I hope that you and your family are well and are enjoying the summer weather.

We’ve been experimenting with which day we send out our Weekly Wrap-Up Newsletter and my office is seeking your feedback.  

It’s always a pleasure to hear your thoughts. I’ll be adding in more surveys on policy matters in future letters.

Liberal COVID Tyranny – From North Carolina to Washington

President Biden announced on Friday that he will appoint Dr. Mandy Cohen, the former North Carolina health secretary, as the head of the CDC. I strongly oppose her appointment and am disappointed, but not surprised, that Biden would appoint such an openly partisan and unscientific bureaucrat to head the agency.

READ: Biden taps Dr. Mandy Cohen for top role as next CDC director

Dr. Cohen led our state’s COVID response after she was appointed to her role  by Governor Roy Cooper. Under her watch, she championed unscientific and restrictive policies like extended lockdowns, forcing masks on schoolchildren, and threatening to bring legal action against the Union County Public Schools after the district ended “quarantines” for students and staff.

Dr. Cohen admitted to basing her decisions on policies from liberal states like Massachusetts, without regard to scientific data or the needs of North Carolinians. She has a history as an avowed left-wing partisan, serving as part of the group “Doctors for Obama,” endorsing unconstitutional gun restrictions, and has  fundraised for Democrat candidates in North Carolina.

WATCH: Proponents of Covid tyranny need accountability, not a promotion

I signed a letter with many of my colleagues, including Senator Ted Budd, expressing our strong opposition to her appointment, and urging Biden to withdraw the selection.   

READ: Letter Against Cohen Appointment

Mayorkas Must Go

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to uphold the law and do his duty as head of DHS.

Mayorkas hasn’t just been derelict in his duty – he has deliberately promoted the open borders, catch-and-release regime that’s allowed for an all out invasion on our southern border and put American communities in a state of crisis. He knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s very intentional, and there is only one recourse for bureaucrats who willfully seek to undermine the rule of law: impeachment.

Standing for the Second Amendment

This past Tuesday, I proudly voted in favor of my friend Rep. Andrew Clyde’s Congressional Review Act resolution to block the Biden administration’s unjust pistol brace rule. That unjust rule criminalizes owning pistol braces, which millions of Americans, including thousands of veterans, use to stabilize their shooting arms. This ridiculous rule turned millions of law-abiding Americans, including thousands of veterans, into felons overnight.

However, GOP Leadership in the House took this vital legislation hostage as an act of retribution for opposing the debt ceiling. My colleagues and I who halted floor votes last week agreed to allow floor activity to resume only if this critical bill was given a vote, among other conditions.

I refuse to stand idly by while the Biden administration criminalizes millions of law-abiding Americans, and I will never allow the Swamp status quo to take precedence over the American people’s constitutional rights.

North Carolina in the Capitol

Since my time serving in the state legislature, I’ve been involved in our state’s efforts to bring a statue of Reverend Billy Graham to the National Statuary Hall Collection.

This week, we received word that the design for the statue has been approved! The Architect of the Capitol will now partner with the state to create the physical statue. I’m looking forward to seeing Reverend Graham’s statue here in the Capitol.

I’m also pleased to announce that the winner of our district’s Congressional Art Competition this year is Annie Phillips. Her artwork, a portrait of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, is now hanging in the Capitol.

Congratulations to our Service Academy Nominees!

As a Member of Congress, it is my distinct honor to nominate a group of fine young men and women from our district to attend our nation’s service academies - the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY.

It was my pleasure to meet today with the young men and women from our district who I nominated to the service academies this year. I commend them for answering the call to serve our country through military service.

Please join me in thanking them and wishing them the best of luck in their application process.