Fierce is a free weekly newsletter about conservative women and politics.
Happy Friday! Welcome to your weekly recap of all things conservative women and politics. It’s been a busy week on Capitol Hill, so there is lots to catch you up on. I’ve been doing my best to keep an eye on things as I get my house in Virginia ready to go on the market. Moving is the worst, but it will be worth it to get off this sinking ship and, hopefully, find freedom in … Florida? Tennessee? Still to be decided.
Once things settle down here a bit, I’d like to start doing daily blogging — and perhaps venture into video, too. There will still be only one weekly newsletter, though, so don’t worry about a flood of emails hitting your inbox. I, personally, love a good daily digest of info, and would love to provide that for you. Let me know your thoughts.
On with the newsletter!
In today’s edition:
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) has been casting some questionable votes.
Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) want all American kids back in school.
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) celebrated International Women’s Day in the best way possible
— Teri Christoph (Email: fierce@substack.com)
There’s been a lot of important legislation passing through the House in recent weeks. We talked in last week’s newsletter about the truly awful election bill that passed, along with the disastrous bill that would effectively defund the police. The Dems are really covering themselves in glory, aren’t they?
This past Wednesday saw the pork-riddled COVID “relief” act get passed, with 91% of the $1.9 TRILLION package going to Dems’ pet projects and kickbacks to their supporters. How do you spell '“relief”? P-A-Y-O-F-F-S. The final vote was 220-221; no Republicans voted for it and one brave Democrat crossed the aisle to vote with the GOP. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) summed things up this way:
Then came the gun bills. First up was H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021. YeasandNays.com breaks it down:
To require a background check for every firearm sale. It would criminalize the private transfer of firearms. The NRA says, “It would make criminals out of law-abiding gun owners for simply loaning a firearm to a friend or some family members. This bill would not stop criminals from obtaining guns because criminals do not comply with the law. And the legislation would be unenforceable without federal gun registration.”
Unfortunately, eight Republicans voted for it, including freshman Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar. She had previously caught my attention for voting with Democrats to remove her fellow freshman congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, from her committee assignments. Given her district’s close proximity to Parkland — and considering MTG’s comments about the school shooting there — it made political sense that Salazar voted the way she did.
And it could be the same reasoning that led her to vote in favor of H.R. 8. All the same, it’s disappointing to see this trend developing with Salazar. I’m not quite ready to vote her off Fierce Island yet, but I’d like to see Salazar show some passionate pushback against the Democrats instead of being all too willing to join them. She doesn’t have to be a Nancy Mace or a Kat Cammack, but she does need to be a strong voice for pro-America and pro-American policies. Making it more difficult for us to practice our Constitutional rights is not a good thing.
Oh, and I found this article from a few years back, in which Salazar says “she would consider an assault weapons ban, support a carbon tax and vote to give certain groups of undocumented immigrants a path to legality.” Needless to say, I’ll be keeping a close eye on this.
Luckily, Salazar did not vote in favor of another piece of 2A-related legislation, H.R. 1446: Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021. According to Yeas and Nays, this bill would “allow unelected government bureaucrats to indefinitely delay firearm purchases for law-abiding Americans – depriving them of the ability to defend themselves and their families.” It passed by a 219-210 margin, with two Republicans — but none of the Fierce Force! — voting for it.
Here’s a smattering of reactions to these gun bills:
Kat Cammack has really hit the ground running since being sworn in back in January. Her floor speeches are passionate and her legislative agenda is solidly conservative. Here are a few other Kat Cammack tidbits from this week.
From Fox News:
Rep. Kat Cammack, who recently made an impassioned speech on the House floor defending first responders, has issued a challenge to her Democratic colleagues who are pushing for a sweeping overhaul in policing policy.
Cammack, R-Fla., sent a letter to her fellow members of Congress inviting them to spend a day with police on the job in an effort to build an understanding of local law enforcement. She offered to travel to their hometowns to set up the meeting or invite them to her Gainesville-area district to witness local Florida law enforcement officers hard at work.
"I am challenging them to a ride-along in their home districts, and I have made the commitment that I will fly to their home districts, and I will spend time with them and their police and their sheriff's office, and we will do a ride-along together," Cammack told Fox News in an exclusive interview.
From KKCO, in an article about Florida lawmakers calling for the 2022 Winter Olympic games to be moved out of China:
“I am firmly against Beijing having the honor of being allowed to host the 2022 Olympics,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), “I think we need to find a solution, an alternative quickly.”
Cammack criticizes China’s support for North Korea and handling of the coronavirus along with the alleged human rights abuses.
Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) were busy this week trying to get American children back in school. Hinson, in particular, has been vocal about the need for kids to get back to normal life by following the example of her home state.
Sadly, the Reopen Schools Act was rejected by House Democrats. Stellar week for left-wingers — keeping the kids out of school, at great risk to their mental health, while saddling their generation with the staggering bill for COVID “relief.”
And, finally, Gov. Kristi Noem celebrated International Women’s Day by signing a law to protect women’s sports in her state.
On Monday, the South Dakota Senate passed H.B. 1217, “an act to promote continued fairness in women’s sports,” 20-15. It passed the state House last month, 50-17. Noem announced she would sign it.
“In South Dakota, we’re celebrating [International Women’s Day] by defending women’s sports! I’m excited to sign this bill very soon,” Noem announced on Twitter.
My apologies for not issuing International Women’s Day greetings to all of you ladies out there. I was busy making meals for the family, walking the dog, doing the laundry and hitting up Costco for essentials. So, let me take this moment to say congratulations on being born female. Well done. The next round of mojitos is on me!
Question of the Week
Last week’s question went over like a lead balloon. Thank you to the two ladies that responded to:
Are you planning to take an out-of-state vacation this year?
Turns out, they are — and have been! — taking vacations.
Let’s do ourselves a favor and keep this week’s question fun, seasonal and non-political. I got the idea for it after seeing this pop up in my Facebook memories.
Papal Peeps! Now, I don’t like Peeps … at all .. but these are adorable. So, here’s your question:
Peeps: Yay or Nay?
Please shoot me your response at fierce@substack.com.
Just for Fun
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.