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Dear ,
I hope you and your family are doing well! Below, please find a few updates on my work last week for the residents of Arizona’s First Congressional District.
For Every $1 the Federal Government Takes In, We Spend $1.39
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| Click here or on the image above to view my full remarks from last week's speech. |
Last week, I delivered my weekly House floor speech and outlined that Congress only votes on 26 percent of the budget, the rest is autopilot. This includes defense and non-defense discretionary spending. In fact, for every dollar in tax collections, Congress spends $1.39. What would happen if the IRS leveraged new technology to answer customer service requests? Despite all the resources that were set aside for the IRS, I note their number of auditors actually decreased by 8 percent. Congress appropriated billions of dollars, and it turns out, we have a demographic issue. There are ways to use technology to create a society that delivers more for Arizonans. We can make our brothers and sisters healthier, create economic growth, and stabilize our debt and deficit. We just have to be willing to do things differently.
My Legislation that Puts Small Businesses First
Last week, I introduced the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) Repeal Act, which will not only ensure harsher penalties for perverse promoters looking to take advantage of emergency programs, but also prioritizes the delayed processing of legitimate returns from small businesses.
The ERTC Repeal Act would enable the return to fiscal sanity and end a program riddled with fraud that could cost up to seven times more— up to $550 billion—than initially estimated if allowed to continue. By eliminating the ERTC program, this bill would save taxpayers an estimated $79 billion over ten years.
A 1.4 million return backlog still exists, and moving the deadline up, rather than waiting until April 2025, will enable the IRS to go after the bad actors seeking to take advantage of taxpayers while approving legitimate claims faster and delivering long-overdue refunds to small businesses.
Service Academy Application Deadline is NEXT Friday
The portal for submitting applications for a U.S. Service Academies nomination is open and will close on October 4! For those interested in applying for scholarships to attend a military service academy, you can apply for an academy congressional nomination HERE. For additional questions regarding the application process please refer to our academy resource guide and FAQ link below, or contact Chelsea Lett, Service Academy Coordinator, in my District Office at (480) 946-2411.
Upcoming Mobile Office Hours with My District Office
My district casework team is here to assist residents of Arizona’s First Congressional District with applications and claims pertaining to federal benefits. Staff from my district office may be in your neighborhood to offer one-on-one casework assistance. Stop by the Cholla Conference Room at the Holland Community Center (34250 N 60th St Bldg. B, Scottsdale, AZ 85266) on Wednesday, September 25 from 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. or call my District Office at (480) 946-2411 for immediate assistance with the IRS, Passports, Medicare, Social Security, VA and other federal benefits.
Can You Guess What Our Total National Debt Will Be by the End of Fiscal Year 2024?
To commemorate Congress gaveling back in session for the month of September, I wanted to host a contest for YOU to predict what the total national debt will be at the end of the fiscal year! The U.S. Department of Treasury will publish data for September 30 (which will include the total national debt number) on October 1 at approximately 4:15 PM EDT.
Submit your entry by expressing the total debt in trillions rounded to 3 decimal places. For example, '35.xxx trillion'. The winning entry will be the submission that is closest to, but not over the result as published by the Treasury Department.
The grand prize will be an American flag flown over our United States Capitol on Constitution Day (September 17, 2024) provided at my personal expense. We will be accepting submissions up to the day of Treasury’s announcement. Reply to this newsletter with your guess in the correct format, and we will keep a spreadsheet with the necessary information. As a leg up, we would recommend signing up for my Daily Debt Monitor, which is a free text message thread where I send you updates on our growing debt. You can sign up by clicking the image above, or by clicking here! I’m looking forward to reviewing each of your submissions.
Recognizing Some Amazing Citizens of AZ-01
My staff had the pleasure of attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for Audiology of Scottsdale, a private hearing center located in Scottsdale. Owned and operated by Dr. Cathy Kurth, the vision and mission of Audiology of Scottsdale is to “not only provide the most comprehensive hearing services and latest technology to the people of our community, but to educate individuals on the importance of hearing health.” Education is the best medicine. I’m looking forward to seeing how Audiology of Scottsdale assists the citizens of Arizona and beyond!
The 2024 Congressional App Challenge is Underway
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The Congressional App Challenge is a competition aimed at encouraging middle and high school students to learn how to code by creating their own applications. The Challenge is intended to highlight the value of computer science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. The House of Representatives knows how crucial these skills are and wants to encourage students to engage in these fields. By encouraging and recognizing our nation’s young programming talent, Congress hopes to shine a light on the importance of these skills.
This competition is open to all students who meet the eligibility requirements, regardless of coding experience. We strongly encourage students of all skill levels to participate, enabling them to learn how to create their own apps. Students are encouraged to register online and submit their apps by October 24. For more information and registration, please visit our website.
What I’m Reading & Why It Matters
Criminal organizations largely based in southeast Asia have been utilizing forced labor to run so-called “pig-butchering” schemes. Pig-butchering involves setting up fake social media accounts linked to financially independent yet lonely single women who appear to be looking for a romantic partner.
In an article authored by the Wall Street Journal, the scheme is explored further: the operators of these fake accounts convince men across America into developing online relationships with "women" and building trust to the point of monetary donation – sometimes in the range of five or six-figures. As soon as these fake account operators receive the money, they immediately cut off communications, leaving victims depressed and often with no ability to recover their money, since they voluntarily wired it over to the fake account operators.
In an effort to crack down on these nefarious schemes, the FBI created an internet crime complaint center (IC3) to provide an outlet for victims to report the crimes. Furthermore, Erin West, an official in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, helped set up and operate the Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team, an effort to track and stop these cybercriminals in their tracks.
The Journal reports that the Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team has clawed back some $3 million stolen from 26 Americans. However, according to the Journal, in order for the task force to perform a successful recovery, they had to ensure
1. the transfers occurred on crypto exchanges;
2. exchanges had to be registered in the U.S., or cooperative with U.S. law enforcement;
3. exchanges were promptly reported. |