How to take down ‘Biden’s dystopic disinformation board’

NEWS AND OPINION:

So President Biden’s White House is establishing a Disinformation Governance Board, which has prompted some concern among those who believe such an entity will compromise American freedom. Now what?

Rachel Bovard, senior technology columnist for The Federalist, has advice in a column titled “How Republican Senators Can Defund Biden’s Dystopic Disinformation Board.”

“The most powerful weapon the legislature has is the power of the purse. Agencies cannot carry out their directives or initiate their programs without Congress first authorizing the money for them to do so. House Republicans are reportedly already drafting legislation to defund the formation and maintenance of this disinformation board. But their efforts are not likely to get stand-alone traction in a Democratically controlled House,” Ms. Bovard wrote.

“Senators, however, have far more options. Regardless of which party is in the majority, each senator has the power to make the body vote on any proposal of his choosing,” she continued.

“Senators can circumvent the committee process under the Senate’s Rule 14, and place legislation directly onto the Senate’s calendar, where they can then move to proceed to it. Provided there is no other business pending, that motion — known as a motion to proceed — automatically is made pending before the Senate, and requires the Senate to vote. Unless cloture is filed, the vote is considered at a 51-vote threshold,” Ms. Bovard advised.

“In other words, Republican senators have an option their House colleagues do not. They can force every senator to be on record regarding the Biden administration’s effort to police speech from the Department of Homeland Security,” she said.

NOW THERE’S A THOUGHT

“Anytime the federal government says something like, ‘Our work does not infringe on free speech, infringe on civil rights or civil liberties,’ I’m immediately fearful for free speech, civil rights, and civil liberties,” said Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, a meticulous press watchdog.

“The government spent the better part of two years showing us how inept they are at fighting a pandemic, managing monetary policy, and dealing with violent rioters. They should be focused on doing less, not more,” Mr. Guillette advised in a statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

A BOOK OF NOTE

A new book from Washington Times columnist and online opinion editor Cheryl K. Chumley arrives Tuesday with a topical title: “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan to Take Away Your Freedom.”

It already has won praise from a cross section of admirers — including Cal Thomas, Steve Bannon, Rep. Jody Hice, Georgia Republican; the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life; talk-radio host Michael Savage; and presidential historian Craig Shirley.

“Cheryl Chumley’s ‘Lockdown’ exposes the truth about the Left’s exploitation of COVID-19 and the dangers of big government. This book is an important tool for all Americans to defend their God-given freedom and liberties,” noted Newt Gingrich, in his commentary.

Newsmax host Chris Salcedo penned the foreword.

Publisher Humanix Books advises in advance notes that “relying on her trademark aggressive reporting style, “Cheryl K. Chumley explains how the radical left is using pandemic policies as a template for increasing controls over the lives of citizens as they build a one-party, socialist state in America.” 

This is the author’s fourth book.

NOT OPERATIONAL CONTROL

Republicans took cryptic note of an appearance by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on “Fox News Sunday.”

“He claimed the Biden administration has ‘operational control’ of the border and has ‘effectively managed’ Biden’s border crisis. Then Mayorkas casually admitted that 1.4 million illegal immigrants have escaped or been released into the U.S. under President Biden,” noted Tommy Pigott, rapid response director for the Republican National Committee, in a written statement.

But “1.4 million illegal immigrants escaped or released into the U.S. is not ‘operational control’ of the border. Local officials in border communities have been saying that for months,” Mr. Pigott advised.

“If Biden and his administration continue to deny reality, they should step aside, and let someone take charge who will actually secure the border,” he concluded.

AND ABOUT THOSE STUDENT LOANS

“His popularity flagging, President Joe Biden is using the oldest trick in the book to return voters to the Democrats’ fold: Don’t earn their future votes, buy them. And that’s exactly what Biden is doing with his $1 trillion plan to ‘forgive’ student loans,” notes the Issues & Answers editorial board in commentary published Monday.

“If we’re going to give students a break, why not forgive the credit card debt or mortgages of plumbers, construction workers, grocery store clerks and others in the blue-collar sector, too? Don’t they deserve forgiveness? After all, they fix your broken pipes, build your homes, bag your goods, and pay their taxes, all without giving you a smug lecture on Critical Race Theory or asking you to ‘check your privilege,’” the commentary advised.

“Worse still, this is all being planned by Biden on the supposed authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which is largely responsible for the surge in college costs. But, as Power Line’s John Hinderaker (an attorney himself) notes, nowhere in that landmark piece of legislation does it give the government power to forgive debts. What Biden is proposing is, as Hinderaker rightly puts it, a ‘patently illegal action in order to buy votes,’” the commentary noted.

POLL DU JOUR

• 50% of U.S. adults trust the Republican Party to “do a better job” with the economy, 36% trust the Democratic Party, 10% trust neither, 2% trust both, 3% have no opinion.

• 50% trust the GOP on inflation, 31% trust the Democrats, 12% trust neither, 1% trust both, 6% have no opinion.

• 47% trust the GOP on crime; 35% trust the Democrats, 11% trust neither, 3% trust both, 5% have no opinion.

• 43% trust the GOP on immigration; 40% trust the Democrats, 13% trust neither, 2% trust both, 3% have no opinion.

• 39% trust the GOP on education and schools; 47% trust the Democrats, 10% trust neither, 1% trust both, 3% have no opinion.

SOURCE: An ABC News/Washington Post poll of 1,004 U.S. adults conducted April 24-28.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.