NEWS FROM CONGRESSMAN DARRELL ISSA
NEWS FROM CONGRESSMAN
DARRELL ISSA
ICYMI
Issa Continues Challenge of UC Proposal to Hire Illegal Immigrants: “Clear Contradiction of Federal Law”
On January 25, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) spoke out against a proposal by the University of California school system to allow undocumented students to work at UC schools.
The proposal, highlighted in a CBS Los Angeles article, comes in response to the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2021 and would make undocumented students the exception to federal law that prohibits people without immigration status from legally working.
Rep. Issa gave the following statement in opposition to the proposal:
“140 years ago, the University of California proudly declared that its motto would be Fiat Lux — ‘Let there be light’ — and it was soon to become America’s leading university system. What a dark day it will be if it yields to a pressure campaign, denies clear Supreme Court rulings, and opts to pick and choose which federal laws to follow and which to simply ignore.”
Issa Votes for Tax Relief for American Families, California Businesses
On February 1, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) voted in support of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. The bill supports pro-economic growth policies and delivers tax relief to American families.
“I voted for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act to affirm my commitment to reducing the tax burden on American families and businesses in San Diego, Riverside, and beyond. This bill restores important tax relief to small businesses and hardworking innovators that expand prosperity and develop cutting-edge technologies. It delivers relief to families and those affected by natural disasters. Let’s continue to support America’s entrepreneurial spirit and extend economic opportunity to every corner of this country,” said Rep. Issa
Key provisions of the bill include:
- Research and Development (R&D) Expensing to allow American businesses to continue to invest in innovation
- Interest deductibility to give relief to businesses forced to borrow at higher interest rates
- 100% expensing to allow small businesses to purchase the machines, equipment, and vehicles needed to operate
- Expand small business expensing cap to reduce tax burden for local businesses and entrepreneurs
- Cut small business red tape by adjusting reporting thresholds to account for increased labor costs and inflation
- Expands access and removes large family penalties with the child tax credit
- Encourages housing construction by the private sector for low-income families
- Exempts wildfire and flood disaster payments from federal income taxes
More information on the bill can be found here.
Issa Votes to Deport Illegal Immigrants Who Defraud Social Security, Commit DUIs, Evade Border Patrol
On February 1, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) voted in favor of four bills supporting the rule of law and a strong border.
“We must secure the border and enforce the immigration laws on the books right now. These bills approved by the House this week are essential to closing loopholes in the current law, leaving no ambiguity for the consequences individuals should face when acting in dangerous and harmful conduct,” said Rep. Issa.
The bills include:
- H.R. 6678, the Consequences for Social Security Faud Act – This legislation ensures that illegal immigrants are inadmissible to and removable from the United States for social security fraud and other identification document fraud.
- H.R. 6976, the Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act – To deport illegal immigrants who drive while drunk or impaired
- H.R. 5585, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act – Creates federal penalties for individuals who intentionally evade Border Patrol agents or assisting law enforcement, with increased penalties for those who cause injury in the process
- H.R. 6679, the No Immigration for Hamas Terrorists Act – Prevents Hamas terrorists, as well as those who participated in the attacks of October 7 on Israel, from entering or remaining in the U.S.
Issa Convenes Comprehensive Roundtable Discussion on Artificial Intelligence
Corporations, Creators, Artists Share Experiences and Concerns
Washington: On February 2nd in Los Angeles, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, convened a roundtable discussion on Artificial Intelligence that included representatives from a wide-ranging collection of industries, artists, and experts. The audience included motion picture and television studios, high-tech companies, software developers, global professional services, performance and graphic artists, and long-term A.I. practitioners.
The meeting followed a Subcommittee field hearing held earlier in the day – also chaired by Rep. Issa – entitled “Identity in the Age of A.I.”
Following the roundtable, Rep. Issa said: “If Congress is going to develop a full understanding of A.I. and our legislative role in its current state and future development, it’s imperative that we hear directly from the corporations, creators, and developers already using it and who stand to be the most impacted by its limitless potential. We have both a responsibility and an opportunity to get this right and ensure that A.I. is neither misused to break the law nor prevented from changing lives for the better. My thanks to all the participants who shared their views, concerns, insights, and advice with me and the audience.”
Roundtable participants included representatives from:
Paramount
Sony
Disney
Qualcomm
Accenture
Universal
Adobe
Consumer Technology Association
Independent Film & TV Alliance
Harman
Directors Guild of America
Screen Actors Guild
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Issa: Mayorkas has thwarted the mission of his office, must be impeached
On February 6, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) offered the following remarks on the House floor in support of the resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:
“The Secretary is being impeached for what he did wrong. He is, in fact, guilty as alleged, but he is just part of the high crimes and misdemeanors of the President of the United States.
“It was the President’s decision to undo policies that were working – to reverse, to make a systematic change that, in my district with over 55 miles of Mexican border, my border agents are reduced to being Uber drivers for everyone coming over the border.
“I am perfectly willing to listen to people say ‘Well this is a policy difference’ – but it is not.
“To faithfully execute the mission, you can have differences in how to do it. To thwart the very execution of that mission – which Secretary Mayorkas has done – is, in fact, an impeachable offense.”
Issa Earns “A+” Pro-Life Rating by Susan B. Anthony List
On February 8, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) recently received an “A+” rating on the Susan B. Anthony List National Pro-Life Scorecard for his leadership and strong voting record on pro-life legislation in Congress.
On Issa’s rating, SBA Pro-Life America stated,
“Rep. Issa has voted consistently to defend the lives of the unborn and infants. This includes stopping hard-earned tax dollars from paying for abortion, including abortion travel expenses, whether domestically or internationally, and pushing back on the administration’s extreme abortion executive actions.”
“I am honored to receive an A+ rating from the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America national scorecard. We are only as good as our respect for the life of our people, and I will never stop fighting for to affirm the right to life in Congress,” said Rep. Issa.
For more information on Congressman Issa’s top pro-life rating, click here.
ICYMI: Issa, House Conservatives Demand End to U.S. Funding for UNRWA
On February 8, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48), along with 36 House Republican colleagues, wrote to congressional appropriators calling for an end to U.S. taxpayer funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The letter, highlighted in an exclusive from the New York Post, details evidence that UNRWA schools systemically teach hatred of Israel, more than 1,000 UNRWA employees are directly tied to terrorist groups and 12 UNRWA employees directly participated in the October 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas.
Congressman Issa’s letter includes the following:
“The totality of evidence regarding UNRWA’s conduct demonstrates its systemic and incurable ties to terror. Credible allegations that twelve UNRWA employees were connected to the October 7 attack have led to a pause in funding by the United States and several other donor countries. On January 29, 2024, the Wall Street Journal published intelligence assessments describing UNRWA’s deep ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups. Specifically, roughly 1,200 UNRWA employees, or about 10 percent of its Gaza staff, have ties to terrorist groups, while half have close relatives who belong to these groups.
In short, UNRWA is part of the problem and so, we believe U.S. funding must not be permitted. As Congress works to advance appropriations legislation, we respectfully request that you include language prohibiting any funds from being made available to UNRWA in the Fiscal Year 2024 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. We appreciate your attention to this timely and important matter.”
The full letter can be found here.
On January 30, 2024, Rep. Issa also participated in a House Foreign Affairs joint Subcommittee hearing on UNRWA and focused his questions on the organization’s antisemitic education programs.
Additionally, Rep. Issa joined Foreign Affairs Chairman McCaul in a letter requesting Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, to appear before the Foreign Affairs committee to address systemic and growing concerns over theft of UNRWA aid products and agency ties to Hamas.
Rep. Issa was also joined by Rep. Wagner (MO-02) in sending a letter to Secretary Blinken demanding the State Department “immediately reclaim the tens of millions of dollars it has obligated or committed to UNRWA.”
Issa Announces New Mobile Office Hours for Offices in Lakeside, Warner Springs, and Rainbow
Escondido – On February 12, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) announced new staff mobile office hours in the communities of Lakeside, Warner Springs, and Rainbow.
Mobile office hours are available to provide any resident of California’s 48th Congressional District the opportunity to meet with a member of Congressman Issa’s staff and receive assistance with casework needs such as passports, veterans’ benefits, social security and Medicare recipients, IRS and tax returns, and other questions or concerns related to federal agencies.
The mobile office hours dates and locations are as follows:
Lakeside
Tuesday, February 27th
Lakeside Branch, San Diego County Library Conference Room
12428 Woodside Ave, Lakeside, CA 92040
12 pm – 4 pm PT
Warner Springs
Wednesday, February 28th
Warner Springs Community Resource Center
30950 Highway 79, Warner Springs, CA 92086
12 pm – 4 pm PT
Rainbow
Thursday, February 29th
Rainbow Municipal Water District Board Room
3707 Old Highway 395, Rainbow, CA 92028
12 pm – 4 pm PT
“My mobile office team will be standing by to provide any constituent with the help and assistance they need,” said Rep. Issa. “I invite residents in and around Lakeside, Warner Springs, and Rainbow to visit with questions or requests for assistance with a federal agency.”
Appointments for mobile office hours are not necessary. For more information, please contact Congressman Issa’s local office at 760-304-7575.
ICYMI: Issa, 53 House Republicans Demand Houthis be Designated as FTO
Washington – On February 13, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for Ansarallah in Yemen (commonly known as the Houthis), to be redesignated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Rep. Issa’s letter was co-signed by 53 of his GOP colleagues, including Foreign Affairs Chairman McCaul and every Foreign Affairs subcommittee chairman.
The letter, highlighted in an exclusive report on Fox News Digital, notes in detail increasing Houthi terror attacks on shipping vessels and U.S Navy assets in the Red Sea. Issa’s letter also describes the half-measure of the Biden Administration designating the Houthi’s as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) without the imposition of a much stronger designation as an FTO.
An excerpt from the letter:
“As has been widely reported, these attacks threaten the free flow of commerce, endanger innocent mariners, and violate international law. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait accommodates 12 percent of global trade flows, including 30 percent of global container traffic. Predictably, the threat of Houthi bombardment has rerouted much international shipping away from the Red Sea, dramatically slowing the movement of goods that must now be shipped around Africa and impacting transnational supply chains. Sometimes, the impact is far more tangible as in the case of strikes on U.S.-owned ships.
It is time for a significantly stronger response. An SDGT designation that includes broad exemptions for petroleum, port, and airport-related4 transactions and that will not come into effect for a month – despite the immediacy of the threat and significant congressional interest in redesignation of the Houthis as an FTO at the outset of their campaign – is wholly inadequate and unacceptable. An FTO designation is substantially preferable to a stand-alone SDGT designation. Listing the Houthis as an FTO would provide a right of action to victims of Houthi terrorism, impose visa bans, and apply sanctions widely to non-U.S. persons, while your SDGT designation would not. Likewise, when compared with an SDGT listing, an FTO designation would also reduce the legal threshold for penalizing violators of the resultant sanctions.”
The full letter can be found here.
Issa Hosts Fentanyl Panel, Hears from Border Patrol, Law Enforcement
Washington – On February 14, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48), Chair of the Congressional Fentanyl Prevention Caucus, convened a comprehensive roundtable discussion on fentanyl trafficking at the Southern Border.
The panel of speakers included Riverside County’s Sheriff Chad Bianco, Agent Hector Garza, Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council, and Sarah Hoke, the Drug Intelligence Officer at the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Association.
Panelists detailed their firsthand experiences with fentanyl trafficking at the Border and West Coast, complications resulting from open border policies, and federal policies that should be enforced to counter this crisis.
“Biden’s open border policies have facilitated the continuous flow of fentanyl across our southern border, costing over 100,000 American lives annually. As his administration continues to ignore the ramifications of this failure, Joe Biden is willingly leaving American lives at risk of this deadly drug,” said Rep. Issa. “That’s why I hosted today’s panel – to hear directly from those on the front lines of this issue and learn how we can turn the tide in this fight that we must win. My thanks to our panelists for sharing their experiences and insight on this issue.”
Issa, Jordan Lead Challenge to Biden Administration of Intellectual Property
Judiciary Committee continues oversight on TRIPS Waiver, assault on IP rights
Washington – On February 15, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, joined Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in sending a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai regarding the Biden Administration’s disastrous waiver of certain portions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Rep. Issa was joined by all of his GOP subcommittee colleagues.
“The Biden White House’s TRIPS waiver sends an unmistakable signal that the medical innovations of our greatest minds can, ultimately, be taken by the government from their rightful owners,” said Rep. Issa. “The White House still has the opportunity to ensure strong IP protections around the world so that people everywhere may enjoy the benefits of the full range of treatments and cures that are a direct result of our system of intellectual property rights.”
Writing in Forbes, Pacific Research Institute President Sally Pipes wrote, “In 2022, the WTO’s member nations agreed to a TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines. The argument was that developing countries lacked easy access to vaccines. They sought the ability to manufacture them cheaply to dispense to their own populations. But they needed the WTO’s member nations to give them permission to ignore the IP protections undergirding those vaccines. Unfortunately, that 2022 vaccine waiver opened the door to scrapping IP rights in other instances.”
The letter also stated: “We urge the Administration to lead the international community in focusing instead on the real logistical obstacles faced by developing countries in accessing treatments, which are similar to the obstacles described in our May 2021 letter with respect to vaccines and which do not require waiving IP rights to overcome. Such a course would make real contributions to global public health while preserving the incentives for innovators to develop the next generation of medicines and technologies that will protect us in future pandemics.”
Issa: Time to unleash America’s full energy potential
Washington –On February 16, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) released the following statement after passage of the Unlocking Our Domestic Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Potential Act of 2024. The legislation was passed by a bipartisan vote of 224-200.
“America has thrived when it has pursued energy policies that unlock our vast resources, utilize the most advanced production innovations, and share that abundance with our allies and developing nations. An unmistakable part of this strategy and success should be the use of safe, clean, and plentiful Liquified Natural Gas. LNG is used every day and all over the world – including much of America – and the Biden Administration’s war on this and other energy supplies is not only short-sighted, it has already had a bottom-line impact on the standard of living of millions of Americans. We need to change that, and that’s why I’m proud to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in advancing this important legislation. It deserves to make it to the President’s desk.”
The Unlocking Our Domestic Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Potential Act of 2024:
- Repeals all restrictions on the import and export of natural gas.
- Provides that FERC shall have the exclusive authority to approve or deny LNG terminal applications.
- Makes clear that nothing in this section limits the authority of the President that imposes sanctions on a foreign person or foreign government, including a country that is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, to prohibit imports or exports.
Read the full text of the bill here.
Darrell Issa is the Representative of California’s 48th Congressional District. The District encompasses the central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County, including the communities of Fallbrook, Valley Center, Ramona, Escondido, Santee, Lakeside, Poway, Temecula, Murrieta, and the mountain and desert areas of the San Diego-Imperial County line. Issa served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2011-2015.
