Communications Office Of Sen. Douglas Butcher

[Butcher]

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE OF SEN. DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

PRESS RELEASES AND PUBLIC APPEARANCES

 

PRESS RELEASES

1. CLEAR Act: Senator Butcher Introduces Policing, Community Development Bill
2. Senator Butcher Officially Endorses Donald Trump For 2024
3. Democrats Misguided On Federal Approach To Minimum Wage

 

PUBLIC APPEARANCES

1. Speech In Fort Worth: Statement On The Israel-Hamas War
2. Speech In Houston: Address To Texas Chamber of Commerce
3. Remarks In Lubbock: Statement On Proposed Excise Tax On Stocks

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Butcher

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

CLEAR Act: Senator Butcher Introduces Policing, Community Development Bill

Washington - Sen. Douglas Butcher introduced the Community Law Enforcement And Redevelopment Act to the United States Senate. The CLEAR Act  would provide funding for law enforcement, increasing efforts to combat crime and supporting efforts like Weed And Seed. The bill would also invest in local businesses through the Community Development Financial Investments Fund and New Market Tax Credits. Senator Butcher spoke on the legislation:

“This legislation will invest in law enforcement and improve the efforts on community policing which are vital to addressing the rampant increase in crime which we have seen in recent years. As so many of our communities find crime on the rise, we need to support our law enforcement community in their efforts to turn back the tide of crime. For nearly 20 years, I was proud to wear a badge and stand a post in the efforts to create safer communities.

However, we also know that the elements of crime that affect our communities are often a reflection of economic situations where opportunity is in short supply. That is why this legislation will invest in programs like CDFI and New Market Tax Credits which can get small businesses up and running and serve those communities, creating jobs and stronger communities in the process.

In the past few years, we’ve seen this country go through changes. In a response to the tragedy of George Floyd, communities began a move to defund police departments. Liberal prosecutors began to let crime go unchecked, particularly in response to theft. The aftermath of failing to prosecute has left businesses taking measures we would never have thought we would see. Products are now locked up on shelves because they can’t trust that they will be secure. We’ve seen flash mobs of targeted theft. It is my hope that this legislation can send a clear message that we support law enforcement as well as the communities they serve.

We know that insane ideas have come to pass as supposed common sense in progressive circles. We’ve seen high-profile Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advance ideas like prison abolition, releasing studies from a communist like Angela Davis as the blueprint for our future. To the prison abolition movement, the idea of prisons is rooted in slavery and what academics like Dorothy Roberts call ‘racial capitalism.’

While it is easy to spout off that spectacular level of bullshit to the bowels of academia or to the dilettantes in Che t-shirts, the idea of shutting down our prisons is an insult to every mugging victim, every rape victim, and every mother and father who had to bury their murdered child. There is a reason we support law enforcement and must continue to do so.

It is my belief that this bill will work to support those in local law enforcement who are on the front lines and working for those safer communities. Together, this Congress can pass this legislation send that message that we still value law and order in America.”

 

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

Speech In Fort Worth: Statement On The Israel-Hamas War

Text of speech by Senator Douglas Butcher to the Eggs & Issues forum at Texas Christian University

Good morning. It’s an honor to be here today. I’d like to start by thanking the local chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha here at TCU. As the national honor society of political science, they have always taken a  role in bringing speakers to this campus to address the issues of the day. I was honored to accept their invitation. So thank you them and the political science department for this event.

As we know, there is a major conflict between Israel and Hamas. It has captured the attention of the world and brought out intense passions on both sides. But, even as we see protests on college campuses across this nation, some of which have exposed rabid cauldrons of boiling anti-Semitism, we will be told that the issues ahead of us are complex. Indeed, we will be told that.

Yet, the reason we hear that message of complexity is because the issues are actually quite simple. Can a nation which sees innocent people slain on a peaceful day respond to those forces of terrorism with force? That’s it.

When we view the history of that region, it is one in which Israel experiences an attack and responds. The Yom Kippur War. A surprise attack on the holiest day of Judaism. The Six Day War. Military incursions by Egypt in shutting down the Straits Of Tiran. Even in 1948, when the nations of the Arab world tried to deny the existence of Israel and attempted its destruction, we have seen this cycle. Every instance has been an attack on Israel met with retaliation. And in each of those moments, when Israel has stood against those raging foes, it is demonized for that self-defense.

As college campuses in this nation are filled with protests chanting “from the river to the sea” it is the same thing again. It is a cycle straight from Ecclesiastes. What has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. And as there is nothing new under the sun, it is vital that our nation cannot shrink into the shadows and abandon our allies simply because some believe that the most regressive hatreds are progressive virtues.

Antisemitism has always been a fuel for the worst of our humanity. I go back to the early 20^th century. Henry Ford, a virulent Jew-hater, was poisoning the world with the Dearborn Independent, espousing the kind of vile garbage that today would probably convince the most stupid and gullible among us that wildfires are started by Jewish space lasers.

But that had an impact. There’s a reason Dearborn is the home of the second-oldest American mosque, built in 1937, as Lebanese Muslims brought those hatreds to Dearborn. That gutter legacy lives on in that city as visible members of the left, sitting members of Congress, mainline hatred. And we must be wary of that on our side of the aisle too as we have learned from Candice Owens and some of the stuff I’ve heard from Tucker Carlson lately.

That’s critical to remember. The loudness of voices is not the same as moral right. Last December, we saw protests at the Brite Divinity School here at TCU turn violent. We’ve seen the polls that show how Jewish students are feeling increasingly unsafe to public identify as Jews. Remember, while the First Amendment gives those anti-Semitic voices a right to speak, it does not give them the right to be heard. Through the distorted lens of moral relativism, we are on verge of losing sight of our humanity.

In that light, our nation must make it clear where we stand. We stand with Israel. We stand with civilization. We stand with humanity. And we stand against terrorism and hatred. That is not complexity, but the most fundamental, self-evident, and simplest of truths. Thank you and God bless.

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

Speech In Houston: Address To Texas Chamber of Commerce

Text of speech by Senator Douglas Butcher to the Texas Chamber of Commerce.

Good afternoon. We often think that the greatest damage that can be done to our national prosperity is found in the halls of Congress. In reality, the greatest challenge to a functioning nation is often more likely to be found in the pages of the Federal Register.

Sometimes, it is both. Currently in the Senate, we are deliberating over a piece of legislation called the Price Gouging Act of 2024. The sponsor of that bill wants everyone to believe that it is about emergency response. However, this is an Elizabeth Warren idea. We all know what she is about. This is more of an attempt to demonize the private sector and put any kind of profit on the block.

I look at that bill and I see a Democrat attempt to bring back one of the largest public policy failures of my youth, price controls. In that legislation, the sponsors want to empower the Federal Trade Commission to have comprehensive powers to regulate profits. Rather than looking to cure the factors leading to increased prices, they want to apply bad medicine to the symptoms.

The real concern is that this bill will empower the worst elements of the regulatory state. Within 180 days of its passing, the FTC will be granted broad and expansive to “promulgate regulations” that will decide in all circumstances whether a profit is quote-unquote “acceptable” to that government agency.

I watched senator Reyes who has taken up the point on this legislation. She keeps talking about emergencies rather what this bill really is. You ask Jan Schakowsky, it’s not about a response to emergencies. You ask Elizabeth Warren, it’s not about emergencies. You ask Senator Baldwin, it’s not about emergencies. It’s about corporate greed and setting price controls. And to do so "anytime and anywhere."

That’s why the current debate makes me laugh. Especially Senator Reyes, who is lying through her teeth about the intent. This is not a new bill. It was being pushed in 2022 and we knew what it was then. Of course, when you are the main sponsor of a bill that’s borderline Marxism, and you know this country won’t accept Marxism, you must lie about the bill’s intent with your laughable spin.

I guess, if Senator Reyes doesn’t have the courage to be the comrade she can always be la comadreja.

Perhaps, I am being unfair. I entered elected office after 20 years of law enforcement experience. The one thing that Senator Reyes and I have in common is that we have never had a career in the private sector. The difference is that, when I look at what we are we doing in Washington, I try to understand the impact on people in the private sector before we set about doing bad legislation. I don’t believe that was done by her or anybody involved with that bill. This is legislation that comes from people who despise the idea that anyone ever makes a profit.

The Democrats will be trying to spin this legislation as some response to price gouging, even as gouging is prosecutable at the state level in the 37 states that have laws against price gouging. This is about expanding the federal government to control prices which will be an economic disaster that will only repeat the bad policies of the 1970s and lead to increased shortages. I will work to ensure that this bill does not pass. It is a recipe for disaster. Thank you and God bless.

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

Senator Butcher Officially Endorses Donald Trump For 2024

Washington - Sen. Douglas Butcher issued a statement today on the inevitable nomination of Donald Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee for President of the United States. Senator Butcher, who had previously endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, urged the party to rally behind former President Trump in this critical election for the future of the nation. Senator Butcher delivered the following remarks in support of the Trump nomination:

“I’m speaking today in support of the former president and urging every American to support Donald Trump as we bring an end to the rolling disaster area that has been Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

For the last three and a half years, we have watched Americans suffer high gas prices, unchecked inflation and a sense of economic hopeless. Under the Biden-Harris regime, we have seen America become a nation of weakness abroad, a nation of increasing lawlessness at a home and a border crisis that has brought hardship to our southwestern cities. I know that this can change with the right leadership and Donald Trump is that leader.

In the first years of Donald Trump’s presidency, we had one of the greatest periods of economic growth. I remember when Barack Obama mocked the potential of American saying we should accept a new normal of economic complacency. I remember him saying that we would never have 3 percent growth again only to see that shattered by a country with gas prices under two dollars driving a robust economy that was the envy of the world.

Of course, it’s hard to remember that in a post-COVID world. So much of our economic downturn was a product of heavy-handed government telling you to stay home as small businesses rotted and we became dependent on government handouts. The Democrats want you to believe that capitalism and the private sector is dead and gone, but we know better because we remember 2019 and real prosperity under the man who will lead our party and our nation into the next four years.

And speaking of COVID, the greatest achievement of Donald Trump’s presidency was Operation Warp Speed. Because of the efforts of Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Moncef Slaoui we have a vaccine that has put this country back on track. At a time when it seems like everything is chaos and uncertainty, the work of the Trump Administration to bring a vaccine to market in less than a year is one of the greatest public policy achievements of our lifetime.

And as we see Vice President Harris leave the race, we are reminded of her statement in 2020, saying she would not take the vaccine if Trump were president.  She made people dumber that day – probably because she is that dumb every day –  and it should never be forgotten. Not only was that a sniveling act of partisanship with the largest public health crisis of our times on the line, but it also helped set the table for people to question vaccination and undermined our public health response. And the second she took the oath of office, anybody opposed to the vaccine was mocked by her and her arrogant hypocritical elitism. Turn the page. Pause for cackle.

And now that the Biden campaign is unburdened by what can be very stupid, it should be the Republican Party’s message that you have normalcy through this vaccine because of the work President Trump’s administration accomplished.

In closing, we can get this nation back on track. We can roll back the regulatory state. We can put faith back into the private sector. We can keep the tax burdens off working Americans, We can have a strong and secure border where laws matter. We can have safe communities where laws matter. We can bring this country back. And I have confidence that our vision and our ideas will prevail under the former and future president. Thank you and God bless.”

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

Remarks In Lubbock: Statement On Proposed Excise Tax On Stocks

Text of remarks by Senator Douglas Butcher to the Lubbock Lions Club Pancake Festival. He appeared at the event with his dog Pancho.

Good morning. I’m proud to be here and support the Lions Club and their great charitable work. And the pancakes smell delicious. So, everyone enjoy.

I’d like to take a moment, if I could, to talk about the current Health Families Act we are debating in Washington. You can call a bill anything you want. You can call a bill the Free Puppies and Cotton Candy Act, that doesn’t mean it will give you what it says. You might even end up paying for cats and licorice.

However, the real thing I’d like to talk about is the compromise we now have in the Reyes Amendment to that bill. It will give a payroll advantage, but all we must give I return is an excise tax on stock repurchases. I’ve looked at the amendment and there is absolutely no provision for pension plans or retirement funds who repurchase stock. No exemption on pensions. No exemption for your 401k. A tax on the retirement of millions of Americans. If we pass this amendment, one of the ways retirement funds grow and are self-sustaining is in the form of stock repurchasing. So all we have to do to get this little bone is to let Democrats tax the so-called wealthy and end up indirectly taxing pensions.

At the end of the day, I’m not standing against small business. I’m not standing against healthy families. I’m refusing to tax pensions. The cotton candy she’s going to be spinning if she doesn’t get her way is going to be tiny, nasty and black. It’s just licorice.

One day, I hope the Democrats realize that shifting a tax burden is not the same as lifting it.

[Butcher]

PRESS OFFICE OF SENATOR DOUGLAS BUTCHER (R-TX)

Democrats Misguided On Federal Approach To Minimum Wage

Washington - Sen. Douglas Butcher issued a statement on current legislation proposed by Democrats to increase the minimum wage. Senator Butcher criticized the legislation as a misguided federal response that fails to recognize regional realities in our economy. Senator Butcher delivered remarks on the legislation:

“Our federal system exists for a reason. The realities of Juneau, Alaska are not the realities of Hilo, Hawaii. The realities of Portland, Maine differ from the realities of Portland, Oregon. I know that it’s a dog-eat-dog world in the workforce everywhere you go, but don’t go comparing Springfield, Massachusetts to Springfield, Illinois as if they are the same size of Milk-Bone underwear.

By taking a federal approach to raising the minimum wage, the legislation ignores the wide-ranging differences in communities throughout this nation. Do an online search for apartments, just as an example. In Fargo, North Dakota, you can rent a spacious two-bedroom apartment for $700. If you look at apartments in New York City, you will find a studio apartment in Canarsie rent for $2,500 a month. A federal response that imposes the same minimum wage in both communities is policy that can do serious damage to those economies where a drastic minimum wage hike will cripple small businesses.

And I say small businesses because Wal-Mart will be able to handle this increase. The same for Target, McDonald’s and even Whataburger in my hometown of San Antonio. They will absorb that cost in ways small businesses can't.

One of the ways they will adapt is to have more kiosks and more self-checkout lines. They will absorb that cost and adapt. If that adaptation comes in the form of humans losing their jobs to automation, well who ever gave a flying flip about unintended consequences. A kiosk does the same work at $10 per hour as it does at $17 per hour. And, at that increased wage, you will pay to do the job at your self-checkout station where once you had a cashier.

None of this matters as Democrats have no concern about the unintended consequences of their actions. They’ll claim some great victory for the workers of this country even as things go by the wayside and new economic harms come into play directly as a result of their failed policies. They simply do not care.”

Edited 3 hours ago by Butcher