(Liberty Bell) – Joe Biden and his regime have methodically used executive power and the Federal budget to push their radical agenda on the American people. The majority of Americans are not supportive of the bizarre, divisive, and discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion” agenda and yet the regime and Democrats have worked tirelessly to implement it and impose it on us all.
The “DEI” push is going to lead to the demise of America, something many Republicans keenly recognize and have been moved to action to combat. In a series of letters to the 12 House appropriations leaders, Rep. Jim Banks and colleagues have identified and called for the defunding of all “‘woke’ programs and initiatives that are rooted in discrimination and promote far-left ideology in the federal government” in 2024 spending bills.
The letters come from Banks’ Anti-Woke Caucus, a 26-member group of House Republicans created by the former chair of the Republican Study Committee earlier this year. Its members include Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chair of the House Republican Conference, members of the House Freedom Caucus, and others.
The letters were delivered to the chairman and ranking members of each of the House Appropriations Committee subcommittees in late March after the release of Biden’s $6.8 trillion 2024 budget request.
Each of the letters indicates examples of “woke” offices or policies that Congress allocated funds to in relevant 2023 spending bills, the amount of funding, “and all programs that discriminate based on race, gender, and sexual orientation or seek to disparage our nation’s core ideals and history [to] be decreased to $0” in the 2024 versions of the bills.
The partial accounting of such programs and initiatives in the letters showed that these types of woke programs totaled over $900 million in 2023. This is money that US taxpayers are on the hook for, mind you. The regime is literally forcing all Americans to support their anti-American, woke agenda.
RealClear Investigations obtained the letters and highlighted the following 2023 programs that Republicans are seeking to cancel in 2024:
-The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act’s more than $200 million in spending on programs aimed at increasing race-based hiring and recruitment in STEM.
-The State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act’s $200 million for the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund.
-The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act’s $108 million for “environmental justice” activities.
This $900 million doesn’t even include broader items pointed out in the letters, such as the $3.5 billion designated for energy efficiency and renewable energy in the 2023 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
RealClear Investigations noted:
“Given that the letters represent only a partial accounting of such programs, the vagueness of budget language, and the discretion with which federal agencies can act, tax dollars advancing such efforts may well substantially dwarf these figures.”
And highlighted language in the 2023 versions of:
-The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, claiming that “white supremacists and violent anti-government domestic extremists” are “infiltrating security and law-enforcement agencies.”
-The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, directing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to detain transgender illegal aliens at facilities only with staff who have received “LGBTI Sensitivity and Awareness Training,” and medical personnel with experience delivering hormone therapies.
-The Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, requesting that the Department of Energy consider social equity and environmental and energy justice in state and community energy programs.
“We believe that the House Republican majority has a responsibility to use its spending powers to ensure that we do not contribute further funding to anti-American and divisive initiatives,” the signatories to each letter wrote.
Getting these massive changes made is going to be an uphill battle considering the Democrats control the Senate and the presidency. While the House has primary power under the Constitution to tax and spend, only three times in the last 47 years has Congress completed a budget in advance of the subsequent fiscal year, which begins October 1st.
RealClear Investigations explains that Congress instead often relies “on continuing resolutions that temporarily fund the government at existing levels. This year spending disagreements extend to negotiations to avert a U.S. debt default by relaxing the limit on federal borrowing, a ceiling some expect the government to reach this summer; in those talks, the Biden administration has refused to contemplate any cuts at all.”
The outlet further reports:
“Should Congress pass and President Biden ultimately compromise on a budget that does not wholly comport with his progressive priorities, his administration could be expected to circumvent the anti-woke constraints. In a recent precedent, President Trump declared a national emergency to justify redirecting funding to build a southern border wall that Congress had not so allocated. The courts ultimately blessed that effort. But in his first day in office, President Biden froze it.”
When asked about the possibility of GOP success Rep. Banks told RCI that:
“This needs to be the Republican majority that says enough is enough. Speaker Pelosi famously said ‘show me your budget and I’ll tell you your values.’ This appropriations cycle, Republicans need to show that we value liberty, patriotism and legal equality and that we reject dividing Americans based on race, anti-Americanism, radical gender ideology and climate hysteria.”
Even if Republicans aren’t successful in accomplishing the defunding of these woke programs, there could still be political advantages to pursuing it. It will force Dems to defend their positions going into the 2024 election which will inevitably hurt them since the leftist ideology is generally unpopular among Americans.
Copyright 2023. LibertyBell.com
