Thursday night, the Senate finally approved the annual defense authorization bill, sending the legislation to President Biden’s desk. Better late than never I suppose. The fact that Senate Democrats prioritized same-sex marriage over the defense bill speaks volumes. But I digress.

Republicans scored a significant victory in the defense bill by ending Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for U.S. troops. The next step is reinstating the more than 8,000 military personnel who were unfairly thrown out of the Armed Forces.

Unfortunately, there was a vote on that issue, and it failed 40-to-54.

All 50 Democrats voted against the GOP amendment to reinstate troops who were discharged because of Biden’s vaccine mandate. (Six Republicans didn’t vote.) But four Republicans voted with the Democrats: Sens. Cassidy (R-LA), Collins (R-ME), Romney (R-UT) and Rounds (R-SD).

I generally give Susan Collins a bit of leeway. Republicans are an endangered species in New England, and when she retires, the odds are overwhelming that a Democrat will take her seat.

But once again, Mitt Romney sticks out like a sore thumb. Romney represents an incredibly conservative state. Yet, he frequently votes the wrong way when it comes to values, like his attack on religious liberty when he supported the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act.

This time of year, a lot of people like to make predictions. So, here’s mine: I predict sometime in the new year, Mitt Romney will announce that he’s leaving the GOP and becoming an independent.

The Biden Crime Family

America First Legal, founded by former Trump Administration official Stephen Miller, filed a Freedom of Information request with the National Archives for any documents related to Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.

The Archives found at least 260 emails that it is prepared to turn over to America First Legal, but there’s a delay. Why? Because the Archives notified the Biden White House and the Obama Presidential Library to see if either intends to invoke executive privilege and block the documents from being released.

This is an interesting moment. As Republicans prepare to take over the House of Representatives and issue a slew of subpoenas for information on Hunter Biden, the White House is once again standing in the way of transparency.

The Biden Administration has refused to release any information on the 150 “Suspicious Activity Reports” that banks filed with the IRS regarding Hunter Biden’s irregular financial dealings. Getting these reports hasn’t been a problem for congressional investigators in the past. But now the Biden Treasury Department is refusing to cooperate.

Democrats fought for years to get their hands on Donald Trump’s tax returns. They set the standard. Republicans should do whatever it takes to break the veil of secrecy that surrounds the Biden crime family.

Biden’s Open Borders

There are a lot of headlines regarding immigration, so here’s a quick rundown. First, the good news.

The Tillis/Sinema amnesty is dead — at least for now. Thank you to everyone who responded to our call to action earlier last week!

A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden Administration’s latest attempt to end Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy. The commonsense policy requires most asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their claims are adjudicated because the overwhelming majority of such claims are bogus.

Texas officials are investigating non-governmental organizations (NGO) that are assisting illegal aliens as they enter the country. It seems that some activities by these NGOs border on facilitating human smuggling, which is a crime.

Now the bad news.

The situation at the border is rapidly deteriorating. You know illegal immigration is out of control when sanctuary politicians like Gavin Newsom start complaining. The Democrat mayor of Denver just declared an emergency because his city is being overwhelmed with illegal aliens straining city services.

Of course, communities all over the country are being overwhelmed. They don’t have resources to deal with the millions of poor people — literally millions — that Biden is allowing into the country.

But we must not fall into the left’s trap that amnesty is the solution (it’s not) or that we need another big “emergency” federal spending bill. Biden only wants more money to build bigger welcome centers and to process more illegal aliens faster.

There shouldn’t be another dime for anything other than barriers at the border! Maybe, hopefully sooner rather than later, voters in California and Colorado will stop voting for open borders candidates and start voting for candidates who are serious about securing the border.

Now for the ugly.

If you needed any more evidence that Joe Biden really is for open borders, we got it last week. The Biden Administration sued the state of Arizona for attempting to secure the border with a makeshift wall of shipping containers. Clearly, Biden wants our borders wide open, no matter how bad illegal immigration gets.

Good News

• Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment banning foreign nationals from voting in state and local elections.

• Eighteen Republican state attorneys general filed a brief in support of parents who are suing an Iowa school district for hiding their children’s “gender transitioning” from them.

• The state of Florida issued subpoenas to 20 organizations, including the American Pediatric Association, the American Medical Association and Yale University. Florida officials want to know why the organizations support radical transgender procedures on kids, and what they do and don’t understand about the long-term effects of such extreme procedures.

• The Ohio Board of Education adopted a resolution opposing the Biden Administration’s radical transgender agenda and reaffirming parental rights in education.

• The University of Idaho settled a lawsuit for $90,000 after it violated the First Amendment rights of Christian students.

• The former superintendent of schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, and another school official have been indicted following a special grand jury investigation into the coverup of the sexual assaults committed by a transgender student.

• After electing three new members, the Temecula Valley Unified School Board voted to ban critical race theory from its classrooms.

• A Pennsylvania school board member who admitted her own bigotry against white, heterosexual men resigned in disgrace.

• Sam Brinton, a “non-binary” Biden Administration official, was fired after two arrests for stealing luggage.