Good morning, and welcome to our Weekend Update.

Financial fraud has become a booming criminal business, and Americans are the primary target.

Nearly 15 million people were scammed last year, totaling an estimated $196 billion. Senior losses have quadrupled since 2020, with the average senior victim losing $83,000. Tragically, 1 in 4 victims of serious scams contemplate suicide.

These alarming statistics got Financial Services Committee Republicans Chairman Congressman French Hill and myself involved. We convened roundtables with banks, telecom companies, social media platforms, DOJ, FBI, FTC, FCC, the Fed, and state AGs — bringing everyone who touches this problem to the same table.

I also launched meuser.house.gov/scams so constituents have one place to recognize and report a scam before it costs them everything.

That yearlong investigation has culminated in our subcommittee’s staff report, entitled “Fighting Back.” It exposes how scamming has become an organized, for-profit industry, much of it run by Chinese-linked criminal networks operating scam compounds across Southeast Asia. The report concludes with solutions to fight back, including my legislation, the SCAM Act, and other bills that hold bad actors accountable and coordinate agencies to stop scams before they start. Watch my interview with "Varney & Co" on Fox Business detailing the report’s findings below. Click here or below to watch.

I also joined Newsmax to discuss our report. Watch my interview by clicking here or below.

IN NEWS YOU WON’T HEAR IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Iran has been a U.S.-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism since 1984, largely operating through the IRGC-Quds Force and proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, and Iran-backed militias.

Topline:

• Total Killed: Well over 1,000 Americans have been killed by Iran or Iranian-backed terrorist organizations and proxy forces since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, including U.S. service members, diplomats, and civilians.
  
  
• Total Wounded: More than 4,000 Americans have been wounded in attacks attributed to Iran and its proxies, including approximately 372 at Khobar Towers, more than 100 in the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, roughly 40 at Tower 22 in Jordan, and thousands of U.S. troops injured by Iranian-supplied explosively formed penetrators and other attacks during the Iraq War.
  
  
• Total Hostage: Over 100 Americans have been held hostage over the past four decades.
  
  
• Monetary Damage: Iran and its proxies have caused over $105 billion dollars in economic damage through the destruction of U.S. military facilities and equipment, attacks on diplomatic missions, lifetime medical and disability costs for wounded service members, and enhanced force protection and counterterrorism expenditures.
  
  
• 9/11: Iran and its proxies ordered a day of celebration and enthusiastically celebrated the horrifying attack on America that claimed nearly 3,000 lives. 

1979–1981 Iran Hostage Crisis

• Tehran, Iran. Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and initially took 66 Americans hostage; 14 were initially released, and the remaining 52 American hostages were held for 444 days until their release in January 1981.
  
  

1983 U.S. Embassy Bombing — Beirut, Lebanon

• Iran-backed Hezbollah-linked terrorists were tied to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, and wounded roughly 120.
  
  
• 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing — Beirut, Lebanon. Iran-backed Hezbollah was tied to the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. service members. A coordinated bombing the same day targeted a French military barracks, killing 58 French personnel.

1983 U.S. and French Embassy Bombings — Kuwait City, Kuwait

• Hezbollah-linked and Iran-backed militants were tied to coordinated bombings targeting the U.S. and French embassies and other facilities in Kuwait, killing 5 people and wounding roughly 80.
  
  

1984 U.S. Embassy Annex Bombing — East Beirut, Lebanon

• Iran-backed Hezbollah-linked terrorists were tied to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut, which killed 24 people, including 2 Americans assigned to the U.S. Defense Attaché Office, and wounded dozens.

1985 TWA Flight 847 Hijacking

• Hezbollah terrorists hijacked TWA Flight 847 and took 153 passengers and crew hostage. U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem was killed during the hijacking.

1982–1992 Lebanon Hostage Crisis

• Hezbollah-linked networks with Iranian support kidnapped roughly 104 foreign hostages in Lebanon, including at least 25 Americans; at least 8 hostages died in captivity, including 2 Americans.

1992 Israeli Embassy Bombing — Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, was tied to the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people and wounded more than 200.

1992 Mykonos Restaurant Assassinations — Berlin, Germany

• Iranian operatives were tied by German authorities to the targeted assassination of 4 Iranian-Kurdish opposition figures at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin.

1994 AMIA Jewish Community Center Bombing — Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, was tied to the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.

1996 Khobar Towers Bombing — Saudi Arabia

• Pro-Iran Saudi Hezbollah militants were tied to the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. Airmen and wounded more than 400 U.S. and international military members and civilians.

2003–2011 Iran-Backed Militia Attacks on U.S. Forces — Iraq

• Iran-backed militias and Iranian-supplied weapons were tied by U.S. officials to roughly 500 U.S. troop deaths during the Iraq War.

2003–2011 Iranian IED/EFP Warfare Against U.S. Forces — Iraq

• Iran supplied explosively formed penetrators and other weapons to Shia militia proxies in Iraq; U.S. officials have attributed roughly 500 to more than 600 U.S. troop deaths during the Iraq War to Iran-backed groups and Iranian-supplied weapons.

2011 Plot to Assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir — Washington, D.C.

• Iranian-linked operatives were charged by DOJ in a disrupted plot to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in Washington, D.C.

2012 Burgas Bus Bombing — Bulgaria

• Hezbollah-linked operatives were tied to the bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, which killed 5 Israeli tourists, 1 Bulgarian bus driver, and the bomber, and wounded 32.

2021–2022 Plot Against John Bolton — United States

• DOJ charged an IRGC member in a disrupted murder-for-hire plot targeting former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

2020–2024 Plots Against Masih Alinejad — New York

• Iranian-directed operatives were tied by DOJ to kidnapping and murder plots targeting Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in New York.

2023 Hamas October 7 Attack — Israel

• Hamas killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 46 Americans, and took 254 hostages, including 12 Americans; U.S. reporting says Iran enabled Hamas militarily, though there was no evidence Iran had advance knowledge of the attack.

2023–2024 Iran-Backed Militia Attacks on U.S. Forces — Iraq, Syria, and Jordan

• Iran-backed militias carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. forces after October 2023, including the Tower 22 drone attack in Jordan that killed 3 U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 40.

2024 Plot Against President-Elect Donald Trump — United States

• DOJ charged an IRGC-linked Iranian asset in a disrupted Iranian-directed plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump

2023–2025 Houthi Attacks on Red Sea and Gulf Shipping

• Iran-backed Houthis attacked dozens of commercial and naval vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, killing multiple merchant mariners and seizing the Galaxy Leader crew as hostages.

IN MORE NEWS YOU WON'T HEAR IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Under President Trump and Republicans, for the fourteenth month in a row, zero criminal illegal aliens have been released into our country.

Highlights from the month of June include:

• Nationwide, CBP’s encounters in June were 4% lower than May & nationwide apprehensions were also 4% lower than last month.

• Border Patrol’s apprehensions along the southwest border were 94% lower than the monthly average under Biden & 96% below its peak.

• Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border this fiscal year through June are 14% lower than just one month on average from 1992 through 2024.

• Nationwide in June, seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana increased 49% from June 2024.

• Fiscal year drug seizures were 57% higher than under Biden.

Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, our nation has the most secure border in American history, and heinous criminal illegal aliens are being removed and kept out of our communities. 

Promises Made. Promises Kept.

Twenty years ago, community banks financed the majority of America’s home loans. Today, it is less than a third.

On Tuesday, I spoke on the House floor in support of the Main Street Capital Access Act, introduced by Financial Services Committee Republicans Chairman Congressman French Hill and Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Congressman Andy Barr. This legislation does exactly what it says, it supports access to capital for Main Street businesses.

At the start of this Congress, Chairman Hill said one of our committee's priorities was to make community banking great again. Since then, we have advanced the package of bills before us that is the largest community bank deregulatory reform effort since the 1990s. The Main Street Capital Access Act is the final step in making these reforms a reality. Click here or below to watch.

On Wednesday, our Financial Services Committee Republicans Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations released our report titled “Fighting Back: A Policy Framework for Combating the Rise of Financial Fraud & Scams”. The report details the extent of financial fraud and scams facing the American public, explains what’s being done by the public and private sectors, and identifies policy solutions to address this growing problem.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Congressman French Hill and I participated in a fireside chat detailing the report’s findings and recommendations for combating cyber criminals and highlighting the insidiousness of scam networks, often coming from overseas.

Thank you, Leigh Ann Caldwell of Puck, for moderating this important event.

This week, I met an impressive young man from Philadelphia in Washington.
Jax Bari has Celiac Disease, and is advocating for common sense solutions to make foods safer for people like him.

Thank you Jax for your activism and advocacy for Americans with Celiac. You have a bright future ahead of you.

It was great to spend Thursday evening in Lebanon County with Senator Chris Gebhard and so many friends and supporters from across the community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, including Representative John Schlegel, District Attorney Pier Hess, and the many local elected officials, community leaders, and grassroots supporters who came out. I always appreciate the opportunity to connect with people across the county as we continue working together to advance the priorities that matter most to Lebanon County and all of Pennsylvania.

May God continue to bless our nation. I look forward to seeing you soon,