NE Atlanta News

Dear Friends,

 

This afternoon, we received word from U.S. Central Command that the last American aircraft departed Kabul International Airport. Over the last 8 months, Afghanistan has become an unmitigated disaster and it was completely avoidable. Proper leadership, in fact even mediocre leadership would have resulted in a better transition, but we are seeing a complete abdication of top leadership. What we have witnessed is disrespectful to all veterans whose service has protected our freedoms, but especially those who served in Afghanistan or supported those efforts during the last 20 years. 

 

We have had 20 years of safety and security since 9/11 because of the ability of our military and intelligence agencies to take the fight to the enemy on foreign shores so our citizens have not had to weather the storms of more terrorist attacks here at home. But no longer will that be the case. Thanks to the inept decision-making from the White House, the Secretary of State, and the Department of Defense, the terrorist organizations of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS-K now have a safe place to call home where they can regroup, increase in strength, and plan their next evil attack. 

 

As we approach the 20-year anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban is now stronger than they were before 9/11. That’s because they now control more territory in Afghanistan than they did pre-9/11 and they are in possession of up to $80 billion in advanced weaponry and aircraft. This outcome alone is a failure of epic proportions that will be heavily scrutinized by lawmakers in the weeks and months to come, especially by me, as I firmly believe that our military should never leave weapons behind for the enemy to use against us. 

 

You can also expect lawmakers, including myself, to closely examine the White House’s choice of Kabul airfield for the evacuation site. Bagram, as a military airfield, would have been much easier to defend, with more onsite resources including two runways and was only 25 miles north of Kabul. I plan to demand explanations from our top military brass and the White House as to how they landed at each critical decision over the course of the last 8 months, including the timeline leading up to the barbaric terrorist attack that killed 13 of our service personnel and over a hundred Afghans outside of the Kabul airport. 

 

President Biden and his advisers should have seen the rapid fall of Afghanistan coming as it is reported that intelligence assessments painted a grim picture. If they could not understand the dire situation then they were already incompetent for the job, but if they chose to ignore the intelligence and maintain an inflexible course of action then they are culpable and directly responsible for this humiliating and deadly retreat.

 

Either way, I believe our top military brass and diplomats failed. As such, I’ve called on the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, to resign. Their leadership failed and it is time to step down.

 

As a veteran who has served three combat tours in Iraq and Kuwait, one of which supported operations in Afghanistan, to give Afghanistan over to the Taliban tells me it will spell danger for the homeland. We have lost our human intelligence capability on the ground and now both surveillance and reconnaissance will be even harder. Americans deserve top-notch leadership in both the White House and in Congress to ensure we maintain our liberty and freedoms in this more dangerous new world. Please know that lawmakers in Congress are working around the clock to hold the leaders of our great nation accountable, and I look forward to sharing more with you as this Congress moves forward. 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Andrew S. Clyde 

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Fort Benning and learning more about the installation’s mission in safeguarding our nation. Fort Benning serves as the epicenter for military operations in the state of Georgia and has jurisdiction over Camp Merrill located in the 9^th District. The base supports roughly 120,000 active-duty military, family, and reserve soldiers. It is also the home of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence, the Armor and Infantry Schools, and the 75^th Ranger Regiment. 

Fort Benning has a rich history and will be celebrating its 103^rd birthday this year. In addition to understanding the needs of Fort Benning, I was fortunate enough to tour the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection, which features armored vehicles dating back prior to World War I. 

It was an honor to be escorted by Major General Patrick J. Donahoe, the Command General of Ft. Benning, to learn more about day-to-day life on the base and what my colleagues and I in Congress can do to continue supporting Ft. Benning’s critical mission. 

Rep. Clyde pictured with Major General Patrick J. Donahoe

So much has happened in the news cycle the past week that I know has weighed heavily on all our hearts, but I want to take this brief opportunity to make sure you are aware of some good news that may have gotten lost in the mix. Specifically, I want to share with you two U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rulings that not only work to uphold the Constitution, but also restore law and order. 



The first ruling was handed down on August 24th and requires President Biden to resume the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy – a 2019 policy requiring migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico until their case can be adjudicated. This ruling is a huge win in the fight to restore law and order at the border, which is desperately needed as border crossings continue to hit record highs and the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered is occurring at unprecedented levels. I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision, and I joined 24 of my GOP colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas demanding he comply with the Court’s order and respond with his actions of compliance.

The second decision was issued on August 26th and puts an end to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) unconstitutional pandemic-related federal moratorium on evictions. I highlighted this very issue in the last newsletter in which I explained how the White House chose to outright disregard the high court’s previous order on the issue that made clear any further extension of the moratorium needs to come from Congress via new legislation. I am pleased SCOTUS stepped in to right the White House’s poor decision to outright defy the Court. The federal government has made funds available to both tenants and landlords who need assistance, and now its time for those entities entrusted with those dollars to do their jobs. If you or a loved one need assistance, you can visit GeorgiaRentalAssistance.ga.gov to learn more. 

Speaker Pelosi summoned lawmakers back to Capitol Hill last week, not to help get Americans home from Afghanistan in the wake of the President’s disastrous exit, but to instead pass an empty budget resolution that gives Democrats a blank check that paves the way to pass the President’s $3.5 trillion inflationary tax and spend agenda. This will pile on $17 trillion in new debt for Americans over the next ten years, $570 billion of which is estimated to be shouldered just by Georgians! 



It shows a total lack of leadership that Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues determined that this past week was the appropriate time to bring up Bernie Sanders’ radical $3.5 trillion budget. This budget will wreak further havoc on our economy that is already both reeling from inflation and is crippled by labor shortages. The new Democrat spending will exacerbate inflation which is on pace to be the highest in 40 years. In Georgia, used cars are up 56%, food prices are up 4.8% and residents are paying 74% higher prices for gas.

That said, passage of this budget resolution in both chambers of Congress opens the door to allowing Democrats to haphazardly inject even more federal dollars in our markets – a move that will not only add to our economic woes but also expand the federal government’s footprint.

While Speaker Pelosi used a smoke and mirrors maneuver to pass this staggering $3.5 trillion budget framework, I resolutely voted NO on the legislative bill that housed the empty budget resolution. 

In addition, the House also considered H.R. 4, the “Federal Control of Elections Act,” a bill that seeks to obliterate the achievements Georgia lawmakers have made to date in restoring integrity to our elections through passage and enactment of S.B. 202. While H.R. 4 is similar to H.R. 1, the “For the Politicians Act,” in the sense that both bills aim to overturn Georgia’s new election law and brazenly usurp states’ rights to establish and administer their own elections, H.R. 4 approaches federalization of elections by drastically expanding the federal government’s oversight of elections at all levels of state and local government. 

Rather than mandating election laws from Washington, as H.R. 1 would do, H.R. 4 would subject states and localities wishing to make changes to their election laws to get pre-approval of the proposed change by federal bureaucrats—bureaucrats who serve partisan administrations with political agendas. For instance, if a state wanted to institute a voter identification requirement at its polls, the state would have to first seek approval from the federal election czar before doing so. We can all see where this would go!

Democrats from the halls of Congress to the halls of the White House have made no secret of their hyper-political agenda to overturn election laws duly enacted by red states. This is a blatant attempt to totally subjugate states’ rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. One doesn’t have to look much farther than Biden’s Department of Justice lawsuit against Georgia’s SB 202 to know that’s true. As such, I resolutely voted NO on H.R. 4. 

It has been a great last two and a half weeks traveling the highways and byways of the 9th District. I have visited more than half of the counties in the 9th District visiting businesses, participating in roundtables, and speaking to civic groups. I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few highlights with you.

The 9^th District is home to four US Army Corps of Engineers water projects. I enjoyed sitting down with Dermott and Denise Kiely, owner-operators of the marina on Carters Lake, and then touring the Carters Lake Dam and Powerhouse. 

Patterson Pump Company in Toccoa builds incredible pumps, large and small. Today, pumps made in Stephens County protect New Orleans so that the flooding that happened because of Hurricane Katrina can be prevented in the future. 

I had a great time sitting down with the Forward Rabun Intergovernmental Committee at their inaugural meeting. There were representatives from the County and all six municipalities! 

Thank you to Russ Moon and Moon Farms in Madison County for hosting a great discussion of issues facing farmers in America. Specifically, we discussed how devastating the Biden administration's planned repeal of the stepped-up basis rule would be for small and family farm operations. If you are not familiar with the stepped-us basis rule, it’s a provision in the tax code that allows for an adjustment of the cost basis of an inherited asset, essentially reducing the tax on the asset’s gains. Many small businesses, farmers, and ranchers, benefit from this estate planning tool as it allows them to keep family run operations in the family rather than forcing them to sell in order to pay “death” taxes. 



Unfortunately, President Biden’s tax plan includes eliminating the stepped-up basis and taxing capital gains at death, which is in addition to increasing the capital gains rate and keeping the longstanding death tax. Such proposals would be detrimental to family-owned businesses and farms. And all of this would come at the expense of paying for the progressive’s out of control spending spree. We must continue to support Georgia Agriculture, which is why I continue to push back on the administration’s proposals that will harm agriculture operations here in the 9th.  

Reinicke Athens Inc., is an industrial steel fabricator located in Clarke County. I enjoyed learning of the capabilities of their facility from President Mark Christopherson and about how the company delivers projects on time or ahead of schedule through its efficient in-house processes. I walked away from my visit thinking that Capitol Hill sure could use a dose of RAI’s work-ethic and values!

The Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery in Suches is vital to our tourism industry in North Georgia. This hatchery stocks the tailwaters of multiple federal water projects across our region and has an economic impact of more than $30 million annually! Next time you go fly-fishing in the rivers of North Georgia and land a fish on your line, don’t forget to thank the hatchery and its team of five employees who raise the fish and stock the waters in our area with beautiful rainbow trout!

Young Harris College is truly a gem located in the mountains of North Georgia. I had the opportunity to visit its campus and learn more about how YHC strives to invest in its students, ensuring they have the tools and knowledge needed to be successful post-graduation. I was also fortunate enough to experience YHC’s unique planetarium firsthand while on campus, (pictured above) which was amazing! I want to thank President Van Horn for extending the invitation and providing valuable insight into this educational landmark of North Georgia. 

Jaemor Farms provides an extensive variety of locally grown produce for both the 9^th District and other businesses in the state. I met with Drew Echols and Carli Jones, touring the facility where I gained insight into both agritourism and the challenging workforce issues facing the agriculture industry here in Georgia. 

Today, I came back to Washington, DC to begin the process of holding President Biden and the Biden Administration accountable for the unmitigated disaster which has been unfolding in Afghanistan due to his abdication of leadership. Our great country and its military has suffered tremendous loss because of the national security crisis in Afghanistan and I will not stand by and let us be further damaged. Please remember the families of the 13 heroic service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice and also the many who were wounded last week while helping to bring US citizens home.