GOP Lawmakers Aim to Codify Trump’s Executive Orders
GOP members of Congress on the Republican Study Committee promised Tuesday to fight to turn President Donald Trump’s executive orders into law.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chairman of the RSC, was joined at a news conference by a dozen other Republican lawmakers, each of them touting their legislation.
Pfluger began the press conference by praising Trump’s work to “eliminate government waste, to secure our borders, and to push back against radical gender and DEI policies.”
The Texas lawmaker then promised that he and his fellow Republicans would codify the president’s executive orders involved into law.
“Now, our Republican-controlled Congress has a responsibility to reinforce and etch these victories into permanent law,” he said.
One by one, Republicans with the RSC took the microphone to pitch his or her legislation.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., spoke of her legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., advocated making it more difficult for the executive branch to impose vaccine mandates on the nation’s military troops.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, proposed repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which was weaponized by the Justice Department under Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, to prosecute and imprison pro-life activists, who Trump pardoned soon after taking office on Jan. 20.
Despite being confident of the support of fellow Republicans, the lawmakers face a likely partisan obstacle; namely, getting enough Democratic votes in the Senate to invoke cloture 0n filibusters to allow for their bills to go to the Senate floor for a vote.
Asked by a reporter how he would overcome that hurdle, Pfluger said he hoped colleagues such as Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who joined him at the event, would be able to iron out differences in the Senate.
But persuading Democrats to allow ambitious Republican legislation to become law may prove to be a tall order.
Just last week, Senate Democrats unanimously blocked a bill that would have barred transgender athletes—biological males—from female sports, despite polling showing nearly 80% public support in polls for such measures.
After the press conference, Pfluger told The Daily Signal that swing-district Democrats must allow Republicans to pass legislation, or they will face electoral consequences.
“Look, there are 13 House of Representative districts that President Trump won,” Pfluger said.
“So, President Trump won these, even though there’s a Democrat in those [House] seats. So, those representatives have to go back and explain to their constituency why they voted against President Trump’s executive order legislation,” he said.
