FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, is throwing his hat in the ring for the role of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman.
House Republicans impose a six-year term limit for committee chairs, meaning current Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., can’t serve in the role for an additional term.
Fallon is now the only declared Republican candidate for the role.
“I think one of the missions should be to expose the hypocrisy and lack of direction of the left. They’re focusing on divisiveness and opposing President Trump,” Fallon told Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview. “How about focusing on the country and the growth and prosperity of the greatest country history has ever known?”
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The Texas congressman specifically pointed out he intends to tackle and expose the rampant fraud that has rocked the country, COVID-19 misuse of taxpayer dollars, and the foreign funding behind agitator groups that have plagued college campuses and cities across the country.
“If a foreign national that is beyond our jurisdiction is funding a protest, anti-American protest, we need to expose the Americans that are taking the funds,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “The left would have you believe that every political protest is organic. It’s just people that are fed up and they get on social media and they talk to other like-minded folks.
“And they say, the powers that be, we will hold you [accountable]. That’s not what’s going on here,” Fallon added. “If you were in Beijing, if you were a Chinese communist, what better way to chip away at an open society than fund their malcontents?”
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Fallon was sworn into the U.S. Congress in January 2021. A former Air Force captain and graduate of Notre Dame, he represents parts of northeastern Texas.
In regard to widescale Medicare and Medicaid fraud being exposed in various states across the U.S., Fallon said no states are off limits for investigation, but that mismanagement of state policy can make a difference in fraud prevention.
“Medicare, Medicaid fraud, particularly Medicaid fraud is systemic across the country, red and blue states,” Fallon explained. “The difference is in the red states, where this fraud is occurring, the leadership is far more apt to expose it once they get a hint that something’s going on, [whereas] the blue states largely look the other way. That’s the biggest difference.”
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“If you get caught most of the time, and this is what most Americans have no idea, it’s not even, you’re not even criminally prosecuted,” Fallon continued. “It’s a civil action that’s taken. You’re compelled to pay some of that money back and then you just go along your way. And you can’t work with the federal government anymore.”
“That’s a pretty light sentence for stealing a significant amount of funds,” Fallon added.
The GOP faces an uphill battle in the 2026 midterm elections, which will determine whether the Republican Party maintains the majority in both the House and Senate.
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President Donald Trump traveled to Nevada and Arizona last week to tout his Working Families Tax Cuts, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes policies surrounding no tax on tips and overtime.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., as well as other Republican senators have been hitting the road for several weeks as the GOP looks to promote economic opportunity ahead of the midterms.
“Republicans made big changes to the tax code that benefit millions of Americans, and we need to make sure they know about it. It’s important that Republicans use every opportunity to educate the public on how the Working Families Tax Cuts deliver safe streets, more money in your pocket, and new opportunities to get ahead,” Thune said in a statement.
Should the Republicans lose the majority in the House, Fallon would be the ranking member of the Oversight Committee.
“God forbid we would go into the minority and I would become a ranking member,” Fallon said. “We have to defend President Trump because these folks are infected with wokeness and all they’re going to do is talk about impeachment, 25th Amendment and take their eye off the ball again for American prosperity.”
