Issa kicks off 114th session with five bills

On the first day of the 114th Congressional session, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced his first five pieces of legislation for 2015.

The items, which carried over from the 113th Congress, include the DRONES Act, the Access to Insurance for All Americans Act, the Military Land Act, and legislation regarding the Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States and the Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office.

The DRONES Act, formerly known as the Designating Requirements on Notification of Executive-ordered Strikes Act, would limit any preplanned lethal operations deliberately targeting citizens of the United States by holding the president accountable and requiring confirmation of a citizen’s label as an enemy combatant.

“Since 2009, four U.S. citizens have been killed by secret U.S. operations in Yemen and Pakistan – three of which we know involved drone strikes,” Issa said. “As the United States continues to expand its use of drones, Congress must enact safeguards to ensure that Americans and our allies are not targeted without adequate due process.”

Issa also is taking on Obamacare with the Access to Insurance for All Americans Act. If passed, it will provide every American citizen with the opportunity to purchase the same health care plans that the president and other federal employees have access to. 

“Affordable, high quality, private plans can be offered to Americans without mandates, new taxes, bureaucratic hurdles or adding to our deficit,” Issa said. “We should repeal the president’s health care law and replace it with reform that is patient-centered where you control your personal health decisions, not Washington.”

The Military LAND Act allows federal agencies to oppose any outside nomination of a federally owned site for national historic designation in order to protect the military’s ability to train on the land. 

“Congress set aside property for the exclusive use of our military—but without action, every base in the country is at risk of facing limited access to its own land and being subject to control by outside special-interest groups that could impede our national security,” Issa argued. “This bill will fix this statutory loophole without undermining our tradition of protecting truly historical places.”

With the Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States legislation, Issa also is proposing renaming the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) after the late president who established the EEZ in 1983.

The EEZ program protects the country’s rights to explore, conserve and manage living and nonliving resources off of its coastlines.

“President Reagan appreciated that America is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and understood that to remain competitive and to promote strong economic growth, we need to effectively develop and responsibly make use of our natural wealth,” Issa continued. “I’m proud to introduce legislation that would honor his historic act, which nearly doubled the size of the United States with the stroke of his pen, at no cost to taxpayers.”

In another name-change proposal, if the Camp Pendleton legislation passes, the official name of the postal facility inside the California Marine Corps base would be the “Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office” in  honor of those who have sacrificed so much for the country.