Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN), the sole member of Congress born in the former Soviet Union, announced Friday that she will not seek political office in 2024, ending any speculation that she might have her eyes set on higher office.
The congresswoman, who is of Ukrainian descent, cited the desire to spend more time with her growing daughters.
&#8220;I won a lot of tough battles for the people and will work hard to win a few more in the next two years. However, being a working mom is tough and I need to spend more time with my two high school girls back home, so I will not run for any office in 2024.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s been my honor representing Hoosiers in the Indiana State Senate and U.S. Congress, and I appreciate the strong support on the ground. 2024 will mark seven years of holding elected office and over a decade in Republican politics,&#8221; she said.
Spartz, who moved to the U.S. in 2000, worked in local politics and as a businesswoman prior to her 2020 congressional bid. But her most significant national attention came after the election when she delivered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/must-watch-new-gop-congresswoman-elect-who-grew-up-in-ukraine-blisters-socialism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blistering critique of socialism</a> and how ugly it can get when the government &#8220;runs out of money.&#8221;
“I’m kind of going full circle,” she said. “I can tell you what is going to be next.  It’s very sad for me to see that.  And that made as the mother of two daughters, it made me get involved and do something about it because that’s not very good for our country.”
Spartz has shown strong support for funding Ukraine in its war against Russia, condemning Vladimir Putin as a genocidal &#8220;crazy man.&#8221; Spartz also said at the time that Putin&#8217;s forces had attacked the village of her 95-year-old grandmother with &#8220;heavy machine guns,&#8221; The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/596383-ukrainian-born-rep-denounces-genocide-by-crazy-man/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
During the speakership battle, Spartz wavered in her support of Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), changing her vote to &#8220;present&#8221; for multiple ballots before finally rejoining the McCarthy faction when the anti-McCarthy faction started shrinking in size. At the time, Spartz said she was voting present to encourage Republicans to deliberate, and she refused to back any of McCarthy&#8217;s challengers.
This week, she voted to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) of a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. The move came as somewhat of a surprise, as she had initially cited concerns about due process.

McCarthy’s Fight To Become Speaker Drags Into Fourth Day

Soviet-Born Republican Congresswoman Bowing Out Of 2024 Races To Raise Her Daughters

Congress

Indiana

Politics

Victoria Spartz

Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/victoria-spartz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Victoria Spartz</a> (R-IN) indicated Tuesday that she has reversed course on her previous opposition to removing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee after she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) this week.
Spartz&#8217;s reversal comes after McCarthy already booted Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the House Intelligence Committee over security concerns surrounding their ability to be trusted with classified information.
The effort to boot Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee comes in response to her history of anti-Semitism.
“I appreciate Speaker McCarthy’s willingness to address legitimate concerns and add due process language to our resolution,&#8221; Spartz said in a statement late Tuesday night. &#8220;Deliberation and debate are vital for our institution, not top-down approaches.&#8221;
“The rule of law, freedom of speech, and due process are fundamental to our Constitutional Republic,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Our founding fathers understood that pure democracy is dangerous and can lead to the tyranny of majority, mob rule and dictatorship. As to my fellow conservatives, I think setting a precedent of allowing an appeal process for the Speaker’s and majority-party removal decisions is particularly important to freedom-loving legislators who usually are on the receiving end of issues like this.”
Spartz signaled earlier this month that she opposed the move to remove Omar from the committee because she believed that it was retaliation for Democrats removing GOP members off committees in the past.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Spartz said in a previous statement. “Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process. Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the Minority without proper due process again.”
“As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again,” she claimed. “Speaker McCarthy needs to stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change.”

Rep. Omar Speaks To The Press On Global And Domestic Food Crisis

Republican Lawmaker Reverses Course On Ilhan Omar, Now Supports Removing Her From Committee

Ilhan Omar

Kevin McCarthy

Two House Republicans are defending far-left Democrat Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ilhan-omar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ilhan Omar</a> (MN) over the prospect that she could be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The effort by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to remove Omar from Foreign Affairs comes after she has repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks and hostile remarks about U.S. foreign policy.
Omar claimed in response that the effort to remove her from the committee was “a blow to the integrity of our democratic institutions, and a threat to our national security.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was the first to jump to Omar&#8217;s defense, claiming a few weeks ago that it was about principle.
&#8220;I’m not going to support it,” Mace said. &#8220;I try to be consistent in my values … regardless of who’s in charge.&#8221;
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) signaled this week that she does not support removing Omar from Foreign Affairs.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Spartz wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process. Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the Minority without proper due process again.”
“As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again,” she claimed. “Speaker McCarthy needs to stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change.”
Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) said that he was not a fan of the move, but he stopped short of saying that he would oppose it.
“I’ve never been a fan of that. Members are elected by their districts,&#8221; he said. &#8220;To throw them off just seems inappropriate.”

Two Republicans Defend Far-Left Democrat Ilhan Omar From Being Removed From Committee

Nancy Mace

One of the first Republican female immigrants in the U.S. House of Representatives, Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz, who emigrated from Ukraine, took an implicit shot at President Biden, noting that she is a naturalized American who has been to the southern border of the United States three times, and despite the various crises that plague the nation during the Biden presidency, the greatest crisis is the border situation, pointing out it “poses a risk to our sovereignty as nation.”
Spartz <a href="https://grabien.com/story.php?id=364985?utm_source=cliplist&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cliplist20220125&amp;utm_content=story364985">stated</a>:
<blockquote>I know that we have talk a lot about different crises. And we do have a lot of crises. We have economic crisis; we have inflation crisis; we have energy cost crisis; we have supply chain crisis; we have education crisis; we have crime crisis; we have Covid response crisis; we have health care crisis; we have foreign relations and security crisis; we have freedom of speech crisis, we have centralized government and infringement on our rights crisis.</blockquote>
“But I think there is one crisis that is very disturbing and concerning to me as a naturalized American who immigrated to this great country,” she continued. “I went to the border three times. And what I saw it’s lawlessness, it&#8217;s issue of national security, it&#8217;s anarchy and it is a crisis that poses a risk to our sovereignty as nation. And we can see what&#8217;s happening in the country. Drug cartels are controlling the border. They control drug trafficking and making billions on that. We have the highest deaths from overdoses in our country that ever existed. Our kids are dying and they are making a lot of money. The border is open. No one can control it. It poses risk to our national security.”
“I hope we all, as Americans who care about our country, and our president, at least are dealing with one of the crises, because it’s a serious issue and we cannot disregard it: the national security of this greatest country that ever existed on earth and put our people at risk,” she asserted. “It is our responsibility as representatives in this republic to stand up, regardless of political affiliation, and raise this issue as our duty to the American people.”
Last August, Spartz <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/congresswoman-who-grew-up-in-socialist-country-rips-biden-his-policies-underline-socialist-system/">ripped President Biden</a>, saying his policies had “underlined” the policies of the socialist system.
In an exclusive interview, <a href="https://cnsnews.com/article/washington/elisabeth-nieshalla/exclusive-rep-spartz-lot-bidens-policies-have-underlined">CNS News</a> asked Spartz, “Do you think President Joe Biden, in his policies, is a socialist? Or how would you describe his policies?”
“Well, I think there are two ways, and, you know, people kind of use words, there are two economic systems, right, one system where the decision done by stakeholders in the market, by private enterprise, free enterprise system,” Spartz answered. “We exchange transaction, and we decide, right, what you’re going to buy, and you decide what you’re going to pay and we come to an agreement. We have this arms-length transaction. Another system where decisions are more centralized and made by the government.”
“You know, that is what socialist system is about,” she continued. “Government &#8230; intervenes in making a lot of decision and providing, you know, really, you know, the centralized, you know, power, accumulation of centralized power. So if you look about that, you know, I mean, great example, you know, all of the price controls, wage controls — when the government decide what is gonna be paid in the market, when the government decide what prices are going to be, when the government start controlling assets and talking about public option insurance company, government owns assets. Actually, by pure definition of socialism by Karl Marx, when governments start owning assets and owning companies it is the definition of socialism. When government make this decision for you instead of you, you know, that is actually the definition of socialism.”
“So a lot of his policy have underlined, you know, the policy of socialist system,” she charged. “You know, so I think it’s unfortunate that the system that failed in a lot of countries — it took Soviet Union 70 years to fail — you know, now is being promoted in our country because its centralized government and decision making never works out. You know, I think Margaret Thatcher said until you run out of money it works, right? Because you do. And you see what’s happening in countries like Venezuela, you know, you can see what’s happening in countries like Cuba, you know. These are countries — they have resources, you know, they have good people out there, the system is just rotten from inside, and it’s unfortunate that we promote some of them.”

Spartz

GOP Rep. Spartz, Who Emigrated From Ukraine, Takes Implicit Shot At Biden: I’ve Been To The Southern Border Three Times

Joe Biden

Southern Border

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who was born in the Soviet Union, grilled U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday over the actions that the FBI is allegedly taking and over a variety of security concerns that have erupted under President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration.
&#8220;Mr. Attorney General, as someone who was born in the Soviet Union, I am disturbed, very disturbed, by the use of the Department of Justice as a political tool, and its power as the police state to suppress lawful public discourse,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The FBI is starting to resemble old KGB with secret warrantless surveillance, wiretapping, and intimidation of citizens. School board [inaudible] is the latest example.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s interesting that during the Soviet-era, the United States criticized the use of the domestic terrorism concept in the USSR as a tool to suppress free speech and political dissent,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;In your recent statement opposing the Texas anti-abortion law, you said it is the foremost responsibility of the Department of Justice to defend the Constitution. Do you plan to defend the Second Amendment rights which are explicitly protected by our Constitution as vigorously as you do abortion rights? Yes or no?&#8221;
Spartz later pressed Garland over alleged abuses of FISA warrants by federal law enforcement officials, Biden&#8217;s border crisis, and Biden&#8217;s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As someone who grew up in the USSR, I’m disturbed that FBI is starting to resemble KGB &#8211; intimidation, surveillance, suppression of dissent&#8230; AG Garland <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheJusticeDept</a> also didn’t firmly reassure us that they will keep Americans safe in light of the border &amp; Afghanistan crises. <a href="https://t.co/92YjAjXhb0">pic.twitter.com/92YjAjXhb0</a>
&mdash; Rep. Victoria Spartz (@RepSpartz) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSpartz/status/1451291995050283023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Attorney General, as someone who was born in the Soviet Union, I am disturbed, very disturbed, by the use of the Department of Justice as a political tool, and its power as the police state to suppress lawful public discourse. The FBI is starting to resemble old KGB with secret warrantless surveillance, wiretapping, and intimidation of citizens. School board [inaudible] is the latest example. It&#8217;s interesting that during the Soviet-era, the United States criticized the use of the domestic terrorism concept in the USSR as a tool to suppress free speech and political dissent. In your recent statement opposing the Texas anti-abortion law, you said it is the foremost responsibility of the Department of Justice to defend the Constitution. Do you plan to defend the Second Amendment rights which are explicitly protected by our Constitution as vigorously as you do abortion rights? Yes or no?
MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes.
SPARTZ: Do you believe recent inspector general FISA report, citing widespread and material non-compliance by the FBI with[out] proper due process for surveillance of U.S. citizens, is a violation of the Fourth Amendment?
GARLAND: I think it&#8217;s a violation of the FISA Act by itself without even having to get to the Constitution. And we take this extraordinarily seriously. That&#8217;s why we have an inspector general. That&#8217;s why our National Security Division reviews what the FBI does with respect to FISA. And I know that the FBI Director takes this very seriously as well. And they have made major fixes to their practices so this won&#8217;t occur again. And this is constantly being audited and reviewed by our National Security Division. I take this very seriously. And I agree, we have to be extremely careful about surveillance of American citizens, only as appropriate under the statute.
SPARTZ: Potentially Fourth and Fifth Amendment could be violated if you have&#8211;
GARLAND: Of course.
SPARTZ: &#8211;material and widespread as the report says. In your June 15th remarks on domestic terrorism, you said that nearly every day you get a briefing from the FBI director and his team. How often do you discuss FISA relations in your briefings? 
GARLAND: Sorry, I didn&#8217;t hear the&#8211;
SPARTZ: How often do you discuss the FISA violations when you get your nearly daily briefings with FBI?
GARLAND: So, there&#8217;s a quarterly review by the Intelligence Community and the National Security Division submits to the intelligence committees with respect to FISA reviews. And I always review those, I meet with the National Security Division relatively routinely to discuss how that&#8217;s going. So, it&#8217;s not every morning, but this review of violations of FISA, and our efforts to make sure that it doesn&#8217;t happen again, is pretty frequent.
SPARTZ: So it seems like we still get material and widespread ever reported. We have material, &#8216;material,&#8217; not non-material and widespread violation. But talking about another topic, I went to the border three times and recently visit airbase and Qatar and Camp Atterbury in Indiana, housing of Afghanistan evacuees. And based on what I&#8217;ve seen, I have some questions and significant national security concerns. Former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott recently said that the open border poses a real terror threat. Do you agree with the Border Patrol chief or Secretary Mayorkas, who recently said that the border is no less secure than before?
GARLAND: If you&#8217;re asking about terrorism traveling across the border, I&#8217;m concerned about that across all of our borders. This has been a continuing concern.
SPARTZ: But do you agree with that, you know, Border Patrol chief that what&#8217;s happening right now is make us less secure and have a real, you know, increased terror threat?
GARLAND: I believe that combination of the Intelligence Community and the FBI are working very hard to make sure that people crossing the border do not constitute a terrorist threat. But we have to always be worried about the possibility, and we are ever vigilant on that subject.
SPARTZ: Can you reassure the American people that you will be able to protect our country from a terrorist attack that may result from this lawlessness at the border or the Afghanistan debacle?
GARLAND: I can assure the American people that the FBI is working every day to do the best it possibly can to protect the American people from terrorism from whatever direction it comes, whether it comes from Afghanistan or any other direction.
SPARTZ: Do you have any specific actions and plans that you do in light of what&#8217;s happening right now at the border? Do you have a specific strategy that you&#8217;re working directly with [inaudible]?
GARLAND: I&#8217;m sorry, I didn&#8217;t mean talk [over]&#8211;
SPARTZ: Yeah, considering current situation on the border. Do you take any specific actions at the border?
GARLAND: Well, with respect to the first part of your question about Afghanistan, the FBI is participating along with Homeland Security and vetting the refugees who have landed in various locations, Qater, Kosovo, Ramstein Air Base, and then bases in the United States. So they&#8217;re doing everything they can to vet for those purposes. With respect to crossing of the border, this is a combination of the Intelligence Community outside of our intelligence community getting information about who might be trying to cross.</blockquote>

Merrick Garland Victoria Spartz

Lawmaker Born In USSR Grills Merrick Garland: ‘The FBI Is Starting To Resemble Old KGB’

Merrick Garland

Russia

One of the first Republican female immigrants in the U.S. House of Representatives, Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz, who emigrated from socialist Ukraine, ripped President Biden, saying his policies have “underlined” the policies of the socialist system.
In an exclusive interview, <a href="https://cnsnews.com/article/washington/elisabeth-nieshalla/exclusive-rep-spartz-lot-bidens-policies-have-underlined">CNS News</a> asked Spartz, “Do you think President Joe Biden, in his policies, is a socialist? Or how would you describe his policies?”
“Well, I think there are two ways, and, you know, people kind of use words, there are two economic systems, right, one system where the decision done by stakeholders in the market, by private enterprise, free enterprise system,” Spartz answered. “We exchange transaction, and we decide, right, what you’re going to buy, and you decide what you’re going to pay and we come to an agreement. We have this arms-length transaction. Another system where decisions are more centralized and made by the government.”
“You know, that is what socialist system is about,” she continued. “Government&#8230;intervenes in making a lot of decision and providing, you know, really, you know, the centralized, you know, power, accumulation of centralized power. So if you look about that, you know, I mean, great example, you know, all of the price controls, wage controls — when the government decide what is gonna be paid in the market, when the government decide what prices are going to be, when the government start controlling assets and talking about public option insurance company, government owns assets. Actually, by pure definition of socialism by Karl Marx, when governments start owning assets and owning companies it is the definition of socialism. When government make this decision for you instead of you, you know, that is actually the definition of socialism.”
“So a lot of his policy have underlined, you know, the policy of socialist system,” she charged. “You know, so I think it’s unfortunate that the system that failed in a lot of countries — it took Soviet Union 70 years to fail — you know, now is being promoted in our country because its centralized government and decision making never works out. You know, I think Margret Thatcher said until you run out of money it works, right? Because you do. And you see what’s happening in countries like Venezuela, you know, you can see what’s happening in countries like Cuba, you know. These are countries — they have resources, you know, they have good people out there, the system is just rotten from inside, and it’s unfortunate that we promote some of them.”
“For some background, the Ukraine was a republic of the Communist Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991; Spartz was born in the Ukraine in 1978 and immigrated to the U.S. in 2000,” CNS noted. “She lived under Communist rule for 13 years.  Spartz became a U.S. citizen in 2006 at the age of 22.  She is married and has two children.”
Asked about her background under a socialist system, Spartz answered, “Life in a socialist country is not very easy. You know, it’s — when people talk about equality, it’s really equality in misery where you have a political elite and classes on top and then everyone else is trying to be suppressed to be equally poor. Unfortunately, even a system like that — even a country like the Soviet Union had a lot of resources — don’t really, you know, don’t stay like that forever and run out of money because the system is very inefficient and people don’t like to be suppressed, you know, you can do it for so long. And it’s really no freedoms, governments tell you what to do and if you don’t listen to the government, you can be in jail.”
“You know, I had to, my grandma was very religious; she wanted me to be baptized, so I had to be baptized secretly,” she recalled. “You have to pray secretly; you cannot have a religion. You go to stores, you know, a lot of people don’t realize that coke, actually Pepsi, in the Soviet Union, and bananas were the luxury that you might have sometimes if you have good connections, and it is a very, very small selection of food. You have to wait for years to get a cow, a lot of people never had a cow or had a refrigerator or TV, you might wait for years to get a TV. So it was a not very fun life, but also when system fails it becomes very destructive and difficult, too and create around — in post-Soviet times were very turbulent times. A lot of bandits and mafias controlling the country, so that was tough.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Our great republic was created by the Founding Fathers to protect people’s liberties and God given rights to Life, Liberty and Property. Let’s remember it when we celebrate our 245th Birthday. Happy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndependenceDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndependenceDay</a>! <a href="https://t.co/gFE6UE5EcW">https://t.co/gFE6UE5EcW</a> <a href="https://t.co/cWL9GJCqJZ">pic.twitter.com/cWL9GJCqJZ</a>
&mdash; Rep. Victoria Spartz (@RepSpartz) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSpartz/status/1411111243511959553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Congresswoman Who Grew Up In Socialist Country Rips Biden: His Policies ‘Underline’ Socialist System

Socialism

On Monday, Victoria Spartz, the new GOP congresswoman-elect from Indiana who grew up in Ukraine, gave a blistering attack on socialism while offering a powerful defense of America, stating, “I grew up in socialism. I saw what happens when it runs out of money.  And it&#8217;s not pretty.”
Fox &amp; Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt prompted Spartz by asking, “What do you think led to so many Republican women winning these House seats?”
“If you think about it, my district is really a snapshot of America,” Spartz replied. “We have urban, suburban voters, rural voters. We have a lot of women.  And I&#8217;m a mother of two daughters. I&#8217;m a suburban woman and I think if you look at that I&#8217;m really hopeful to see that the majority of people in our country don&#8217;t believe in socialist utopic ideas the Democrat party is now promoting. So women believe in the future of their children. And they care about good economy, jobs, education, public safety, having good health care and they trust that Republicans can deliver it. So I&#8217;m very honored to see that. That is a testament to that.”
Asked about her background, Spartz delivered a stark warning to those who would push the United States toward socialism, saying:
<blockquote>I grew up in a socialistic country. It actually was the Socialist Republic of Ukraine. I was saying, in my 42 years I grew up in socialism. I saw what happens when it runs out of money. And it&#8217;s not pretty. And now I came to America 20 years ago with a suitcase after meeting my husband on a train in Europe.  He&#8217;s a raised and born Hoosier, and now we&#8217;re building socialism.</blockquote>
“I&#8217;m kind of going full circle,” she stated, adding, “I can tell you what is going to be next.  It&#8217;s very sad for me to see that.  And that made as the mother of two daughters, it made me get involved and do something about it because that&#8217;s not very good for our country.”
Queried about what she would say to &#8220;moderate&#8221; Democrats and Republicans who pooh-pooh the idea that the Democrats would make a hard swing toward socialism, Spartz pointed out how many Americans had died fighting for freedom as she denounced socialism:
<blockquote>I think that we need to be good students of history. Our country for the last century, we fought against socialism. A lot of young kids died. I took my kids to the beaches of Normandy and you can see how many young kids died fighting for freedoms, how many wars were fought and were won. And let&#8217;s look at any country that has socialism. Every country failed because this system is not sustainable. This system creates a lot of destruction and misery so we have to be smarter than that.</blockquote>
She concluded, “You know, we&#8217;re not going to change. There are only two systems. You have freedom and free enterprise and you have a system where the government decides and political elites on top how we&#8217;re going to lead, and what we&#8217;re going to do. If you think about it, we&#8217;re not equal. We all want different things. We want to have equal rights to pursue happiness, but we want all different things. We don&#8217;t even want to go to travel to the same countries. If the government forces us to be equal, you have to suppress. So every socialistic system, it&#8217;s about suppression and we have to value our freedoms because we&#8217;re the greatest republic that ever existed.”
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