[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2281-H2285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADVANCING IMPORTANT MEASURES ON THE FLOOR
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore) is recognized for
60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Ledger
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of the Special
Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Utah?
There was no objection.
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are advancing
important measures on the floor this week. We continue to work hard for
our constituents and the American people.
We continue to push the Biden administration to address the ongoing
crisis at the border and increase our domestic energy production
capabilities.
We are standing by Israel and denouncing President Biden's efforts
for a one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza. This is a
Hamas-led
[[Page H2282]]
travesty, and we need to make sure that we continue to have and focus
on the evils that Hamas terrorists have created and the turmoil that
they have created in that region.
There is a lot to get to. I appreciate many of my colleagues for
being willing to share some thoughts today.
Mr. Speaker, I will yield to the gentleman from California (Mr.
LaMalfa).
Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time
and the opportunity to expound upon very important topics that we face
across the board, whether it is today's legislation, or ongoing
discussions.
Mr. Speaker, I want to touch a little bit this afternoon on the
situation with Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden administration, who are
willfully and systematically ignoring our Nation's laws, which are
diminishing our national security. Of course, I am talking about the
border situation. How the President and the administration continue to
get away with ignoring the sieve that our border is, the hundreds of
thousands coming across.
My colleagues could put the number at over 7 million over the full
time, over 3 years. It is probably hard to really estimate what it is,
the people coming into this country. Under the terminology, let's say
migrants, or even in some cases by the administration, newcomers.
Why these euphemisms? People are breaking and entering into this
country illegally and undermining its security, undermining our systems
of services, et cetera.
Early on in this session, House Republicans passed the bill known as
H.R. 2, which is one of the strongest border security packages ever in
the history of the House. H.R. 2 holds the administration accountable
for this colossal failure we see every day in Eagle Pass, all along
Texas, all along Arizona, New Mexico, and California.
What is the outcome from Secretary Mayorkas? Well, the House, in its
wisdom, decided to move forward with an impeachment. Now, that hasn't
been delivered to the Senate yet. I think timing is everything, and the
Speaker, in his wisdom, decided a little more time was needed before
those documents are delivered and the Senate is looking at taking it
up.
Hopefully, they will. Hopefully, Leader Schumer doesn't just try and
brush it under the rug. There are serious charges here, and the track
record of the Secretary and the whole Biden administration on this
certainly bears the discussion, certainly bears the information that
has come out and will continue to come out in an impeachment process.
Therefore, as well, whatever happens with that impeachment, whatever
the timeline is, we still have H.R. 2 sitting over in the Senate
waiting for action as well. Again, in order to tighten up our own
border and properly handle the laws we already have on the books, we
don't need a lot of new legislation. We just need it defined better, it
looks like, on what asylum really means, on the policies that had been
in place before that were working reasonably well.
However, under Mayorkas' leadership, we would have over 9 million
illegal immigrant encounters nationwide, 7.4 million encounters at our
southern border, and then 1.8 million known as got-aways that have
gotten away from our Border Patrol. Those are the ones that we know
about.
Immigration judges have thrown out approximately 200,000 cases
because the DHS did not properly file the required notice-to-appear
paperwork by the time of the scheduled hearing.
Did they purposely blow that at DHS so that they could say 200,000 of
them didn't have the proper paperwork to appear and that those are now
permanent getaways? It is a pretty wild coincidence for 200,000.
In my personal opinion, on top of that, do they have the same rights
on this type of legal question, where the timeline expired and they
didn't get the right paperwork? They are still illegally in this
country. Again, they are not migrants. They are illegal aliens that
have broken into this country.
The Biden administration's far-left open-border policies are what is
to blame for this historic crisis. There are over 60 instances of the
Biden administration taking actions that have undermined our Nation's
security, including halting the construction of the border wall.
That is what I said, 60 different actions. Was it just to unwind what
Trump did because he doesn't like Trump?
I had a recent visit south of the Tucson area near a place called
Naco, Arizona. My colleagues can still see what looked like probably a
mile in either direction of the metal material there that was being
used at the time to construct the border fence. There were piles and
piles of giant girders of steel there, and I could look at it up close.
I could show pictures where it is marked on there, October 2020. The
date of it is still marked there on the material laying there.
President Biden, about 1\1/2\ years ago, made some mention: Well,
maybe we will start putting that back up and fill in some of the gaps.
On a different trip to Arizona, closer to a dam, all these different
gaps were seen. There were miles of fence, but there were gaps in it.
{time} 1545
The people coming in since they are being welcomed by our government
can just find any one of the gaps in the fence and be picked up.
Actually, we are sending vans to go pick them up so we can get them
processed sooner and cut them loose with the idea that they might come
back within 2 years or whenever the court date would be except that DHS
screwed up the date and lost 200,000 of them because they didn't give
the required notice to appear.
In the meantime, we are trying to hustle them into the country as
fast as possible through the actions of Biden's directives with border
personnel.
They announced on May 10 of last year that it would allow for some
release of migrants in the U.S. with no way to actually track them.
The Department of Homeland Security has now admitted that 40 percent
of catch and release migrants have just disappeared into the country.
The Senate must hold the trial for Secretary Mayorkas' impeachment
because he needs to be held accountable. You can't just ignore our laws
like that and make a joke out of it. This is, again, our security.
Fentanyl is coming in. We have people coming in that will be part of
known terror cells. The people they have caught and turned away are
from very questionable, very dangerous associations.
This is no joke. This is not just shouting in the wilderness. This is
very real, and how this administration continues to get away with it
blows my mind and a lot of the minds of the American people out there.
How can this be happening? Lately, President Biden is talk about,
well, does he have the authority to make a move on further enforcing
the border? It is an executive action. The laws are on the books. We
have legislated on that. We have put forward funding on that. The
President in his action is to execute and to enforce the laws that are
on the books.
If we would execute and enforce them properly to the fullest extent
we could, as a country, we wouldn't have nearly the problem that we are
seeing right now.
In the meantime, we legislate here. H.R. 2 is sitting over in the
Senate. I urge the Senators to take that up and move in the direction
that will further define and tighten our laws so we will have a much
more secure border.
With that, I suggest that the American people call your United States
Senators and have them move H.R. 2.
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California
and I always appreciate his participation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris).
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I thank the gentleman
for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I am going to talk a little about
Bidenomics. It is interesting the President doesn't talking about
Bidenomics anymore. He thought about a year ago it would be a neat
thing to talk about, but I guess the problem is that reality struck.
Just over a month ago, President Biden stood right in front of where
you stand now, Mr. Speaker, in this very Chamber to give his State of
the Union Address. He declared: ``Our economy is the envy of the
world.''
Well, just today, the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation index,
came in
[[Page H2283]]
``hotter than expected.'' By the way, that is not good news for
Americans. It actually increased to 3\1/2\ percent. The past few years,
it has been higher than it has been in 40 years.
As we all pay more for almost everything in Joe Biden's economy,
let's take a really close look at the economy that Joe Biden built.
Well, when Joe Biden took office, the national debt was $28.7
trillion, a huge amount of debt, but now it is approaching $35
trillion, or more than $250,000 of debt for every American household.
Now, in my district, that debt is higher than the average mortgage in
my district.
For the average family, the mortgage is the least of their debt
worries now. Now, it is the Federal debt.
The CBO projects that by 2031, $2 trillion deficits will be the norm,
but I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that as usual the CBO gets this wrong
because this year it is going to be way over $2 trillion. In fact, over
the last calendar year, from last April to the beginning of this April,
the Federal debt has increased over $3 trillion under Joe Biden's
watch.
Joe Biden's new spending initiatives, just the new spending
initiatives in the budget he just proposed, adds up to a price tag of
5.5 trillion more dollars over the next 10 years, and that is just new
spending.
That doesn't count the ongoing growth of existing Federal programs
that he projects in his budget.
Together, all this new spending is going to drive up Federal deficits
to 10 percent of GDP, a level we have only seen in the modern era
during the national emergencies of COVID and World War II.
Now, since Joe Biden took office, inflation has risen to historic
levels and make no mistake, Bidenflation is a direct result of Joe
Biden and the Democrats' out-of-control government spending.
Just a couple of days ago, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, no
friend of this side of the aisle, warned in a letter to his
shareholders that interest rates could rise to 8 percent or higher. He
also mentions drivers of persistent inflation being military conflict
throughout the world and fiscal deficits.
Let me tell you something, the Biden administration are absolute
champions of military conflicts throughout the world and fiscal
deficits. The bottom line is, we all know that under the last
administration there were no hot wars. The Middle East actually was
becoming more peaceful, not less peaceful. The Russians were not
advancing in Ukraine.
All that changed with this administration and the resulting military
spending that is going to be necessary worldwide will drive inflation
even higher.
That is not my word; that is the word, again, of the CEO of JPMorgan
Chase, a person who understands how this economy works.
Now, President Biden's economy is affecting Americans of every age
and we all know it. In fact, according to a recent survey, one in eight
retirees now plan to return to work this year because they simply can't
afford retirement anymore. Inflation has driven up the cost of
everything--groceries, gasoline, housing, rent, everything.
In a recent study, The Wall Street Journal showed that a $100 grocery
list from 2019--and for those of you keeping score, that was during the
last administration--now costs $137. Anybody who is watching us to day
who goes to the grocery store, Mr. Speaker, knows this is true. They
know what a loaf of bread costs. They know what a dozen eggs costs.
They know what a gallon of milk costs. When they go down the aisles,
they know everything is more expensive under Joe Biden's watch.
If Joe Biden thinks the economy he built is ``such an envy,'' maybe
he ought to take a walk through a grocery store.
Within the first 2 years of this administration, Joe Biden and the
House Democrats passed their so-called American Rescue Plan--I don't
think we feel too rescued, to be honest with you--and the so-called
Inflation Reduction Act, which is the real laugh because everybody
knows inflation isn't reduced from where it was in the last
administration. Both of those sent Federal Government spending sky-
high, again, what Jamie Dimon warns us is going to lead to a prolonged
inflationary period and high interest rates.
Lastly, I will talk about energy prices because when you go to the
gas pump, if you go to buy diesel to put in your farm tractor or truck,
you know what it costs now. It costs about 50 percent more than it did
under the last administration.
Energy prices, your electric bill, your heating bill, everything is
going sky-high because of this President's policies.
Make no mistake, Joe Biden's out-of-control spending, his spending
agenda, and his economic policies have made life simply unaffordable
for American families.
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I will bring up another anecdote.
When you hear voices like President Obama's economic adviser, Larry
Summers, talk about the fact that there is one equation when you enact
that much government spending like what happened in President Biden's
first 2 years, there is only one outcome when you enact that much
spending with no offsets. The American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction
Act, like you mentioned, that type of relief spending is unnecessary
and immediately creates inflation. That is what we have experienced.
House Republicans oftentimes don't get the credit that we deserve for
taking back the majority and putting an end to all of that additional
spending that was enacted so quickly as soon as the Democrats had the
White House, House, and Senate. They do those bills under
reconciliation, they don't require the filibuster anymore, and they
passed over $3 trillion that way on party-line vote.
Just by taking back the majority, we have the opportunity to
completely eliminate that and also work to find other areas of waste
and push that as much as possible.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Harris for that message. Sometimes the
details and data are inconvenient when you are trying to push a
narrative about an economy, but it is good to make sure to highlight
that.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy),
a good colleague and friend.
Mr. LANGWORTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank our Conference vice chair for
holding this Special Order hour and leading us and helping us get our
message out there for the American people.
Today, I rise to bring attention to the fact that Americans have been
held hostage in Gaza for 186 days. American citizens currently sit
behind enemy lines held hostage in Gaza.
The world changed on October 7 when Hamas launched a barbaric attack,
a blood-thirsty rampage on the peace-loving people of Israel and they
claimed the lives of over 1,000 innocent civilians, including 32
American citizens.
Mr. Speaker, 250 hostages were taken, with five American citizens
still believed to be alive and fighting for their survival in Gaza.
Last week, I had the honor to travel to Israel and while in Jerusalem,
I, with my colleagues, met with the Goldberg-Polin family, Rachel and
Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh, an American citizen, was taken
hostage at the Nova Music Festival, where 379 beautiful young peoples'
lives were stolen.
They brought into focus that we have little to no information on the
health and the welfare of the hostages. International organizations
cannot get that data.
The last video of Hersh from that day showed him applying his own
tourniquet as his left arm had been blown off by a grenade. Their
family has shown such courage and grace in telling the world about
their son and his story and the story of the hostages currently held.
There have been many other families just like theirs whose loved ones
have been ripped away from them and they still do not have answers. We
must do everything in our power to secure the release of these
Americans, including standing strong with Israel in their fight against
Hamas.
The fact that 6 months have gone by since the attack, we cannot
forget that American citizens are still being held hostage by Hamas.
Not for 1 day, not for 1 minute.
It is time for strength and unity, not weakness or division.
President Biden should be calling for their release every single day.
Israel needs America
[[Page H2284]]
in its time of peril. The bond between our two nations is unbreakable.
I will continue to work tirelessly in this Congress to defend Israel's
right to exist and right to defend itself.
Israel needs to defend itself no matter what the cost against these
people that committed these crimes and atrocities. We must stand
together in the face of evil and send a clear message that America will
not tolerate the murder and the capture of our citizens and innocent
citizens across the globe. We need to demonstrate our unwavering
commitment to peace and freedom in the world.
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate his passion and I echo
his comments.
Mr. Speaker, as I wrap up, I thank my colleagues for sharing their
heartfelt messages. I appreciate them putting the time and effort into
making sure their constituents and the American people know some of the
most important things that are going on back here. I appreciate their
time to be down here.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford), a
good friend.
{time} 1600
Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as my colleague Nick
Langworthy did before me, to express my support for the State of Israel
in its war for survival, basically, against the terrorist Hamas group.
We need to make one thing perfectly clear in this body: We stand with
Israel, no matter what.
As Mr. Langworthy just said, 16 Congressmen and -women just returned
from Israel. Many of their spouses went, as well. This was a trip to
gain insight, to gain context and perspective, to be educated about the
plight of Israel and what they are facing in this war with these brutal
savages, the Hamas terrorists.
What we saw, Mr. Speaker, was horrible. We went to a kibbutz in the
southern part of Israel. It was one of our first stops. This was a
village. Basically, a kibbutz is a community or a gathering of people.
It was a beautiful village at one time.
We went there, and it was frozen in time. Tricycles were left out on
the sidewalk area. Clothes were pulled halfway out of the dryer. Food
was still on the table of some of these homes. Other homes were almost
burned to the ground. Glass was shattered. Lives were shattered, as
well.
We saw that moment frozen in time, 6:32 on the morning of October 7.
The folks who had woken up that morning thought it was just going to be
another normal day in the kibbutz, a day to share with family, to go to
school, to work in their crops. They were just within a stone's throw
of Gaza. Little did they know that that day was going to be a day that
lived in infamy for Israel because, you see, the Hamas terrorists broke
down the fence and the gates into that kibbutz, kidnapped more than 40
people from that kibbutz, killed more than 200, brutally murdering
women who were pregnant, ripping the babies out of their wombs, burning
others alive. We were able to see firsthand the devastation and
destruction left by these brutal terrorists.
Israel is a nation of resolve, and we saw that, as well. We saw that
in kibbutzim further north up on the border with Lebanon, where 654
people, an entire kibbutz, had to be evacuated because they were not
safe because of the rockets from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is being funded by Iran. This is a proxy war by people who
don't want Israel to exist, who want to wipe it off the face of the
Earth.
The sanction money that this President has released, some $16 billion
that has gone to Iran, has been used to buy rockets and missiles for
Hezbollah.
Saturday morning, we left a hotel in that kibbutz area to make our
way further north and to the west, near the Lebanese border. Mr.
Speaker, 52 minutes after we left this hotel, Hezbollah fired 30
rockets on that hotel that we stayed in. The Iron Dome stopped 29 of
those, but one of them hit near the hotel. It didn't do any damage, but
16 Members of Congress and their families were there just an hour prior
to that.
It is very clear that this is not just a war between Islamic
terrorists and Israel. This is a war between civilizations. This is a
war, a battle between good and evil, and that is why it is imperative
that we stand with Israel.
Imagine, Mr. Speaker, your home. Maybe you have lived there for a
couple of decades. Imagine if you lived there 80 years, and the
neighbor to your right, the neighbor to your left, the neighbor across
the street, and the neighbor behind you never wanted you there. All
they could think about is driving you out of that house. If it meant
killing you and your family to do that, so be it. That is what the
State of Israel is facing.
We met with the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and with the
President of Israel, President Herzog. Let me assure you today, despite
the media reports, Mr. Speaker, despite what others in this body may be
saying, the will of Israel is strong to finish off the four battalions
that remain in Rafah of these terrorist killers and, just as
importantly, to bring home safely the 133 hostages, some of whom are
Americans.
Unfortunately, just today, Mr. Speaker, a report was released that
the Hamas terrorists may have delivered some 40 of these hostages to
other terrorist nations or terrorist entities, and they may not even be
in Gaza. Israel needs to know if these people are alive. They deserve
to know proof of life.
A lot of people are calling for a cease-fire. Israel, the IDF, has
Hamas on the ropes. It is time to finish the job. It is time to
eradicate Hamas. It is time to bring the hostages home. It is time for
peace in the Middle East.
Mr. Speaker, I want to close with this, because this is nothing new
to Israel, ever since they crossed the Jordan River. Some 2,600 years
ago, a prominent Levite songwriter in King David's court penned these
words. It still rings true today, Mr. Speaker.
O God, do not remain quiet;
Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
For, behold, Thine enemies make an uproar;
And those who hate Thee have exalted themselves.
They make shrewd plans against Thy people,
And conspire together against Thy treasured ones.
They have said, ``Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation.
That the name of Israel be remembered no more.''
For they have conspired together with one mind;
Against Thee do they make a covenant . . .
Who say, ``Let us possess for ourselves
The pastures of God.''
God, fill their faces with dishonor,
That they may seek Thy name, O Lord.
Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever;
And let them be humiliated and perish,
That they may know that Thou alone, whose name is the Lord,
Art the most high over all the Earth.
Today, it is Israel. Tomorrow, it could be America. The jihadists,
the Islamic extremists, the terrorists call Israel the Little Satan.
They call the United States of America the Great Satan.
We stand with Israel, and even if this administration is trying to
pry open a crack in our relationship, this body should not let that
stand and make it very clear that Israel is our friend, our ally, and
we will stand behind them and beside them.
Mr. Speaker, I hope this is all over very soon because this could be
over today if Hamas would release the hostages and simply surrender.
When that does happen, we will rejoice with Israel, but, Mr. Speaker,
until that does happen, we weep with Israel.
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri.
I can't add any more to that but will quickly highlight a point that I
think needs constant reminding: The Abraham Accords were some of the
strongest, most positive potential opportunities for peace in the
Middle East by creating trade relationships with Israel and Arab
nations. These are unprecedented. These are some of the most important
things that I think happened in all the foreign policy from our
previous administration.
Saudi Arabia was inching toward engaging in these types of trade
relationships. Iran doesn't want that to happen. Iran supports
Hezbollah. Iran supports Hamas. Hamas does this attack. The whole
intent was to make sure that the narrative and public perception would
change on Israel because it was inching too close to productivity with
a bellwether like Saudi Arabia being willing to potentially embrace
trade negotiations and diplomatic relationships with Israel. Iran does
not want that to happen. They will do whatever they can to incite
violence
[[Page H2285]]
and terrorism. They know that Israel will go and protect themselves.
They know that Israel will respond. They know if they wait long enough,
that even the President of the United States, who has traditionally
been a very strong supporter of Israel, will start to put pressure on
Israel as if October 7 was their fault.
We cannot forget that narrative. We cannot forget that Iran is
rejoicing and exuberant that this one-sided pressure is put on Israel
at this moment. I think that point is so important to make.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues for sharing so much of their
thoughts on various elements of the economy and other foreign policy
issues.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________