Sens. Lee, Grassley Reintroduce Balanced Budget Amendment
Jan 24, 2019
WASHINGTON – Today, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reintroduced an amendment to the United States Constitution that would require the federal government to balance its budget each year. This amendment would put a stop to the current “status quo” of Congress spending far more money than the federal government takes in and would place strict limitations on the federal government’s ability to increase taxes, raise the debt limit, and carry out other actions that threaten our long-term fiscal sustainability.
Sen. Lee Statement on Ending Shutdown and Paying Federal Workers
Jan 24, 2019
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement Thursday after voting against a White House plan to fund the federal government:
“If this had been a vote to begin debate on a deal to end the shutdown, I would have happily voted yes,” Sen. Lee said. “But this was a vote to end debate on a bill that I believe is fundamentally flawed. In fact, after specifically asking for assurances that we would be allowed to offer amendments, no assurances were given. This bill as is simply does not do enough to reform our immigration system or address the crisis at our southern border.”
Sen. Lee Introduces Bill to Make Mexico City Policy Permanent
Jan 22, 2019
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation Friday that would make the administration’s “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy, former known as the Mexico City Policy, permanent statutory policy.
“The administration’s ban on funding overseas organizations that promote abortion has already saves and will continue to save countless lives across the globe,” Lee said. “We cannot leave the fate of these regulations up to the whims of successive presidents. Congress must now step up and do what they can to turn the ‘Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance’ executive order into law.”
Different Races, Same Boat
Jan 21, 2019
Could a conservative populism repair our racial divide?
Toward the end of his life, Martin Luther King Jr. turned his attention from an exclusive focus on racial justice to unequal opportunity more generally. The United States was “a nation gorged on money,” he wrote, “while millions of its citizens are denied a good education, adequate health services, decent housing, meaningful employment, and even respect, and are then told to be responsible.” He specifically blamed federal policymakers for “subsidies of the rich and unemployment and underemployment of the poor.”
Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform
Jan 18, 2019
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution says that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The Founding Fathers specifically included this provision in the Constitution because, as they complained in the Declaration of Independence, the British often detained colonists and seized their property without any legal process at all.
Unfortunately in recent decades, the federal government and local law enforcement have been using a legal practice called “civil asset forfeiture” to short circuit these protections.
Let’s Start Working to End This Shutdown
Jan 18, 2019
This coming Monday will mark the 31st day of this partial government shutdown, the longest shutdown in our nation’s history. Families are going without paychecks, businesses are losing revenue, and the brave men and women who protect our country—including those at the border and in the waters surrounding our nation—are not getting the support they need to keep us safe.
This needs to end, and it needs to end as soon as possible.
Sen. Lee Delivers Remarks on March for Life
Jan 16, 2019
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the 46th annual March for Life, to be held in Washington, D.C. this Friday.
“The story of American history is the story of our nation overcoming oppression, protecting the vulnerable in our laws and with our lives. From Independence Hall to the Bill of Rights, from the abolition of slavery to universal suffrage to the Civil Rights movement, to the triumph over Nazism, fascism, and communism… the American people have fought through prejudice and pride to assert and to defend the equal dignity of every member of our human family.
Floor Remarks on the March for Life
Jan 16, 2019
This coming Friday, tens of thousands of Americans will take to the snowy streets of Washington, D.C. to exercise their fundamental rights… on behalf of millions more who cannot.
They will come from every state in the union to march to the United States Supreme Court – fittingly, down Constitution Avenue – in the name of justice and in defense of the innocent.
Protecting Our Rural Communities
Jan 11, 2019
Rural Americans want what all Americans want: a dignified decent-paying job, a family to love and support, and a healthy community whose future is determined by local residents – not their self-styled betters thousands of miles away,
Unfortunately, a relic of presidential power from the Progressive Era has been weaponized in recent years to threaten rural Utahns way of life.
Let’s End Government Shutdowns for Good
Jan 11, 2019
It should never have come to this. Today is the 21st day of the government shutdown, tying the record for the longest federal government shutdown in history. And there is no sign that the shutdown will end.
This shutdown is bad for federal workers who will be missing their first paycheck today. It is bad for federal contractors that do business with the federal government. And it is bad for everyone who has to deal with the uncertainty of whether or not government agencies will be providing the services they are charged to deliver.
