House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a detailed letter on Tuesday to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Kay Granger (R-Texas) with recommendations to restrict funding of “out-of-control federal agencies,” hold the Biden administration accountable, and “protect the fundamental civil liberties of the American people.”
Jordan wrote that the Committee on the Judiciary and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have conducted oversight to address the problems created by the Biden administration, leading to recommended reforms that the House of Representatives can advance through its “power of the purse.”
Those suggested reforms listed in the letter include dozens of detailed funding requests, all of which are presented as “Prohibitions on Use of Funds” covering the following areas: immigration enforcement and border security, reining in abusive federal law enforcement agencies, protecting FBI whistleblowers, protecting freedom of speech online, and protecting the Second Amendment.
According to a Judiciary Committee press release, “the Committee and Select Subcommittee have received startling testimony about egregious abuses, misallocation of federal law-enforcement resources, and misconduct within the leadership ranks of the FBI.” That led to one funding request seeking to move the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters out of Washington, D.C., relocating the national law enforcement agency to possibly Alabama.
Jordan wrote:
The Committee remains concerned about the politicization of federal law enforcement power emanating from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The centralization of FBI operations in the National Capitol Region has led to duplication of activity best left to the respective field offices, contributed to reduced autonomy in local field offices, and allowed improper political influence to taint law enforcement investigations and activity.
None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to build a new FBI headquarters. In addition, the FBI is directed to submit an operational plan within 90 days to move the FBI Headquarters out of the National [Capitol] Region. The operational plan should also consider the existing resources and infrastructure available at the FBI’s Redstone Arsenal Campus in Huntsville, AL.
Another major concern for the committee was “challenging politically sensitive investigations” by the Department of Justice (DOJ), with a request to prevent the use of funds until the agency has nonpartisan staff overseeing investigations.
“None of the funds made available by this Act or any other Act shall be used to conduct a politically sensitive investigation until the Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee such investigations. Politically sensitive investigations include those investigations of elected officials and their family members, political candidates and their family members, political organizations, religious organizations, and members of the media,” the letter stated.
According to the press release, Jordan is asking the Appropriations Committee to include language in the DOJ appropriations bill “prohibiting retaliation against FBI whistleblowers, including by prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to pay the salary of any Justice Department or FBI employee who is found to have retaliated against a whistleblower.”
After the committee obtained information “that federal agencies have sought, whether directly or indirectly, to censor, discourage, or chill online public discourse,” they requested to add language in appropriations bills to protect freedom of speech online by prohibiting taxpayer funds from being used to censor Americans online or to classify speech as “mis-, dis-, or mal-information.” The Judiciary Committee also asked “that the Appropriations Committee eliminate taxpayer dollars going to the Global Engagement Center and other governmental and non-governmental entities that are engaged in speech suppression.”
Jordan noted that since President Biden has taken office, his administration’s open-border policies have not only led to a number of suspected terrorists entering our country, but led to more than 5.5 million illegal-alien encounters at the southern border, with over two million of those illegals released into American communities.
“The crisis at the border is a direct result of the radical policies of President Biden and [DHS] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas, and it affects American communities all across the country. The Committee recommends prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to implement the Biden Administration’s radical immigration policies,” the press release stated.
And last but not least, Jordan shared that the committee has been examining the administration’s attacks on fundamental Second Amendment rights through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Noting recent regulatory actions in the letter, such as “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’,” the committee reported that the “ATF has circumvented the will of Congress and flouted the Second Amendment. Accordingly, we recommend prohibiting taxpayer funds from being used to implement ATF radical regulations concerning pistol braces or so-called ‘ghost guns.’”
