US Congressman Eli Crane [R-District 2] On Tuesday, February 20th, I made several visits to the Verde Valley and northern Arizona. The first stop of the day was the Red Rocks Republican Breakfast, followed by a meeting with Sedona Mayor Scott Jabrow and a tour with Deanna Bindley. A resident of Forest Road 152C is seeking to ban off-highway vehicle traffic on U.S. Forest Service land west of the Sedona city limits.
“I would like to give you a little update on where we are,” Crane said in his opening remarks. “If you have tissues and Kleenex, you can hand them out because it's not very encouraging.”
Throughout his speech, Crane portrayed himself as an outsider to Washington, D.C., and cited his political conflicts with the Biden administration and Republican leadership.
“In my first year and not even my first term, I am proud to say that I am one of the top three high achievers. [former U.S. Rep.] kevin mccarthy [RCalif.] I'm going to cover this as part of a Politico article that came out a few weeks ago… You can tell a lot about a person by who their friends are. I think you can tell a lot about a person by who their enemy is. ”
A Feb. 1 Politico article referenced by Klain lists him as one of the members of the Gaetz Eight, a group of Republicans named after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz. [R-Fla.] On October 3, he joined 208 Democrats in voting to remove McCarthy as speaker of the House. Mr. McCarthy resigned from Congress on December 31st. The article outlines Mr. McCarthy's efforts to rally donors to support a primary challenger against his Republican opponent on the October ballot, and also notes that “Mr. Crane still has no options to run against him. There are no attractive candidates.''
“I think it's the speaker.” [Mike] johnson [R-La.] is a little bit better,” Crane said in response to an audience question. “One of the big differences between Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy is that [is] McCarthy was the epitome of a career Washington, D.C., politician who rose from the top. He was too bought to be able to represent the American people in what we need. Because he sold his soul to lobbyists and special interests. That made him really good at fundraising, which unfortunately is a big problem in politics. ”
border between us and mexico
Mr. Crane then praised Mr. Johnson, saying, “I liked the fact that he voted down the Senate border bill,'' praising Mr. Johnson for ensuring the bill passed. House Resolution 6126The move would cancel $14.3 billion allocated to the Internal Revenue Service under the Inflation Control Act and redirect that money to Israel. Mr. Crane elaborated on Israel's position later that day at the Mingus Mountain Republican Club, and also spoke about “why I incorporated.” [my faith] Please join me in politics.” Sedona Red Rock News' sister newspaper, Cottonwood Journal Extra.
“I believe that Israel is one of our allies, if not our best,” Crane said. “Because of my faith, I also believe that God has a covenant with Israel. In Genesis, God says, “I will bless those who bless Israel, and I will curse those who curse Israel.'' “They said. Now we realize that not everyone shares the same faith. But as a person of faith, if I read it and believe it, it is because it is my faith. And I think I want to be blessed. And as we bless Israel, I hope that the people I represent will be blessed. ”
Klain acknowledged that impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is unlikely to be successful.
“It has to go to the Senate now,” Crane said. “I don't think the Senate will remove him from office. But at least in the House he was finally impeached. So I'm glad that it's finally done and being processed.”
“I don't know about everyone else, but I don't know how to categorize what's going on other than an invasion,” Crane said of the U.S.-Mexico border. “Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have brought in constitutional lawyers and lawyers and said, 'Well, that's not what our founders wanted to say.'” I don't mean civilians coming across the border. It's as if our adversaries and enemies around the world are so stupid that they simply send in military-age individuals in civilian clothes under the pretense of seeking asylum. It's almost as if we can't even think of supporting it further… Under the previous administration, I said, I think there were 14 during the president's time. [Donald] Trump was president. [That] People who were on the terrorist watch list were encountered on our southern border…do you know how many people were encountered under this administration? Probably around 350. ”
political strategy
Klain explained that his strategy to achieve his political goals consists of impeachment, seeking leadership change, and holding public hearings.
“The other thing we can do is harness the power of the wallet,” Crane said. “In fact, that is our greatest authority and our greatest power. Unfortunately, there are too many weak Republicans who are unwilling to wield that sword.”
“There have been many times in this Congress over the last year that we have tried to use the power of wallets and voting cards to hold the Department of Justice accountable,” Crane told the Cottonwood audience. “One of the things, for example, is that I have to go and look at the votes myself. But this was a resolution, I think, led by my friend Matt Gaetz, that only got 60 or 70 votes. I don't think there was. But we tried to deny the FBI a new headquarters. Believe it or not, it would be bigger than the Department of Defense… in return for what the FBI has done in recent years. Who would think that we should be given a new headquarters that is bigger than the General Department? So the biggest thing we can do is use the power of the wallet to basically attack individuals and groups that are weaponized against the American people. It’s about knocking down even the organization.”
media coverage
The last question from the audience was, “Why aren't you in the media more?”
“I [am] We're going to get a fair amount of media exposure and it depends on who's going to cover us fairly,” Crane said. “But at the same time, I try to do most of my conversations with my voting card. But you're right, I could be in the media more and my communications team has encouraged me to be in the media more.” I know he definitely wants to be on the show.”
local control
Regarding OHV and short-term rental laws on public lands, Mr. Crane said: “I'm not saying we won't investigate, but I'm a big supporter of states' rights and I support things like that being handled at the state and local level.” After the morning's events. , Jaburo lobbied Crane to support the American Housing Hedge Fund Deregulation Act of 2023. Under the proposed bill,
“It would take hedge funds 10 years to sell their homes at a rate of 10% a year,” the paper said. RealEstateNews.com. “Otherwise, they would be subject to a penalty of 50% of the fair market value of each property they continued to hold.Hedge funds are also required to report new purchases of single-family homes, and if they do not report they will be subject to a penalty of $20,000. will be subject to a fine.”
A study by the Urban Institute found that hedge funds owned approximately 574,000 single-family homes as of June 2022. This accounted for 3.8% of single-family rental properties, according to the report.
