference guide last week. Gosar did this in the form of a resolution of inquiry (ROI) directing Attorney General Merrick Garland to hand over all documents relevant to the Epps case within 14 days. 

“Multiple videos show Ray Epps repeatedly urging crowds of people in Washington, D.C. on January 5 and January 6, 2021, to go to the United States Capitol and breach the building,“ Gosar explained. “Epps is the one person seen on video directing people towards the Capitol seconds before violence broke out, yet he has never been arrested or charged with any crime while more than 800 others have and countless more remained jailed.”

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Pennsylvania Bill Would Raise Firearm Purchasing Age to 21

State Rep. Darisha Parker (D-PA-Philadelphia) this week began asking fellow lawmakers to cosponsor a bill to raise the minimum firearm purchase and possession age in Pennsylvania from 18 to 21. 

The freshman representative cited data from the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence indicating that U.S. residents ages 18 to 20 account for 17 percent of confirmed murderers despite being only four percent of the population. She also noted that those ages 14 to 21 have the highest propensity toward suicide or attempted suicide among all Americans. 

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Kentucky U.S. Representative Thomas Massie Blasts Red Flag Laws

U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) blasted red flag laws last week during floor debate on legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a tweet sharing his floor speech, Massie said, “A federal red flag law would create millions of second-class citizens. It won’t stop mass shooters but will deprive millions of Americans of due process and their Second Amendment rights.”

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Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie Introducing Bill to Recognize Outside Concealed Carry Permits in D.C.

Rep. Thomas Massie on Thursday said he’s introducing legislation that would recognize out-of-state concealed carry permits in the District of Columbia, in the wake of the shocking attack on Rep. Steve Scalise and others in Northern Virginia on Wednesday. “What I’m trying to do is anticipate how to avoid a tragic situation in the future,” Mr.…

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