The GOP playbook for 2024 includes immigration reform, school culture wars and Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, a leading Republican congressman tells the Herald.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) says he expects Trump to lead the party back to the White House with issues like restricting asylum seekers, finishing the wall with Mexico and “common sense” school reform.
Jordan, who has been one of the most outspoken GOP leaders in Congress, said in an interview with the Herald that he expects Trump to win the nomination over his Republican rivals despite an all-out effort by Democrats to investigate and prosecute him.
“That’s who I want to win. I think he’s going to be the nominee and I think that’s good,” said Jordan, who will be making a political trip to Massachusetts in a few weeks.
“I think (Trump) is in a very strong position,” Jordan added, despite challenges from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and several others, and an indictment from the Manhattan DA’s office. “I think the American people understand what’s happened to President Trump since 2016 has been driven by politics.”
House Republicans recently introduced an immigration reform package they hope will be passed soon and become a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign.
The bill faces almost certain defeat from Senate Democrats or a veto by President Biden but Jordan said Republicans will present it to the American people as an example of how they will lead in the future.
“If the Senate doesn’t take it up that’s unfortunate,” Jordan said. “That becomes the position our party adopts and we campaign on it in the next election…We want to show the American people we’re doing what we said we’re going to do.”
The immigration reform bill, which includes tougher restrictions on asylum seekers and criminal penalties for those who overstay their visas, will be coupled with a Homeland Security bill that includes funding to finish the border wall, according to Jordan.
The Ohio Republican also said he was concerned about a whistleblower’s recent testimony about tens of thousands of migrant children being forced into labor and slavery because the U.S. has lost track of and abandoned them.
“We’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “We’re going to find out where their parents are.”
“This is the result of the intentional policies the Biden administration put into place on day one,” Jordan added.
Jordan also recently tangled with a teachers’ union official over who started the so-called “culture wars” in American schools, blaming liberals for imposing their beliefs on issues like transgender athletes and book choices.
“They started the culture wars we just want common sense,” Jordan said. “We’re not for banning anything but we don’t think 10-year-olds should be reading the same thing as 18-year-olds.”
