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Happy Friday! I’m spending some time this week taking Florida and Tennessee for a test drive because Virginia simply isn’t treating me right. God bless Ron DeSantis and the great state of Florida — I almost wept with joy when I walked into a restaurant without a mask and NO ONE CARED. Freedom is a beautiful thing, and I’ve really missed it.
Because I am traveling — and currently writing from a cramped hotel room — this week’s newsletter is a bit abbreviated and in a different format. Regular programming, along with The Question of the Week, will return next week. Hope you all are doing well!
In today’s edition:
The Fierce Force has choice words about the “Equality” Act that just passed in the House
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) has a plan to protect girls sports
Meet Catalina Lauf, the young conservative woman who is challenging Adam Kinzinger
— Teri Christoph (Email: fierce@substack.com)
The “Equality” Act
The Democrat-controlled House passed the Equality Act by a 224-206 margin. As The Washington Examiner explains, the bill “would expand on last year's Supreme Court ruling that the Civil Rights Act bans employment discrimination based on sexual or gender identity.”
But Republicans argue that the bill will demolish girls sports by allowing biological males to compete against females. Many in the GOP also worry that religious liberty will be further eroded if churches are forced to make the decision to accept same-sex relationships or close for good.
The GOP freshman ladies had a few things to say about the bill and the war being waged by Democrats against our girls.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO):
"Under this Democrat regime, which controls Congress, the arrogance of the radical Left will lead them to try and regulate and control every aspect of your life, including how you gender your children.”
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL):
“H.R. 5, the oxymoronically named "Equality Act" is a farce that will strip people of faith and private organizations of the right to decide for themselves how to live, work, and conduct business. I will always fight for American citizens' rights to embrace their beliefs.”
Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-MN):
“I just voted against the so-called "Equality Act." The bill threatens the free exercise of religion, undermines the freedom of conscience, and is a backdoor for anti-life activists to create a legal right to an abortion.”
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL):
“The Inequality Act will specifically affect faith-based adoption agencies. They will either be forced to abandon their beliefs of traditional marriage or shut down.”
Rep. Miller is expected to introduce the Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act in the House today, which would counter many of the dangerous precedents that would be set if the Senate passes the “Equality” Act. Per Daily Caller, Miller’s bill “would protect spaces for women and girls in school, such as bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams.”
Catalina Lauf
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is pretty much the male version of Rep. Liz Cheney. He voted to impeach Donald Trump and never misses an opportunity to snidely mock the former president and his supporters within the Republican Party. Like Cheney, his state GOP voted to censure him for his impeachment vote.
Enter Catalina Lauf, former staffer in Trump’s Commerce Department and current primary challenger of Adam Kinzinger. Her youthful energy makes Kinzinger look like a tired, old career politician. This is a race to watch.
One Startling Fact
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN)
She might not be grabbing the headlines like a Mace, Green or Boebert, but Rep. Diana Harshbarger is fast becoming one of my favorites … and not just because she’s from my potential new home state of Tennessee. Not only is she calling out a local college for allowing its mens basketball team to kneel during the national anthem, she’s also calling on the FBI to investigate the always-odious Eric Swalwell.
Rep. Young Kim (R-CA)
I’ve complained about Rep. Young Kim in previous newsletters — she’s one of the freshmen ladies who voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments and has been altogether too quiet since arriving in DC. But there are a few interesting articles about her that I want to flag this week.
In the first, she talks about being the future of the Republican party:
“If someone like me can do what I do and be able to give back to this country and to the community that I love, I know there is the American dream is very much alive and it's real.”
The second article talks about how her political career began because of ‘Atlas Shrugged’:
“It takes me back to 1990. My second daughter was born, and I was staying home getting ready to return to my work. My husband ran a nonprofit called Korean American Coalition and had known Ed Royce, then a state senator, for a number of years.
At one of the events, I remember talking to him, like, “Oh, what are your hobbies?” His eyes lit up. “You’ve read Atlas Shrugged? That’s like thousands of pages.” I said, “Yes, I read it in high school,” and two days later, I got a call: “Young Kim, would you consider working with me?” Wow. I never expected it.
Before I knew it, I was working in his state Senate district office.”
And finally, this article talks about Kim joining forces with fellow GOP freshman lady Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) to help reunite Korean Americans with their relatives in North Korea.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)
I’ll just leave this right here.
Mace has also introduced legislation to prevent Guantanamo Bay prisoners from being transferred to the U.S. I’m down with that.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY)
Newly sworn-in Congresswoman Claudia Tenney has received her committee assignments: Small Business Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee.
She’s also become an important additional voice calling out Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his botched handling of nursing homes and the thug-like tactics he uses to silence his critics:
“This is vintage Cuomo. This is how he always sounds. He’s bullying. He’s pointing fingers. He’s blaming other people.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
Check out this great profile of Rep. Lauren Boebert, who’s been one of the most outspoken and fiercest of the freshmen GOP ladies. She tells of her journey to conservatism:
“I was raised in a Democrat household. I was stuck under failed policies that put us into a cycle of poverty with no incentive to get out. At 11 years old, I stood in bread lines. I waited for government cheese. And that’s not America’s best.”
Nikki Haley
We’ve been talking a lot about Nikki Haley in recent weeks, and not much of it has been good. In fact, I heard from lots of you about last week’s newsletter, in which I discussed whether or not she is the GOP frontrunner for 2024. You all seem to agree that she’s not.
It’s good to see her, this week at least, focusing on one of her stronger areas: China. In fact, she’s calling for the U.S. to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in the CCP:
"The United States should not glorify a country that is committing genocide against its own people and threatening the world. That's why I am calling for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China."
It’s unlikely that the Biden administration will make such a move.
Awkward
Check out this video of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who seems to be allying himself with Donald Trump, holding a press conference with Rep. Liz Cheney, who definitely isn’t. The topic? Trump speaking at CPAC.
Shameless Self-Promotion
Here’s a piece I wrote this week about an insane new law in New Jersey that prohibits law enforcement from telling parents if their minor children are caught doing drugs or drinking alcohol.
And this terrible law couldn’t have come at a worse time for New Jersey families, who are already struggling with mental health and behavioral issues in the wake of year-long COVID-19 lockdowns. The very government that limited their access to school, sports, after school jobs and enrichment programs is now telling kids it’s fine to fill that void with drugs and alcohol. Even better, Mom and Dad will never know about it!
Thanks for nothing, Democrats.
Just for Fun
Based on this chart, I’m first in line.
Teri Christoph is the publisher of the Fierce newsletter. She is co-founder of Smart Girl Politics, an online network for women, and can be found on Twitter, Gab and MeWe.