Floor Statements

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

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I would just note, my colleagues are talking about what we are actually here to talk about. We are talking about the concern about Black Americans. How about the fact that in Chicago we had 800 homicides last year. How about in Philadelphia, 562 homicides. How about in D.C., 227 homicides. How about in Austin, we had 89 homicides. The 12 major cities that broke homicide records in 2021 all have Democratic mayors.

Now, Democrats on the other side of the aisle want to politicize what should be a bipartisan approach to figure out how to combat crime, the very crime that has been created by the policies of our Democratic friends on the other side of the aisle. That is the truth and that is what we know.

The gentleman from New York is talking about what is going on with respect to domestic terrorism. The fact of the matter is, we know the truth. He asked what is different? Well, the gentleman from Pennsylvania answered what is different. We know precisely what is different, which is that this Department of Justice is targeting Americans, like Scott Smith, a father in Loudon County, Virginia, who dared to go to the school board and complain about the assault of his daughter in a public school.

Now, the gentleman from New York is smirking--smirking about a little girl who was raped in a high school. The father goes to complain to the school board, and then the National School Boards Association coordinates with the Department of Justice to figure out how to target parents; to then tag individuals specifically as to whether or not they are threatening people by merely going to a school board to register their complaint.

That is what is at stake here. That is why we are opposing what Democrats are trying to do. Then they want to gloss over things like Frank James in Brooklyn, a Black nationalist who goes in and assaults 30 to 33 people on a subway in New York. That just gets wistfully wiped away while the gentleman wants to politicize that which we should be coming together to figure out how to save the American people from the harm befalling them.

That is what is going on with the rule here. I will talk about energy later. The rule here is bad for the United States of America, and we should be protecting the people here during cop week.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding.

Here we sit on the floor of the House of Representatives, and we are talking about allegedly crime. But we are not talking about, of the 17,000 homicides last year, the 800 homicides in Chicago, the 562 homicides in Philadelphia, the 89 homicides in Austin, Texas--blowing away the former record of 59 homicides. In the 12 major cities that broke their homicide records in 2021, all have Democratic mayors.

We are seeing it across the country. We are seeing the absolute destruction of law and order across the United States of America through the defunding of police, through the attack on police, as we sit here on National Police Week, undermining the ability to prosecute bad guys.

Nobody in this Chamber would say we shouldn't prosecute bad guys. As a former Federal prosecutor, sign me up. Let's prosecute bad guys. I am all for it.

But we understand what this is actually about. We understand what propping up a domestic terrorism unit in this FBI, in this administration's Federal Government, what it is all about because we saw it in naked display last fall.

We see, through all of the information we are getting from whistleblowers, we see it in the information that we are getting on tags targeting parents. We see it in the empowerment of the FBI to focus and target parents in collusion with the National Association of School Boards, in active coordination with the National Association of School Boards, we are seeing the targeting of parents.

And this isn't made up. Scott Smith is an actual father. He is an actual man in Loudoun County, Virginia, who had his face put up as the poster child for an extremist activity by the FBI to target parents in coordination with that National Association of School Boards.

If you go back and look at the video and you hear Scott Smith's wife crying that her husband was being targeted, her husband was being targeted in the school board meeting because he dared to question the school board when his daughter had been sexually assaulted in a bathroom at a school he pays taxes for her to attend.

And then this administration had the audacity to make him the poster child to target parents with the power of the FBI. We know this happened. We got the information from the school board association. We got the whistleblower's account of the tags being used by the FBI to do it.

So as my colleague from Florida pointed out about what this is really about, it is about empowerment of the Federal bureaucracy to target Americans. That is what it is about. It is questioning that you don't think right. It is the extension of thought crimes that is pervasive in this body that will allow the government to target us for what we believe, inherently undermining our fundamental rights as Americans to free speech, to freedom of association, to be able to engage, to be able to talk with each other without having our government target us.

If a bad actor carries out bad acts, prosecute him, prosecute her. But you have to do that with police that are funded. You have to do it with district attorneys who will prosecute the crimes. And you have to be honest about saying we need to target criminals for criminal acts and not thought crimes. This is nothing more than empowering the Federal Government to police thought and speech in the United States of America, and we should oppose it roundly.

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

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), my neighbor.

Week of Prayer for China

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for his comments and for his tireless commitment to pointing out the atrocities in China; our needs and interests in making sure that we stand with the people of Taiwan and stand strong in the globe and stand up as a strong country.

I would note, as we sit here today, that we had a number of issues that are of paramount importance to the American people. One of which, of course, being from the State of Texas, is the state of our border.

Today, official numbers came out from Border Patrol that there were 234,088 encounters in April. Of those, some 96,908 were turned away under so-called title 42 of our health code. But what that means is that at least 137,180 were released into the United States, and perhaps more.

Madam Speaker, 1,300 pounds of fentanyl, intercepted. Of course, today, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is down at the Rio Grande Valley doing photo ops. Going down to the Valley so he can try to hide what he said to me and what he said to Republicans in the House Committee on the Judiciary who were questioning him just two weeks ago.

We said: Do you have operational control of the border?

And he said, Yes, I do.

Well, I wonder if my friend from Pennsylvania could help explain to the American people how 234,000 apprehensions, of which almost 130,000 are being turned into the United States, how that is somehow operational control.

The gentleman was an officer in the United States military. Does that sound like operational control?

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).

Well, as the gentleman knows, as we sit here in the people's House, I just got an update from the border showing the Border Patrol is building a new soft-sided tent compound in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Another picture of it shows a big tent with chain-link fences up-- remember the kids in cages?--chain-link fences up. And it says it is roughly 215,000 square feet, which is almost five acres.

So to the gentleman's point, why would they be doing that? Why would Secretary Mayorkas be ordering Border Patrol to build a five-acre tent facility in Eagle Pass, Texas?

I know exactly why. Could it be because they believe their mission is to process more aliens coming to the United States? That it would encourage more to come; have them come across the river--never mind being exploited by the cartels--then get put into this facility to be processed and released.

Madam Speaker, the gentleman knows that we are feeling that impact in Texas.

He just mentioned fentanyl. We just got the new data from the CDC: 117,000 dead Americans.

Yet, nothing but crickets coming from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They don't care. They don't care about 117,000 dead Americans, directly as a consequence of Chinese-produced fentanyl pouring in through cartels, through Mexico, into the United States. Nothing. Crickets.

Have you seen a bill on the floor of this body to deal with that?

Have you seen any efforts by our friends on the other side of the aisle to secure the border of the United States legitimately or force the hand of Secretary Mayorkas to actually enforce the policies of the United States?

Madam Speaker, very specifically, we have a discharge petition at the desk with the signature of every Republican but not one Democrat willing to go to the Democrats leading the administration and say, We need to secure the border of the United States and enforce the policies, including title 42 and whatever it takes to secure the border.

Is the gentleman aware of that?

Madam Speaker, I would ask the gentleman a question. We are talking about the extent to which the American people are hurting. He talked about the baby formula. We are talking about the border--wide open borders, fentanyl pouring in, American people dying. What about the fact that gasoline prices are skyrocketing, energy prices are going up?

We know we are producing 55 million fewer barrels of oil in February of 2022 than we did in February of 2020. The United States is expected to revert to being a net oil importer in 2022 after we had become a net oil exporter.

In the March 2020 debate, President Biden said no more drilling on Federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore; no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period.

Yet, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they don't want to talk about that because they know full well it is precisely the policies of the administration to purposely limit the ability to produce oil and gas in this country that is empowering Putin to go after Ukraine and that is damaging the price of gas at the pump and harming the American people.

Our Democrat colleagues sit silent because they worship at the altar of the green agenda. Because that is their agenda, not the benefit of the American people, not the ability to drive your car, go to work, take care of your

family, afford gas, afford the goods and services that are going up because the diesel prices are going up, the inflation is skyrocketing. Because they refuse to open up American oil and gas, which we sit on a bevy of.

It is enormously important for our national security and the national security of our friends around the world. I know the gentleman, being from Pennsylvania, is well aware of the absurd energy policies that are harming the American people because they worship at the altar of the Green New Deal and the green agenda.

Absolutely. It is this green agenda that has us bowing down to China in order to get the minerals and resources in order to make solar panels and wind farms. If you look at Texas that produces as much wind as any State in the country, Texas only had 17 percent wind production from its wind farms last week, which was a big chunk of the problem that we had in terms of energy production.

Our grid is over-reliant on wind and solar. When you have a windless cloudy day, what do you need? You need fossil fuels. What else do you need? Nuclear power. Do you know how much nuclear power or fossil fuel generation we have in the pipeline, so to speak, right now across this country or even in Texas? Minuscule. Because of the worshipping at this ridiculous agenda.

Do you know how many coal-fired plants they have in China? Something like 1,100.

And opening one a week.

Do you know how many coal-fired plants we are opening in this country? Zippo.

Do you know what kind of rules we have coming out right now to hammer the coal industry in Texas and elsewhere? Massive rules.

Do you know what that means for the American people? No energy, lower energy, higher costs. That is 100 percent true and provable.

Yet, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle walk around in some daze saying, oh, we are going to get this magic unicorn energy from wind and solar on a windless, cloudy day. It is absolutely absurd.

The American people are suffering. The American people are suffering because of the Democratic policies that are causing harm to them, driving up prices, making it impossible for them to have a reliable grid, reliable energy. We are sitting on a mountain of it in this country. We are exporting liquified natural gas from this country. CO2 is going down. We are not relying on China. We are sticking it back on them, and our people are benefiting and prospering.

The Democrat agenda is: stop that. Go beg China. And then pay more for your goods and services. Then what does Joe Biden say? What does Jen Psaki say in all of her infinite wisdom heading off to MSNBC after she accuses our Border Patrol agents of whipping people? She says: ``Oh, buy a Tesla.'' Go spend $60,000 and go buy an electric car.

Do you know what? If you are in Austin, Texas, and you want to drive to Midland, I guess you have to stop somewhere in the middle and hope you can charge.

Yes.

You know what I have here in front of me? I have a photograph that a friend--I think he is one of the six people watching on C-SPAN right now--just texted me and said, Here is a picture of gasoline at the pump. Diesel I should say, not gasoline. Diesel, 194 gallons. Do you know what the bill was? $1,090.

You want to know what is coming, American people, this summer? Have you looked at the inventory numbers for diesel? Ladies and gentlemen, it is coming. All of those goods and services sitting in trucks, trucks that are having to pay $1,090 to fill their tank, that is getting passed on to you. You are going to pay for that. You, the American people, are going to pay for that while Democrats in this body, in the Senate, and in this administration wave it off, laugh it off, and say: ``Go buy a Tesla.''

Well, that isn't going to make your prices any cheaper. That isn't going to enable you to be able to afford the goods and services you need.

I know we have only got a few minutes left, so I want to ask one more thing of my friend from Pennsylvania. We are talking here about energy, and we know how much energy is at the central debate about what is going on between Russia and Ukraine. And we know the administration didn't do a darn thing leading up to what is happening in Ukraine to cut off Nord Stream 2 to open up American oil and gas to try to cut off what we knew was coming and what Putin was doing.

Yet, last week we had a vote on the floor of this body on a $40 billion unpaid for blank check in the name of standing with Ukraine. Only 57 Members of this body out of 435 possible Members--however many are here right now--57 dared to say, Hey, wait a minute, maybe we should actually debate $40 billion that is not paid for that is going to go into the State Department, go into the Department of Defense, going around the world, paying

for refugee resettlement, paying for food around the world, paying for continued support of military operations in Ukraine.

I know the gentleman supports Ukraine and Zelenskyy, and I know the gentleman opposes Putin, but did you have a problem with a $40 billion blank check?

I agree with the gentleman. I support Ukrainians, but I represent Americans, and Americans want to stand alongside Zelenskyy and push back on Putin, but they want us to do our job responsibly.

When I hear the majority leader of the other party say, ``a time of war.'' When I sat with the majority leader in a Rules Committee meeting upstairs, and he said: ``We are at war,'' I was wondering when we voted to go to war. If we are going to have a proxy war, and we are going to give $40 billion to Ukraine because we want to look all fancy with our blue and yellow ribbons and feel good about ourselves, maybe we should actually have a debate in this Chamber, a debate in this body because the American people expect us to do that.

When the border of this country is wide open, and cartels have control of it, and fentanyl is pouring in, and we have $30.5 trillion in debt, and gas prices are spiking, and it cost $1,100 to fill a tank of diesel, and we go, Oh, blank check, $40 billion. By the way, I am looking at my colleagues on this side of the aisle on that same point.

The American people deserve and expect better than that. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Heaven forbid we vote on bills put before this body.

I know the gentleman is correct. I know we are just about out of time.

I would just say in closing, the American people expect us to do our job. The American people expect us to vote, the American people expect us to stand up for them, and that is what we are happy to be here doing. I appreciate the gentleman joining me tonight.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I wasn't going to use this 1-minute time, but I just got a text from some contacts down on the border in south Texas from Eagle Pass with drone footage of yet another enormous group that is crossing illegally onto private property around Eagle Pass. A Texas soldier tells us that there have been 2,000-plus crossings in this specific spot in the last 8 days, yet the Secretary of Homeland Security testified in the House Judiciary Committee that ``he and this administration have operational control of the border.''

But this is factually incorrect.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not seem interested in having a debate or a discussion here on the floor of the people's House about a crisis facing the State of Texas and the entire country. Over 107,000 Americans died last year from drug poisonings and drug overdoses, yet I get crickets from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, do you want to know what is happening in south Texas?

Hispanics in south Texas are flocking away from a party that doesn't care if they suffer or if migrants suffer while dead bodies rack up in the Rio Grande and the ranches of south Texas. They have had enough, I have had enough, and the people of Texas have had enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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