Sen. Rand Paul, who will chair the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee beginning in January, said that on Day One, lawmakers will vote on his bill to block migrants from seeking asylum if they enter the U.S. illegally.
The Kentucky Republican also plans to use his new perch atop the Homeland Security panel to advance legislation to end government funding of illegal immigrant travel within the U.S.
And he’s intent on using the panel’s oversight directive to end the government’s involvement in Big Tech censorship and to use new subpoena power to get to the bottom of U.S. funding of the development of the COVID-19 virus in a Wuhan, China lab.
All of it falls under the purview of the Homeland Security Committee, a post Mr. Paul told fellow senators he sought because he wants to reassert the oversight role of Congress.
“For the health of our republic, Congress must stand up once again for its constitutional role,” Mr. Paul wrote to senators announcing his new role. “This committee’s mission of oversight and investigations is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”
The asylum measure, if signed into law, would have an immediate and dramatic impact on the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border.
It would enable U.S border agents to turn back most illegal immigrants as they cross over from Mexico and would end the Biden administration’s policy of releasing many of them into the interior of the country to await hearings on asylum pleas.
“It’s a question of whether we get the votes,” Mr. Paul told the Washington Times in an interview. “But I want to talk about it day one, first hearing. And we’re going to vote that day, too.”
Mr. Paul also plans to work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to head the Health and Human Service Department, to obtain hidden government records about the U.S. funding of the Wuhan lab, specifically on the deliberations involving gain-of-function research that may have led to the development of the COVID-19 virus.
“We now know through whistleblowers that it actually is collected throughout government, and that the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House has a copy of all this, and it’s all been withheld from us,” Mr. Paul said. “So I’m very hopeful Robert Kennedy will be confirmed at HHS. I know he also has a strong desire for the truth to come out on COVID, and I feel very comfortable if he gets into that position, that we’re going to get all the information that we’ve been looking for.”
Mr. Paul, who has served as the top Republican on the committee under the current Democratic majority, plans to shake things up when he takes the gavel in January.
The senator said he’ll conclude hearings with votes on legislative proposals rather than simply adjourning the sessions without taking concrete steps to address major issues that come before the committee.
It often takes months or years for lawmakers to develop proposals following hearings, Mr. Paul said. He wants to speed up legislative action by forcing same-day votes on proposed solutions.
“I want to really emphasize where people are on these,” Mr. Paul said.
The panel’s dual purposes of overseeing the Department of Homeland Security and conducting government oversight give Mr. Paul plenty to do, and he vowed to quickly hold a hearing to confirm South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for homeland security secretary.
Mr. Paul said he plans to hold Ms. Noem’s confirmation hearing soon after Republicans take the majority when the Senate gavels in on Jan. 3.
A staunch supporter of most of Mr. Trump’s plans to stop the massive flow of illegal immigrants across the border, Mr. Paul believes the president-elect can take immediate steps to end it on his first day in office through executive action. Among the unilateral acts Mr. Trump could enact would be a revival of his first-term policy that forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting hearings in U.S. immigration courts.
Mr. Paul said the Homeland panel will examine the remain-in-Mexico policy at its first hearing, but he believes the president has the authority to impose the rule.
Mr. Paul doesn’t agree with all of Mr. Trump’s plans. He rejects Mr. Trump’s intent to use the military to help deport up to 1.4 million illegal immigrants with criminal records who are already in the country.
He’s also opposed to Mr. Trump’s broad plan to impose tariffs on imported goods, which he likened to a “bad tax.”
On Monday, Mr. Trump announced he would slap a 20% tariff on all goods coming in from Mexico and Canada to pressure those countries to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants and deadly drugs, namely fentanyl, into the U.S.
Mr. Paul told The Times that while he opposes tariffs, they could be an effective “threat” to get cooperation on border issues.
The senator also said he is eager to pass legislation to prohibit U.S. funding of illegal immigrant travel within the U.S. His proposal follows the revelation that the government provided the illegal immigrant convicted of murdering Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley with a “humanitarian flight” to Atlanta a few months before he killed her in Athens.
The government also provided the killer, Jose Ibarra, who arrived illegally from Venezuela, a plane ticket to New York City, a hotel room and money for food, according to evidence presented at his trial.
“This should horrify all of us,” Mr. Paul said. “But the fact that they are bending over backward to do it. Think of all the Americans who need a job and need to move to another city. We are doing all these things for people who broke into our country, and, in this case, were murderous thugs.”
Mr. Paul was elected in 2010 during a Republican wave fueled by the tea party movement, which called for reduced government spending and reduction of the national debt.
The senator remains committed to cutting both government waste and government spending He also intends to restore the committee as the Senate’s top oversight panel.
“Senate rules give us oversight responsibilities over the entire government, even beyond the agencies under our direct legislative jurisdiction,” Mr. Paul told senators.
The oversight agenda, Mr. Paul said, includes “new investigations into executive branch failures and abuses, as well as conducting oversight of every dollar spent by the government.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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