There is often a rush to submit draft legislation before the election season as markers of what the candidate thinks will arouse his base. In July this year David Brat put down four anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim markers. Brat is using Trump’s same anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric to motivate his base.
One Daily Kos subscriber has already discussed H.R. 5826 an updated Fugitive Slave Act to detain and deport any and every undocumented alien. On July 14, Brat also submitted H.R. 5825 which requires local law enforcement agencies to report to the Secretary of Homeland Security about the immigration status of anyone local law enforcement agencies encounter. It is a companion piece to H.R. 5826 and like HR. 5826 it deprives local law enforcement agencies of federal money from public safety programs that are unrelated to immigrant issues. Brat prohibits money from the “Cops on the Beat” program, for example.
Brat submitted two more bills on July 14 which are anti-Muslim. H.R. 5823 is a convoluted piece which essentially forbids Homeland Security from cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood or other organizations associated with it. Siding with his mentor, Donald Trump who showed in his attack on the Khan family that anti-Muslim rhetoric gains Republican votes, Brat has gone the anti-Muslim Brotherhood route. Stoked by Alt-right fears the Muslim Brotherhood is a great tar brush for Brat and Trump to rally their base.
Another Brat July 14 submission was H.R. 5824 which makes it unlawful for “foreign nationals of a country that limits the free exercise of religion in that country to make any expenditure in the United States to promote a religion in the United States, and for other purposes.” It is not clear what problem the freshman congressman is solving, but it sounds scary and this is Halloween. I suspect this feeds into the fears the Alt-right stokes about Sharia law, but it also sounds like a prohibition against foreign citizens contributing to the American Red Cross if we have another Katrina.
David Brat is known as Mr. No in the congress for voting against the simplest legislation. He has only had one piece of legislation pass through the legislative process and signed by the president – renaming a flower garden. So this sudden spurt of legislative activity before the national conventions should draw our notice because it has one purpose: to act as a dog whistle to his hard right base.
As the Trump campaign was slowing down in Virginia, Brat and his congressional colleagues stepped in to run the Trump campaign. Brat should be retired instead of being a Trump surrogate.
A competent and active centrist Democrat challenger Eileen Bedell [BedellforVirginia] has run an awesome campaign and is within striking distance of unseating Brat and his right-wing base. If you believe there is no place for anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric in America, you want to support Bedell with your time and your money.
