[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 18, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2525-H2532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR CHOICES IN ELECTIONS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) is recognized for
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, right now, we are facing a critical question
for our country. It is a question about whether our country wants to be
first or last.
A lot has been made, obviously, of the former President's agenda,
which he referred to as ``America First.''
I think, unfortunately, we are sitting here right now, and our
country is now too often looking at America last.
There are a number of issues that are facing the constituents that I
represent, but I believe this is true for people all across the
country. I have spoken many times here on this floor about this.
In Texas, our border is under siege. In Texas, it is a very real
impact on our life, our communities. I share that with my colleagues
all across the country, all 50 States represented here.
It is very real in Texas, but it is very real in our country about
the impact of the broken border. It is very real right now with people
who run small businesses and need to hire people and they can't because
we are paying people more not to work than to work.
It is very real when people are going to buy gas at the pump, and it
is well over $3 a gallon.
It is very real when you try to buy a house, and lumber is up 470
percent.
It is very real when you want to go get the healthcare of your choice
and you can't.
It is very real when you turn on the TV, and you watch what was
Middle East peace now turning into chaos as our friends in Israel are
being attacked.
There are consequences to our choices in elections. There are
consequences to the leadership you have in your country. There are
consequences to the decisions we make.
I would think that all Americans, regardless of which side of the
aisle you fall, whether you are in Congress or you are back home
watching, you want America to be first. You want America to succeed.
You want America to do well. You want our allies to succeed.
As you see, I am putting a comparison here of what the world looks
like with America first and what the world looks like with America
last.
Admittedly, we had the intermittent reality of dealing with the
pandemic. But just over a year ago, we were dealing with record low
unemployment, record levels of employment for minority communities in
our country, a booming economy, with strong economic growth. America
was leading and moving the world forward.
Today, we have jobs that are vacant, not being filled. Small
businesses coming up to me, saying: ``Our whole livelihoods are getting
destroyed; we are going to lose everything we have built, because we
can't hire anybody.''
I go to restaurants and I see ``help wanted'' signs. They are
struggling to have anybody there to serve. People are going back. It is
not the virus. People are going back. They just can't get service.
Every businessperson I talk to in the State of Texas faces the same
dilemma, the same problem: They can't hire anybody.
{time} 1915
Now why might that be? Could it be that in the infinite wisdom of
this body that we have spent $6 trillion over the last year--$6
trillion over the last year--and that, as part of doing that, we have
funded unemployment at levels that is making it more attractive for
Americans to choose not to work than to work. Americans are logical
human beings. When presented with that choice, they are going to make
that choice. Some aren't, but many do.
And now, you are owning a restaurant and you are trying to have wait
staff or people to bus tables or cooks, and you can't hire them. You
are trying to run a landscaping company, you can't hire them. You are
trying to run a cleaning business, you can't hire them.
This is real, and it is happening right now in real time. The result,
an economy stagnating. We are not taking off with growth. Now we have
got inflationary pressures because we just spent $6 trillion. You run
the risk of stagflation, low economic growth, higher cost of goods, all
while we are now dealing with the uncertainty of a world in chaos.
A year ago, small businesses were thriving. Now, small businesses are
getting crushed. A year ago, not too long ago, gas was $1.77 a gallon.
Now we are looking at gas over $3 per gallon. As I said, lumber prices
are up 478 percent; copper is up, I think, 50 to 70 percent.
My parents right now are trying to go through building a house, and
they are not sure if the dollars they have got set aside to do it are
going to work, because all of these prices are going up, up, up at
extraordinary rates.
There is a cost to bad leadership and bad decision-making. Our border
was well on its way to becoming secure. In April last year, we had
20,000 apprehensions. How many apprehensions did we
[[Page H2526]]
have this year in April? 178,000. We have had over 530-something
thousand apprehensions from January 1 through the end of April. We have
had almost 600,000 apprehensions to date, based on the information I
have through mid-May. My sources at the border tell me that we have had
300,000 individuals who have gotten away or who have been released.
I went down to the border, one of the many trips I have taken to the
border because the district I represent is about 150 miles away. I went
down at night, and I met with about 50 different migrants who had just
come across the Rio Grande. This was a group that I just met with, and
they are driving back down the road. I actually followed them in my
truck with the headlights on, so they weren't just walking in the
middle of the darkness to go get over to where the processing center
is.
America first looks like this. Significant amounts of immigration.
Legal immigration hasn't dipped below a million per year in some 20
years. America's doors are open, you-all. The idea that people want to
say ``Close our doors,'' that is not the case. But you want to have
operational control of your border.
I am going to talk about Israel in a minute. Israel put fences in
place because they wanted to control their borders. You know what? They
worked. Of course they worked.
We have fences in place in southern California. Illegal immigration
in the 1990s, which was astronomical, over half a million, dropped to
40- or 50,000. Why? Fences work. In Brownsville-McAllen, there is
fences and there is infrastructure around Brownsville. There isn't in
McAllen. Guess where the traffic goes? McAllen.
This is not rocket science. When you are putting America first, you
put in infrastructure. Border Patrol wants it, they have asked for it.
It works. Yes, some people go around, yes, some people try to go over,
but if you have ever spent a minute at our southern border--side note I
would offer to the Vice President of the United States, that should she
actually wish to do her job in supposedly running this whole border
security task force, come on down to Texas. So far she hasn't. In the 2
months that she has been allegedly in charge, our Madam Vice President
could come see that instead of security, we have utter chaos.
Here is the thing. These are human beings. These are not political
pawns. These are human beings, seeking a better life. I don't begrudge
any one of these immigrants who are seeking to come to our country. God
bless them. I would try to help any one of them that were coming across
to figure out where they needed to go. They are human beings, all of
God's creatures, but they shouldn't be endangered because we are
sending up false signals that it is a good idea for people like the 7-
year-old girl that I talked to on the border who was all by herself
coming from Guatemala to America. She didn't have a parent, didn't have
an uncle, didn't have an aunt, didn't have a brother, didn't have a
sister. She was by herself. The young man who was right next to her, I
said, ``Where did you meet this young girl?'' He said, ``Midway through
Mexico.'' She was 7, you-all, 7.
Depending on which nonprofit, nonpartisan groups you listen to, we
know that upwards of 20 to 30 percent of women that are on this journey
get abused. We know the cartels are making massive amounts of money
moving human beings for profit.
We know that fentanyl, the most dangerous narcotic that is currently
out there, or one of the most, we have now had more in 2021 in this
calendar year in 4\1/2\ months than in all of 2020. Fentanyl. Our kids
are dying. There is an opioid epidemic.
What does this administration do? Hey, I have got a good idea, let's
have processing centers in McAllen, let's have all of the Border Patrol
go down to McAllen and have to run processing centers instead of
actually policing our borders between the ports of entry and trying to
stop the flow of fentanyl and dangerous narcotics into our country.
There is a consequence to not doing your job. This administration is
not doing its job. This administration, worse than not doing its job,
it is purposely harming our country in the false name of compassion.
Instead of having secure borders, instead of allowing people to come to
our country legally, safely, we endanger immigrants and say that that
is somehow being compassionate.
How is that compassionate? How is it compassionate when the Gulf
Cartel, the Reynosa faction of the Gulf Cartel is making millions of
dollars moving human beings for profit? How is it compassionate when
the Cartel del Noreste of Los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo is making millions
of dollars moving human beings for profit?
When the district attorney in Kendall County, Nicole Bishop, a county
I represent, and I visited, and she talked about the nine illegal
immigrants found in an automobile being driven by an American citizen
employee of that Cartel del Noreste. It had nine illegal immigrants in
there, two tied up in the trunk, and they were being taken to a stash
house in Houston, Texas, to be put into the human trafficking and sex
trafficking trade.
America first is about jobs, economic growth, a strong border,
standing with our friends in Israel, affordable commodities like gas.
America last is a wide open border in which Americans are endangered,
ranches are overrun, cartels are empowered, immigrants are abused,
prices go up, commodity prices go up, businesses can't hire people, and
we abandon Israel.
America first versus America last. I have got more to say about this,
which will surprise no one. But my friend from Pennsylvania is here,
and I would certainly love to turn the floor over to my good friend
from Pennsylvania should he wish to opine.
Mr. PERRY. I would, and I thank the great gentleman from Texas. I
agree with him on the position he is taking, America first versus this
America last agenda.
I am from Pennsylvania. People say, ``Well, what do you care? You are
a long way from the border.'' And I will tell you another great
Pennsylvanian is now running for governor, Lou Barletta. He was just a
small-town mayor in Pennsylvania coal country, as far away from the
border as you would have thought, but he realized just over the course
of a couple years his tax base stayed the same, Chip, stayed exactly
the same, but his population in his little town doubled. And the crime
in his town doubled. He could no longer afford the police budget.
When a gentleman, one of the residents, confronted a person who was a
member of the Latin Kings and said, ``Stop trying to sell drugs to my
children,'' and that man pulled out--the gentleman, not the gentleman,
the cartel member, illegal foreign national, illegal alien pulled out
his gun and shot that man right in the head right there in the street.
And that started this movement that illegal immigration--it shouldn't
even be called that. Immigration is legal. It is not illegal. It is not
immigration. This illegal crossing into our country, it is cultural
piracy. It is piracy of our country, of our economy, of our safety.
A lot of attention was drawn in the little town of Hazleton,
Pennsylvania, because of Mayor Lou. He said, ``I am not going to stand
for it, and I don't agree with the Federal Government's policies, and
we are going to fight right here in our State and end this craziness.''
Then, of course, they took him to court. The United States Government
fought their own citizen to put American citizens last and these other
folks first.
Representative Roy, I just came back from the border. You live close
to it. I go from Pennsylvania down to the border. Some things that you
know are true, but you have got to see them with your own eyes. Maybe
people don't realize. They think, Well, this is all poor, downtrodden,
fearful people coming from Mexico or Central America. Two-thirds of the
people that we saw coming across the border at that time, two-thirds
were coming from other than Central America and Mexico.
I have got a news flash for everybody. You can't come to Mexico with
a one-way plane ticket. You have got to get your way in and you have to
have a plane ticket to leave. So these people, they are flying into
Cancun, they are walking up to the border, and they are discarding
their go-home ticket because if the Border Patrol catches them with
that ticket, they can return them to that country. So they leave it
right there at the border. These people are flying to Mexico to walk
across our border. Two-thirds of them.
[[Page H2527]]
So the last people I saw before I left that trip, Chip, the Border
Patrol was detaining and processing, so to speak, Russian, Azerbaijan,
and Cuban. All of them flew into Mexico to cross our border.
And the other thing we found on the other side of the wall because,
as you talk about, and I know you have, the breaks in the wall where
construction was stopped by the Biden administration, so you can walk
right around the other side, not only all the little shoes, the little
shoes of little kids that they leave right there, it is heartbreaking
when you see those. I have got children, you have children, those
little shoes. That is an indicator of all those kids that walked the
whole way up to the border.
But you know what else is heartbreaking? The packages of Plan B left
on the other side of the wall. You know what that is for, right?
Because all these little girls and these ladies were abused coming up
to our border by the cartels.
When I got there, of course we watched people coming across the
border, and the cartel members are standing right on the other side,
waving to us, giving us the old one-finger salute, making a joke of all
of us in this country and the people they just trafficked into this
country.
Mr. ROY. Is the gentleman aware that the Vice President was tapped by
the President to take charge of this crisis?
Mr. PERRY. I am aware of that. Of course, when I was there, at the
time I think it was 44 days since the Vice President was tapped to take
charge of the border.
Mr. ROY. To your knowledge, has the Vice President visited the
southern border of the United States in the now almost 2 months that
she has been allegedly in charge?
Mr. PERRY. Not unless it was a secret mission.
Mr. ROY. When you think about the various things it is impacting--you
represent constituents in Pennsylvania, and I in Texas--you talked
about the reach of illegal immigration, narcotics, cartels, and gangs
into Pennsylvania.
Does the gentleman agree, when we had the previous administration
putting America first, does the gentleman agree that our economic
situation and job situation and price of goods and services situation
was far better and that small businesses were thriving versus today
when small businesses can't hire anybody?
Does the gentleman agree that commodities--gasoline, wood, housing
supplies--were cheaper and more affordable, and today they are now
skyrocketing through the roof after $6 trillion of spending?
Does the gentleman agree that the border was becoming secure under an
America First agenda, and now it is wide open and being abused?
Does the gentleman agree that we had historic Middle East peace with
our friends in Israel, and making our country safer, by the way, in the
process in holding the line against Iran and our enemies, and now we
have got Israel under attack and an administration saddling up with our
stated enemy, Iran?
Does the gentleman agree that all of these are stark contrasts?
Mr. PERRY. I do agree. By the way, while I was at the border,
individuals from Iran illegally entered the country. In 4 to 5 months
in this country under this administration, we have gone back four to
five decades in inflation, gas lines, illegal immigration, and wide
open border.
I mean, everything is turned on its head. Everything that was good
about America 5 months ago is now turning the other direction just
because of these policy changes. These are changes made in this House
of Representatives. These are made right at the top by the President
unilaterally destroying the opportunity for Americans, importing
unskilled, unprepared labor. One of the places that we visited, Chip,
was a food bank right on the border.
{time} 1930
The Biden administration will say these foreign nationals, these
illegal aliens, don't avail themselves to the public largesse, that
they don't get money from the American taxpayer. Meanwhile, they wanted
to get rid of the public charge requirement. If they didn't care about
it, why was it such a big deal?
Also, your tax dollars go to the food bank. They don't necessarily go
to the illegal foreign national. They go to the food bank, and then the
food bank gives the food to the illegal foreign nationals.
They are taking away opportunity. They are taking away the labor that
Americans need for their first jobs. When your child gets out of high
school, looking for their first job--when I was 13 and got my first
job, I didn't have any skills. Do you know what I could do? I could
show up on time with a good attitude. That is what I could do.
Well, if somebody is willing to work for half price and show up on
time with a good attitude, guess what? This American citizen doesn't
get a job. That is what is happening in the last 4 to 5 months.
Mr. ROY. I will be mindful of your time whenever you have to go on,
but would you agree that if you go back and say, all right, let's go
look at how the America First agenda was performing a couple of years
ago, that the unemployment rate in April 2018 was 3.6 percent, that
today the unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, that the poverty rate in
2019 was 10\1/2\ percent, that the poverty rate today is 13.7 percent
projected, that the Consumer Price Index in April 2019 was 2 percent,
that today the Consumer Price Index is at 4.2 percent and skyrocketing.
If you compare where we were with respect to energy a couple of years
ago--and I know that my friend has a heart for energy; obviously, it is
very important to his State as it is to mine in Texas--that under the
Trump administration for the first time in nearly 70 years, the United
States became a net energy exporter, right?
Mr. PERRY. Right.
Mr. ROY. Making us freer, stronger, with more abundant, more
affordable energy, we became the number one producer of oil and natural
gas in the world, ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Natural gas production reached a record high of 34.9 quads in 2019
following record production in 2018 and 2017. The average American
family saved $2,500 a year in lower electric bills.
Now, what do we have? A shutdown Keystone pipeline, and an
administration saying we can't frack in Western lands.
We rejoined the Paris climate agreement to have the United States
foot the bill, billions to the United Nations climate fund.
We have suspended the leases on Federal lands. As I said, a complete
Federal land ban would increase foreign dependence by 2 million barrels
a day. Gas prices are at a 7-year high. I could go on and on.
Does the gentleman agree that there are consequences to an agenda
like the previous administration's that puts the country first versus
an administration that is perfectly fine putting the country last in
order to go achieve some sort of, I don't know, fealty to the European
social welfare state and make yourself seem, I don't know, welcomed in
Davos?
Mr. PERRY. It does make you wonder, the good gentleman from Texas,
who these folks that get elected to office represent. Do they represent
their constituents, American citizens, or somebody else?
You talked about closing the Keystone pipeline. Now, what does that
do? Does everybody think that we don't get any oil anymore? No. We just
pay more for it, right?
We put it on trucks. We put it on trains instead of through a
pipeline. Somehow, that makes us feel good.
That costs us all a lot more money, and if you are not making much
money--first of all, I remember the days when I couldn't fill up my gas
tank. You would get five bucks, and you would make that last all week.
Those were the same days when me and my boss--since I was underage, my
boss pumped gas with a firearm on his hip because there were even and
odd days. You could only get gas, based on your license plate, on an
even or odd day because there wasn't enough, and prices were going
through the roof then. And we are back into it now.
At the same time, like I said, you wonder whose constituency is this.
Is this America first or somebody else first?
[[Page H2528]]
They closed the Keystone pipeline, and then we talk about relieving
sanctions for Nord Stream 2. That is the Russian pipeline. Oh, well, I
am glad we are happy to support Russia getting all the gas to where
they want to get, to their market, but apparently, America is not
allowed to do that.
Whether it is inflation--oh, by the way, you don't see that happening
either, as if it were true. There is nothing happening at the border,
and inflation is not occurring. Go buy a 2 by 4 right now.
Mr. ROY. Yes, a piece of plywood.
Mr. PERRY. Go by a sheet of plywood, right? Exactly.
You are paying $100 for a three-quarter-inch sheet of plywood, and
you are paying eight bucks for a 2 by 4, which 5 months ago was two
bucks. That is inflation.
They can tell us all they want to that this agenda that they have
works for America. We are Americans. It is not working for us.
Mr. ROY. I was just explaining, before the gentleman arrived, that my
parents are in the midst of building a house. They are beginning to
wonder now whether or not they are going to be able to afford it by the
end of the build because of the price of lumber, because of the price
of concrete that is going up, because you have to have forms for the
concrete and you have to have labor.
Now, we are having a shortage of labor because we are paying people
more to not work than to work, in the infinite wisdom of my colleagues
on the other side of aisle who believe you can throw $6 trillion into
the economy and not have consequences.
Is the gentleman aware that it only took us $4.1 trillion in today's
dollars to win all of World War II from beginning to end? Yet, my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle felt like it would be a good
idea to dump $6 trillion into the economy and believe that it wouldn't
have the consequence of inflation, that it wouldn't have the
consequence of paying people more not to work than to work, and destroy
jobs, destroy livelihoods, destroy small businesses.
Now, we see the America First energy policy under the previous
administration where we had abundant oil, abundant energy, and now an
America last where you have lines. I mean, who is President? Is it
Jimmy Carter or Joe Biden?
Mr. PERRY. It is Jimmy Carter, too, right? It is not only the third
term of Obama, but it is the second term of Jimmy Carter.
We lived through that energy crisis, and we were told then that we
were running out of fuel. But that was yet another lie, and, of course,
now we don't have any jobs, right?
Meanwhile, we closed down the Keystone pipeline. How many jobs was
that? And we are told that you can go make solar panels. It is not
America First; it is China first. Those solar panels, what they call
rare-earth minerals, that is another fallacy. They are not rare. They
are only rare in the United States because we are not allowed to get
them because we have laws that preclude us from going to get them that
makes them cost-ineffective, so we have to import them from China or
other places.
China does well. This is a China first policy, not an America First
policy. This is coming from this administration and other
administrations or acolytes to those policies.
Mr. ROY. I saw a photograph today that had a person who was driving a
Tesla. And God bless Tesla for making technology. I am all for it. But
the person in their virtue-signaling, self-congratulation of driving
their Tesla is driving around with a license plate that says: ``NO
FUEL,'' right? Does somebody want to go, ``Wait. Hold on,'' knock on
the door and say: ``Excuse me, where do you think the power is coming
from?'' Is it magic power? ``Well, we just get power from
electricity,'' as if the electricity comes from nothing, as if the
Tesla is just magically powered and suddenly just drives around without
having abundant availability of energy.
Is the gentleman aware and would he agree with me that China has
about 70 percent of the world's rare-earth reserves, and that when we
are going down the road of solar panels and other alternative forms of
energy--and, again, Texas embraced wind power; Texas embraced solar
power. We can have these as part of our grid, but then what happens on
a windless, cloudy day? You have China being empowered.
One more question for the gentleman: Is the gentleman aware that we
just saw a report that China is producing more of the emissions and
CO2 than the rest of the world combined? My colleagues on
the other side of the aisle want us to join the Paris Agreement, which
we were outperforming without being a part of it. They want us to bow
down to the altar of the Chinese and say: ``Oh, please let us be a part
of this whole exercise,'' while China is pumping out more actual
pollutants and more CO2 than anybody else in the world.
Mr. PERRY. I am aware, and I thank the gentleman from Texas for
bringing it up.
We keep hearing about getting to net-zero, net-zero carbon. What is
fascinating is, people don't realize that we could do that. If we
actually did that, China would eclipse everything that we just did by
going from our current economy to net zero in a few weeks' time,
literally a few weeks' time. So, we do all that, take ourselves back to
essentially the seventh century, and China would eclipse it in just a
few weeks' time.
First of all, there are not enough critical minerals. There are not
enough mines on the planet to transfer this energy economy into a
solely wind- and solar-powered economy. There is just not.
So, we have to get real about what this is. I think the pipeline
shutdown that you just saw on the East Coast here is indicative of how
important and how tied to energy the vitality of this economy is and
this America First agenda is. Tinkering with it even just the slightest
bit has drastic consequences.
My good friend, the gentleman from Texas, endured it. All of Texas
endured it this past winter. Their power got shut off, and the backup
power for them, for their wind and solar grid, was natural gas pumps.
Unfortunately, they are electric-powered, and the reason they chose
electricity to power their backup pumps is to come below the emissions
standards. Well, guess what? When your electricity is off because the
Sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing and everything is frozen
up, the electric pump doesn't work either.
This is insanity. We are choosing this. We are doing this by design.
Mr. ROY. Is the gentleman aware that human life expectancy, if you
track it on a chart, is almost directly correlated to the availability
of abundant energy and that we have seen the lifesaving advances that
cause human flourishing, the ability to save people's lives, the
advancement of modern technology for medicine, to be able to spread
that around the world?
There are still 3 billion people in the world right now who are not
living with abundant energy, and what do we want to do as the greatest
country in the history of the world? We want to slam the brakes on this
great economy with this magic unicorn dust of a view toward how we are
going to have our energy policy while we throttle us back, empower
China, allow China to be able to continue to pollute what they want to
in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, human beings suffer.
Mr. PERRY. It is not only just allowing China to pollute at an
unprecedented level. Maybe for people who don't like colonialism and
think that America throws its weight around too much, maybe that is
China's business, trying to lift their impoverished people out of
poverty and give them power. As you said, not just hundreds of lives,
not just hundreds of thousands of lives, but literally millions of
lives will be saved with power.
But what is the insult upon the injury is the Paris climate accord,
where we actually pay China, which takes your tax dollars to take your
energy away and pay them so that they can pollute even more while you
can't live in the First World, in the 21st century. That is the insult
upon injury here.
Mr. ROY. I heard the gentleman, who I should thank for his military
service, his long career in serving in our Armed Forces. I appreciate
your service. I know the gentleman is concerned a lot about national
security, as well.
With respect to pipelines, you alluded to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
I believe today we learned that the administration was backing away
from sanctions,
[[Page H2529]]
which is perfectly fine, having the Nord Stream 2 pipeline funneling
all sorts of fossil fuels to Germany, but forsaking our friends in
Ukraine, by the way, in doing so.
You get a twofer out of this administration: undermine our national
security while harming our friends in Ukraine who are trying to push
back against Putin. But, oh, by the way, you are advancing a pipeline
over there while you refuse to have pipelines in the United States of
America.
Mr. PERRY. Yes. The gentleman probably knows this, but Pennsylvania,
of course, a great energy State, has been for a long time--Titusville,
you know the Drake Well and so on and so forth, it goes back a long
time for us. We can't get our natural gas to market in New England
because we can't get a pipeline through. They won't allow it.
So, where does New England get its natural gas in the wintertime when
times are tough? They buy it from Russia. Talk about a national
security issue. Again, more insult to injury.
None of this is based on an America First agenda. It is almost like
everybody else other than America is first. These are political leaders
and policymakers elected by their American constituency. You would
think that they would want to support that constituency first, do what
is best for them, ease their concerns when they have to make the bills,
pay the mortgage or the gas bill, or pay for their child's education.
And the prices just keep going up because of decisions that are made
based on politics, not based on efficacy and what is good for people in
America.
Mr. ROY. I know the gentleman probably has things he needs to do, but
before he leaves, I wanted to address one other issue on national
security because I know he has a passion for this, as well.
We have talked about the impact on our economy of America First
versus America last. We talked about the impact on the border of
America First versus America last. We talked about the impact on energy
and availability of energy of America First versus America last.
Now, let's talk a little bit about the impact on the stability in the
world on Middle East peace, on our national security and the national
security of our friends and allies, and, in particular, our friends in
Israel.
I know the gentleman, like I, has traveled to Israel. I have been
there a couple of times. I am sure the gentleman has been there a few
times. In my experience in Israel, it is an extraordinary place with
extraordinary people with a pluralistic culture, a multifaith culture.
But it is a burgeoning democracy, a strong economy, and it is probably
our strongest ally in the world--if not in the world, certainly in the
Middle East. The previous administration was doing what for decades
previous administrations had said was impossible and was striking
historic peace deals with Arab nations, working and interacting with
Israel, with direct flights from Arab nations to Israel occurring. The
Abraham Accords, we had significant peace in the Middle East, yet what
do we have today? In a few short months under the wisdom of the current
administration, we have massive attacks on our friends in Israel.
{time} 1945
We have massive loss of life. And God bless the previous
relationships with our country and Israel to produce the technology
that Iron Dome offers to the people of Israel so that they are not
getting slaughtered by the rockets that are coming from Hamas, being
supported, by the way, by the policies of this administration, in
empowering Hamas to be taking shots at our friends in Israel, where our
friends in Israel are under attack.
Thank the good Lord above that we have Iron Dome and the ability to
protect our friends in Israel and work with them so that we also have
strong missile defense technology.
Would the gentleman agree that that is the current state of affairs?
Mr. PERRY. This is one of the saddest things we have seen in the few
short months of this administration. The change of the Abraham Accords
and the lowering of tensions in the Middle East between these nations
and the resolve to be peaceful. The great track that we were on in just
a few short months, it goes from that picture to the picture with the
rockets being sent to Israel. Of course, being delivered--the
explosives being delivered by the technology produced in Iran, by the
avowed enemy of Israel, Hamas, who seeks not to find some resolution,
but seeks death.
It is in their charter. So if you don't like what I am saying, I am
just a messenger. It is in their charter that their job is to kill
every single Jew. That is what they seek to do, in just a few short
months. Everyone knew and everyone knows every administration will be
tested by these foreign adversaries, and this one is being tested right
now. And, of course, in my opinion, and obviously from the photographs,
they are failing this test.
Is the gentleman aware that there is a proposal potentially coming to
stop the sale of armament to Israel to rearm their missile defense
system?
Mr. ROY. I saw the same stories that my friend from Pennsylvania saw
about some of our democratic colleagues, I think here in the House and
in the Senate, who were starting to say that we needed to back off of
that and not provide the hellfire missiles or any of the resources that
we worked in collaboration with our friends in Israel in order to make
sure they are protected, and particularly in the use of the Iron Dome.
Literally protecting millions of people, by the way.
There is 150,000 rockets sitting in Lebanon, sitting and pointing
right at northern Israel. By the way, the populated area in that
northern part of Israel is about the size of a portion of the district
I represent in that stretch between San Antonio and Austin.
I took a helicopter tour going up to Jordan, up the north side of
Israel, back down to Tel Aviv and back down to Jerusalem in a few
hours.
Can you imagine? That is the size of Israel.
And they have 150,000 rockets in Lebanon pointing from the north, and
they have got Gaza over here firing all these missiles coming in from
Gaza. Hamas launching them in at Israel, and they are actually
benefiting from the technology we are providing. And now you have got
Democrats saying they want to pull that away.
Now, the good news is I also saw a story today with a couple of them
starting to walk that back, because hopefully they are starting to feel
the pressure the American people want us to stand with Israel. The
American people want us to stand with our allies who stand with us, and
that is what Israel has done.
And I would tell the gentleman, I am sure he has experienced what I
experienced when I was at the Sea of Galilee. And I was on the floor
the other night with Brian Mast, your fellow veteran, who lost his legs
in service to our country. He also served 2 years in the Israel Defense
Forces. Well, Brian and I were both sharing the story about when we
were sitting on a pier in the Sea of Galilee, and the Israelis, who
were on that pier, stood up and looked at us and they all sang ``God
Bless America.'' And they all stood up and thanked us one by one for
what we do in defense of Israel and our partnership with them.
And this administration is walking away from that. This
administration is hugging Iran. This administration wants to cut deals
with Iran, provide resources to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which
undermines Israel and undermines our national security. And the
American people, when they know this, they don't want it.
Mr. PERRY. I will close with this, as I am sure the gentleman has
much more he would like to talk about, and I have kind of interrupted
him here a little bit.
Mr. ROY. It has been great.
Mr. PERRY. But I've so appreciated his work.
Our relationship with Israel is much closer than just friendship. We
depend on one another in so many ways that are unseen and unknown. And
just one thing that had crossed my mind on many occasions--when you fly
the most lethal attack helicopter in the world, the AH-64 Apache----
Mr. ROY. You know something about that?
Mr. PERRY. You have a helmet system that is linked to the camera
system, linked to the gun, that the placement of your head is followed
by those cameras so you can fly the aircraft, is followed by that
weapon system so
[[Page H2530]]
that you can defend yourself at a moment's notice at all times.
And that following that is done with that helmet--which is very
expensive--is made by our friends in Israel, because we are together.
Now, what breaks my heart, among other things, is that there are
people right in this body--I mean, I hate to say it--they might as well
be called the Hamas Caucus.
And I shudder to say that, especially in terms of what I just said
Hamas stands for: The death of every single Jew in Israel. That is what
they stand for, by their own accord, by their own account. That we
would have people in this body say that Israel is an apartheid
government and we should be supporting Hamas and what is happening,
what they are doing sending these munitions over. It is an insult.
Arabs in Israel are the freest Arabs in that part of the world. They
serve in government. They have their own political parties. They have
their own free speech in Israel. It is an insult.
Mr. ROY. Is the gentleman aware that a few of our colleagues actually
were lamenting that Iron Dome was preventing casualties in Israel
because, for some reason, that might be seen as disproportionate with
respect to whatever damage and casualties might be occurring in Gaza?
And it seemed to me that the simple answer--I mean, just color me
crazy here, my friend from Pennsylvania--might be stop firing rockets
from Gaza, stop firing rockets at Israel.
Would the gentleman also agree that our friends in Israel, the
Israelis, call ahead, give them notice, tell them the missiles are
coming in?
They say, ``vacate the block because in 15 minutes that building is
going to be gone.''
And then we heard our colleagues on the other side of the aisle
lamenting that somehow AP or Al Jazeera were in a building that was
taken out.
Yet there is ample evidence that they knew full well that Hamas was
operating in that building. They knew it, yet they were doing it anyway
and they didn't care.
Mr. PERRY. Is the gentleman from Texas aware that Hamas routinely
locates their firing batteries, their munition stocks in schools, in
populated areas with civilians, and fire from those locations for
multiple purposes, propaganda purposes?
That is the depth of depravity where they would use small children as
props, even to have them killed in a response as Israel defends itself.
This is all a response to an attack.
Mr. ROY. Does the gentleman agree that Israel not only has a right to
defend itself--and I was thankful to hear the President at least utter
those words, that they have a right to defend themselves.
Does he not agree with me that they have a duty, a responsibility to
defend themselves in the same way that we would if 1,500--well,
actually, up to 3,300 rockets have been launched by Hamas in the last 8
days.
Can you imagine what the American people will be saying and doing if
I was sitting in San Antonio or Austin and 3,300 rockets were coming at
us from Nuevo Laredo, from across the border in Mexico?
Would we just be sitting back and saying, well, I mean, I wonder what
kind of proportionate response should look like?
Or would you just be responding back with overwhelming force to say
under no circumstances do you shoot one rocket into our country, much
less 3,300?
Mr. PERRY. That is the fundamental duty of those who take the oath of
the Constitution: Defense. Defense of your Nation. Defense of this
liberty.
And it can't be defended if it is under attack from a foreign nation.
So, absolutely, Israel has the right to defend itself and to respond to
attacks.
Again, it is abhorrent and completely insulting to refer to it as
they do, and to take the side of the aggressor in this regard and say
that, well, the response is disproportionate.
What is the proportionate response when your innocent family is
killed under the barrage of an unwarranted unprovoked missile attack
from across the closed border? What is the appropriate response?
If it were your family, I guarantee you, I would want a very robust
response to stop,--to stop the missiles coming in.
Mr. ROY. The gentleman is welcome to stay as long as he wants, but I
think he has other places to go. But I would just say that I appreciate
the gentleman joining me.
I know he agrees with me that an ``America first'' agenda that is
pro-jobs, pro-affordable prices, pro-border security, pro-Israel, pro-
national security, pro-abundant energy is much better than an ``America
last'' agenda in which we abandon our own allies, abandon our own
national security, have wide open borders, have skyrocketing prices,
inflation going through the roof, and joblessness because people can't
find jobs, because people are getting paid more not to work than to
work.
Mr. PERRY. The gentleman from Pennsylvania does completely agree, and
I thank the gentleman from Texas.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Madam Speaker, I would close a little bit here out on Israel by
saying just a few things I didn't get into in terms of the details,
because these matters. These details matter.
I said before, in the last 8 days, Hamas has launched more than 3,300
rockets at our friends in Israel. Think about that. We have had 10
people in Israel been killed--both Jews and Arabs.
I read a story of a young Indian woman, who was visiting Israel, who
also lost her life.
Iron Dome has intercepted 90 percent of the rockets. Hamas is trying
to overwhelm the defense system and destroy Israel.
Madam Speaker, 70 percent of Israel civilians have run into a bomb
shelter this week. Parents and children were being woken up in the
middle the night by sirens alerting them that they have 90 seconds to
get inside a bomb shelter.
We had Esther Schlesinger huddled with her 1-year-old son on Tuesday.
When speaking about the event, Esther said: I didn't have time to grab
anything. I didn't have time to grab my phone. We just ran into the
shelter and kept hearing explosion after explosion. I feel terrible for
these parents who have to try and explain what is going on. I literally
was holding my son in the bomb shelter, and I am thinking I am grateful
he isn't old enough to understand why I had to quickly grab him.
Despite all this, I don't doubt my decision to live here. Even in these
crazy times. It is so important for me to be here as a Jew.
Madam Speaker, we are seeing the result of a failed policy of this
administration. When you think about it, President Trump called Prime
Minister Netanyahu 2 days after his inauguration. The current President
took over a month to call the Prime Minister of Israel--arguably, our
closest ally in the world, certainly our closest ally in the Middle
East.
When asked, President Biden's secretary couldn't even say whether
Israel remains, ``important ally of the United States.''
The Biden administration has emboldened Iran, the number one state
sponsor of terrorism, dedicated to the destruction of Israel in the
United States, by restarting negotiations on the failed 2015 Iran
nuclear deal. They rewarded the PA by restoring millions of dollars in
funding to the West Bank in Gaza; undermined Israel and international
organizations by restoring $150 million in funding to the UNRWA and
rejoining the Israel-hating United Nations Human Rights Council without
much-needed reforms.
It is one hit after another, one punch to the gut after another to
our friends in Israel, while we are funding Hamas and their ability to
fire rockets at our friends in Israel. This is a pattern.
I will just tell my friends on the other side of the aisle, to ask
yourself a question for the American people who are watching all of
this: Do you want America to be first? Or do you want America to be
last?
Because the current administration, the current policies of this
body, the current policies of the Senate are taking us down a road
which we had long since left behind in the days of the Carter era, in
the late 1970s, when you had long lines at the gas pump, skyrocketing
gas prices, inability to get jobs, stagflation, inflationary pressures.
Most people today don't really remember. I remember when my parents
[[Page H2531]]
got their mortgage rate down from 14 percent, 12 percent, 10 percent--
man, when they got to single digits. Today, those rates have been
hovering around 3 percent.
People don't understand what they are facing, and they are going to
see it soon, as they are seeing these prices skyrocket and they can't
afford houses and they can't afford gas and they can't afford basic
commodities and goods and services, and they can't hire people, and
their small businesses are going out of business because of the
policies of this administration.
America first. People have jobs, businesses thrive, gas is
affordable, housing is affordable, our border is becoming secure. A
border, by the way, that still allowed people to legally migrate to our
country, but to do so in a much safer way; without empowering cartels
to be able to move human beings for profit, put them into the sex
trafficking trade, the human trafficking trade, make millions of
dollars in the process.
America first is putting our friends in Israel first and standing
alongside them for their interest, yes, but also for our national
security interest.
{time} 2000
One or two more thoughts on the border because it has hit so close to
home in the State of Texas, which I represent.
Now, I have taken multiple trips to the border, and I have spoken
about it many times on this floor and elsewhere. But it is not just
some esoteric concept that doesn't impact our whole country, but it
certainly impacts Texas very directly.
I said we had 178,000 migrants apprehended in April, we are now over
600,000 for the calendar year, 300,000 that have been released or got-
aways that have gotten into our country. Those are real numbers, they
are published numbers. Some of them are--the got-away numbers are
numbers you get when you talk to people who know what is going on who
work in DHS or work down at the border.
April's CBP's numbers show more fentanyl seized in the first 5 months
in 2021 than in all of 2020. Fentanyl is a dangerous narcotic. Do we
not care? I mean, it is a legitimate question. Do my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle, do they literally not care? I have never once
heard one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle address this
issue, not once.
I put something out on social media the other day telling the Vice
President that I would be happy to meet her anywhere, anytime, to
debate the issue of border security. She is allegedly in charge of it.
Well, Madam Vice President, I am here on the floor of the United States
House of Representatives, Article I in the Constitution; you are now
serving in Article II as the Vice President, with a foot over in the
Article I Senate as President. I am happy to debate anytime, anywhere,
the status of the border of the United States, and how it is
endangering American citizens, endangering ranchers, endangering border
patrol, endangering law enforcement officers, endangering Texans,
allowing fentanyl and dangerous narcotics to flow into our communities,
empowering the sex trafficking trade and the human trafficking trade,
and empowering cartels to be able to carry out their heinous
activities.
They just uncovered a burial pit just across the Rio Grande, where
these dangerous cartels bury people that they murder. Stories of people
being locked into bars, chained doors, and the building lit on fire,
people being hung from bridges, people being burned alive. This is all
happening literally across the Rio Grande, and we are empowering it. We
are empowering it with an America-last agenda where cartels are
empowered, our borders are run by cartels, human beings are mistreated
in the name of compassion.
The American people are tired of all of the swamp drama. That is all
we get here is swamp trauma, every single day. We have more
conversations about splitting us up by race. We have more conversations
about January 6 commissions. We have more conversations about masks or
not masks. Meanwhile, the American people are hurting.
The American people can't hire people. The American people are
dealing with wide open borders. The America people can't afford goods
and services. The American people can't have their kids in schools
without worrying about what is happening to their kids. All of the
videos we are now seeing pop up with children testifying at school
board hearings, saying, I have been spending a year wearing a mask, and
I have been being yelled at, and I have been beat up because I am being
told, you know, I got to wear a mask, and shut my ability to see
people. I want to see people's faces. What are we doing to our
children? We are decimating a generation of Americans.
The American people are tired of this. We spent $6 trillion in the
last year, you can't really make it up. What are we doing? I mean, with
all due respect to the Speaker, Speaker Pelosi, and the majority
leader, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, What are we
doing? We are destroying the American economy. We are killing small
businesses. We are destroying our own dollar, our own economy. We are
driving up the prices of goods and services. We are preventing people
from being able to hire people. We are scaring the heck out of our
children. We are allowing our schools to shut them down and not teach
them. We are siding with our enemies in Iran instead of our friends in
Israel. We are allowing wide open borders to endanger our people with
fentanyl. We are empowering cartels.
How on Earth is the people's House allowing this to happen to the
United States of America? The American people have had it. The American
people want sanity, they don't want us talking about tweets and talking
about all the drama in this town and what positions people have or
don't have. They just want us to lead. They just want us to come into
this body and not be here, like I am right now, by myself, with all due
respect to the Madam Speaker, but by myself addressing an empty
Chamber.
This is what debate has been reduced to, and I have talked about that
before, but I will keep talking about it. This is what debate has been
reduced to. I chastised the majority leader earlier today because we
were talking about a bill that was labeled a hate crimes prevention
bill that came over from the Senate, and the majority leader said:
Well, if you are for this bill, you are against hate; if you are
against this bill, you are for hate. And that is how that is going to
be seen.
And I told the majority leader, I said, that is the problem. I mean,
do you really believe that is true? That if I have a different view
about how divvying us up by race is a bad idea and how categorizing us
in categories of race, and then creating thought crimes, and having
government going around and policing our thoughts and go tracking us
down, based on what we say or do, as opposed to: Hey, you committed a
crime. But if I vote against the bill, oh, I am for hate. That is what
we have reduced this body to.
And, again, I get it, these are political slogans to my left and
right, right? There is a purpose to this. There is a purpose to me
putting this up, and saying, American first versus America last. Okay.
I would love it if we could sit here in this Chamber, and say, you know
what, maybe spending $6 trillion is a bad idea.
Why don't we rewind some of those dollars and see if we can tone down
that inflation? Why don't we tighten our belt a little bit. Why don't
we get the dollars flowing in for unemployment that is crippling the
ability of businesses to hire people? Why don't we pull that back a
little bit? Why don't we just sit down at a table, roll our sleeves up,
and figure out how to make it work?
Why don't we say, Hey, wide open borders being run by cartels is a
bad idea. Let's figure out how to secure the borders. We are a
sovereign Nation, that is not a crazy thought. Why don't we say, Hey,
what are we getting out of our relationship with Israel and peace in
the Middle East, and standing side by side, and the strength that that
makes for our country and for them.
Madam Speaker, I am nearing the end of my time, and I have a
colleague over here that I believe is going to have a few thoughts to
share, and so I will wind down here in the next couple of minutes. I
will alert my friend.
But I would just say, you know--first of all, let me just say, I
appreciate the staff who are down here and keep this place running, and
you have to sit
[[Page H2532]]
here, and the stenographer is writing everything down that we are
saying and, you know, the clerks that keep everything going. You are
here because we are here, and I appreciate it. As a former staffer
myself, we very much appreciate you all being here.
It is an honor to serve in this body, but it is an honor because of
what we need to achieve, not what we are doing. It is an honor to serve
in the House of Representatives because of where this country can go,
where it needs to go on behalf of its citizenry, not because of what we
are doing today. Because what we are doing today is undermining the
health of this Republic.
I will just close by saying that one of the things that I have been
talking to my constituents about when I go home is asking the very
simple question: Are we free? Are we actually free? Are we free if we
have $30 trillion of debt and we are undermining our economy? Are we
free if people can't hire people in their small businesses in order to
survive?
Are we free if we have open borders that are being run by cartels?
Are we free if we are not standing with our allies, but instead, we are
standing with some of our enemies? Are we free if China controls much
of our supply chains? Are we free if the unborn never get a shot at
life? Are we free if our children are being taught that America is evil
in the schools?
I would argue that we are not as free as we ought to be. We are not
as free as we need to be. And that we are not as free as is necessary
to ensure that our kids and grandkids can inherit this great birthright
of being an American citizen. I believe we should put America first. I
do not believe that we should have America in last place.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________