The Tiffany Telegram: June 25, 2021

Dear Friend,

The American people notched a major victory this week when a partisan election bill that would have poured public money into the campaign accounts of well-heeled politicians and effectively invalidated state voter ID laws was blocked in the U.S. Senate – at least for now. Had this bill passed, it may also have resulted in illegal aliens being automatically registered to vote.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans support voter ID requirements, according to a recent survey, House and Senate Democrats continue to push forward with this misguided legislation.

The bill also fails to close an outrageous legal loophole that allows elected officials to funnel millions in political contributions into their personal bank accounts by "hiring" their spouses as campaign operatives. Lawmakers from both political parties have expressed concern about this cynical and corrupt practice for many years, and I introduced the OMAR Act earlier this year in an effort to ban it once and for all. Unfortunately, the House's Democratic leadership have so far blocked its consideration.

Telegram readers have also been keeping up on unfolding catastrophe on our southern border, and how the Biden administration's policy choices have made that situation far worse. By shredding many of the effective border control policies put in place by former President Trump, the White House has unleashed a tidal wave of illegal immigration that originates as far away as South America, Africa and the Middle East in some cases –enriching human traffickers, emboldening drug cartels, and making every state in the union a border state.

After months of chaos, Vice President Harris finally announced a belated plan to travel to the border. However, she is already facing criticism, including from some in her own party, for avoiding hotspots in favor of a carefully choreographed photo op trip to "check the box" rather than visiting the areas overwhelmed by this self-inflicted crisis.

This week we also took up legislation in the Judiciary Committee related to "Big Tech." Unfortunately, the bills we debated will do little to address the growing trend of one-sided content discrimination and censorship, and in some cases may actually make the current situation worse. But more on that later.

Thanks again for starting off your weekend with us, and we hope you enjoy this week's edition of the Telegram.

Sincerely,

Tom Tiffany
Member of Congress

Pentagon employee who produced Chinese propaganda under investigation
Telegram readers may recall that Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and I demanded answers from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after Franz Gayl, a Pentagon employee with ties to President Biden, assisted a notorious Chinese Communist Party propaganda outlet by producing content promoting Beijing's anti-democratic agenda. Our inquiry was detailed in a foreign policy news roundup a short time ago that you can review here (it is the second item in the report). Well, it looks like our effort may be paying off. Gayl is now reportedly the subject of a counter-intelligence investigation and has had his security clearances suspended. This is a good start, but it is not enough – and we will keep up the pressure to hold Gayl accountable for acting as a mouthpiece for a dangerous foreign regime.

Favre: "Males cannot compete against females"
Some of you probably saw news reports this week about a weightlifter who qualified for the New Zealand Olympic women's team despite being a biological male. Sadly, with every case like this, we get further and further down the road of young girls having their dreams of athletic greatness stolen by biological men. Former Packers great Brett Favre offered his thoughts on the situation this week. You can read about what he had to say here.

China pressures NIH to delete key Covid data
This week we learned that Chinese researchers pressured our National Institutes of Health to delete gene sequences of early Covid-19 cases from a key scientific database, possibly destroying evidence and depriving scientists of the ability to track down the origin of the pandemic that first appeared in Communist China. This is outrageous – and just the latest example in a decades-long pattern of deception and dishonesty by China's undemocratic and genocidal regime. On a related note, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California called on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Games out of Beijing, something I called for earlier this month. Given China's macabre record of human rights abuses, corruption of international organizations and continued efforts to interfere with pandemic-related investigations, rewarding them with such a prestigious event would be unconscionable.

Ice Age Scenic Trail public comment opportunity
We wanted to give you a heads up on a National Park Service comment period for the Ice Age Scenic Trail that may be of interest to those of you in Chippewa County. You can read more about the plan, and provide any input you may have here.

Committee Update
House Judiciary Committee
Big Tech is a Big Problem – But so is Big Government
This week we debated six antitrust bills in the Judiciary Committee with a focus on Silicon Valley's Big Tech juggernauts. Unfortunately, many of these proposals miss the mark, and will simply create far-reaching new regulatory schemes that give more unchecked power to unelected Washington, DC bureaucrats. To be clear, our antitrust laws are designed to evaluate business conduct and determine whether such conduct harms consumers. This makes sense, and we all agree that consumers should be protected from predatory, anti-competitive and monopolistic practices. Unfortunately, the bills we debated fell far short of this goal. Instead, they would allow agenda-driven government regulators to put a thumb on the scale to manipulate – and even dictate – certain market outcomes. Among the measures we considered was one that would create secret advisory committees comprised of people from outside "advocacy" groups to help develop regulations for select Big Tech companies, potentially jeopardizing your data security and making it more vulnerable to hacking and illegal surveillance by China, Russia and others. The ambiguous language we considered allows for the overregulation of businesses that the Biden Administration disagrees with, incentivizes Big Tech to consult with the Biden Administration (similar to state-run media) on "business practices" and most importantly allows for the censorship of protected speech. This legislation also keeps Big Tech above the law when it censors speech vaguely classified as "objectionable," even if that speech is constitutionally protected – which is really the core of the Big Tech problem. In fact some Democratic lawmakers want to enact rules that would actually encourage such censorship. My view is that we should not be giving more power to the government, without first ensuring that checks and balances exist that will mitigate abuses. The First Amendment's protections apply to all of us, not just far-left activists or the Iranian Ayatollah, and they should be defended. I look forward to continued conversations with my colleagues so that we can pass meaningful legislation that protects our rights while mitigating market abuses.

House Committee on Natural Resources
This week the Natural Resources Committee had our first in-person hearing since I joined the committee this past January. We finally got back to conducting business the way it should be, and I had the chance to ask questions directly to the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. I asked Secretary Haaland point blank if she planned on following the science and allowing states to manage their gray wolf populations. Unfortunately, I did not get a direct answer. I also posed a few other important questions, which you can watch in the clip below.

House Committee on Natural Resources: Secretary Deb Haaland Hearing

Recent Developments
Federal judge shoots down race-based farmer debt relief set-aside
Farmers scored a victory for equality this week when a federal judge blocked implementation of a USDA debt relief program that specifically excludes white farmers. As Telegram readers know, I called for an end to this unfair and racist program back in March almost immediately after President Biden put it into motion. On a related note, a similar Biden administration effort that sought to dole out restaurant relief based on race and sex was halted by another judge. While that decision was also a big win, a restaurant owner who brought the challenge is now facing the usual attacks and threats from the "cancel culture" mob – a phenomenon that has become all too common. The constant effort by some Washington politicians to pick winners and losers in government hiring, assistance and even university admissions based on race is destructive, immoral, and illegal – and it must stop. I filed an amendment this week to put an end to all government-sponsored discrimination based on immutable characteristics like race. Unfortunately, the Democratic House leadership refused to allow an up-or-down vote on my proposal, which you can read for yourself here. Discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to people based on sex and skin color is wrong – and that's exactly why the government should lead by example and stop doing it.

Upcoming Events
Join Congressman Tom Tiffany for Service Academy Day!
Meet with representatives from West Point, Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, Merchant Marine Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, and ROTC. All ages welcome to attend.

Service Academy Day
Saturday, July 10, 2021 at 11:30am
Eagle's Club
1703 South 3rd Avenue
Wausau, WI 54401