Response to Mike Eischen's January 3, 2024 letter to the Peninsula Pulse
Dear Mike,
I saw your letter at https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-thank-goodness-for-elections/. You describe a laundry list of criticisms against Rep. Mike Gallagher, which I proceeded to search on the internet. It seems that overall, he is not as far from your own positions as your letter indicates.
About government shutdowns:
Rep. Mike Gallagher released the following statement in a video after voting to avert a government shutdown:
"Here we are on Capitol Hill, engaged in some shutdown shenanigans. But I actually think the most important vote isn't happening today. It happened yesterday when we had a conservative bill on the floor that would have cut spending, secured the border, and created a long-term fiscal commission to tackle our debt crisis. And yet we were unable to pass it as a Republican Caucus. Obviously, we got no help from the Democrats, so that was the best conservative outcome, but after that failed, you're left with two options. You can support the House Continuing Resolution, or the Schumer Continuing Resolution, which is worse for conservatives. You might say, well, there's a third option to shut the government down for a couple of days, but the Democrats who control the Senate are going to jam us with the Schumer Continuing Resolution and they can do a discharge petition here in the House. So, you can be shut down for a few days, but then you reopen the government on the Democrats' terms.
"The only path forward is for us to use this forty-five-day process, or time period that we've given ourselves, in order to pass our appropriations bills, which have conservative priorities and conservative spending limits. …
Gallagher Votes to Avert a Government Shutdown
About George Santos:
“The allegations against George Santos are extremely serious and unbefitting a member of Congress. I am glad he is not running for re-election and think he should resign from office.
“But Congress has never before expelled a member in the absence of a felony conviction or disloyalty to the United States. By continually breaking precedents, this Congress is opening up a pandora’s box of perpetual expulsions and chaos. On the current path, Congress is devolving into a green room for cable news shows and social media stardom. The best way to fix this is to simply focus on our committee work and let the voters decide who gets to serve in Congress.”
Rep. Gallagher: Congress is Opening Pandora's Box
Two items about infrastructure:
…in a world where everything is infrastructure, nothing is infrastructure, and our existing infrastructure suffers as a result. Take, for example, President Biden’s recently revised American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion boondoggle that prioritizes pretty much everything except for the roads, bridges, ports, and waterways that constitute actual infrastructure. The plan comes after we already appropriated $605 billion for infrastructure and transportation in the last three COVID-19 relief bills.
Perhaps this is why the talks between Senate Republicans and President Biden over this bill have just collapsed. Both parties seem to be starting from the same flawed premise…
...By returning to a user-fee system, pursuing innovative funding mechanisms, and aggressively reforming our regulatory process, we can modernize America’s infrastructure.
The Right Way to Modernize Infrastructure
…too often we do not master the basics, and I think the federal role is one of perverting the incentives at the local level. When we tried to get at this over the last four years with the whole Infrastructure Incentives Initiative, this was part of Trump's whole infrastructure plan, where there was $200 billion that would go into this Infrastructure Incentives Initiative, and what was unique about it is that grant awards couldn't exceed 20% of the total project cost. Consider that some projects right now, the federal government pays 95% of the cost.
This may be less stimulative, to tie it to your earlier question, but in my opinion it's more responsible. …
About impeachment:
Last week a grand jury indicted Hunter Biden on nine federal charges related to his shady foreign business dealings. Congress has also received testimony that President Biden joined meetings with these foreign business partners. It is therefore prudent for Congress to investigate the President's involvement in these dealings. …
Gallagher: Formalizing Inquiry is "Prudent" Step in House's Ongoing Investigative Efforts
About taxation:
Today, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) led the entire Wisconsin congressional delegation in a bipartisan letter to Congressional leadership on the need to pass legislation that would fix an anomaly in the Tax Code that negatively affects the fuel supply in Wisconsin.
The issue stems from the closure of the Milwaukee-Green Bay segment of the West Shore pipeline in 2016, which forced diesel fuel suppliers to ship fuel to Northeast Wisconsin by truck. When doing so, fuel that is normally tax-exempt is subject to tax due to unforeseen and unintended logistical requirements. The IRS previously granted a tax waiver to suppliers but stopped issuing the waiver last year. This costs suppliers hundreds of thousands of dollars, contributes to fuel supply issues, and raises the cost of fuel for farmers, construction workers, and foresters who rely on dyed diesel fuel. …
Gallagher Leads Wisconsin Delegation in Call to Fix Tax Anomaly Affecting Wisconsin Fuel Supply
About climate change and China:
The Biden Administration is divided. Some members of the administration have a realistic view of the threat posed by the CCP and recognize that we need to invest in hard power west of the international dateline to deter China. But there are others in the administration who think that the preeminent threat we face is climate change and that we need to cooperate with Chinese President Xi Jinping to deal with that.
Now, why do I think that latter camp is wrong? One, I don’t think Xi really cares about climate change, or that he’ll abide by commitments made at climate conferences. Two, China is probably the worst bad actor when it comes to the environment. I’m not just talking about carbon emissions, I’m talking about ravaging the world’s fishery. …
Leading the charge: A conversation with Rep. Mike Gallagher
Gallagher is the head of a select committee concerned with China. This is why he writes about China so often. He seems to be a doing a good job running the committee:
… Throughout the committee, members argue that they’ve been bolstered by a rare bipartisan camaraderie that should help them overcome their differences.
“It’s not like red shirts versus blue shirts,” said Gallagher. The committee’s bipartisan spirit “may offer a model for how you do business in Congress,” said Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the committee’s ranking member. Torres, Krishnamoorthi and Auchincloss all described the committee as an “oasis” in a Congress mostly paralyzed along party lines. “There are fewer [partisan] fissures on the China committee than there are on the Foreign Affairs committee and the Financial Services Committee…The Select Committee is specifically designed with the idea that we should forge consensus on bipartisan policies, and we’ve largely done that,” said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), another member. …
Auchincloss is a Democratic representative from Massachusetts.
‘Certain things require a machete’: House China Committee chair defends approach to Beijing
About Dobbs:
The power to make abortion law should have always rested with elected officials, not the Supreme Court. Today's decision correctly returns this authority to legislatures and gives the American people a direct say in the way abortion is governed in their state. This is a historic ruling that will undoubtedly protect millions of unborn lives. …
Gallagher Statement on SCOTUS Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson
Three items relating to gun regulation and enforcement:
…as you know automatic weapons are heavily regulated and you have to go through a very deep background check in order to possess them and we think it stands to reason that any piece of gear that turns a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon should be regulated at least on the same pace as an automatic weapon and I think that would be useful steps forward even for strong pro-second amendment people like myself…
Rep. Mike Gallagher on Gun Control-ENN-2017-10-11
…there are meaningful, bipartisan steps we can take to save lives while also safeguarding constitutional rights. These steps include rigorously enforcing existing gun laws, increasing penalties for criminal gun offenses, requiring prosecutors to report when they fail to prosecute serious crimes, investing in school security, expanding information sharing between law enforcement agencies, and improving mental health care. Instead, the Democrats chose to block these broadly-supported, bipartisan solutions and embrace an unconstitutional and unworkable messaging bill that will not become law.
Gallagher Statement on Democrat Gun Control Bills
"American-made weapons trafficked across our southern border have helped fuel the rise of Mexican drug cartels," said Rep. Gallagher. "As cartel-related violence continues to escalate, it's clear we need resources dedicated to preventing dangerous weapons from getting to these thugs in the first place."
Gallagher Introduces Bill to Combat Illicit Arms Trafficking
Gallagher sponsored this together with one co-sponsor from the opposing party: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1120/cosponsors
If you look around yourself on these topics, there are also other, similar things, and for some topics you will also find articles and videos where he sounds further from your own positions. Out of all these things, perhaps the topic with the greatest difference is abortion. However, you previously served as a pastor for a congregation in Illinois. Piatt County, where your old church was, can be compared with past presidential election results to the counties in District 8. It is more Republican-voting than average for District 8, while still falling within the range.
The congregation’s facebook states that their youth group has volunteered for yard work at a pro-life crisis pregnancy center. Perhaps you have baptized some of the volunteers.
If your old congregation members knew their former pastor was promoting abortion, they probably wouldn’t feel too good about it. But you wrote to the Peninsula Pulse instead of a paper closer to your old home, so maybe they won’t know.
It is difficult for me to believe that Gallagher is all that different from your old church members, who you willingly served for some years. And in this way at least, he isn’t all that different from you:
The Rev. Michael Eischen, pastor of the Monticello United Methodist Church (which hosts the pantry), said the facility used to have plenty of food and other items to serve the needy of Piatt County.
But inflated gas and food prices have also inflated demands at the food pantry, where many of the shelves were nearly empty on Monday. …
Feeling the pinch: Monticello food pantry sees more people in need
Compare this with
Alright we're here at Paul's Pantry, where I didn't really do much other than I put chicken in boxes, but you have a lot of great volunteers, and Craig tell us a bit about typically over the holidays, if people want to help out, how can they help out on your mission here. ...
Craig thank you for everything you do to serve the people of Northeast Wisconsin. Appreciate it.
Other posts related to protecting unborn babies:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/protecting-unborn-babies