Happy Easter and welcome to our Weekend Update.

Before we begin our update, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers with the family, friends and fellow officers of U.S. Capitol Police Officer William Evans, who tragically lost his life in defense of our nation. Yesterday's attack on the Capitol was tragic and a stark reminder that our men and women in blue put their lives on the line to protect our democracy every single day. We can never thank them enough.

This week, my latest appearance on the Volpe Report aired. I discussed the ongoing crisis at the border. What is occurring at the border is an absolute tragedy and the blame largely rests with President Joe Biden and his administration. Click here or below to watch.

I appeared on Fox Business with Neil Cavuto to discuss President Joe Biden’s latest trillion-dollar spending bill that will require massive tax increases. Click here or below to watch.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update.

With all the craziness we have seen from the extreme left over the past two months, I was thankfully not in Washington, D.C. this week. As I have said before, Washington groupthink is a real thing and the issues and views being pushed by the extreme left are rooted in their own agenda and self-interest, not what’s best for hardworking Pennsylvanians. Higher taxes, increased spending, massive budget deficits, stripping away our 2^ndAmendment rights, weakened border security, making our elections less secure and promoting socialist policies are all on the agenda. President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are all walking billboards for term limits.

As someone who has spent much of my career working to build a business in the private sector, I always look forward to visiting local businesses to hear how they are doing, speaking to hardworking Pennsylvanians and finding out how government can best help support their efforts to grow and prosper. Yesterday, I visited the Famous Smoke Shop which is thriving. This business began as a small cigar shop in Manhattan and has since moved its entire operation to Pennsylvania. They are the largest online retailer of cigars. Pictured below with Arthur Zaretsky, president and founder of Famous Smoke Shop.

Good evening and welcome to our Weekend Update.

This week, President Joe Biden unveiled a major tax hike that would negatively impact our economy and hardworking American families.

The planned tax increases include:

• Raising the corporate tax from 21 percent to 28 percent
  
  
• Increasing the income tax rate on families making more than $400,000
  
  
  • Note: President Biden campaigned on increasing taxes on people making over $400,000, but now it is families
• Expanding the estate tax

This plan is just the beginning of tax increases on hardworking Americans. By the way, the corporate tax rate at 21% is one of the reasons our economy was doing so well in January of 2020 before the pandemic. Biden's plan will reverse all of that. I joined Newsmax this week to talk about how this is the wrong plan and puts our nation on the wrong path. Click here or on the image below to watch.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update.

This was a great week in Washington… if you were a liberal Democrat like President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

They passed and signed and passed the nearly $2 trillion big-government spending bill and began their latest assault on our 2^nd Amendment rights. The White House Chief of Staff has deemed this “the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation.”

While I voted to oppose the latest Covid-19 relief funding plan, the House passed the bill and President Biden signed it into law this week. This plan is far too large, too broad, included a host of liberal spending items and wasteful spending initiatives and is poorly timed as the economy is recovering.

As we continue to dig into a piece of legislation created in the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer swamp, egregious spending projects continue to be uncovered.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update.

I spent most of the week in Washington, D.C., as Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to drive through her far-left agenda one terrible piece of legislation after another.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have prioritized the passage of a wide-ranging bill that would result in the federal takeover of our elections. It is called H.R. 1 and referred to as the “For the People Act.” It should be called the “For the Politicians Act.” 

This legislation includes:

1. Taxpayer-Funded Elections: Creates a 6:1 taxpayer-funded match to any small donor contributions of $200 or less in a congressional or presidential campaign. That means that for every $200 donated, the federal government will match $1,200 with our tax dollars. This legislation establishes a new voucher pilot program that grants eligible voters a $25 voucher, funded by tax dollars, to donate to any campaign of their choosing.
   
   
2. Federal Election Takeover: Ignores the Constitution by hindering the states’ ability to determine their registration and voting practices, as protected under Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution. The legislation mandates “ethics standards” for the Supreme Court, violating the separation of powers.
   
   
3. Cements the 2020 “Pandemic” Election Practices: Last year, states used Covid-19 as a reason to implement expanded no-excuse mail-in voting without any checks and balances to ensure ballot integrity. H.R. 1 makes many of these changes permanent.
   
   
4. Entire U.S. Conducts Elections Like California: This legislation would force states to conduct their elections like the most liberal parts of California, by permanently expanding mail-in voting, legalizing ballot harvesting and eliminating the need to verify your identity before voting.
   
   
5. Forces States to Count Invalid Votes: Eliminates state voter ID laws and provisional ballot rules. This legislation will make states allow sworn statements to be used in place of identification and allowing for signature verification. To register online, a voter must simply submit a picture of their ID. Incredibly, this legislation also forces states to count provisional ballots cast outside of the voter’s correct precinct. Those ballots would normally be ruled invalid because they don’t live there.

Our nation must take measurers to restore confidence in our electoral process. H.R. 1 does the opposite. It strips states of their Constitutional rights to oversee their own electoral processes.

I voted AGAINST this bill. Unfortunately, the bill passed on a party-line vote. I do not believe this vote will age well for the Democrats.

Good evening and welcome to our Weekend Update.

On Friday, Congress held a vote on President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrat’s $1.9 trillion spending plan. As I have stressed, any additional aid should be focused on addressing the real needs including… increasing testing capacity, making additional vaccinations available, supporting our hospitals, health care providers and senior homes. Instead, President Joe Biden and Democrat-controlled House of Representatives advanced a $1.9 trillion spending plan focused on Democratic funding priorities and allies and less on combatting Covid-19.

This is the wrong plan at the wrong time for the wrong reasons:

• Less than 9% goes to combating COVID-19 through public health spending
  
  
• 27% or $510 billion goes to state and local governments
  
  
• 25% or $471 billion goes to policies that reduce private-sector employment
  
  
• 18% includes:
  • $135 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
    
    
  • $135 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
    
    
  • $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services
    
    
  • $12 billion for foreign aid
    
    
• Excluding stimulus payments to individuals, almost half of the bill will not be spent until 2022 or later:
  
  
  • 45% or $670 billion is spent in 2022 or later
    
    
  • $140 billion is spent in 2024 or later
    
    
• So what is spent in 2021?
  
  
  • Only 5% ($6 billion) of the $130 billion for K-12 schools
    
    
  • Only 5% ($250 million) of the $5 billion for Emergency Housing Vouchers
    
    
  • Only 19% ($8 billion) of the $39 billion for childcare
    
    
  • Only 23% ($11 billion) of the $50 billion for FEMA
    
    
  • Only 12% ($35 billion) of the entire Education & Labor Committee Title
    
    
  • None of the $5 billion for Homeless Assistance

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update.

It was another snowy and cold week, but that didn't stop us from spending time in the District. 

On Friday, I visited Alvernia University’s “CollegeTowne” project. “CollegeTowne” is a strategy and model for championing economic redevelopment in downtown Reading. Through partnerships and collaborations with the city of Reading and local businesses and organizations, Alvernia University serves as a strategic partner for strengthening the local economy downtown. Starting with purchasing a vacant building and then adding academic programming, a business incubator within Alvernia’s O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship and eventually student housing, Alvernia becomes a key leader in reviving engagement and energy in downtown Reading. I was joined by John Loyack, Alvernia University President, Thomas Minick, Vice President of Institutional Advancement and our good friend Barry Schlouch, President of Schlouch, Inc.

Earlier in the week, I joined the Berks County Patriots for their meeting. Always a great time with patriots who care deeply about our nation. I also want to thank Sam and Linda Brancadora for their leadership of such a patriotic organization. Pictured below with Rodney Miller.

Happy Valentine's Day and more importantly for many, Happy Daytona 500. I hope everyone is enjoying President's Day weekend and welcome to our Weekend Update. 

While I was in the District this week, many eyes were on the Democrat’s political impeachment process against former President Donald J. Trump. The President Trump’s defense team highlighted the manufactured and doctored evidence and videos they showed and the blatant hypocrisy of their arguments. Click here or below to watch the video from President Trump’s defense team that highlights video clips of the Democrats’ rhetoric.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update on this Super Bowl Sunday.

As I was in Washington, D.C. this week, it was appropriate we observed Groundhog Day. Unfortunately, just like the popular movie where Bill Murray continues to repeat the same day over and over again, my time in Washington has been very similar. It seems like Democratic leadership can’t get away from repeating the same mistakes over and over again as they advance the same failed big-government agenda. Trust me, I know you are frustrated watching it and I have to say that seeing it firsthand is maddening. There are so many great things we can be doing for our nation and its citizens. Still, their plan is made up of expensive, anti-free market policies, tailored to curry favor with the most extreme elements of the Democrat Party and is entirely focused on power and control.

Covid-19 Relief Plan:

Want proof? Look no further than the Democrat's latest $1.9 trillion Covid-19 rescue plan. Despite the rhetoric that would have you believe otherwise, President Joe Biden has dismissed all efforts to pass a package negotiated in a bipartisan way. After inviting ten Republican Senators into the White House to discuss this package, he dismissed their thoughts on a compromise for a more targeted relief plan that spent less. Instead, he instructed Democratic leadership to "go big" as it relates to spending.

Worse yet, to pass this partisan plan, the Democrat leadership in the Senate and House began using the arcane and seldom-used 'reconciliation' process to gain approval. This process allows the Senate to pass this bill with a simple majority in the Senate, rather than the typically required 60 votes. That means the plan can pass without any Republican support. Again, the Biden Administration often spoke of 'unity,' but time has proven those are just words.

I joined Neil Cavuto on Fox Business to discuss the Covid-19 rescue plan expressing my concern about the Democrat's plan's size. As a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, we came up with a plan off slicing off $160 billion from their plan to directly address vaccinations, testing and more money for hospitals. Click here or below to watch.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Weekend Update on a snow-covered Sunday and likely Monday. If driving, of course, please be careful. Do get out and enjoy the snow. Pull the kids or grandkids along on the sled and enjoy some beautiful Pennsylvania winter weather.

I began the week with my monthly appearance with RJ Harris on WHP-580. Click here to listen to my interview. We discussed the alarming number of far-left executive orders that have been signed by President Joe Biden. To date, Biden has signed dozens of executive actions— focused on killing energy jobs, opening our borders, reinstating failed provisions from Obamacare and more. While President Biden has talked a lot about “unity” and working with both sides of the aisle, his executive orders have been mostly focused on the desires and interests of the extreme left.

I conducted an interview on Newsmax TV about President Biden’s anti-energy executive orders and particularly his action to kill the Keystone pipeline. With a stroke of a pen, President Biden killed over 10,000 jobs, long-term, high-paying jobs and one of the most environmentally friendly projects when it comes to natural gas and oil.