[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 21, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H8058-H8061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CRISIS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Roy) for 30 minutes.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for his
service to this country. We should all be down here engaging with our
colleagues more often to learn more about them. I did not know that
about your father. God bless you. Godspeed. Thank you for serving in
this Chamber.
Madam Speaker, much has been made in the last week over the actions
of two Governors; in particular Governor Greg Abbott of the State in
which I live and where I am a Congressman--Texas--as well as the
Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
Much is being made of the fact that these Governors transported
certain individuals who had come to this country and were released into
this country by this administration--I believe contrary to law, I
believe in direct violation of both the text and the spirit of the
law--that they were released into this country by the thousands.
Governor Abbott of Texas and Governor DeSantis of Florida transported
some of these individuals to particular locations. Now, it was very
clear that they did so in significant part to make a point. That point
is that our States are bearing the brunt of an administration's
policies that are purposefully allowing our border to be operationally
controlled by cartels to the detriment of the American people. That is
what is happening.
So kudos to Governor DeSantis, kudos to Governor Abbott for bringing
to light a problem which is being ignored by the leftist press that
refuses to bring the truth to the American people.
So 50 people get transported to Martha's Vineyard, and the entire
wine-and-cheese circuit loses their collective mind. Oh, no, what have
you done? Oh, the cries of politicization of using human beings as
pawns. But who is it that is using these individuals as pawns? Could it
be my colleagues on the other side of the aisle or the people in this
administration that are leaving our border wide open, such that 53
human beings died in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, which I
represent?
So which is it? Which is worse? Fifty people being sent to Martha's
Vineyard to bring attention to a problem so that all of these Americans
on Martha's Vineyard could put their glass of wine down and put their
cheese plate down and suddenly recognize that there are literally
thousands of people being distributed into our country every single day
by this government and by nongovernmental organizations. Every single
day.
My colleagues do nothing about it. Fifty-three human beings died in
an oven that was a tractor-trailer, and my Democratic colleagues don't
say a dadgum word. Nothing.
But they sure say something when suddenly 50 show up to Martha's
Vineyard. Then everybody gathers around for a photo op and brings
sandwiches and pats themselves on the back for their grand compassion
because, oh, we are enlightened leftists in Martha's Vineyard. We love
everybody. So we are going to bring sandwiches, then we are going to
call the National Guard and say haul them out of here.
That is the truth.
But why isn't anybody talking about the 53 human beings that died in
that tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas? One example of the
thousands.
There is a cemetery that has been created in south Texas with PVC
crosses for bodies of migrants pouring across the Rio Grande in south
Texas. That is what is happening to these people, getting sold into the
sex trafficking trade, being abused by cartels, bodies littering
ranches, dying in the Rio Grande River, dying in trucks.
All while here in Washington, D.C., the Mayor of D.C. complains
about, oh, we are now a border city; or the city councilwoman who said,
well, we don't have the infrastructure for this. Well, welcome to the
party.
{time} 1845
Well, welcome to the party, because that city councilwoman declared
D.C. a sanctuary city, and that city councilwoman called for the
abolition of ICE. And prior to the individuals being delivered to D.C.
by Governor Abbott to the steps of the Vice President's home--who
supposedly is in charge of securing the border but can't find her way
to the border if you gave her a map and a plane ticket to get there--73
human beings were found in the Nation's Capital in a stash house right
here within a couple of miles of this building, 12 of whom were kids.
Where are my Democratic colleagues?
They are burying their heads in the sand because it is not
politically expedient to acknowledge that open borders results in dead
migrants, dead Americans, empowerment of cartels, empowerment of China,
and a danger to the American people and our national security, while
almost 100 individuals associated with terrorist countries or terrorist
organizations have now been apprehended coming across our border not
even dealing with the million people who were got-aways.
I have given this speech so many times, but I keep having to update
it. I keep having to come down to the floor and talk about what is
happening in Texas and what is happening to our people.
Now let's talk about what is happening to Americans. These are the
faces of the individuals and the lost voices of people who have died
from fentanyl. I showed these to the Secretary of Homeland Security,
and he scoffed. There are 72,000 lost voices and 72,000 dead Americans
in 1 year. That is more than we lost in the entirety of the Vietnam war
right here.
Where are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle?
Where is the President of the United States?
These individuals are dead. Their mamas found them in their house
dying and tried to resuscitate them. They left their home in a body bag
because they took a pill that was laced with fentanyl that was cooked
up in the backyard of a cartel. Fentanyl is coming in from China, and
they are dead. That is what is happening, and my Democratic colleagues
are nowhere to be found. They are nowhere to be found.
At the same time that we have got wide-open borders and our country
is getting destroyed, we have vaccine mandates in place that are
absolutely decimating our ability to maintain, control, and to hold our
servicemembers in the military. It is an absolute abomination. We are
losing hundreds and thousands of servicemembers at a time when our
recruiting levels are at historic lows. The Army is having trouble
recruiting. They are at 50 percent of their goals.
I have met with members of the United States Marines, the Navy, the
Air Force, and the Army, and they are all coming in under their
recruiting levels.
Meanwhile, we are firing people. They are losing their jobs. It is
happening as we speak right now; members of the United States military
are getting fired and having to leave service.
Why?
Because of a vaccine mandate, a vaccine mandate being carried out by
the administration with complete and total disregard for the fact that
that vaccine does nothing for transmission and which the CDC wholly
recognizes is totally useless for the individuals in question.
In fact, now the President of the United States says the pandemic is
over.
The pandemic is over, so why are we firing our men and women in
uniform?
I will take a moment to recognize my good friend from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Perry), who is a veteran himself who served his country, to see if
he has any thoughts on this matter.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for the
time and for bringing up what we know is wrong, what we clearly know is
wrong.
Our finest and the absolute healthiest population, by the way, in the
[[Page H8059]]
United States of America is in the military. We are down to less than
half a percent of Americans who even serve in uniform. And recruiters,
even before the pandemic, were telling us they were concerned about
what they were looking forward to because the population really just
couldn't meet the recruiting goals because people were either
criminals, overweight, or what have you.
So we already have a problem, and then you get this vaccine mandate.
It is experimental, and they force the best of the best to leave the
service. Meanwhile, we can't defend ourselves. China is on the rise,
Madam Speaker, you have got Russia threatening nuclear war, and the
President declares the pandemic over while we are kicking our finest
people, people who said: Put me on the front line, I will sign the
blank check and give everything, including my life, in defense of our
country.
And we say, no, thank you. Unless you get this jab and bend the
knee--and bend the knee--your service here is not wanted.
Mr. ROY. As the gentleman probably knows, and I am sure he has talked
to his own constituents, I have had people coming into my office
saying, I don't know what to do. I have served my whole life wearing
the uniform, but I don't think it is in my best interest, I don't think
it is helping the military, I am not going to do it, and I am getting
fired.
They have discharged 5,000 Active Duty servicemembers for refusing to
take the COVID-19 vaccine while the Army's recruiting levels, as I have
said, are at 52 percent of the 2022 recruiting goal. Forty percent of
men 18 to 24 are unvaccinated, the prime recruiting demographic.
Service academy applications are down 10 to 30 percent depending on the
service academy, and now DOD comes in and says, hey, we need more money
for recruiting.
Well, how about you stop screwing up?
How about you not tuck tail and run from Afghanistan and leave $85
billion behind?
How about you stop pumping out woke garbage into the men and women in
uniform? And how about you not fire them because they dare to say that
they don't want a vaccine?
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Perry).
Mr. PERRY. How about this: anybody who has served, anybody who has
worn the uniform knows that as important as recruiting is, to replace
those who are retiring after spending the best years, their most
productive years, and their most healthy years of their lives in
uniform, the most important thing is retention. It is how you treat the
people who are going into battle. We are not interested in retaining
anybody, apparently, unless they bend the knee.
So we are going to kick someone out after the American taxpayer has
spent a boatload of money training someone.
Madam Speaker, do you know what the cost of training an F-18 pilot is
or an AH-64 pilot or the ultimate weapon, the American infantryman? Do
you know what the cost of that is, Madam Speaker?
After 18 years of service, the best years of their life, right before
they are ready to retire because they won't take the jab, we say that
we are not interested in retaining you, even knowing that we can't meet
our recruiting goals.
This is a complete dereliction of duty, and it is inviting to the
enemies of the United States. This weakness is provocative, and you are
seeing it all around the globe. This is all done by the Biden
administration and leftwing Democrats who somehow think that the
control that comes from the emergency pandemic order is better than
securing our Nation. And even under the circumstance where the
President himself said the pandemic is over, yet as my good friend from
Texas just said, while we stand here at this very moment, while the
pandemic is over, we are processing people out of the military at this
moment.
Mr. ROY. It makes absolutely no sense.
One might question why would this Congress and why would this body
give more money to the Department of Defense and this administration to
continue to fire men and women in uniform?
Madam Speaker, why would we not attach to a continuing resolution
refunding bill in 9 days a requirement that our men and women in
uniform not be fired for not taking a vaccine for a pandemic the
President says is over?
Madam Speaker, $6 billion, by the way, goes to Fauci's NIAID, and $9
billion goes to the CDC.
Why are we funding this?
Why are we funding an open border?
Why are we funding $60 billion to the Department of Homeland Security
which is causing Americans to die from fentanyl and causing migrants to
die on people's ranches, endangering the American people and allowing
people known to be associated with terrorists in our country, and at
the same time we are funding vaccine mandates to fire men and women in
uniform when our recruiting levels are at an all-time low?
It begs the question.
But that is not the only problem. That is not the only thing we are
dealing with. We are dealing with an energy crisis. We are dealing with
a reality that energy prices are up.
Why would that be?
A tsunami of shutoffs the headlines say, 20 million U.S. homes are
behind on energy bills, Federal oil leases slow to a trickle under
Biden. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that gas prices could
spike again this winter.
We are decimating the ability of the American people to be able to
fund their lives, heat their homes, and drive their cars to work all in
the name of choosing to pursue unicorn energy policies which are
destroying our country.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle and this administration
are purposely driving up the cost of gas, purposely driving up the cost
of electricity, and purposely making our grid less reliable all so they
can pat themselves on the back for pursuing a ``green'' agenda that is
doing nothing but empowering China, making our country worse, and not
doing a dang thing for CO2, by the way, nothing.
While China has 1,100 coal-fired plants and is building one new coal-
fired plant a week, we have 250, and we are building zero. We are
adding no new gas plants. We are adding no new nuclear plants to speak
of.
We are adding wind and solar, making our grid less reliable. We are
reducing our ability to produce liquified natural gas to the world. And
we are decimating our strategic advantage and undermining the health
and well-being of the American people so my Democratic colleagues can
pursue a leftist, radical agenda to appease their leftist base.
The American people have had it.
Here is another point.
Why would we fund it?
Why would we continue to fund a government that is doing that to the
American people?
I know my colleague here cares a lot about energy policies from his
home State of Pennsylvania.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, in Pennsylvania, of course, we stand on top
of hundreds and hundreds of years of our natural resources that are
abundant and readily available. They are cleaner than any other place
on the planet, and we have got an administration that says: Keep it in
the ground, don't use it.
Madam Speaker, half of Pennsylvania if you had gone back 20 years ago
looked like the 1950s, maybe not half of Pennsylvania, but a good
portion of the north central portion of Pennsylvania because there were
no jobs. The leftist policies, of course, in Pennsylvania chased all
the opportunity away, and families were struggling to hold on to their
farms. Then horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing came into
favor, and these farms and these communities were saved and brought
into the 21st century.
The Obama administration and this administration has come in and
said, oh, no. Back to poverty for you. You are not going to be able to
afford to heat your home.
And if you are, guess what?
You are going to be making a choice between heating your home this
winter and feeding your family, all by design, all on purpose, and all
intentional by this administration.
It is unacceptable, and as my good friend from Texas said, we are
being
[[Page H8060]]
asked in the next few days here, whenever they come up with whatever
they come up with, to keep funding this and to keep funding that kind
of policy.
Why would we provide one vote for it?
There is not one Republican vote. Quite honestly, not one Democrat
should vote for it if they love their country, if they love the people
in their communities, and if they care about the people who are
suffering and struggling to pay their bills.
Mr. ROY. Electricity, one in six families are behind on their bills.
Gas prices are $1.66 higher in this administration. Energy prices are
six times higher than last year in Germany which just banned fracking
and phased out nuclear which is a telltale warning for where we are
heading. They are nationalizing their gas companies. Germans are
stockpiling wood to heat their homes.
Madam Speaker, you never met a set of policies that you could
possibly imagine where you could do more to undermine and damage your
own country than the policies that this administration and the
colleagues on the other side of aisle are adopting.
So the question is: Will my GOP colleagues, will my Republican
colleagues give $14.1 billion to the Department of the Interior to
continue to lease fewer Federal acres for oil and gas? Will we do that?
Will we give $9 billion to an EPA that is imposing a methane fee and
taxes on the oil and gas industry that will be crippling my friend's
constituents, my constituents, and every American across the country,
or the EPA that is targeting the largest U.S. oil field or proposing
rules to shut down half of Texas' coal-fired plants?
They want to weaken our grid even further while also giving $10
billion for Federal wind subsidies that are destroying our grid. That
is the question.
How about $5 million for climate czar John Kerry to fly around in his
private jet talking about how great he is advancing a Green New Deal
agenda?
That is the reality.
So here is the question--and this is really what I want to engage my
colleague, my friend from Pennsylvania: What do we do?
What do we do in the face of an administration and colleagues who are
at war with the American people, who are endangering America with open
borders while people die of fentanyl, who are at war with the American
people and their ability to afford energy, have gas in their car, have
a job, have electricity, and have a strong grid; and at war with the
members of our military, making them lose their job if they don't take
a mandatory jab because Dr. Fauci says so?
What do we do about an administration that is at war with the people,
targeting them, defining them as domestic terrorists by the FBI, if you
are challenging the school board, targeting them with 85,000 new IRS
agents to go audit them to raise revenue?
Madam Speaker, what do you do in the face of an administration that
is doing that every single day?
Madam Speaker, I will tell you what you do if you are a Republican or
if you are a Democrat who actually believes in Article I of the United
States Constitution.
I give you James Madison. I give you the father of the Constitution.
In Federalist No 58 it says, ``The House of Representatives cannot
only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the
support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse. . . .
``This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most
complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the
immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of
every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary
measure.''
That, Madam Speaker, is what the Founders gave us to push back on an
executive branch that is out of control and operating in direct
detriment to the American people or a Senate that refuses to do its
job.
The people's House has this tool, and we should use it. I think my
friend from Pennsylvania agrees.
{time} 1900
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, this is what we have. We are not the
executive branch. We don't enforce the laws. But when the executive
branch governs against the will of the people--and ladies and
gentlemen, what we hear all day around this place is, oh, they are
trying to destroy democracy because they have a disagreement, they have
a political disagreement, they are trying to destroy democracy.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Republic. Madam Speaker, this is a
Republic. And the power of the purse, the power of taking from the
people a portion of what they earn and distributing it through the
Federal Government through its policies resides right here, right here
in this House of Representatives. It is the only thing we have.
We can't arrest people. We can't prosecute people. We can say enough
is enough. You are governing against the will of the American people.
You are governing against the best interest of your country. We are not
going to help. We signed up not to help. You are not going to get our
vote.
If you want to do it, you can own it. You can go explain to the
American people why they can't afford their bills; why they can't find
things on the grocery shelves; and why their police aren't on the
streets; and why they are worried about when they step out somebody
from some other country who doesn't belong here is going to kill their
children or abduct them or rob their store. You can explain it because
we are not going to because we are not going to vote to continue this
charade, this assault on the American taxpayer and American citizens.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I want to say to my friend from Pennsylvania
how proud I am to serve with him and how proud I am to serve with him
in the House Freedom Caucus. People like to malign the Freedom Caucus
on the other side of the aisle--heck, even a little bit on our side of
the aisle--for daring to want to stand up for freedom, the belief in
the individual, the belief in civil society, the belief in Federalism,
and the belief in free enterprise. The belief that not all answers come
from this town; it doesn't come from this government.
In fact, if you empower people, empower States, and empower civil
society, than human beings prosper, their lives are made better. They
are able to go carry out the greatest things that you could possibly
imagine to bring freedom to the rest of the world as this country has
done for almost 250 years.
That is why we are here. That is why I am in the Freedom Caucus. That
is why I am pushing forward, along with my colleague, my friend from
Pennsylvania, and my other colleagues. Forty-two of us have signed a
pledge and put out a letter, a letter that says that we are going to
reject any continuing resolution that expires before the next Congress.
Then we are going to reject any appropriations package put forward by
my colleagues on the other side of aisle this year, whether it is
before or during any lame-duck session, because the American people
should speak on November 8 about the atrocities that have been carried
out against them by an administration that cares more about their
political dynamics than they do about the American people every day.
The American people should speak, and then we should spend taxpayers'
money on the priorities that they choose.
Right now, I can tell you that those priorities are not continuing to
carry out open borders, endangering them. It is not firing our men and
women in uniform for daring not to take a vaccine. It is not continuing
energy policies that are undermining our national security and stable
grid. It is not hiring IRS agents to go after the American people.
We are just simply saying we should use the power of the purse. My
message to my Republican colleagues: Use the power of the purse. Use
the power of the purse to check the executive branch. Join us. Why are
there only 42 people who have signed that letter? It should be all 218
who are saying no. No to an administration. No to my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle who are at war with the American people and
their well-being.
Stand up in defense of the people you represent. Don't fund the
government you campaign against every day. Hold that funding and demand
change. Hold that funding and demand that you stand up for the people.
Stand up for America. Stand up for energy freedom. Stand up for the
ability of our men and women in uniform to serve. Stand up
[[Page H8061]]
for a secure border. Stand up for the ability to carry out your
business without being targeted by armed FBI and IRS bureaucrats and
agents.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, what my good friend from Texas who joins me
in the Freedom Caucus is alluding to is we are being asked to fund a
government for a period of time in which the election will occur. We
are going to run out of money here in 9 days, and we are being asked to
fund the government, and all things that my good friend from Texas has
already outlined, all those atrocities, but not until the rest of the
year, just until sometime in December after the election when people
have lost their election and there is no accountability.
You know what they are going to do then? They are going to waltz
right in here, and say: Oh, you know what? We are running out of money
again. We got to do it again. You know what? I don't have to stand for
election. So if you think this one is bad, if you think all the things
that Mr. Roy has outlined that are in this one, more money for COVID
when there is no more pandemic--so says the President of the United
States--if you think that is bad, just wait until these folks don't
have to stand for election in December.
We are saying, if we are going to fund a package, first of all, it
has to fix these things. First of all, it has to fix these things.
Second of all, send it into the next term so that the people's voice
can be heard after November's election. But that is not going to
happen. That is not going to happen.
There is no way--as my good friend from Texas says, not one more
penny. Not one more penny to support these failed policies, these
policies that go against the people that are governed by this town.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I want to credit our leader, Mr. McCarthy,
for yesterday saying that he also believes that it would be wrong for
my Republican colleagues to support a continuing resolution that does
not address the damage being done to this country by open borders. He
is right to say that. He is correct to say that.
We should demand that we change how we are dealing with the border
because it is an absolute abomination; endangering Americans,
endangering migrants in the false name of compassion. We should change
that because we can.
Madam Speaker, I thank our leader, the gentleman from California (Mr.
McCarthy) for saying that because it is correct. We should not fund a
government that is continuing to allow open borders to endanger the
American people. We should fund a government that demands change. That
is what the power of the purse is and that is what you use it for.
My friend, Senator Mike Lee from Utah, in the Senate, has circulated
a similar letter demanding the same thing in the Senate. This is the
time for the people's House and for the Senate to stand up. We should
demand change. If we don't get change next week, and we get a
continuing resolution into December, we should demand change in
December.
If we don't get change in December, we should demand change in
January or February or March, but we should demand change every day. We
should be down here fighting on the floor of the House, not out at
steak dinners; not out doing all the business of this town, but here
doing the business of the American people who sent us here to change
this place; to stand up for them, to stand up for America, to stand up
for a better future.
On July 2, 2026, when we turn 250 years old, we can look proudly at
our kids and grandkids and pass down a great country to them, instead
of leaving it bankrupt, which is what this administration is currently
doing. We can take that back. That is our calling. That is our calling
today. And that is why I am proud to be in the Freedom Caucus with my
friend, Mr. Perry, and I will give him the last minute.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the good gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Roy) for bringing this to light. He is absolutely right. We didn't come
here, none of us came here on either side of the aisle, because we
thought Washington was perfect. We came here because we know it is
broken.
If you know something is broken, why do you keep doing the exact same
things that have broken it? Yet, we are being asked, once again, when
we come here--well, this is what we always do. We are running out of
money. We have to pass this. I remind everybody, we are, what, $32-,
$31-, $30-something trillion in debt. They don't even print this money
anymore; they just digitally create it.
We don't have the money to do this. Not one more penny to rule
against the consent of the govern is what I say.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman. Not one more
penny. Not one more penny for a government running at odds with the
American people. Let's use the power of the purse. Let's stand up for
America.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________