by Corinne Murdock | Aug 24, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Last month, Representatives Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) voted against expediting visas for Afghans fleeing the Taliban. The Averting Loss of Life and Injury by Expediting SIVs Act (ALLIES) Act applies to Afghans that assisted the U.S. in the war: this includes interpreters, contractors, and security.
The ALLIES Act ensured that Afghans could receive special immigrant visas more quickly by removing certain application requirements, namely the proof that the applicant was currently experiencing or had experienced an ongoing serious threat due to their employment with the U.S. government. Instead, Afghans could apply if they believed there existed the possibility of a serious threat. The act also increased the number of available visas by 11,000.
Gosar explained that he is more focused on bringing Americans home safely. He argued that this should be the first and only priority, before assisting Afghans.
“How many US citizens are trapped in Afghanistan? I don’t see reliable info on this. It’s critical we get our people out safely,” said Gosar. “It’s not critical to use planes to bring Afghans here. To see our transports full of illegal aliens and not US citizens is immoral.”
Although the ALLIES Act was introduced in a bipartisan manner, 16 House Republicans voted against the measure.
In addition to Gosar and Biggs, “no” votes on the ALLIES Act included Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Mo Brooks (R-AL-05), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04), Jeff Duncan (R-SC-03), Bob Good (R-VA-05), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Kevin Hern (R-OK-01), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Thomas Massie (R-KY-04), Barry Moore (R-AL-02), Scott Perry (R-PA-10), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), and Chip Roy (R-TX-21).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 4, 2021 | Economy, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Representative Paul Gosar, DDS (R-AZ-04) debuted a new series on Sunday to keep his constituents in the loop: “The Gosar Minute.” The series offers fast-hitting facts, commentary, and solutions for current issues, presented by Gosar’s staffers in the style of traditional broadcast journalism.
Gosar’s latest series may be difficult to find, however. AZ Free News discovered that Twitter has hidden the tag #GosarMinute under its “Sensitive Content” setting. Any users searching for #GosarMinute on Twitter with their search settings hiding sensitive content won’t be able to find those Gosar Minute posts. However, users will be able to locate the Gosar Minute postings on Gosar’s congressional Twitter page.
Twitter says that “sensitive media” may fall into the following categories: graphic violence, adult content, violent sexual content, gratuitous gore, and hateful imagery.
The premiere episode featured Gosar’s intern, Faith Graham, discussing how Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to meet with Gosar and Representatives Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01) to discuss the mistreatment and physical abuse of those imprisoned for nonviolent offenses committed at the Capitol on January 6.
“Today I am launching ‘The Gosar Minute.’ My team will discuss current events in short one minute clips and my take or involvement in them,” wrote Gosar. “Today’s topic is my recent visit to the DOJ with @RepMTG @RepMattGaetz @replouiegohmert ENJOY!”
https://twitter.com/repgosar/status/1421939921070305284
Gosar’s affiliate, Beni Harmony, presented Wednesday’s Gosar Minute. The latest episode focused on President Joe Biden’s border crisis and Gosar’s proposed solution: a ten-year pause on all immigration at the southern border to stymie issues caused by the unchecked influx of illegal immigrants.
“#GosarMinute[:] We cannot have legal immigration when we are experiencing an invasion of rampant illegal immigration at our southern border. It’s a threat to our national security and economy. We must wrap our arms around this and press pause until we do. #10yearmoratorium[.]”
https://twitter.com/RepGosar/status/1422944588667494402
On his personal account, Gosar retweeted the debut episode of Gosar Minute with a clarification: this series is part of what he calls the “Gosar News Network.”
“The Gosar News Network back at it dropping truth bombs like it’s my business,” wrote Gosar. “#GNN #GosarNewsNetwork #GosarMinute.”
https://twitter.com/DrPaulGosar/status/1422950014754639877
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinnejournalist@gmail.com
by AZ Free News | Jul 26, 2021 | News
Congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar introduced a bill last week, the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, which will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the Optional Practice Training Program. The “OPT” Program, administered by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a guest worker program that was never authorized by Congress.
OPT was greatly expanded by the Obama Administration. It circumvents the H-1B cap by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted as foreign students to work for up to three years in the United States after graduation, according to the congressmen.
The foreign workers are exempt from payroll taxes making them at least 10-15 percent cheaper than a comparable American worker.
“What country creates a program, but not a law, that rewards its businesses to fire citizen workers and replace them with foreign labor to pay the foreign labor less? The United States,” said Gosar in a press release. “The program is called OPT and it reflects a complete abandonment of our own workers.”
“At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated,” said Gosar.
According to Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations for NumbersUSA, the OPT Program “invented entirely through executive action, has become one of the largest guest worker programs in the United States. OPT openly undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers an actual tax incentive to hire compliant, inexpensive foreign labor under the guise of “student training.”
“Landing that first job out of college will only become more difficult for young Americans as our universities formalize the role they play in crowding out opportunities once reserved for American graduates. For this reason, OPT must be eliminated. I praise the efforts of Congressman Paul Gosar in drafting the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act and encourage his colleagues in both the House and Senate to join him in protecting opportunities for America’s STEM graduates,” stated Kevin Lynn, Founder of U.S. Techworkers.
Congressman Gosar first introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act in the 116th Congress and has twice signed amicus briefs in support of American workers in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate OPT.
by azfreenews1 | Jul 12, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Criticism continues to mount in response to comments by President Joe Biden earlier this month about public health professionals possibly going door-to-door across the country to encourage people to receive one of the COVID-19 vaccinations.
Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs joined with 31 other lawmakers who comprise the House Freedom Caucus in sending a letter to Biden last week, calling it “deeply disturbing” that the federal government may be in the process of tracking the private health information of millions of Americans. Other Arizonans in the House Freedom Caucus who signed the letter were Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Debbie Lesko, and Rep. David Schweikert.
“There is no scenario where the federal government should be actively entering communities and traveling door-to-door to pressure Americans to receive a vaccine,” the July 9 letter states. “COVID-19 vaccine information is widely available throughout the country, and Americans have every ability to decide for themselves whether or not they should receive a vaccine.”
The letter was prompted by the President’s July 6 comments about the possibility of members of the U.S. COVID-19 Response Team going ““community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood and oftentimes door-to-door, literally knocking on doors, to get help to the remaining people.”
The letter asks for a response by July 23 to a series of questions related to what activities the Biden Administration has undertaken, or plans to undertake, connected to vaccination databases.
Biggs, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, made additional comments after the letter was sent.
“Instead of meddling in private medical decisions, the Biden administration should focus on addressing the border crisis, the rampant rise in inflation, and the crime wave that is plaguing American cities – all crises it created,” Biggs said. “The door-to-door spying on Americans is one more example of the burgeoning surveillance state by the national government.”
The House Freedom Caucus letter is just the latest criticism directed at Biden’s comments. Two more governors spoke out late last week about the suggestion of personal reach-out to unvaccinated Americans.
“The prospect of government vaccination teams showing up unannounced or unrequested at the door of ‘targeted’ homeowners or on their property will further deteriorate the public’s trust,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement.
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson tweeted that “sending government employees or agents door-to-door to compel vaccination” would not be an effective nor welcome strategy in his state.
But despite the criticism, the prospect of a “who has been vaccinated” database may not be difficult to create. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) have been behind a COVID-19 tracking smartphone app that was been promoted by tens of thousands of doctors and nurses.
Called v-safe, the app is described as an after-vaccination “health checker” which users register with to answer surveys about side effects and to report dates of vaccinations. Parents can also register dependents under their v-safe account.
“Your healthcare provider will give you an information sheet on v-safe that explains how to register and get started,” according to the CDC website. “Through v-safe, you can quickly tell CDC if you have any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Depending on your answers to the web surveys, someone from CDC may call to check on you and get more information.”
As to the confidentiality of a v-safe user’s information, the CDC website notes that “to the extent v–safe uses existing information systems managed by CDC, FDA, and other federal agencies, the systems employ strict security measures appropriate for the data’s level of sensitivity.”
by Terri Jo Neff | May 22, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Four members of the U.S. Congress -including two from Arizona- sent a letter this week to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) criticizing one of its deputies for “unnecessarily” weighing in on the Arizona State Senate’s ongoing audit of Maricopa County’s election process.
Representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, both Republicans from Arizona, and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) call a May 5 letter from DOJ attorney Pamela Karlan to Senate President Karen Fann “an attempt at intimidation, with the goal of convoluting this important audit.”
Fann is one of two state senators who signed a subpoena in January which led to Maricopa County officials being required to turn over election department records, hundreds of voting machines, and the nearly 2.1 million ballots cast by Maricopa County voters in the 2020 General Election. Karlan’s letter suggested either the Senate or the auditors may be in noncompliance with federal law, and that the elections records and the ballots “are at risk of damage or loss.”
According to Biggs, Gaetz, Gosar, and Taylor Greene, many of Karlan’s comments were previously expressed by what the four representatives call “three left-leaning organizations,” suggesting the DOJ is “more concerns with your political fellow-travelers than election integrity.” The May 17 letter signed by the four representatives also told Karlan they are “confident in the integrity” of the ongoing audit which is set to run through the end of June.
“In a constitutional republic, the most important thing you can do is make sure the integrity of our election system is protected, free, transparent, and open,” their letter states.
That letter to Fann is not the first received by the senate president in connection to Karlan’s concerns about the audit. On May 7, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) sent a letter to Fann urging her to push back on Karlan’s concerns, which PILF President J. Christian Adams and PILF Litigation Counsel Maureen Riordan characterize as threats.
Adams and Riordan told Fann that Karlan “is doing the bidding of, and acting as a surrogate for, the Democratic Party, not as an objective law enforcement official and representative of the U.S. Department of Justice.” They added that Karlan “is engaging in a partisan abuse of power well outside the traditions of the Department as well as the delegation of power under federal statutes and the controlling legal authority governing those statutes.”
PIFL, a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm, urged the Senate President to resist responding to Karlan’s “inappropriate and unjustified letter” and offered to share additional insights into the DOJ’s alleged politically motivated effort if Fann is interested. As of press time Fann had not replied to the PIFL letter, according to the group’s spokesperson.
