It’s Time to Get Back to Work

Dear Friend,

The House is back in business. We elected Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the 56th Speaker of the House this week.

I’ve known Mike for several years and appreciate his deliberative, calm demeaner, which I think will lend itself well to our current climate. He’s a strong conservative who stands by his convictions and I think he’ll do a great job. I’m pleased that we finally have a Speaker but with that said, it’s time to get back to work.

Getting back to work means supporting Israel, our strongest friend and ally in the Middle East. Over 1,400 have been killed in Israel and over 4,600 have been injured. Hamas continues to hold hostages and fire rockets. Israel has every right to defend itself against these barbaric terrorists.

The first thing we did as soon as we elected a new Speaker was immediately passing a resolution in support of Israel. It should have been unanimous, but far-left members of the Squad continue to stand with terrorists. It’s unconscionable and speaks volumes.

The second thing we did was pass another appropriations bill, which cut spending as we’ve promised to do. We’ve already passed over 70% of the funding necessary to run the government, cutting spending along the way. Speaker Johnson is committed to passing individual spending bills so we can debate what’s in them, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. The only way we’ll rein in inflation and cut the deficit is by passing responsible appropriations bills and cutting wasteful spending.

While we push forward on government funding, we’ve got to make sure that securing the border remains at the top of the list of priorities. We saw the most illegal border crossings in history just last weekend. The only way we’re going to protect every state from being a border state is if the Administration figures out what we’ve known all along—there is a border crisis.

We also need to help our allies in Israel. And we need to finish the Farm Bill so we can give our farmers the certainty they need to feed and clothe the world. Those are just a few of the things that need to get done in relatively short order.

It’s clear that Speaker Johnson has a tall order ahead of him. However, I believe he’s up to the job and I look forward to working with him to get the job done.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves