2021 Year in Review - Part 3
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3
This past week, I sent recaps of accomplishments from my first year in Congress. If you missed Part One or Part Two, you can view them on my website.
We also had a very busy week as America continues to face crisis after crisis under the Biden Administration.
This week, the Chicago Teachers Union refused to show up to teach students, despite federal taxpayers sending $2.8 billion in COVID relief funding to Chicago Public Schools for the purpose of keeping the schools open. I voted no on President Biden’s COVID package because I had grave concerns about the oversight and accountability of the funds, which is clearly lacking in Chicago.
The Supreme Court also heard oral arguments to determine if the Biden Administration has the authority to implement a federal COVID vaccine mandate through OSHA. Thankfully, a majority of justices seemed very skeptical of President Biden’s illegal and unconstitutional COVID vaccine mandate. I joined a Congressional Amicus Brief opposing this massive federal overreach by the Biden Administration. Please join me in praying for wisdom to guide the justices in reaching the right verdict!
Be sure to sign up for my Newsletter to stay updated on what I’m doing in D.C. and back home in Illinois.
Below is Part Three of Three in my update series looking back at 2021 in Congress:
FIGHTING BACK AGAINST VACCINE MANDATES & LOCKDOWNS
There is nothing more hypocritical than the Biden Administration allowing illegal immigrants to freely enter our country with ZERO COVID restrictions while they work to fire Americans from their jobs through an unconstitutional federal vaccine mandate.
This year, I fought back against the Biden Administration and their attempted communist transformation of our country by co-sponsoring legislation like the No Vaccine Passports for Americans Act, which would prohibit the federal government from creating a “vaccine passport system” to monitor or track individuals who have been vaccinated against COVID–19.
Unfortunately, 80 House Republicans voted with Democrats this year to pass the “Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act,” which creates a federal grant program administered by the Biden Administration to fund vaccine databases. I voted no, you can see the roll call vote here. The bill’s Democrat sponsor said the system would be used to “remind patients when they are due for a recommended vaccine” and identify areas with low vaccination rates to “ensure equitable distribution of vaccines.”
You can read more about this bill in an article by Breitbart News.
I also signed onto an Amicus Brief that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate. The President, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the federal government DO NOT have the constitutional authority to implement this vaccine mandate.
We must protect individual liberty, ensure privacy, and prohibit discrimination with respect to the vaccination status of individuals. I also signed onto legislation to prevent the Biden administration from withholding or limiting funds based solely on a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Parents and local school districts should not fear they will lose federal funding if they do not impose a vaccine mandate.
The Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats refuse to investigate the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan or take action to hold China accountable for the spread of the coronavirus. The American people deserve to know to what extent the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology with US taxpayer dollars.
CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN
Our service men and women are truly the best of us. We honor them always, but this year they took a special place in our hearts as we witnessed the deadliest day for US forces in over a decade because of the horrific terrorist attacks outside Karzai International Airport.
President Biden's failure in Afghanistan led to the surrender of tens of BILLIONS of dollars in US military equipment to the Taliban. The Biden Administration failed us. I called for immediate oversight hearings on the mismanagement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan in addition to the Impeachment of President Biden and other top Pentagon officials.
I signed a letter to the Biden Administration urging them to prioritize evacuating Americans safely out of Afghanistan after they abandoned a still unknown number of Americans in Afghanistan.
As Afghanistan fell, President Biden disappeared, first to Camp David and then to Delaware. His Cabinet refused to brief the American people directly, and instead sent spokesmen. Additionally, the Defense Secretary refused to testify before Congress.
Americans watched in horror as the Taliban released thousands of al Qaeda, ISIS, and Taliban prisoners from the prison at Bagram Air Base. Our service members bravely sacrificed to capture those terrorists, and the Biden Administration allowed them to be released. One of the released ISIS-K prisoners led the bombing that killed our 13 service members.
Biden Defense officials then briefed the American people that they had successfully droned terrorists in Afghanistan attempting to attack our service members, but it turned out that was false and they had actually bombed a charity worker and his seven children.
The Biden Administration then flew an estimated 78,000 Afghan nationals to American soil and lied to the American people about the vetting process they were using to ensure that no ISIS, al Qaeda, or Taliban terrorists were brought to our shores.
To this day, no one in the Biden Administration has been held responsible for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or the lies that were told to the American people, and no one has been fired or resigned.
BORDER SECURITY
I traveled to the southern border with President Trump in June to meet with Border Patrol and discuss the urgent need to FINISH THE WALL! From his first day in office, President Trump worked to secure the border, combat illegal immigration, and keep our communities safe.
I co-sponsored the Finish the Wall Act to force the Biden Administration to resume building President Trump's Southern Border Wall after President Biden illegally stopped construction of the wall when he took office.
President Biden has a constitutional duty to uphold our immigration laws and defend our national borders.
I am the only member of Congress from Illinois co-sponsoring Articles of Impeachment for President Biden for failing to enforce our immigration laws and protect our border.
My constituents in the 15th District are outraged that President Biden is threatening to fire Americans for not taking the COVID vaccine and implementing unconstitutional vaccine passports while he allows drug cartels and human traffickers to transport foreign nationals across our southern border with ZERO background checks or COVID restrictions.
Reports were released this year that the Biden Administration is flying illegal immigrants from the border to communities throughout the United States. Sadly, the crisis at the border has become a national crisis, and every state is now a border state.
Sanctuary states, like Illinois, send an especially dangerous message that laws will be selectively enforced based on partisan political agendas. I cosigned multiple letters to the Biden Administration to ask for transparency and information about who is entering our country and what background checks are being performed. I also cosponsored the Protect Communities from a Porous Border Act, which would require the Biden Administration to notify governors in advance of releasing illegal immigrants into their respective states.
This year, the US Supreme Court ruled against the Biden Administration in its unconstitutional attempt to end the "Remain in Mexico" program that was created under President Trump. I signed a Discharge Petition to bring back the Remain in Mexico Policy. Easy illegal entry is transforming America into a sanctuary nation.
President Trump was exactly right: extremely dangerous criminals and known terrorists are crossing our southern border. I co-sponsored the Be Gone Act to deny U.S. entry to sexual predators. As a mother of seven and grandmother of seventeen, I am horrified that the Biden Administration has empowered human traffickers and cartels to freely traffic children across our border.
I spoke about the children being used and abused by traffickers and drug cartels on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. You can listen to my speech below.
This year, the Biden Administration issued a memo calling to dismantle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). House Democrats have vocally called for the elimination of ICE, and some leftist governors and mayors are refusing to cooperate with ICE to deport criminals.
The government’s primary role and jurisdiction is to keep us safe by protecting our people and our borders. The Biden Administration has failed. I am the only member of Congress from Illinois sponsoring Articles of Impeachment for President Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security for purposely betraying his oath of office by allowing a dangerous and illegal invasion of our country.
INFLATION CRISIS
Americans are seeing the consequences of the Biden Administration’s radical spending as inflation hit a soaring 6.8% in November, the HIGHEST in nearly 40 years.
I voted against President Biden's $1 trillion "Infrastructure Bill," which included only a fraction of actual infrastructure spending and helped to advance the radical socialist “Green New Deal.”
President Biden and Congressional Democrats are continuing to push for trillions MORE in spending through their “Build Back Broke” legislation. While Americans are making less, Democrats want to keep spending more!
While Congressional Democrats advance legislation that benefits China like the Green New Deal, I co-sponsored H.R. 5649, the Bring Entrepreneurial Advancements to Consumers Here in North America Act, which would provide incentives for manufacturing facilities to relocate to the United States rather than foreign countries.
Labor shortages caused by the Biden Administration’s leftist agenda have caused empty shelves and backlogged ports, with a supply chain that is understaffed and overwhelmed.
I signed a letter to President Biden requesting that his Administration halt their harmful policy initiatives that have led to the Biden supply chain crisis, including their attempt to fire millions of Americans with an illegal and unconstitutional vaccine mandate.
I remain hopeful that God is in control and I am optimistic that America's best days are still ahead of us!
I wish you and your family a blessed New Year in which we cherish the things that are truly important: our faith, our relationships, and our communities.
I look forward to continuing to serve Illinois' 15th District in 2022 and fighting for life, liberty, and our freedom.
Sincerely,
Mary E. Miller
Member of Congress