Dear Friend,
For nearly three years now, the Biden Administration has failed to properly address the compounding crises facing our country, not to mention the disasters of the Administration’s own making – the security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border, an emboldened IRS, and the Biden family’s corrupt business dealings. Not to mention, in the meantime, Democrats have emboldened the most extreme members of their party. Not only are they putting forth dangerous policies, but they’re also being dangerous with their actions and their rhetoric.
STANDING AGAINST EXTREMISM
This week, for the 26th time in our history, the House of Representatives censured one of its members. A bipartisan majority voted to hold Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accountable for propagating Hamas lies and anti-Semitic hate.
It was little more than a month ago that Hamas terrorists brutally tortured and murdered more than 1,400 people in Israel and took more than 240 people hostage. Within hours of the attacks, Rep. Tlaib began to spread dangerous falsehoods, blaming Israel for atrocities committed by Hamas. Despite U.S. intelligence that debunks and discredits her claims, Rep. Tlaib has doubled down and called for the destruction of the State of Israel and elimination of the Jewish people with her use of slogans like ‘from the river to the sea.’ Her willful spread of lies and hatred have fomented a rise in antisemitism not seen in a lifetime.
Let’s be clear that this is not a First Amendment issue – anyone has the right to make stupid, ill-informed statements. However, the House also has the right to rebuke this behavior and make it clear that there must be consequences for the propagation of terrorist lies. I was proud to vote in favor of the resolution to censure Rep. Tlaib and send a message that this type of hate has no place in Congress.
THE BIDEN BORDER CRISIS
Since President Biden took office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has logged more than 6.2 million illegal border crossings, plus at least 1.5 million “gotaways” – those who CBP estimate have made it into the country without being caught. These alarming numbers are a direct result of Joe Biden’s open border policies, that he claims are a part of his plan to promote “safe, orderly, and humane migration,” but:
When it comes to the crisis on the southern border, there’s no single facet that encapsulates the entire problem. Whether it’s the sheer number of migrants overwhelming Border Patrol and the towns they’re crossing into, the security breakdown that enables fentanyl and other illicit drugs to pour into the United States and kill our loved ones, or how the Biden Administration cut corners in order to place migrant children with un-vetted sponsors, this chaos is a direct result of Joe Biden’s refusal to secure the border.
Make no mistake, House Republicans know that what’s happening at our southern border is dangerous, inhumane, and untenable. This is why we passed the Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2), which is the strongest border security package in American history. This legislation would:
It is well past time to take back control of the border and I urge the Senate to immediately act on this legislation so we can do just that.
STANDING AGAINST BIDEN'S IRS ARMY
Last Congress, the Democratic majority passed their so-called Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169), which allocated $80 billion in new funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, which Biden Administration officials told Americans not to worry about. They promised time and time again that these agents would only be concerned with those earning more than $400,000 annually, even amid Republican warnings that this legislation would result in more audits for middle-class families. Predictably, this legislation has done nothing to reduce inflation, so it’s unsurprising the IRS finally admitted it would result in increased audits on lower- and middle-income earners. This is a weaponization of the IRS to go after Americans and small business just to pay for the Left’s radical policy wish list.
As if the plan to increase tax revenue by squeezing working and middle-class taxpayers out of more of their hard-earned money wasn’t bad enough, a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found both new and longstanding security risks to the safety of confidential taxpayer information at the IRS. The report highlights dozens of security weaknesses and illustrates how the IRS continues to squander public trust by failing to protect taxpayer privacy and ignoring recommendations to increase taxpayer information security. So, what – President Biden’s solution is to reward the IRS with an $80 billion pay raise to exploit American taxpayers?
The last thing Americans need right now is to be harassed and exploited by the IRS. Earlier this year, I was proud to vote in favor of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 23), which would rescind billions of dollars from the IRS, preventing them from using its massive influx of taxpayer dollars to harass and squeeze more revenue out of American families. This legislation would allow the IRS to keep a small share of new funds dedicated to improving taxpayer services and interactions with the IRS. It is imperative the Senate consider this commonsense legislation.
IMPEACHMENT UPDATE
Back in September, the House formally announced an impeachment inquiry into the allegations President Biden was involved in regarding his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes that used his public office for his family’s financial gain. Since then, the House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means have continued to follow the evidence to determine whether President Biden committed impeachable offenses under the U.S. Constitution.
Since then, Congressional testimony and exhibits, as well as court filings and media reports, have contradicted President Biden’s sweeping denials about his involvement with his family’s business dealings, and raised three large questions about a $200,000 wire transfer, 82,000 pages of private emails, and a $40,000 check.
1. The first big question: Last month, bank records released by the House Oversight Committee raised more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family’s shady business dealings. These records revealed a $200,000 personal check paid to President Biden from his brother, James Biden. The personal check, labeled a loan repayment, was issued on the same day in 2018 Americore Health LLC, a financially distressed rural hospital operator, also wired a $200,000 loan into James Biden’s PNC bank account. According to bankruptcy filings, James Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from Americore on the promise that his last name "could 'open doors' and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East, based on his political connections."
If this indeed was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling President Biden was able to be paid back by his brother thanks to the success of his family’s shady financial dealings. This raises additional questions, like:
2. The second big question: According to an October 30, 2023, filing by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, President Biden may have sent or received 82,000 pages of private emails through alias email accounts while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president. The Archives revealed the trove of correspondence spanned all eight years of Biden’s vice presidency, although it’s unclear what topics are covered in a large portion of the emails.
This revelation comes two months after the House Oversight Committee asked the Archives to turn over unredacted copies of then-Vice President Biden’s use of alias email accounts in his correspondence. In response to the Committee’s request, the White House has only cleared 14 pages. This lack of transparency is unacceptable.
3. The third big question: New bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee purportedly show a complicated series of money transfers that ultimately resulted in President Biden receiving $40,000 that originated with a Chinese company affiliated with CEFC China Energy.
President Biden received a $40,000 personal check from an account shared by his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden, in September 2017 – money that was once again marked as a “loan repayment.” The alleged repayment was sent after funds filtered from a Chinese company through several accounts related to Hunter Biden and eventually down to the personal account shared by James and Sara Biden.
In the first half of 2017, Hunter Biden and his associates negotiated a business deal with CEFC, an energy conglomerate linked to the Chinese government. According to a May 2017 email that discussed equity stakes, one of Hunter’s associates proposed he set aside 10% of the joint venture for “the big guy.”
Through various entities, CEFC paid Hunter Biden the family’s share of their earnings from the Chinese partnership. Hunter Biden would then use one of his companies, Owasco, to send James Biden his cut. The new bank records show that a CEFC-linked company sent $5 million to an entity owned partly by Hunter Biden and partly by a CEFC executive on Aug. 8, 2017. The same day, Hunter Biden appears to have transferred $400,000 into his Owasco account. Those who made it through fifth grade math will note that $40,000 (the amount President Biden received from his brother in the form of a personal check) is 10% of $400,000.
Once again, this “personal loan repayment” raises more questions than answers.
As evidence continues to be uncovered, I remain supportive of moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. So far, more questions have been raised than answered, and President Biden’s explanations have repeatedly shifted.
The goal posts keep moving, but the evidence is piling up. We will continue to respect the system in place and follow all the rules as this impeachment inquiry progresses.
LOOKING AHEAD
It’s more important now than ever before that Congress maintains its essential oversight responsibilities. We cannot allow the policy disasters of the Biden Administration become the status quo. In addition, it is our job to ensure that everyone who breaks the law, regardless of political affiliation, is held accountable.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As always, thank you for subscribing to the Amodei Report. I look forward to continuing to keep you up to date on the issues you care about most. For additional information, please visit my website at Amodei.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-6155, Reno office: (775) 686-5760, or Elko phone: (775) 777-7705. To receive updates on what I am doing in Washington and in Nevada’s 2nd District follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Sincerely,
Mark E. Amodei
Member of Congress
For nearly three years now, the Biden Administration has failed to properly address the compounding crises facing our country, not to mention the disasters of the Administration’s own making – the security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border, an emboldened IRS, and the Biden family’s corrupt business dealings. Not to mention, in the meantime, Democrats have emboldened the most extreme members of their party. Not only are they putting forth dangerous policies, but they’re also being dangerous with their actions and their rhetoric.
STANDING AGAINST EXTREMISM
This week, for the 26th time in our history, the House of Representatives censured one of its members. A bipartisan majority voted to hold Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accountable for propagating Hamas lies and anti-Semitic hate.
It was little more than a month ago that Hamas terrorists brutally tortured and murdered more than 1,400 people in Israel and took more than 240 people hostage. Within hours of the attacks, Rep. Tlaib began to spread dangerous falsehoods, blaming Israel for atrocities committed by Hamas. Despite U.S. intelligence that debunks and discredits her claims, Rep. Tlaib has doubled down and called for the destruction of the State of Israel and elimination of the Jewish people with her use of slogans like ‘from the river to the sea.’ Her willful spread of lies and hatred have fomented a rise in antisemitism not seen in a lifetime.
Let’s be clear that this is not a First Amendment issue – anyone has the right to make stupid, ill-informed statements. However, the House also has the right to rebuke this behavior and make it clear that there must be consequences for the propagation of terrorist lies. I was proud to vote in favor of the resolution to censure Rep. Tlaib and send a message that this type of hate has no place in Congress.
THE BIDEN BORDER CRISIS
Since President Biden took office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has logged more than 6.2 million illegal border crossings, plus at least 1.5 million “gotaways” – those who CBP estimate have made it into the country without being caught. These alarming numbers are a direct result of Joe Biden’s open border policies, that he claims are a part of his plan to promote “safe, orderly, and humane migration,” but:
- Is there anything safe about the journey migrants take in the “care” of cartels?
- Is there anything orderly about the thousands of pounds of fentanyl smuggled across the border?
- Is there anything humane about the exploitation and trafficking of migrant women and children?
When it comes to the crisis on the southern border, there’s no single facet that encapsulates the entire problem. Whether it’s the sheer number of migrants overwhelming Border Patrol and the towns they’re crossing into, the security breakdown that enables fentanyl and other illicit drugs to pour into the United States and kill our loved ones, or how the Biden Administration cut corners in order to place migrant children with un-vetted sponsors, this chaos is a direct result of Joe Biden’s refusal to secure the border.
Make no mistake, House Republicans know that what’s happening at our southern border is dangerous, inhumane, and untenable. This is why we passed the Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2), which is the strongest border security package in American history. This legislation would:
- Increase the number of Border Patrol Agents.
- End catch and release.
- Strengthen current law to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking.
- Deploy additional technology to detect and prevent the entry of narcotics.
- End abuse of executive immigration authority.
It is well past time to take back control of the border and I urge the Senate to immediately act on this legislation so we can do just that.
STANDING AGAINST BIDEN'S IRS ARMY
Last Congress, the Democratic majority passed their so-called Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169), which allocated $80 billion in new funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, which Biden Administration officials told Americans not to worry about. They promised time and time again that these agents would only be concerned with those earning more than $400,000 annually, even amid Republican warnings that this legislation would result in more audits for middle-class families. Predictably, this legislation has done nothing to reduce inflation, so it’s unsurprising the IRS finally admitted it would result in increased audits on lower- and middle-income earners. This is a weaponization of the IRS to go after Americans and small business just to pay for the Left’s radical policy wish list.
As if the plan to increase tax revenue by squeezing working and middle-class taxpayers out of more of their hard-earned money wasn’t bad enough, a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found both new and longstanding security risks to the safety of confidential taxpayer information at the IRS. The report highlights dozens of security weaknesses and illustrates how the IRS continues to squander public trust by failing to protect taxpayer privacy and ignoring recommendations to increase taxpayer information security. So, what – President Biden’s solution is to reward the IRS with an $80 billion pay raise to exploit American taxpayers?
The last thing Americans need right now is to be harassed and exploited by the IRS. Earlier this year, I was proud to vote in favor of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 23), which would rescind billions of dollars from the IRS, preventing them from using its massive influx of taxpayer dollars to harass and squeeze more revenue out of American families. This legislation would allow the IRS to keep a small share of new funds dedicated to improving taxpayer services and interactions with the IRS. It is imperative the Senate consider this commonsense legislation.
IMPEACHMENT UPDATE
Back in September, the House formally announced an impeachment inquiry into the allegations President Biden was involved in regarding his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes that used his public office for his family’s financial gain. Since then, the House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means have continued to follow the evidence to determine whether President Biden committed impeachable offenses under the U.S. Constitution.
Since then, Congressional testimony and exhibits, as well as court filings and media reports, have contradicted President Biden’s sweeping denials about his involvement with his family’s business dealings, and raised three large questions about a $200,000 wire transfer, 82,000 pages of private emails, and a $40,000 check.
1. The first big question: Last month, bank records released by the House Oversight Committee raised more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family’s shady business dealings. These records revealed a $200,000 personal check paid to President Biden from his brother, James Biden. The personal check, labeled a loan repayment, was issued on the same day in 2018 Americore Health LLC, a financially distressed rural hospital operator, also wired a $200,000 loan into James Biden’s PNC bank account. According to bankruptcy filings, James Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from Americore on the promise that his last name "could 'open doors' and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East, based on his political connections."
If this indeed was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling President Biden was able to be paid back by his brother thanks to the success of his family’s shady financial dealings. This raises additional questions, like:
- What was the purpose of the original loan?
- Was interest included in the repayment?
- Was there a repayment plan?
- Is there documented proof of the original loan?
- What did Americore think the Bidens could deliver that was worth that kind of money?
2. The second big question: According to an October 30, 2023, filing by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, President Biden may have sent or received 82,000 pages of private emails through alias email accounts while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president. The Archives revealed the trove of correspondence spanned all eight years of Biden’s vice presidency, although it’s unclear what topics are covered in a large portion of the emails.
This revelation comes two months after the House Oversight Committee asked the Archives to turn over unredacted copies of then-Vice President Biden’s use of alias email accounts in his correspondence. In response to the Committee’s request, the White House has only cleared 14 pages. This lack of transparency is unacceptable.
3. The third big question: New bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee purportedly show a complicated series of money transfers that ultimately resulted in President Biden receiving $40,000 that originated with a Chinese company affiliated with CEFC China Energy.
President Biden received a $40,000 personal check from an account shared by his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden, in September 2017 – money that was once again marked as a “loan repayment.” The alleged repayment was sent after funds filtered from a Chinese company through several accounts related to Hunter Biden and eventually down to the personal account shared by James and Sara Biden.
In the first half of 2017, Hunter Biden and his associates negotiated a business deal with CEFC, an energy conglomerate linked to the Chinese government. According to a May 2017 email that discussed equity stakes, one of Hunter’s associates proposed he set aside 10% of the joint venture for “the big guy.”
Through various entities, CEFC paid Hunter Biden the family’s share of their earnings from the Chinese partnership. Hunter Biden would then use one of his companies, Owasco, to send James Biden his cut. The new bank records show that a CEFC-linked company sent $5 million to an entity owned partly by Hunter Biden and partly by a CEFC executive on Aug. 8, 2017. The same day, Hunter Biden appears to have transferred $400,000 into his Owasco account. Those who made it through fifth grade math will note that $40,000 (the amount President Biden received from his brother in the form of a personal check) is 10% of $400,000.
Once again, this “personal loan repayment” raises more questions than answers.
- What was the purpose of the original loan?
- Was interest included in the repayment?
- Was there a repayment plan?
- Is there documented proof of the original loan?
- Was President Biden truly unaware his son and brother were taking advantage of his name to be repaid?
As evidence continues to be uncovered, I remain supportive of moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. So far, more questions have been raised than answered, and President Biden’s explanations have repeatedly shifted.
- First, he had “never spoken” to his son about business.
- Then, he wasn’t “in business” with his son.
- Now, he “didn’t profit” from his family members’ business ventures.
The goal posts keep moving, but the evidence is piling up. We will continue to respect the system in place and follow all the rules as this impeachment inquiry progresses.
LOOKING AHEAD
It’s more important now than ever before that Congress maintains its essential oversight responsibilities. We cannot allow the policy disasters of the Biden Administration become the status quo. In addition, it is our job to ensure that everyone who breaks the law, regardless of political affiliation, is held accountable.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As always, thank you for subscribing to the Amodei Report. I look forward to continuing to keep you up to date on the issues you care about most. For additional information, please visit my website at Amodei.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-6155, Reno office: (775) 686-5760, or Elko phone: (775) 777-7705. To receive updates on what I am doing in Washington and in Nevada’s 2nd District follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Sincerely,
Mark E. Amodei
Member of Congress
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