After more than a year, hundreds of businesses and trade associations writing in support and countless calls from myself, President Trump and the entire Republican party, Nancy Pelosi finally brought the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to the House floor for a vote. It passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by a 385-41 margin.

On Wednesday, December 18, 2019 the House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against President Trump. After many failed attempts, empty accusations and bipartisan opposition in Congress and nationwide, Nancy Pelosi and her party have finally completed their three-year crusade to impeach President Trump. Members of Congress began calling for impeachment before the Trump Presidency even began. Three years after he was elected, after millions of jobs created, wages grown, a record-high stock market and record-low unemployment, I am disappointed that my colleagues find it necessary to show their disdain for our President by abusing and politicizing the impeachment process. 

While I am disappointed that so many Members of Congress could not see the impropriety of this investigation, I am glad that some did. What is truly astounding is that even more Democrats voted against impeaching the President after hearing the Democrats’ “evidence.” One Democrat even went as far as switching parties after seeing the enthusiastic failure of his former party to conduct themselves with decorum and impartiality. Moreover, I am glad that the Republican party is more united than ever before, as every Republican voted against impeaching President Trump.

In the last impeachment inquiry, President Clinton lied under oath on camera, both parties admitted that he perjured himself, there was a bipartisan vote to open an impeachment inquiry and the independent counsel testified to his findings. During this impeachment inquiry, the transcript of President Trump’s phone call with President Zelensky was released, both parties said that there was no wrongdoing, there was bipartisan opposition to the impeachment inquiry and the independent counsel did not testify. 

For the past several months, Congress’ main accomplishment has been providing gossip to the media. I hope that we can now move past this distraction, focus on solving problems and get back to work helping the American people. 

I was privileged to speak against impeachment and share President Trump's accomplishments on the House floor. To view my floor speech, please click here or on the picture below.

This week, Congress voted on two appropriations bills that, as a practical matter, is the budget for the fiscal year ending in September 2020. Ten days ago, most felt that a budget deal would not be reached this year and that Congress would pass a two-month continuing resolution that held spending at last year’s levels. Late last week, we were told that a deal was reached on a, roughly, $1.4 trillion discretionary spending package. The actual language was made available at 4:44 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, December 16, when most members of Congress were either boarding flights back to Washington or getting ready to travel in the morning.

We were initially told that this 2,371 page package would be brought to a vote in two parts. The first Tuesday afternoon and the second as late as Thursday morning. When I woke up Tuesday morning, another 58 pages were added and we were told that all 2,371 pages would be brought to a vote at 1:30 p.m. the same day.

Even members of leadership that I spoke with at 10:00 a.m. weren’t certain of key provisions going into the bills. Of course, there were good and bad provisions. President Trump’s involvement meant that border wall spending would increase and that we would have increased access to generic drugs and biosimilars, particularly insulin.

Going through the budget, I saw line after line of increased spending to both old and new programs. This comes at a time where we are just shy of $24 trillion in debt. It’s apparent that this budget was meant to be passed by the type of politician that comes to Washington looking to spend more money everywhere they can. Rather than creating a responsible budget, we spent more on virtually every program, including an expensive bailout for mine workers. The total increase in spending was north of four percent at a time where inflation is around two percent. This package, however, only addressed discretionary spending, which means that, when including mandatory spending, total spending will increase by much more than four percent. This is obviously unsustainable and irresponsible.

I think the American public would embrace a responsible budget. Even individuals and organizations benefiting from government spending would understand a responsible, small, across the board cut. I do not wish to cut vital programs like Medicare and Social Security. This means that discretionary spending bills like the ones we saw this week, as well as other forms of mandatory spending, must be addressed.

It was irresponsible for Congress to call a vote on a bill that no one could have possibly read in time to develop an informed opinion. During my time in politics, I’ve never been asked to take a vote on something with so little information. I’m sure that that any town board, city council or school board in my district would have revolted if they were put in such a position with their annual budget. In the future, I hope that Congress will form a sustainable budget that provides funding for that which is most important and inform Members of Congress of any proposed appropriations in a timely manner.

Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, border patrol arrests have decreased 75% since May. This is great news for national security and the safety of immigrants looking to come to the United States.

The people and facilities at Columbus Chemical are top-notch and a great example of Wisconsin working.

I was glad to see my friends at the Saukville American Legion for Christmas at the Legion!