Defense Capability Development Minor Construction Enhancement Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the child deportation act. This cruel, inhumane, and unworkable bill was written in an extreme MAGA Republican echo chamber.

Considering H.R. 2 today under a closed rule is a cynical move on the part of Republicans to exploit the operational challenges associated with the lifting of title 42 public health restrictions.

Republicans have a short memory. Just in February, they voted to lift title 42 when they voted to lift the COVID-19 health emergency. It sets Customs and Border Protection up for failure by shifting all processing to ports of entry without providing any additional resources.

To make matters worse, it would bar CBP from leveraging technology to process migrants in an orderly way. H.R. 2 doesn't fund a single new officer at our ports of entry, where more than 90 percent of fentanyl is interdicted.

In committee, we tried to get an additional 1,700 officers to build greater capacity, but Republicans refused to do it.

Furthermore, this xenophobic bill would strip DHS funding from any community or religious organization that helps migrants. The language is so broad that an organization that places water in a remote area of the desert or provides a pregnant mother with a safe place to sleep would be ineligible for DHS funding. It is so broad that they may be refused homeland security grants to help protect their facilities.

Denying assistance to nonprofits is just plain shameful, particularly after what we saw in Brownsville this past weekend. There is reporting that a man who rammed his SUV into a crowd outside a migrant shelter, killing 8 and injuring at least 10 others, was fueled by invasion and alien rhetoric. My heart goes out to everyone hurt by this senseless act of violence.

The language in this bill is so far-reaching that it would force the American Red Cross to verify every person's immigration status before providing lifesaving services. Can you imagine if they had to say, ``Show your papers,'' before evacuating people? That is just inhumane.

Get this: H.R. 2 is so broadly written that it would actually impede detention and deportation.

Mr. Speaker, FOX News viewers who support deporting migrants should take a look at section 115(c) in division A. If enacted, it would prohibit DHS from contracting with any nongovernmental organization to transport or shelter ``inadmissible aliens.''

This language would prevent ICE from contracting with private companies to facilitate deportation or provide detention space because these companies are nongovernmental organizations. Yes, you heard that right. This bill is so poorly written that it could actually prevent ICE from deporting people.

Over the next 2 hours, Democrats will discuss many other problematic provisions of this extreme MAGA bill that Republicans cobbled together and that we learned yesterday would blow a $6.1 billion hole in the budget.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this child deportation act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the extreme MAGA Republican default on America act, which the last speaker voted for, would result in an across-the-board cut of 22 percent for the Department of Homeland Security, which would undermine border security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans want it both ways. First, they vote to reduce the number of Border Patrol agents in the field by 1,400 under their default in America act, and now all of a sudden, they want to do something different. So either you are for it or you are against it, but you can't have it both ways.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Budget Office says the child deportation act would ``decrease the population of the United States by about 600,000 people, mostly by reducing the number of unaccompanied children present in the country.''

Republicans claim to be concerned about exploitation and abuse of unaccompanied children, but their answer is

to slam the door shut and deport them from the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, on March 15, Border Patrol Chief Ortiz told the Homeland Security Committee that ``cartels control an awful lot of the southern border south of the United States.''

Last time I checked, south of the United States meant Mexico and not five of the nine U.S. Border Patrol sectors.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez).

Mr. Speaker, at some point you have to correct the Record. We had a debt ceiling budget vote several weeks ago. The Republican-approved debt ceiling budget would cut the DHS budget by 22 percent.

So you can't be for something, but you don't invest in what you say you are for.

I will step back a little further and say that if Republicans are really serious about border security, then they would have joined Democrats in passing last year's government funding bill. It provided more than $17 billion to Customs and Border Protection alone and a 17 percent increase in the Border Patrol budget, but unfortunately, Speaker McCarthy voted against that, too.

Democrats have been to the border. In April of this year, I took nine Members to the border. We talked to a lot of people. I have been on the committee quite a while. I have gone to the border a number of times to see, so one visit I didn't go to is not the end of the world. I was on the border before the Speaker was in Congress, so there is history here that we just need to make sure that we all understand.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, the extreme MAGA Republican default on America act, which the last Speaker voted for, would result in CBP not being able to seize nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl because of the draconian cuts to its budget.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Robert Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, on February 1, the last speaker voted against the public health emergency that served as the legal basis for the use of title 42 at the southwest border.

My colleagues want to have it both ways, which is why, I guess, he supports H.R. 2, the child deportation act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. Speaker, if Republicans were serious about border security, they would have joined Democrats in passing last year's government funding bill, which paid for an increase of 300 Border Patrol agents, the first increase since the Obama administration.

Not only did the last speaker not support it, she voted to have 1,400 Border Patrol agents fewer in the field under the extreme MAGA Republican default on America act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Thanedar).

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2 squeezes Customs and Border Patrol officers working at ports of entry by failing to provide resources to cover the increased workload that will result from the bill.

If Republicans were serious about border security, they would have joined Democrats in passing last year's government funding bill, which appropriated $60 million to hire an additional 125 CBP officers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2 does nothing to combat illicit narcotics like fentanyl. If Republicans were serious about border security, they would have joined Democrats in passing last year's government funding bill, which provided $70 million for intrusive inspection technology at ports of entry where most dangerous drugs are interdicted.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Salinas).

Mr. Speaker, while the imposition of a nationwide E-Verify on all businesses found in this bill is not part of the Homeland Security division, it still affects me as a Member of Congress from a rural part of the country.

I cannot overstate how damaging this language is to the agriculture labor in my district. Many of my rural Republican colleagues know this, too. To put it bluntly, if enacted, this bill will force American farmers to go out of business.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters of opposition against the child deportation act from the AFL-CIO; SEIU, Service Employees International Union; and the Agriculture Workforce Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Sorensen).

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the child deportation act provision requiring DHS to negotiate with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to return unaccompanied children will result in 550,000 children being deported back to the violence they fled from over a 10-year period.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2 is an anti-immigrant and un-Christian bill, just as legislation previously introduced by Representative Roy was. That is why nearly 150 community and religious groups oppose it.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters in opposition from 136 community and religious groups, including Bethany Christian Services, Catholic Charities, and Union for Reform Judaism, Sojourners, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Jesuit Conference.

May 8, 2023.

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Vote Recommendation Opposing H.R. 2 Secure the Border Act of 2023

Dear Representative: The undersigned state, local, and

national immigration, civil rights, public health, education,

religious, labor, climate justice, and other organizations

write to respectfully request that you VOTE NO on H.R. 2, the

Secure the Border Act of 2023, set to receive a vote on the

House floor on May 11. The bill would dismantle the asylum

system and cause immeasurable harm to immigrant communities.

The newly elected majority is driving an intentionally

divisive agenda to amplify anti-immigrant animus without

moral and effective policy solutions. We ask you to oppose

this anti-immigrant bill that would:

1. Deport Unaccompanied Children. The bill would end Health

& Human Services funding for legal representation of

unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings, depriving

children of the attorneys their safety depends upon. It would

also provide only a cursory screening process for children at

the border, risking children's summary return to human

trafficking and other dangers. The bill subjects all

unaccompanied children to an accelerated removal process

worse than what currently exists, and allows for detention of

unaccompanied children in jail-like border facilities for up

to 30 days--ten times longer than permitted under current

law.

2. End Asylum. The bill would effectively shut down our

current asylum system by adding dozens of new restrictions on

asylum, including eliminating the right to seek asylum for

those who cross the border between ports of entry and barring

asylum for those who transit through a third country. It

would make it nearly impossible for migrants to seek asylum

in the U.S. and significantly easier to deport asylum

seekers, including families and children, into harm's way.

This will only sow chaos at the border, rather than

ameliorating it.

3. Restart `Remain in Mexico'. The bill would restart the

failed and dangerous Remain in Mexico program for all

migrants, including unaccompanied children who were

previously exempted under the Trump administration. Seeking

to unilaterally return asylum seekers to other countries

without consulting the receiving country nor the migrant

results in refoulement of the migrant to danger and

problematic foreign policy implications.

4. Jail Immigrant Families. The bill would require family

detention for any families attempting to enter the U.S. to

seek asylum, as well as any families who previously entered

the U.S. without visas. Like all immigration detention,

family detention centers have a well-documented history of

abusive conditions, including inadequate medical care and

mental health deterioration for asylum seekers, survivors of

trauma, and children.

5. Mandate E-Verify. The bill would require E-Verify for

all employers in the U.S., severely damaging our economy,

harming American workers, and resulting in billions of

dollars in lost government revenue. National implementation

of E-Verify raises concerns about efficiency, due process,

and racial profiling and decreased employment among Latinos.

6. Gut Programs that Work: The bill would strip funding for

the Alternative To Detention Case Management Pilot Program,

Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the vital

Shelter and Services Program, which has helped communities

around the country receive reimbursement for costs related to

humanitarian responses to migration. These programs have been

effective at providing services crucial to preventing more

deaths under CBP custody and immigrant detention and have

reduced impacts on receiving communities.

7. Burden our Local Communities by Making it Impossible for

Employers to Hire Asylum Seekers with Work Authorization.

This bill eliminates work authorization for asylum seekers

who cross between ports of entry and requires six month

renewal periods for asylum-based employment authorization.

Combined with USCIS processing time, this would effectively

make it impossible for businesses, even in the face oflabor

shortages, to employ asylum seekers. These provisions will

exponentially increase the backlogs at users and make it even

more difficult for USCIS to timely process applications. This

runs counter to bipartisan efforts to improve the employment

authorization process for asylum seekers and will create an

unnecessary burden on local communities.

8. Undermine Essential Partnerships with Humanitarian

Organizations. The bill would bar any and all DHS funding for

NGOs, including faith-based NGOs, that provide shelter,

transportation, food or legal assistance to vulnerable

immigrants, including those who arrive on a visa and later

become ``inadmissible.'' Congress should be investing more in

non-profit organizations providing respite care, legal

service providers, trauma-informed care and community-based

service providers, not subjecting them to the punitive

measures in this legislation. This measure would impact NGOs

across the country that receive DHS funding, including

organizations working with FEMA during an emergency-it's

``show me your papers'' for the Red Cross.

9. Resume Building Trump's Border Wall. The bill would

restart the construction of the border wall, a harmful waste

of taxpayer resources. It would allow DHS to exempt all

border infrastructure construction, development, operation,

and maintenance from any law except the Constitution, thereby

reducing the rule of law at our borders. The bill would also

restrict the ability for landowners, local communities and

tribes to assert legal challenges opposing the construction

of the wall, and thus pave the way for irreparable and

unchecked harms to the borderlands. We have already seen the

negative consequences from the Trump Administration era

resulting in: bulldozed Native American burial sites;

dynamited pristine mountain wilderness; segments of the wall

being constructed in flood plains; and the unjust seizing of

private ranches and farmlands.

10. Eliminate Parole Authority. The bill would decimate the

parole power that presidents historically have used to parole

individuals in response to humanitarian emergencies or in

furtherance of foreign policy objectives. It also precludes

the President's recent parole programs for Ukrainians,

Afghans, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaragruans, and Venezuelans, and

cuts work authorization for parolees.

11. Jail Any Person who Overstays a Visa. The bill would

jail and penalize immigrants who have violated any condition

of their visa or overstayed by 10 days or more, even for

violations that occur due to circumstances beyond the

individuals' control such as a medical emergency. This

provision would even make it a crime for anyone on a visa to

apply for asylum, given they would not have

left once their visa expired. Congress should focus on

solutions that regularize the status of long-term residents

and fix our broken immigration system.

12. Balloon Border Agents. The bill would require Border

Patrol to hire enough agents to reach 22,000 on board

(currently there are roughly 19,500) and restrict Border

Patrol agents from performing ``duties of processing

coordinators.'' Processing coordinators currently perform

duties such as transporting and processing migrants and

carrying out mandatory welfare checks. With only around 1,000

processing coordinators currently in the field, this

restriction would seriously hinder Border Patrol's efforts to

fairly and efficiently process asylum seekers and carry out

their law enforcement mission. CBP is overfunded with funding

streams that push resources towards enforcement and wasteful

surveillance, while humanitarian needs go underfunded.

We urge you to vote in ways that protect immigrants and

VOTE NO against H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023 in

the upcoming floor vote. We must oppose racist, xenophobic,

unconstructive proposals that add fuel to hate and present no

constructive and moral solutions. Thank you for your time and

attention.

Sincerely,

National Organizations:

#WelcomeWithDignity Campaign, African Communities Together,

Alianza Americas, America's Voice, American Civil Liberties

Union, American Federation of Teachers, American Immigration

Council, American Immigration Lawyers Association, American

Psychological Association, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

Committee (ADC), Asian Americans Advancing Justice

AAJC, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence,

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would ``affect the legal status of about 4.4 million people who would be granted parole or asylum under current law.''

Parolees fleeing war in Ukraine and the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as those from Haiti and other failed countries in this hemisphere would be required to leave the United States, and CBO anticipates that ``half would reside unlawfully in the United States.''

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans claim that the Biden administration's policies have led to open borders, but nothing could be further from the truth.

President Biden has, with little help from Congress, worked to dissuade migrants from taking the dangerous journey northward. The Biden administration is surging resources to the border. Even as it ramps down title 42 removals, it is using title 8 authorities to promptly remove and bar reentry from certain crossers.

At the same time, the Biden administration is working to make the asylum process more orderly through the CBP One app.

It has also stood up a parole process for certain Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Haitian migrants that in March were credited with a drop of 72 percent in the 7-day average from a high of 1,231 in January.

H.R. 2 would take those tools away from DHS.

Mr. Speaker, in the unlikely event that this cruel, extreme, and unworkable bill makes it to the President's desk, he has promised to veto it.

To quote the Statement of Administration Policy: ``H.R. 2 does nothing to address the root causes of migration, reduces humanitarian protections, and restricts unlawful pathways, which are critical alternatives to unlawful entry.'' It goes on to say: ``This bill would make things worse, not better.''

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the administration's statement.

Statement of Administration Policy

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Mr. Speaker, it is remarkable that Republicans are getting behind the child deportation act, a bill that would blow a $6.1 billion hole in our Federal budget at the same time that they are feigning concern about the Federal deficit.

Today, the other side has said a lot about how the Biden administration is

handling the ending of title 42, but remarkably, not one of them acknowledged that they voted to lift it in February.

Enactment of H.R. 2 would do nothing to keep fentanyl out of our communities or protect unaccompanied children.

Just for the record, in our section of the bill, fentanyl is not even mentioned. I would hope at some point the other two discussions tomorrow might talk a little more directly about fentanyl if it is in there. It is not in our section at this point.

For the record, the information that we have about 90 percent of the fentanyl coming into the country comes from the Chief of the Border Patrol. It is his information. We can only take him at his word.

Those five ports of entry that the chair talked about, that was not what he said. He said it was in Mexico, not in the U.S., in terms of being controlled by the cartels. I think we all will admit the cartels do not control the border within the boundaries of the United States. It is a play on words, but at least we can be accurate with that.

In terms of how we determine who comes, who is captured, and how the fentanyl is collected, I suggest that you talk to the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, or DEA. They are the persons who interview the people who are caught at our ports of entry.

More importantly, most of the people who we catch at our ports of entry are American citizens. They are not, for the most part, immigrants or aliens, or whatever you want to call them, trying to come into this country illegally. They are American citizens.

In terms of guns, the cartels are a violent operation. There is no question about it. We need to do everything that we can to stop them. We can't keep American guns from going to Mexico unless we come up with an enhanced policy to do that.

We have to acknowledge that the majority of the guns that the cartels are using are coming from the United States. As the record will reflect, there is only one gun store in the entire country of Mexico. It takes months for an individual to even get cleared to buy a gun. We just want the record to reflect the truth.

Enactment of H.R. 2, as I said, would do nothing to keep fentanyl out of our communities or protect unaccompanied children. What it will do is penalize communities and religious organizations that care for vulnerable people.

Section 115(b) is so broad that a nonprofit hospital that admits an undocumented migrant would be deemed as facilitating unlawful activities. Cartels and smugglers are champing at the bit to see this bill enacted into law.

H.R. 2 would create conditions where desperate people will be left with few options but to try to enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry. It would be a boon for smugglers' illicit business.

We should be coming together to enact sensible border and immigration policies that support our communities and economy. We can do better than the child deportation act.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this extreme MAGA bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 383, I call up the bill (H.R. 2) to secure the borders of the United States, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

Last year, Republicans made a commitment to America to secure our borders, protect our Nation, and safeguard our communities. Today, House Republicans are delivering on that promise.

No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, it is undeniable that we are in the midst of a severe border crisis. In just over 2 years, President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have intentionally turned our Nation's border into a place of chaos and devastation, one controlled by the drug cartels.

The administration's refusal to enforce the law or implement effective policies to secure the border has led us to this point, completely dismantling any semblance of law and order. Over the past several months, the members of the Committee on Homeland Security have been hard at work crafting a solution to address the administration's self-inflicted crisis at our borders.

With input from our colleagues across the Republican Conference, as well as Border Patrol agents, victims of illegal alien crime and the drug crisis, small business owners, State and local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers, the committee has taken the time to fully understand Secretary Mayorkas' record-breaking humanitarian crisis.

These are the everyday Americans bearing the brunt of this crisis who are all too often overlooked by the media and the DC beltway. The numbers that they, and now all Americans, are facing are staggering:

More than 5 million encounters at the southwest border since President Biden took office;

Over 1.4 million known got-aways since February 2021;

193 aliens on the terrorist watch list encountered along the southwest border trying to enter the country between ports of entry from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2023;

Over 14,000 pounds of fentanyl seized in fiscal year 2023, enough to kill the entire U.S. population nine and a half times;

Over 61,000 criminal aliens arrested by CBP attempting to cross the U.S. borders since the beginning of FY 2021.

And just as we think it can't get any worse, tomorrow marks the end of the only tool that Customs and Border Protection has left under this administration, title 42.

As we have approached the end of title 42 the past few days, CBP has been reporting an even greater increase in the number of alien encounters and got-aways, which are already off the charts.

Whether my colleagues on the other side want to admit it or not, Mr. Biden and Mr. Mayorkas' border crisis has turned every State into a border State, and the American people have had enough.

From a record number of fentanyl deaths to rising crime, it is the families and communities across America that are left to pay the price of this administration's open borders and antisecurity policies.

These policies are enriching and emboldening transnational criminal organizations who have increasingly threatened the safety and security of all Americans.

However, we are here with a solution.

Thanks to the hard work of many members across multiple committees, H.R. 2 requires the administration to secure the border, enforce the law, and reduce illegal immigration, once again.

Specifically, division A of the bill addresses the immediate impact of the border crisis by focusing on mitigating and stopping the surge of illegal border crossers and illicit drugs that are flowing across our borders between ports of entry.

Over 30 years ago, the United States Government began building the border barrier system. We have heard from frontline agents on the ground that an effective border barrier system is a proven critical component in deterring and discouraging illegal activity. That is why H.R. 2 directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to immediately resume construction of the border wall.

The bill requires at least 900 miles of wall to be built, using the materials that American taxpayers have already paid for, but that under President Biden are laying unused and left to deteriorate in the desert.

This bill makes targeted investments in border technology that not only supplements the border wall system, but also integrates new, advanced, and improved technologies into Border Patrol operations that will prioritize frontline personnel safety and the detection of illicit activity.

We know that Border Patrol agents are leaving at a faster rate than the CBP Commissioner can hire them. Under the Biden administration, Border Patrol agents are stretched thin, both physically and mentally. They are overwhelmed and overworked.

Customs and Border Protection agents are leaving before reaching their retirement eligibility because of poor working conditions and low morale due to a horrendous lack of support from the Biden administration and the inability to do what they signed up to do-- enforce the law.

During the committee's field hearing on March 15, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified that he needs approximately 22,000 agents to achieve Border Patrol's mission. H.R. 2 mandates CBP expand their force by over 3,000 agents to reach that total of 22,000 agents.

The bill also aims to return agents back to their law enforcement duties in the field by ensuring they are not responsible for serving as processing coordinators, something that the Biden administration is forcing highly trained law enforcement agents to do.

The bill addresses the retention challenges that Border Patrol is facing by providing qualified agents with a retention bonus. They need to know that all of us in Congress have their back and appreciate their sacrifice.

The Department of Homeland Security has made very blatant attempts to bury the release of its monthly border statistics or withhold certain information from the public. That is why H.R. 2 requires DHS to publicly disclose all monthly data, including known got-aways and known or suspected terrorists, before the seventh day of each month.

Congress will not tolerate this administration's lack of transparency to the American people, who deserve to know who and what is coming into our country.

To further enhance border security measures, this bill increases support for Operation Stonegarden, a grant program that provides funds to State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that are forced to deal directly with the crisis, given the administration's complete dereliction of duty.

Under H.R. 2, Operation Stonegarden grants will be increased to $110 million per year, and we know this support can't come soon enough for our State and local law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives

Committee on Homeland Security

Washington, DC, May 4, 2023.

Hon. Jason Smith,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Smith: I write regarding H.R. 2794, the

``Border Reinforcement Act of 2023,'' of which the Committee

on Ways and Means received an additional referral. I

appreciate your support in bringing this legislation before

the House of Representatives, and that the Committee on Ways

and Means will forego further consideration of the bill.

The Committee on Homeland Security concurs with the mutual

understanding that by foregoing consideration of this bill at

this time, the Committee on Ways and Means does not waive

jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in this

legislation in the future. In addition, should a conference

on this bill be necessary, I would support your request to

have the Committee on Ways and Means represented on the

conference committee.

I will include our letters on H.R. 2794 in the Committee

report on this measure and in the Congressional Record during

floor consideration of this bill. I look forward to working

with you on this legislation and appreciate your cooperation

on this matter.

Sincerely,

Mark E. Green, MD,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest), the vice chair of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gimenez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. DesJarlais).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. D'Esposito).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Strong).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Greene).

Mr. Speaker, as a quick correction for the record,

the bill doesn't do anything to take away healthcare services provided by NGOs, just to clarify that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles), my friend from my home State.

Mr. Speaker, again, I am compelled to correct the Record. The bill very specifically states that family units will be kept together. There will be no separation of children. It very clearly is stated in the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), my very good friend.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on each side?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Luttrell), the American hero.

Mr. Speaker, I hear from my colleagues across

the aisle the accusations that the legislation that is before us today is somehow xenophobic. I will remind my colleagues that the number of countries of people who are appearing at our southern border, breaking our laws are from over 140 countries, every single race, every single religion, almost all the nationalities of the world. This bill is about law and order. It is not xenophobic.

I recall when I was there on the border, maybe it was three trips ago, some folks from Russia and Ukraine. This isn't xenophobic. This is about law and order.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Miller).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take an opportunity to correct the record on a couple of things.

We often hear from our colleagues across the aisle that 90 percent of the fentanyl is seized at the ports of entry. Well, if you make the statement that 90 percent of the fentanyl that is seized is seized at the ports of entry, that is correct. But oftentimes, what we hear from the left, is that 90 percent of fentanyl coming into the country is seized. We know for a fact that that math is absolutely wrong.

If you put the amount seized at the ports of entry as the numerator and the total amount seized as the denominator, yes, that is 90 percent of what is seized. On the denominator would be 90 percent plus 10 percent, right? But what is missing in that denominator is all of the fentanyl that gets into our country that we have no idea is seized, so you can't technically say we are seizing 90 percent of the fentanyl that is coming into the country. That is factually incorrect. It makes no mathematical sense.

In fact, the Border Patrol itself is saying that we are actually catching about 5 to 10 percent of the fentanyl. So if it is 90 percent of what is seized at the ports of entry, which I agree that statement is correct, it is 90 percent of 5 to 10 percent of the total. That is an important point of distinction.

I would also like to talk a little bit about this CBP One app that my colleague from Mississippi mentioned and all of the other efforts that have been elaborated on by this administration, their efforts to maintain control of our border.

When they came into office, the budget didn't increase suddenly. The number of border patrol agents didn't decrease suddenly. There was no new legislation that was written.

What happened was 89 effective policies of two administrations were completely undone by executive orders, and it resulted in an immediate incentive to come to the United States. They did away with all of the disincentives, the pull factors, of people coming into our country.

What happened is, people came, they tested the system, and they were immediately released into the country. Deportations were ordered to be halted. Over a million people with deportation orders that a legal process had determined they were supposed to be returned, we are just not going to deport. Phone calls went home, and people poured across our southern border.

This incentive then was seized on by the drug cartels. They saw a huge opportunity, and so they flooded the crossing sites with people, interestingly enough, paying coyotes to bring them there.

That is sort of at the strategic level. They neutralized the Border Patrol at the border crossing sites, and then the fentanyl and other things come around between the ports of entry. That is the fentanyl we are seizing. By the way, that is the fentanyl that has resulted in the street price of fentanyl in Tennessee going from $95 in January of 2021 to $28 just recently, according to the sheriffs of Tennessee. That supply-demand means more fentanyl is pouring into this country.

If you talk about 90 percent of it being seized; that is a false statement. If you talk about the policies that supposedly are attempting to gain or are getting border control, that is incorrect. The incentives have allowed and empowered the drug cartels to take advantage, neutralizing the Border Patrol at the crossing sites.

Back to the tactical level, on one of my visits in Arizona, we actually saw a scout from the cartels. And the Border Patrol agents and the law enforcement in that area informed us that those scouts have military-grade encrypted radios. They have military-grade optics that they are using and from their vantage point are observing Border Patrol. They then notify someone else with this encrypted radio. They send 20 to 30 people to basically overwhelm that Border Patrol agent on the border. While that individual is tied up, they send the fentanyl. That is when the carpet-shoe-wearing, backpack fentanyl carriers result in drop sites just inside the border where I saw hundreds of empty backpacks and carpet shoes, where the drugs are then placed into the hands of the courier in the back of a truck and transported to cities all across America, resulting in that supply.

Make no mistake about it: The actions of this administration to remove those policies have resulted in this crisis. One of the other policies that they so effectively have taken care of--title 42, that will end tomorrow and will result in a catastrophe of epic proportions--is already breaking records, and we see them massing throughout Central America to come into the United States.

You can have good intentions of wanting to help every person on the planet. That is great. But by making that something that taxpayers have to do, you are basically determining what someone else should be doing with their charity.

Maybe somebody in Tennessee, our taxpayers, wants to do something for Gold Star families. Maybe they want to give to a different charity. Maybe they want to give to one of the NGOs that want to do something. But they should be the ones getting to decide, not the Federal Government telling them how their charity should be given. That is not freedom.

I will tell you, the policies that have been canceled that have resulted in this crisis, that have resulted in the cartels taking over five of our sectors of our southwest border, all on Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas. Title 42 being canceled and what is about to happen, states of emergency in cities all across the southern border, coming across and making every State a border State, is on Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas. I think it is really important we correct the record on some of this stuff.

I will make one other point, and I want to warn my colleagues across the aisle. President Biden promised to veto the D.C. crime bill. Remember that? He said: We are going to veto that bill. The Senate said: We are not going to vote for that. You know what our Democrat colleagues did here in the House? They all voted ``no.''

Then the furor happened in America, and the President realized, boy, that would be a mistake. The Senate said: Oh, my gosh, we are not going to do that either. So the Senate voted for the D.C. crime bill.

Now, the Democrat colleagues here in the House are going to have to go back and explain why they voted ``no'' when their party on the other side of the aisle voted ``yes,'' and their President changed his mind and signed that bill into law.

Now, you watch the next couple of days as the border gets worse and worse and Americans become more and more and more aware. We are going to pass this bill. You can vote ``no'' on it, but as those Senators get more and more aware of this crisis and the President has to look at what is happening to El Paso and Brownsville, he just might change his mind again. Guess who is going to be left holding the bag?

You don't want to vote ``no'' on this bill. This bill will secure our southern border. This isn't an immigration bill. We never set out to handle immigration with this. That is coming. This bill secures the border so that we can deal with the immigration issues.

What we can't do is create even more incentive with an open border. That just does what Mr. Mayorkas and Mr. Biden have done, create more incentive that brings more people in and overwhelms our social services, overwhelms our schools and hospitals.

As this thing unfolds over the next few days, don't be surprised if the President changes his mind again and you are left holding the bag.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the American people cannot wait any longer for secure borders and safe communities. Securing the border should not be a partisan issue. It is an American issue. It is the Federal Government's responsibility to do so. When they fail, Congress, a coequal branch of government, should step in and hold them accountable. That is what we are doing here today.

The Biden administration produced the catastrophic humanitarian tragedy we are seeing today, dismantling all semblance of law and order and sending a clear message to the cartels that our border is open.

We have all seen what has been happening in the past few days as title 42 comes to an end. It is a fact that the border is in shambles.

Frontline law enforcement personnel are overwhelmed and overworked as they are stretched physically and mentally amid this crisis. State and local resources are quickly depleting as they attempt to do the job that this administration has not done since its first day in charge: secure the borders and enforce the law.

The current situation at the border is unsustainable. Yet, over the past 2-plus years, my colleagues across the aisle have refused to hold the Biden administration accountable for its ineffective policies, have watched the border fall into the hands of violent cartels, and have completely ignored the disaster that has only gotten worse by the day.

That must end today. The American people are fed up with inaction.

The Biden-Mayorkas border crisis is a national security threat that must be addressed immediately. I encourage my colleagues to join House Republicans in passing this very important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I will close by addressing the patriots serving on the front lines of this crisis with no support or appreciation from this administration. Many of us have visited the border on several occasions, across multiple sectors, and have seen firsthand the work our Customs and Border Protection officers and agents do every single day to risk their lives for this great country.

To the officers and agents on the ground dealing with this crisis, on behalf of the American people, we appreciate you. We support you, and we have your back.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Green for his work.

Mr. Speaker, when we took the majority and Mr. Green became chairman, he didn't stay in Washington to figure out what the problem was. He actually took his committee to the border to see firsthand.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the ranking member on the other side wouldn't attend. He stands up speaker after speaker thinking he knows what is happening on the border from far away in Washington.

I have been to the border four times in the past 3 years. I have seen the fear in the eyes of the ranchers who have had their property broken into. I have heard the frustration in the voice of the Border Patrol agents who are stretched to the limit.

Mr. Speaker, 2\1/2\ years ago, when I went to the border, I sat with the agents in El Paso. They told me they saw something different that they hadn't seen before. They were actually catching people on the terrorist watch list. I came down and had a press conference and announced what they told me.

Mr. Speaker, I would have thought that the Members on the other side of the aisle, knowing what has happened with 9/11 and others, that they would rise up in a united front to protect America.

Do you know what I heard from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? They said that I was lying. They said that they had as much security clearance as I did, that it must not be true. In Washington, they thought they knew all, but they didn't go to the border to actually talk to the people who work right there.

It is interesting, though, that the next day, the administration had to say it was true. Do you know what the administration did then? They withheld the information from Congress so they could no longer find out how many people we would catch on the terrorist watch list. They wanted to deny knowing going forward.

My good friend on the other side of the aisle, the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, I am sure he knows that, in the month of February, we caught more people on the terrorist watch list in this 1 month than the entire time of the last administration.

In the last administration, the 4 years of everybody who came across on the terrorist watch list, this February, more came across. I am sure from far away he might probably think that is not true, too.

Mr. Speaker, I felt the sorrow in the words of the mothers and fathers who lost their children to fentanyl. Do you know what? You can stay in Washington if you want, and you will still hear the sorrows of the mothers and the fathers.

Today alone, 300 Americans will be poisoned by fentanyl. It is the equivalent of an airline crashing each and every day in America. I don't hear them rising up. Every day there are 300. They come from all walks of life.

Mr. Speaker, they want to stand and say ``no'' to H.R. 2. I want them to look in the eyes of the parents of the young children. They didn't buy fentanyl when they died. They were at college and bought Xanax. It doesn't just happen to the kids who are maybe into partying or others.

Just last year, on spring break, six kids OD'd in Florida. They didn't belong to a fraternity. They went to West Point. They didn't buy fentanyl. They all didn't take cocaine. Four of them did. The other two simply gave them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Do you know what? Vote ``no.'' Go ahead and vote ``no.'' If you won't lead, we will. If you want to take the same approach as the President, that you want to ignore a problem and say it is not happening, we won't sit back. We don't sit back in Washington. We go to the border to actually see what is going on. We listen. We learn. Then, we sit in committee.

Even though your committee went and had a hearing--I am sure they are very proud that they protested and didn't go. Who lost? More Americans lost. More Americans will die by their actions. For their sake and for our Nation's safety, we must secure our border.

This is President Biden's record on the border: record crossings, record carelessness, and record chaos. More than 11,000 people were caught yesterday crossing the border illegally, the highest single-day total ever.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to hearing what the ranking member's quote is coming forward. Maybe he will quote the Secretary that the border is secure and believe him. You sit in Washington.

What is the administration's plan for these 11,000? According to NBC News, the plan--it is brilliant; listen to it--is to release many of them into the United States with no court dates and no way to track them. That worked so well in the past. Just ask the 85,000 children that the Biden administration lost.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to hearing the other side get up and tell me why they are voting ``no.''

They don't want to find these 85,000 kids? Don't take my word for it. This comes from The New York Times.

Tomorrow, as you sit here in debate and fight to make sure the border is still wide open, title 42 expires. Everyone knows we are days away from disaster. The mayor of El Paso, which recently declared a state of emergency, says: ``There is no light at the end of the tunnel. We are preparing for the unknown.''

The Governor of Arizona says that President Biden has been unresponsive. Governor Abbott of Texas rightly pointed out that this is not a Texas problem. This is a problem for the entire United States.

Mr. Speaker, I heard President Biden say yesterday that lifting title 42 means it is going to be chaotic for a little while. With all due respect, Mr. President, it has been chaotic for 2 years because of your actions.

On the very day President Biden took office, he decided against the advice of the border security experts, and he single-handedly removed the successful border policies of the previous administration.

The first thing President Biden did was he stopped construction of the border wall. He spends money now just to house the equipment and materials. He halted deportation. He ended remain in Mexico, and he called for amnesty for millions of people who broke the law.

His actions sent a clear message to the world, including the cartels: the border is open.

I remember on one of my trips down to the border right after the President took office, we had a new facility built. That day they hit a record number at the facility that they thought would never make capacity, but they did. As we walked in, we interviewed those who were standing in line.

We asked them: Why did you come?

They said: President Biden told us to. He told us the border was open.

We asked: How long was the trek?

Weeks, months, but the President invited us.

The world listened, and the cartels acted.

To this day, the southern border is being flooded by illegal aliens from more than 140 countries: Yemen, Russia, China, and others.

Yet, how has this administration responded?

A responsible administration would have told the American people in clear terms that this is a crisis. However, the Biden administration tells the public that there is no crisis. Rather than leveling with the American people, the Biden administration is choosing to mislead them.

I don't know if the ranking leader has ever been to Tucson, Arizona, but I was there recently. In Tucson, Arizona, the cartels control the border. Every single person who comes across that border wears a camouflage outfit. On their feet and on their shoes is a piece of rug. Seventy-one percent who come across that border are single males. They don't run up to the border agents. They run from them. It is one of the highest areas of get-aways.

It is a large terrain. Every day Americans risk their lives to go rescue people on the cliffs who have fallen. We took balloons up so we could actually calculate who was coming across.

When this became such a reported case, do you know what the Biden administration did, Mr. Speaker?

They cut the number of balloons.

Do you know why?

Because they said the numbers would go down. That is how they want to deal with it. They want to lie to the American public.

There is no better example than Secretary Mayorkas' comments that the border is secure.

Mr. Speaker, I hope the ranking member gets up after me, and I would like him to answer one question: Does he believe Secretary Mayorkas that the border is secure?

You have been chairman. You are ranking now. I am sure at some time you went to the border--but not when your committee did and not when we wanted to work on this bill.

You wanted to protest. You wanted to not go because you could learn everything you needed from right here in Washington--maybe from the Secretary.

I would like to know how many of you who stand up and say that you are going to vote against H.R. 2 believe Secretary Mayorkas?

Do you believe the border is secure?

Honestly, tell us. Tell the American public if that is what you believe.

Everyone knows that isn't true.

You can't say the border is secure when more than 4.5 million people have crossed our border illegally in the 24 months since President Biden has taken office.

There is not one piece of legislation that has changed from one administration to the other. The only thing that changed was the President.

And what did President Biden do?

He lifted all the actions of President Trump and President Obama. That is what happened to our border.

You can't say the border is secure when more than 175 individuals on the terrorist watch list have tried to cross our border.

You can't say the border is secure when human trafficking has grown into a multibillion-dollar business for the cartels.

You can't say the border is secure when you don't control the border and when the number one employer in some of these border towns is the cartels.

You can't say the border is secure when I sit there with a mayor, who happens to be from the other party, and he tells me a personal story that his daughter called, and he told her not to go outside because there was a car chase, a car chase because a cartel hired a young American to drive somebody they put across, and the car was going through--it is not an unusual thing. It happens often. Schools there, they would tell me they had to close for 45 days.

This car chase ended like others. It killed an innocent American, an innocent American who was going to a retirement party. She was a 65- year-old grandmother. She was going to have her friends celebrate a life of work and was looking forward to the times, with all the work and investment she had put in, to spend with her grandchildren and travel, but, no, her life was taken from her. And the Secretary said that our border is secure.

If you would travel to these towns, then you would know this too. If you would spend the time, then you would understand.

You see, Mr. Speaker, many of those elected officials aren't Republicans. They are Americans. They are registered as Democrats. They say they are disgusted by what this administration is doing.

While the Biden administration is missing in action, House Republicans are going to take action. We spent 2 years listening to those who have lived through the border crisis: Border Patrol agents, ranchers, families, businesses, and local leaders.

When I was in Tucson, I sat with a rancher. He told me that he has found five dead bodies on his ranch. His grandson, 7 years old, found one just last year. This is human life. Fifty-two died in a tractor trailer.

I sat with one who told me the story that when he looked down the road, he saw three young children, one not even 1, the other 3, and the other 4. Had the rancher not found them, they wouldn't be alive.

What about those who don't make it?

What about those who don't pay the cartels?

I sat with one news-covering agent who told the story of a woman who didn't pay the cartels, so the cartels took her life. They didn't just take her life. They wanted to show it to everybody in the world. So they strung her body up in a tree, cut her legs off, and set her on fire.

You see, if you go to the border, you will learn these stories. You will actually know what is happening there. So I don't think you would take a partisan position. You wouldn't talk in talking points. You would actually believe that 4.5 million people in the last year came across. If 11,000 came across yesterday--title 42 is going to be lifted.

If you don't like our bill, what is your answer?

What is your plan?

What are you going to do?

As I promised, we brought their government to them--visiting the border, gathering facts, and holding hearings.

What we learned directly informed not only our Commitment to America, but also the Secure the Border Act.

Here is what this bill does:

It fully provides for effective border enforcement policies, infrastructure, and advanced technology.

It increases the number of Border Patrol agents and gives them the bonus pay they deserve.

It ends catch and release and strengthens current laws to protect unaccompanied children from exploitation by human traffickers. I hope everybody who votes ``no'' reads The New York Times. I hope you read the stories about these young children.

It reinstates the so-called remain in Mexico provisions.

And it resumes construction of the border wall because the border wall works.

The Secure the Border Act is the strongest border security bill to come through Congress in more than 100 years.

If it passes, I am confident that we will stop the flood of fentanyl into our country, solve the Biden border crisis, and support our Border Patrol agents so they can continue to keep us safe.

Fentanyl is the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

If anybody thinks about their life between the ages of 18 and 45, those are the years in which you reproduce. Those are your most productive years in business. Those are the years of those who volunteer to serve in the military to defend our freedom.

Right now, the most productive population age in our country is being killed.

However, I listen to the other side, and they are going to say: ``No, continue it.''

By the actions of this President, Mr. Ranking Member, you don't have to go to the border because now every city is a border city.

You see, in my hometown of Bakersfield, in the elementary school, a father registered his son just after Thanksgiving. The public school district did a really good job. They noticed in 2 days this boy had an issue. They didn't sit back, they went to his house, and they met with his father.

They said: We feel your son has a challenge learning and other things. We want to work with you, and we want to help him.

Literally, they went to his house in 2 days. They watched him as he came to school.

Do you know what he did when he came to school?

He walked over to a vape room. He had a backpack, and he came into the class. They looked in the backpack. He had 150 pills. This kid was not even 16 years old. I think he was only 12. The counselor took out a pill to see what it was. They had to call an ambulance because the counselor touched a fentanyl pill.

I am far from the border. Just up the road in my district, they pulled over a car. I believe it had more than 500,000 fentanyl pills. California law says you couldn't ask the individuals if they were citizens--and they weren't.

I can't tell you how much jail time they got because in California they believe in a lot of your policies, and so the individuals didn't even have to have bail. They both got a ticket and were told to show back up. They never did. They probably got back in the car and delivered more of those fentanyl pills coming across the border. Of those 300 Americans who will die today, I am not sure if one of those pills was theirs.

I do know this: Tomorrow when I cast a ``yes'' vote for H.R. 2, we are doing something to stop the fentanyl. We are doing something for those families. We are doing something for the next generation of Americans.

If you believe that the rule of law is one of the greatest strengths of this Nation, you cannot keep it if you have millions of people who break it by entering it.

There is no nation as generous as America. One million people will become citizens this year, and one million more next year. We are different from any other nation, but what we have today is something that we don't even control: our own operation of our borders.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Secure the Border Act, vote ``yes'' on security over chaos, and vote ``yes'' to stop fentanyl killing our children.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this continuing resolution. If you cannot agree to the funding levels for 2024 in order to keep government open, you must pass a continuing resolution. A 30 percent slashing of the Federal Government only continues the majority's inability and unwillingness to govern responsibly.

I would argue that you cannot call it a conservative resolution, either. There is nothing conservative about the indiscriminate destruction of public investments in America's families.

Regardless of what it is called, this bill inflicts serious consequences on the American people, whether it is signed into law, which it never will be, or because of the costly shutdown it triggers.

We are less than 48 hours from a government shutdown, and what do we have to show for it?

The American people are tired of the doublespeak coming from the majority. There are House Republicans who have repeatedly assured the public that nobody wants a shutdown, and there are others who tell us they think a shutdown would be a good thing for the country. Maybe they are not worried about a shutdown because they know that Members of Congress will not miss a paycheck.

I can speak for every Democrat in the Congress when I say we oppose this Republican shutdown, a shutdown that will be devastating for our country.

What have the Republicans offered as their effort to avoid a government shutdown? What would this bill do? This bill would slash investments in cancer research, leave communities recovering from natural disasters out to dry, and undercut allies with a $1 billion cut to Israel and further cuts to our support of Ukraine. It defunds law enforcement by 30 percent and makes our communities less safe. It takes food out of the mouths of millions.

This bill raises costs for American families at a time when the cost of living is already too high.

It cuts title I education funding, the bedrock of American public education, to the effect of 150,000 teachers being pulled out of classrooms. Mr. Speaker, 275,000 children would lose access to Head Start, undermining early education and making it harder for parents to work.

In an unprecedented move, the House Republican bill cuts the Low- Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, funding by roughly 74 percent. More than 5 million households will lose their home heating or cooling benefits or have their benefits cut by hundreds of dollars, threatening their ability to heat their homes in winter or cool their homes in summer.

House Republicans are threatening public health by cutting the Food Safety and Inspection Service by 30 percent. Without adequate inspection staff in our meat and poultry plants, these plants will be required to close or reduce their hours. It hurts workers' paychecks, reduces the meat and poultry supply, raises the cost of food for American families, and risks the consumption of contaminated food.

With the cuts in this bill, 400,000 fewer small businesses would be assisted by the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs. This would have a significant impact on small business owners, especially among veterans, women, and Native American entrepreneurs.

This bill has no future. At best, it is dead on arrival in the Senate and would never be signed by the President of the United States.

Everyone in this room knows that keeping the government operating and passing bills to fully fund the next fiscal year will require bipartisan cooperation. You need the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to pass appropriations bills. Yet, House Republicans are refusing to work with and negotiate with Democrats.

This is a pointless charade with grave consequences for the American people. House Democrats are ready to work. We were ready in the spring. We were ready last week. We are ready this weekend. We are ready today, tomorrow, and every day to work in good faith with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to meet the needs of the American people.

Let's get to work, serious work.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will just take a second to tell the gentleman from Arkansas that, with this bill, you will cut 1,460 teachers from your district and almost 46,000 households will have their low-income energy assistance benefits terminated.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the distinguished ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a few seconds here to let the gentleman from Texas know that the State of Texas will lose almost 14,000 teachers. That is going to be really tough to explain that to families when their children do not have a teacher in the classroom.

In addition to that, almost 77,000 Texans will lose their low-income energy assistance benefits or have those benefits cut. It is going to be a tough time for folks, come the cooler months or the warmer months, to take advantage of this.

I think people need to be mindful of the consequences of a 30 percent cut, or in the case of LIHEAP, a 74 percent cut, that they are proposing today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).

Mr. Speaker, I would take a second to tell the gentleman from Ohio that 232,000 people in Ohio will be without low-income energy assistance benefits.

Further, there will be 5,500 teachers who will be pulled out of classrooms, and the families in both instances will suffer while the gentleman talks about issues that are not truly affecting what is happening in the everyday lives of the people that he represents.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I find it hard to believe that the gentleman from Texas believes that wasteful spending is on teachers who really teach our youngsters, and 14,000 of them will be gone in the State of Texas.

I find it hard to believe that it is wasteful spending to deal with 77,000 people who will lose their LIHEAP benefits. Is that wasteful spending, for people to have heat or be cooled or kids being taught in school?

Let's talk about wasteful spending and the tax cuts my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to give the richest one-tenth of 1 percent of the people in this country and the richest corporations, and tax cheats, I might add, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat), the distinguished ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, to both of the gentlemen from Florida, 8,500 teachers, gone. Think about the kids who are going to school and there is no teacher for them. Think about folks who need to heat or cool their homes. We are looking at 36,000 households that will be without those benefits.

Do they really care about those folks? Probably not.

As a Democrat, I took the lead on the infant formula crisis--I don't know where my colleague was during that crisis--and called to attention a company that knowingly sold tainted product and wound up killing three or four people. I don't know where he was during that. I know where I was, and I know where the administration was.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the distinguished ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from Arizona that there will be 63,000 households in Arizona that will be without the low-income energy assistance benefits. These are not just numbers. These are people, and we are making their lives more difficult at a time when there is serious inflation and when there is, in fact, a high cost of living.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are only adding and increasing to that high cost of living.

I might also remind the gentleman from Arizona that we are looking at about 2,800 teachers.

Now, again, these are not just numbers. Children go to school. If there is no teacher to teach them, what is the result? What happens to parents when they find out that their child's teacher is gone? If there was a teaching shortage before, this will make it even worse. That is the result of the cuts that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to make. It is there. It is in black and white. You can't make up the numbers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from Texas that the eyes of the people of Texas are upon you when you are thinking about really 77,000 seniors and kids without any benefits from the low-income energy assistance program and also 14,000 teachers will be gone from Texas schools.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It is almost laughable to think about chaos. I think the majority has demonstrated overwhelmingly in the last several days, the last several months, an unwillingness to govern, an inability to govern, and chaos, general chaos, here.

It is interesting. The gentleman is from South Dakota, where, last I understood, a little bit like the Northeast, in New England, it gets cold. It gets cold in the wintertime in South Dakota. The gentleman is happy to see 24,000 individuals not get energy assistance, low-income heating assistance. We may be taking up a collection of hats and coats and gloves, et cetera, because they are not going to get their LIHEAP benefits in a cold climate.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to let the gentleman from Wisconsin know that 195,000 households are beneficiaries of the LIHEAP program. They will be jettisoned from that program. If you think it is cold in this Chamber, head to Wisconsin and you will know how cold it is in the wintertime. Think twice about whether or not you will vote to cut 195,000 people's benefits.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I find it unbelievable that the gentlewoman from New York would support a bill that cuts $1 billion from our ally in the Middle East--that is, from Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

What we are looking at here is a piece of legislation that makes a 30 percent cut in programs that have a serious effect on the lives of the people in this country.

Let me just lay out some of them because these have not been talked about so far.

The National Institutes of Health will be cut. There would be a reduction of 7,000 research grants.

I think we have people in this Chamber on both sides of the aisle who have had a loved one with a cancer diagnosis or Alzheimer's or heart disease, but there is a willingness to cut the National Institutes of Health and thereby cut 7,000 research grants.

Let's take a look at our allies. We speak about Israel and Ukraine. Israel will receive a $1 billion cut in the funds that the U.S. provides. We talk about Israel as being our closest ally in the Middle East.

People should understand what is in this bill. We defund--not we--my Republican colleagues defund law enforcement, reduce drug enforcement administration agents, Federal law enforcement officers, eliminate hundreds of State and local law enforcement.

They talk about crime, and they talk about law and order, but there is a willingness to cut the funds in order for us to make our communities safe.

Social Security offices, the field offices, would be forced to close down, reducing access to in-person services.

People applying for disability benefits will wait additional months for the processing of claims. That is what is in store with this bill if you support it.

Wildfire suppression efforts will be hindered, 57 percent cuts, and we know what devastation wildfires have had all over our country. Look at what happened in Maui.

Unbelievable that they would talk about a bill, extol a bill that has such devastating repercussions on the people of this country.

They slashed the resources for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Opioid use disorder. They are worried and talk about an opioid crisis, but let's cut off the avenue where people can get treatment and help and potentially save their lives.

Education. It is an abomination, what they will do to education because they are on a march to eliminate public education in the United States of America; that opportunity that all of our families have said: Go to school, get an education so that you can succeed.

Rural America? Let's care about rural America, not cutting the loans and grants for farmers and rural communities.

They will make it harder for farmers to access loans and grants, making home farm ownership more difficult. They cut rural housing, rural utility,

broadband to keep people in touch, and they eliminate health services for rural and underserved families.

Mr. Speaker, 2 million vulnerable individuals and families will lose access to healthcare services. They take food out of the mouths of children, families, and seniors.

Mr. Speaker, there needs to be a ``no'' vote on this irresponsible continuing resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this bears an important, absolute, and imperative necessity of a little walk down memory lane. In actuality, the American people really want to uphold her values, the values that they have come to understand as a core of who we are.

The Homeland Security Committee traditionally, as the chairman and I have seen over the years, worked in a bipartisan manner. A little history is that just more than a decade ago, there was a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration bill led by the late John McCain.

Unfortunately, interestingly enough, the Senate moved, and the House simply imploded that dream, the dream that those who came to this country without anything and did not know they had come wrongly, if you will, young people, could be DACA recipients and ultimately work their way toward citizenship.

It was an effective asylum process, and we argued vigorously for legal immigration. People dutifully got in line, but consistently, as we refused to build on the comprehensive immigration structure, even though Democrats supported heavily enhancing the border--my bill some years ago provided enormous new equipment and technology.

One of our colleagues even explained, by the way, this new border wall that everyone wants to talk about is not a border wall because it is indented onto U.S. soil. Once you get over the wall, you are already eligible to apply for asylum.

Most of the people who come, come through legal points of entry, so why the cruelty of this bill?

I can be for legal immigration, and I can be for securing this Nation, and I don't have to take a sledgehammer and bloody the very fabric of this Nation.

It is interesting that we offered 43 Democratic amendments. None were accepted.

Is there something wrong with body cameras for our officers at the border? Not accepted.

Is there something wrong with refusing to separate 9-month-olds and 5-year-olds from their families, family unification, committing to not separating families? Is that something wrong?

I work with NGOs. I am in Texas. I am in Houston. We are getting some of those migrants in Houston, and there will be an NGO that will be dealing with individuals who are not statused.

What you want to have happen, as is happening in El Paso because of the overwhelming, is that you want no resources, people on the street, and, I am so sad and ashamed to say, the loss of individuals in Brownsville in what seemed to be a murderous rage. We cannot do this.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Republicans who support detaining and deporting more migrants to take a look at section 115(c) in division A.

Mr. Speaker, if enacted, it would prohibit DHS from contracting with any nongovernmental organization to transport or shelter ``inadmissible aliens.''

What is that? This language would prevent ICE from being able to contract with private companies that facilitate deportation or provide detention space because they are nongovernmental organizations.

Ironically, it seems that this child deportation act may actually undermine our friends on the other side's MAGA deportation agenda.

Why are we not more committed, Mr. Speaker, to coming together around the ideals of the Statue of Liberty? Bring us your forlorn, your worn, your desperate.

Yes, they are coming in droves, but the President has a plan. There will be more interaction with Guatemala. There will be processes in Mexico. There will be more officers at the border for those who are seeking asylum.

Why should we reject that? Why don't we come and find a way to stand up the infrastructure because a border wall that is $45 million per mile is not going to be the only solution.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to take this bill off the floor, go back to the drawing board, work with those of us in the Homeland Security Committee, with all the amendments we offered, and make a reasonable difference in the lives of Americans.

Mr. Speaker, might I put back on the table, because they are all in my office all the time, that the DACA recipients need a response. They are paramedics, doctors, lawyers, teachers. How dare we ignore the talent that is here that wants to be patriotic Americans.

I only ask for mercy. Take the bill back. Help our children. Make a difference. Honor the Statue of Liberty and protect the national border of this United States of America. We can do it, and it is not being done either by Texas or by the United States of America. We want to do it. The people in Houston want to be humanitarian, and they want to be safe.

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to reassert my opposition to H.R. 2-- Secure the Border Act of 2023.

I along with my colleagues have attempted to address many of the ills these bills purport by offering common sense amendments that Republicans have continued to refuse any meaningful consideration.

I would like to highlight some of my amendments that were offered in both the Judiciary Committee Markup and the Homeland Security Committee Markup for H.R. 2.

In addressing, H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, we need the American people to understand that this is an unfortunate patchwork of extreme anti-immigrant proposals that would only add to more chaos at the border.

It includes a variety of illogical measures that would shut down the U.S. asylum system and target families and children for the cruelest forms of treatment.

One measure would make overstaying a visa a crime--for the first time in our history.

I offered amendments to H.R. 2 along with many of my Democratic Colleagues both during Homeland Security Committee markup and for consideration by the House Rules Committee for inclusion for consideration during the of this bill--but all Democratic amendments were rejected by the Republican majority.

As a senior member of the House Committees on Homeland Security and Judiciary I have a well-established public record for working to address our Nation's most pressing immigration issues through sound government policies.

Immigration is not a criminal matter but categorized as a civil claim because seeking to travel, requesting refugee status, or attempting to make a better life in another country should not result in criminal prosecution.

There are nations who do seek to punish U.S. citizens who are traveling abroad through criminal prosecution with tragic consequences.

I have worked on the issue of unlawfully detained U.S. citizens who are held in other countries for a host of reasons that come down to the politics of a country and not due to a defendable immigration policy.

The conduct of the previous Administration in the forced separation of I offered would have added a mens rea requirement such that to be criminally liable, a person must knowingly and willingly overstay their visa.

It is important to remember that an individual can make an honest mistake about when they need to depart the country, be physically incapable of departing the country, or unable to return because of circumstances beyond their control in their home country.

Yet this bill has no exceptions or flexibility when it comes to overstaying a nonimmigrant visa. It is also important to remember that if a person overstays their visa, they are already subject to removal. The addition of a criminal penalty is both cruel and unnecessary.

Our immigration system needs reforms, and we are absolutely interested in bold new ideas to fix it, but this is not one of them.

My first amendment for H.R. 2, was offered to require U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide Congress with a plan for implementing-- within one year--the use of body-worn cameras by its agents and officers who are engaged in border security or immigration enforcement activities. Any implementation of a plan for body-worn cameras would require additional congressional action.

Both CBP and ICE have already begun deploying body-worn cameras to their frontline officers and agents to provide greater transparency into interactions with the public.

In the event there are allegations of excessive force or other misconduct by an officer or agent, footage from body-worn cameras can enhance the agencies' ability to investigate.

Several studies on the effectiveness of body-worn cameras have found that police officers wearing cameras generate significantly fewer complaints and ``use of force'' reports relative to officers without cameras.

And savings from reduced complaints against officers, and the reduced time required to resolve such complaints, can result in substantial cost savings.

It is troubling that the underlying bill seems to seek cost savings at the expense of ensuring orderly and fair processing of asylum seekers; It would make more sense to save money by investigating complaints more quickly and preventing misconduct in the first place.

My second amendment for H.R. 2, was offered to clarify that the official policy of the United States as implemented by the agencies of the Department of Homeland Security shall be to keep families together and not remove children from parents or responsible adults unless the safety or welfare of the child is at risk.

The official policy of the Trump Administration was to separate children from their parents. No child--no matter where they are born-- should be separated from their family, particularly after surviving the harrowing journey to the U.S. border.

My amendment was offered to stand firm in our principles that should bar CBP from separating children from their families unless there is evidence that the child is being trafficked. It further directs the DHS, in coordination with the State Department and HHS and the Attorney General to provide quarterly reports to Congress on the status of efforts to reunify migrant families and prevent future family separations.

Never again should we allow families to be ripped apart.

These are common-sense amendments that have been repeatedly disregarded by my colleagues across the aisle who have instead chosen to put forward legislative attacks on our most vulnerable populations. Border security can be done in Bipartisan solutions.

It is time we stop the negativity and counterproductive efforts that are ripping apart our country, and to instead focus on coming together to work towards sensible and effective solutions that can work for the betterment and growth of our country and the security at the southern and northern border.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on this wrong minded legislation.

Section 115(c)--Deportation & Detention

Mr. Speaker, I urge Republicans who support detaining and deporting more migrants to take a look at section 115(c) in Division A.

If enacted, it would prohibit DHS from contracting with any ``nongovernmental organization'' to transport or shelter QUOTE ``inadmissible aliens'' UNQUOTE.

This language would prevent ICE from being able to contract with private companies that facilitate deportations or provide detention space because they are nongovernmental organizations.

Ironically, it seems that the ``Child Deportation Act'' may actually undermine the extreme MAGA deportation agenda.