House Representatives
Bills Sponsored:
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This bill’s summary states that it authorizes spending for military activities of the Department of defense. This is a long, long bill and at the very end in Division E Mike Rogers sneaks in the SAVE America Act, requiring that anyone who intends to vote shows documentary proof of U.S. citizenship which does include “a form of identification issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005”. Not all states automatically issue REAL ID compliant drivers licenses. You can tell if yours fits this description by checking if there is a star in the top right corner. This means it’s a REAL ID, if it does not have a star, it is not. In order to get a REAL ID you need to provide proof of your Social Security number (W-2 or pay stub will work), proof of identity (birth certificate or a previous ID), proof of home address (mail addressed to you), and proof of any name changes. This would prohibit anyone who doesn’t have a passport or doesn’t know where their birth certificate is from being able to vote. Meanwhile, there are only 19 states that allow undocumented people to have driver’s licenses at all. You have to give your Social Security information to get almost any ID already, and government databases can link a Social Security Number to immigration records. All that being said, why not change the REAL ID requirements and just have the state governments do the work of looking up someone’s SSN to see if they’re a citizen, and then putting a little star on their drivers license if they qualify instead of making it harder for citizens to vote?
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This bill would require that before an Executive Order takes effect, the President would have to publish in the Federal REgister a list of information that the order is based on such as data, scientific and economic studies, cost-benefit analyses and how the public can access this information online. Congress would then have to approve any major executive order via a joint resolution before it would be allowed to take effect.
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This bill would allow some Armed Forces members who are deployed overseas to not pay taxes on their earnings.
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This bill would reaffirm the applicability of the Indian Reorganization Act to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 gave Native Americans back the ability to manage their own land and mineral rights as well as allowing them to self-govern.
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This bill is essentially a military appropriations bill, however once again in Division E, which is labeled “Other Matters”, Mike has hidden an Easter egg that would prohibit the use of Central Bank Digital Currency by federal reserve banks. Now, I’ll admit I’m not smart enough to understand the deal with Central Bank Digital Currency, but according to the Cato Institute it would “spell doom for what little financial privacy protections remain” by giving the federal government more capabilities to enact financial control on citizens.
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This bill would modify the boundaries of the Talladega National Forest
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This bill would provide an allowance for members of Congress to pay for lodging, meals, and other expenses incurred from traveling to D.C. and home again for the purposes of voting.
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This bill would allow states to choose to observe year-round daylight saving time
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This bill would require solicitations and ads sent via the mail to be clearly identified as such
Mike Rogers in his own words:
Mike Rogers’ website is similarly designed to Shomari Figures, by which I mean it is well-designed and offers an assortment of similar resources for his constituents to use. His biography states that he graduated from law school with honors and worked as a practicing attorney and small business owner in Calhoun County.
Mike Rogers in the bills he’s sponsored:
This man is either making me read or just saying what he means plain and simple; there’s no in-between. He’s only sponsored 9 bills in this legislative session, but I feel that I can’t exactly blame him considering the paragraphs in his military appropriations bills.
Speaking of his military appropriations bills… Both of them seem to have some hidden Easter eggs in there. The more recent one, H.R.8800, included the SAVE Act within Division E. This Act has been controversial for a minute now due to the fact that it would make voting impossible for anyone who does not already have a RealID, cannot find their birth certificate and does not have a passport (According to this study, around 10% of voting-eligible American citizens do not have documents that prove their citizenship). It is already extremely illegal to vote as a non-citizen, and you already have to promise under penalty of perjury that you are a citizen when you register to vote. While this is just a promise, the punishment for even just registering to vote as a non-citizen is up to 5 years in federal prison, and actually voting illegally can be punished by deportation. The less recent military appropriations bill hides another little Easter egg in Division E. This division of the bill would prohibit federal reserve banks to issue a central bank digital currency. I don’t know much about all that, but from the brief second of research I did it seems that the main reason for opposition against this type of digital currency is that it would be easier for the federal government to track and ultimately infringe on our right to privacy.
One bill he sponsored would allow states to choose to observe daylight saving time year-round, as if the our nation having 6 time zones wasn’t confusing enough. Another would limit Trump’s ability to throw out Executive orders willy-nilly. That’s one thing I can support Mike Rogers on. I just wish he didn’t hide important legislation in so many paragraphs. Let people vote on individual issues instead of lumping it in with a military funding bill.
His potential successor:
Mike Rogers is currently running against Lee McInnis. On his website, Lee McInnis promises to accept no money from corporate PACs or PACs representing foreign governments. He also promises to hold town hall meetings and to be accessible and honest. He speaks on the necessity of healthcare for all, and the healthcare deserts prevalent in District 3. He promises to level the field for working families and make life affordable for everyone. He is endorsed by both the Communication Workers of America and the Communication Workers of Alabama, the Alabama New South Alliance, the for The Future Victory Fund, Take BAC Congress, and Patients Over Profits. I’m gonna be honest, Lee McInnis’ campaign website gives me warm fuzzy feelings and hope, but he’s going up against a long-time incumbent, someone who’s been in his position in the House for 23 years according to Ballotpedia. I really like this guy, and I’m rooting for him but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much.