To the Editor,

Needless to say, it has been quite a month. We began with family and friends and excitement as we celebrated Independence Day. And I want to thank all the servicemembers, first responders, farmers, and small business owners who made the holiday fun, relaxing, and safe for all of us. 

But then, the nation was stunned as a deranged man attempted to assassinate Donald Trump on national television. The former president and presidential candidate showed great strength, standing straight up and throwing his fist in the air after a bullet grazed his head. As we processed our shock, we learned that two individuals were injured and that Corey Comperatore, the former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was tragically killed protecting his family. As we continue to learn more about that day, it is clear that simply calling this attack a “security failure” is a gross understatement. Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the U.S. Secret Service on the day of the attempt, has resigned following an abysmal hearing before the House Oversight Committee. But that is just the first step in holding failures accountable. There should have been no possible way for a former president to be less than an inch away from assassination, and Corey Comperatore should be alive today. The American people need answers. The House of Representatives unanimously voted to stand up a Task Force to Investigate the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump to understand what exactly went wrong, ensure accountability, and prevent such a failure from ever happening again. It will be empowered with all the investigative authority of the House, including subpoena authority, and will be made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats.

Later this month, President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, leaving the American people to re-examine the policy failures of this Administration and Democrat leadership. Kamala Harris was right there with President Biden cheering on the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was an entirely misleading title, considering the bill did nothing to curb inflation and instead included ridiculous Green New Deal initiatives. She supported the Minnesota Freedom Fund to bail out criminals across our state. She is even more extreme than some of her colleagues on the Left when it comes to abortion. And, she has failed to address the immigration crisis, a concern I shared during a recent Rules Committee hearing. The Left may not like the term “border czar,” but the fact is the President put Vice President Harris in charge of securing the southern border, and under her watch, it has only gotten worse. 

And Democrats in the House and Senate are complicit in this failure by refusing to take the border crisis seriously. House Republicans, on the other hand, are taking it very seriously. We, like the rest of the country, understand the impacts the flood of illegal immigration is having on our communities, including increases in crime, fentanyl, and human trafficking. We passed the strongest immigration bill in history, the Secure the Border Act, because that is what it will take to truly address the crisis. And we didn’t stop there. This month, we also passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act because we are also seeing an increase in illegal immigrants voting in federal elections, manipulating the Electoral College. Of course, it is against the law for non-citizens to vote in our elections. But in states like Minnesota, illegal immigrants can get driver’s licenses and other forms of identification that can then be used to vote illegally. This legislation makes it harder for our election laws to be broken. It requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote, removes non-citizens from existing voter rolls, and it empowers citizens to bring civil suits against election officials who fail to uphold these requirements. It also requires states to find ways to make it as easy as possible to register legally. It should have been very easy for every Member of Congress to vote for election integrity, and yet, 198 Democrats voted against it! Now, the American people have no doubt which Members of Congress respect the integrity of our elections and which ones do not.

Finally, this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the States and gave an address to the House and Senate as part of his trip. I was honored to be in the audience for his unbelievably moving speech. Israel is one of our most important allies in the world, and they are fighting for their very right to exist. It is as important as ever that we stand by our friend. We must also stand with the Jewish community across the world as they combat anti-Semitism, the likes of which has not been seen since World War II. Even as we sat there listening to stories of combat and hostages taken by Hamas that still have not come home, anti-Israel protesters hovered around the Capitol. They took down American flags and replaced them with Palestinian flags. They vandalized monuments and graffitied horrible expletives against Israel, and even some directly supporting Hamas. This is unacceptable, and it is hard to wrap my head around how so many people can be so uninformed and misguided. On the House Ways and Means Committee, we are holding hearings on how our universities have been able to become hotbeds for these radical thinkers and how we can combat this disturbing trend.

Despite all the negative news and bad actors that exist in the world, I am so proud to be an American, and especially to stand with those in Minnesota’s Seventh District. I believe the country will benefit from policies that reflect our values, and I am honored to represent those values in Washington. If my office can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to reach out to my team at Fischbach.house.gov or 320-403-6100.

Michelle Fischbach,

US Representative