By Kevin Kiley – October 6, 2023
As you may have seen, things have been a bit rocky in the House the last week. For our next Speaker, it appears we’ll have a choice between two outstanding leaders: Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise. It’s possible others will enter. The GOP conference is set to vote early next week.
Amidst all the drama, California also got a new U.S. Senator – who happens to live and vote in Maryland. My initial reaction was to wryly applaud Newsom, for recognizing there are now so many Californians who have moved to other states that they deserve their own Senator.
I also urged the Senate to assess whether Newsom’s pick meets the constitutional residency requirements before seating her. Chuck Schumer ignored this, but you can read here a letter to Newsom challenging the legality of the appointment.
The last time Newsom appointed a Senator, I successfully challenged it as unconstitutional (the Legislature bailed him out with an absurd new law). Now, we need a broader solution. I gave a speech on the House Floor calling for an end to the anachronism of appointed Senators.
In other news, the Biden Administration now says there is an “immediate need” for more physical barriers at the border. As I told CNN, this major reversal only happened because of our aggressive oversight on the Judiciary Committee checking Biden’s reckless policies.
Elsewhere, our video about the “COVID Memory Hole” has gone viral and spurred calls for new accountability. You can watch it here and see my cross-examination of OSHA Director Douglas Parker here.
Finally, in a major humiliation, Newsom and the Supermajority have quietly repealed the COVID “misinformation” law they enacted just a year ago. The irony is the California government itself was the leading propagator of misinformation.
Kevin Kiley is a California Congressman
