We must stand with our allies.

As you may know, President Biden announced that he was going to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan. As operations draw down, we cannot forget about the allies who served alongside us. That’s why, along with a bipartisan group of my colleagues, I sent a letter urging the Biden Administration to expedite the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications for the Afghans who aided our troops on the ground as interpreters and guides. 

As a veteran who served in Afghanistan in a very high capacity of special operations, I saw firsthand the selfless contributions these Afghan interpreters made to our mission. Their service has kept U.S. troops safe, and now, we need to keep them safe from the Taliban. 

On the other hand, we must stand up to our enemies. 

Unfortunately, that was not the case in the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week.  The EAGLE Act was supposed to be House Democrats’ answer to the threat posed by China. Unfortunately, this was a partisan messaging bill at best, and does NOTHING to actually counter China’s rising influence in the world.  

That’s why I introduced several amendments in an attempt to strengthen the bill.  For more on those amendments and the rest of the week, watch this week’s Week In Review video.