The legislative gears are already turning in Congress as Republicans prepare a slew of border security and other conservative policy bills for President-elect Donald Trump two weeks ahead of his inauguration.
Friday marked the first day of the 119th Congress, meaning any bills not signed into law by President Biden must already be introduced and passed again, even if they passed one or both chambers in the previous term.
Republicans appeared to waste no time in doing that. The most recent Congressional record shows lawmakers re-introduced several bills that Democrats and even some GOP lawmakers dismissed as “messaging” efforts as recently as last year.
Among them is the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, which would require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.
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Another bill re-introduced on Friday was the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., which would mandate deportation of migrants found to have committed sex crimes.
“Let’s get it passed through both chambers of Congress this go around,” Mace wrote on social media over the weekend.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., announced that the House would vote this week on the Laken Riley Act, named after an Augusta University nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant early last year.
The legislation would require federal immigration authorities to issue detainers and take custody of illegal immigrants who commit theft-related crimes.
It passed the House with some Democratic support but was not taken up in the Senate, which was led by then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
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Now, however, Republicans are poised to control all the levers of power in Washington after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
“If the Senate will do its job, President Trump will make it law,” Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who introduced the bill, said in a statement.
A fourth bill, among others, was re-introduced by Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., and aimed at defunding sanctuary cities.
Other Republican priorities introduced last year but which never received Biden’s signature were also reintroduced, like Roy’s bill alongside new House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., to levy sanctions on the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel.
It is a glimpse into the specifics of how Republicans intend to carry out their promise of securing the border.
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GOP lawmakers appear to be moving fast to deliver on Trump’s wish for a highly active first 100 days of Congress.
Over the weekend, GOP lawmakers began crafting plans for a massive conservative policy overhaul bill, aimed at including elements of border security, energy policy, tax cuts and defense measures.
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