Cross-Examination

• Biden’s statement on classified docs: After initially staying mum regarding the revelation that classified documents from his time serving as vice president were discovered at his Washington think tank, Joe Biden on Tuesday finally addressed the scandal. Biden said that he was “surprised” while at the same time asserting that he takes “classified documents or classified information seriously.” He then acknowledged that classified documents had indeed been discovered, “but I don’t know what’s in the documents.” And he doesn’t want to know. “My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were,” he said. “I’ve turned over the boxes … [and] we’re cooperating fully.” In other words, I didn’t know I had classified documents, and we’re giving them back, so it’s no big deal. Of course, that was not the message Biden expressed when he lambasted Donald Trump as being “totally irresponsible” after classified documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate. With Trump under a DOJ investigation over his having held classified documents, House Republicans announced on Tuesday that they’re launching a probe into Biden’s classified document scandal.

• Seven key reforms in new House rules: It may have taken 15 rounds of voting before Kevin McCarthy won the speaker’s gavel, but the week of wrangling among Republican lawmakers has served to produce some significant and welcome new rule changes for the House. Seven rules changes in particular are import, starting with the “motion to vacate the chair,” which has been reverted back to its original longstanding rule of allowing a single member of the majority to call for a vote to remove the speaker. It was Nancy Pelosi who changed this rule back in 2019 to include support of the majority caucus in order to trigger a vote. Controls on spending and taxing have been implemented, which include a decade-long spending cap that prevents increasing the debt limit without a separate House vote. New committees to investigate how the federal government has been weaponized by special interests against Americans will be established. The 1876 “Holman Rule” designed to rein in federal bureaucracy has been reinstated after Democrats eliminated it in 2019. A bill-review rule has been established requiring at least 72 hours of notice prior to holding a vote on any new legislation. Three of the nine most powerful committee chairs will go to members of the Freedom Caucus. Finally, there’s now a rule that allows for voting to block taxpayer funding of abortion services and providers.

• Biden admin acknowledges it axed 59,000 jobs: When Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline as one of his first acts upon taking office, Republicans loudly objected that doing so would damage the American economy and cost thousands of jobs, even as the U.S. was struggling to overcome a global pandemic. Biden, bowing to the radical environmentalist Left, eliminated the pipeline with the stroke of a pen, while ridiculously asserting that any jobs lost would only be temporary and that the green energy sector would quickly make up the difference. Now, two years later, Biden’s Department of Energy is admitting that those jobs lost ended up being more significant and the economic cost higher than Biden had so rosily asserted at the time. The DOE found that killing Keystone XL resulted in 59,000 lost jobs and cost the U.S. economy $9.6 billion in growth. “To make matters worse,” observed Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), “his decision moved the U.S. further away from energy independence and lower gas prices at a time when inflation and gas prices are drastically impacting Americans’ pocketbooks.” Americans are still experiencing the negative consequences of Biden’s killing of Keystone, which made Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that much more costly for the U.S. With Donald Trump, the country finally enjoyed energy independence, but Biden foolishly decided to reverse course on that stunning success.

Headlines

• FAA lifts ground stop on flights following computer outage (AP)

• House Republican files articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Mayorkas (Washington Examiner)

• House votes to establish special panels to investigate China, “weaponization” of federal government (NY Post)

• McCarthy bounces Swalwell, Schiff, Omar from key committees (Daily Wire)

• Santos faces FEC complaint in first full week in office (CBS News)

• Ukrainian troops heading to Oklahoma for Patriot missile training (Military Times)

• Pentagon finally ends Armed Forces COVID vaccine mandate (RedState)

• Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb flagged tweets questioning COVID vaccine (Fox News)

• Biden White House hounded Facebook to censor Tucker Carlson, new emails show (The Federalist)

• Experts now say fat kids should be maxed out on meds and surgeries instead of apparently going outside to play and not chugging soda (Not the Bee)

• While millions of illegal immigrants are allowed to pour across our southern border, U.S. citizens detained, fined thousands for using wrong lane at Mexico border (Fox News)

• Sarah Sanders bans critical race theory with new executive order (Washington Examiner)

• Newsom slashes budget after turning $98 billion surplus into $22.5 billion deficit in single year (Free Beacon)

• China cuts deal with Taliban to extract oil in Afghanistan (Fox News)

• Policy: Our children being poisoned is the real public health crisis (Heritage Foundation)

• Satire: After finding illegal classified docs at Biden’s think tank, FBI to raid Trump again (Genesius Times)

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