Link to House of Representatives weekly committee meeting schedule:

https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByWeek.aspx?WeekOf=01292023_02042023

The House of Representatives Committee on Rules meets today at 2:00 PM EST to discuss and vote on passing the following resolution to the House Floor for debate and vote.

118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. CON. RES. 9

Denouncing the horrors of socialism.

IV 118TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION

H. CON. RES. 9 / Denouncing the horrors of socialism.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 25, 2023

Ms. SALAZAR (for herself, Mr. SCALISE, Ms. FOXX, Mr. MASSIE, Ms. MALLIOTAKIS, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. GOSAR, Mrs. GONZA ́LEZ-C OLO ́N, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. JACKSON of Texas, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. HUNT, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. CLYDE, Mr. ISSA, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr.GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. STEWART, Ms. TENNEY, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr.HILL, Mr. MCCLINTOCK , Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. CARL, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. OWENS, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. FEENSTRA , Mr. LATURNER , Mr. JORDAN, Mr. ELLZEY, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. POSEY, Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas, Mr.KUSTOFF, Mrs. MILLER -MEEKS , Mr. HUDSON , Mr. ADERHOLT , Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mrs. BICE, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. FRY, Mr. GOODEN of Texas, Mr. MORAN, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. OGLES, Mrs. FISCHBACH, Mr. BURGESS, Mrs. MCCLAIN, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. LUTTRELL, Mr. BUCK, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. SELF, Mr. BOST, and Mr. GUEST) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services.

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Denouncing the horrors of socialism.

Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships;

Whereas socialism has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide;

Whereas many of the greatest crimes in history were committed by socialist ideologues, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Nicola ́s Maduro;

Whereas tens of millions died in the Bolshevik Revolution, at least 10,000,000 people were sent to the gulags in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and millions more starved in the Terror-Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine;

Whereas between 15,000,000 and 55,000,000 people starved to death in the wake of famine and devastation caused by the Great Leap Forward in China;

Whereas the socialist experiment in Cambodia led to the killing fields in which over a million people were gruesomely murdered;

Whereas up to 3,500,000 people have starved in North Korea, dividing a land of freedom from a land of destitution;

Whereas the Castro regime in Cuba expropriated the land of Cuban farmers and the businesses of Cuban entrepreneurs, stealing their possessions and their livelihoods, and exiling millions with nothing but the clothes on their backs;

Whereas the implementation of socialism in Venezuela has turned a once-prosperous nation into a failed State with the world’s highest rate of inflation;

Whereas the author of the Declaration of Independence, President Thomas Jefferson, wrote, ‘‘To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.’’;

Whereas the ‘‘Father of the Constitution’’, President James Madison, wrote that it ‘‘is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest’’; and

Whereas the United States of America was founded on the belief in the sanctity of the individual, to which the collectivistic system of socialism in all of its forms is fundamentally and necessarily opposed:

Now, therefore, be it

1. Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2. concurring), That Congress denounces socialism in all its

3. forms, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies

4. in the United States of America.

Link to resolution

https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hconres9/BILLS-118hconres9ih.pdf

On the surface this would appear to be your normal House bloviating... but there is something below the surface going on here.

What is significantly missing from the resolution?

Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships;

Why is Russia left off the list?

Hasn't it collapsed into a brutal dictatorship?

Where is the denunciation of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine and crimes against humanity?

Why is President Xi not mentioned?

Isn't he a self-proclaimed communist dictator for life?

Where is the condemnation of the incarceration and forced labor of the Uighurs?

Curiouser and curiouser.

On the lighter side, note that Mr. Morgan Lutrell (TX-8) is one of the sponsors of the resolution.

You may have heard of his brother, Marcus Lutrell, the former Navy Seal whose experience while serving in Afghanistan is the basis for the movie Lone Survivor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Survivor

You probably have not heard of this Marcus Lutrell 911 call...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UFIkqx3Jg (12 minutes)

By the by, Marcus and Morgan are twins...

https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/marcus-luttrell-twin-brother-hes-neuroscientist/

That might come in handy someday.

Not that it matters much, because Morgan is a former Navy Seal as well.