Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, one in four Americans can't afford to have their basic needs met now due to high energy costs.

Instead of prioritizing policies that will knock down costs and provide financial relief to the American people, House Democrats are doubling down on their woke environmental policies in this week's spending package.

Far-left spending priorities include a 20 percent increase for the EPA. This comes right after the Supreme Court ruled that the agency is to roll back their overreaching, self-endowed authority.

Also in the package, is taking away the status of biomass from our forests that are on fire all the time--especially this time of year. The biomass would be a renewable resource to help produce electricity, et cetera. They want to take that away. So let the forest burn.

It also further restricts offshore oil and gas activities while increasing oil and gas inspection fees at the same time that President Biden is over there begging the Saudis to send more imported oil to us.

How is this going to help?

Instead, the Biden administration must end the Federal freeze on oil and gas leases, fast-track pending LNG export permits, and expedite approval of all pipeline and energy development.

This will help regular American people with their high costs of doing business and raising their families.

Madam Speaker, the Biden administration's open border policies are wreaking havoc across our Nation, causing crime to spike, even in my home district in northern California.

Hidden under the cover of our magnificent, forested wildlands, Mexican

cartels are using our porous borders as easy access to Federal lands to grow illegal marijuana crops.

Even though cannabis products are legal under California law, truly they are still illegal under Federal law. These illegal grows are dangerous and cause irreversible harm to the landscape and animals.

These grows are guarded by dangerous cartel members with illegal weapons that they smuggle across the border. This puts local residents, foresters, and outdoor recreationists at grave risk if they accidentally come across or near a grow.

Butte County in northern California, my home county, is designated now as a Federal high-intensity drug trafficking area. Thanks a lot.

These illegal farmers use toxic pesticides that are outlawed by the U.S. and unavailable to American growers anymore. These chemicals run off into nearby water sources, poisoning the animals and killing off plant life. They cut off water from other farmers and rivers and cause much damage to the environment.

This drug trafficking must be stopped.

Mr. Speaker, this time last year, President Biden told the American people that inflation was just temporary, just transitory, not a real big deal. The truth is hitting harder than a Mayflower moving van escaping California.

Yesterday, the Consumer Price Index for June came in and the results are even worse than expected, at least by some. To real Americans, it is probably not a real surprise.

The Biden administration's economic policies have produced record inflation, a 41-year record, at 9.1 percent, and that is probably low to most Americans.

As inflation continues to skyrocket, wages have actually decreased. In fact, since President Biden took office, real wages have decreased by about 5 percent.

Across the Nation, Americans are dipping into their savings to stay on top of their increasing grocery and gas bills.

Multiple polls show that Biden's economic crisis is the top issue for Americans, and the vast majority of Americans agree that the economy is in crisis directly due to the administration's failed policies.

In fact, I held a telephone townhall last night with 70,000 callers from around my district joining in. Ninety percent responded in the poll saying that the economy is their top concern. The Biden administration needs to get with it.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Kelly's leadership that he is providing for us here tonight and all through the year and all through your tenure here on this key moral issue.

I am glad also to join the rest of my pro-life colleagues here to reaffirm our dedication to protecting the innocent unborn.

Indeed, we have cause for celebration, something that has been corrected, over nearly 50 years and over 50 million lives taken, the unconstitutional Roe decision has been rightfully overturned and the power put back to the States to a legislative process, not one decided by seven of nine on a Supreme Court.

Indeed, now we can have debate and people can be accountable for their votes. The public can have input on what they think about this topic. The public is much more educated at this point than they were 50 years ago and what this really means.

Every pregnancy actually results in a human life in that pregnancy. It is not something else. It is not a blob. It is not a tissue mass. It isn't going to be some other form of life or an animal--this is a human life we are talking about, and we value that and we protect that. It is constitutional to protect life in this country.

Though that decision does not outlaw abortion, it puts the responsibility and accountability back to legislatures, whether it is going to be States or here in the U.S. Capitol.

They still pushed forward anyway with a determination to go even farther than Roe v. Wade--their abortion on demand bill that they are going to take up tomorrow. It provides for discretionary abortions at any point in a pregnancy on the basis of a baby's sex, race, or possible disability.

What are we doing here?

We must stop the left's radical, extreme, immoral abortion agenda and uphold the value and dignity and potential of every person's life.

We even see now that corporations want to pay for travel for abortions for their employees. Amazing. They think this is helping women--$4,000 is possible for your travel.

We have States that also want to be abortion tourism centers. My home State of California, shamefully, is trying to draw people in, pay for their stay, pay for their travel--even for illegal immigrants.

How immoral can you be?

Each one of these innocent souls was created by God. We see this immoral decay of our country, and it is really coming to fruition right in bright colors in front of all of us.

There is no denying that what we are talking about is a human life. As early as 5 weeks in the womb babies have a heartbeat; 10 weeks, arms, legs, fingers and toes, and they can jump and kick even inside the womb; 15 weeks, fully developed hearts, they can taste, yawn, and hiccup. Indeed, they are real.

It is not some blob. It is not something to be dismissed. What we are seeing here with the overturning of this decision, is the responsibility is back in front of the people to have this debate, and it is going to be a serious debate with all the States that are going to take this up, and here in Congress.

My hat is off to all the people that have worked so hard all these years--those pro-life folks out there--making the case, pleading, praying, and working so hard to educate about the miracle that is life.

Mr. Speaker, regarding the Biden border crisis, the Department of Homeland Security came back with a report proving without a doubt that the Border Patrol agents on horseback did not whip Haitian illegal immigrants crossing the border in 2021.

There is no evidence whatsoever that agents involved in this incident struck intentionally or otherwise any illegal border crossers with the reins of their horses.

After photographers took pictures of members of the Border Patrol Horse Patrol chasing Haitian illegal immigrants and swirling the reins of their horses in an allegedly intimidating manner, some news organizations falsely reported the agents seemed to be whipping the migrants.

After all this whip controversy was found to be completely without merit, officials at Customs and Border Patrol announced that they are still going to punish the agents. Wow, that will be great for morale. These agents who dutifully serve to keep our border safe and enforce our laws are going to pay the price for something they did not do.

President Biden, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, and even Leader Schumer have all added fuel to this false fire. Liberal media keep pushing out false stories even though the photographer who took the images swiftly clarified they never witnessed an agent whipping any migrants.

Negative media attention, brought about by liberal media and far-left politicians, is vilifying these agents, needlessly hurting morale, hurting recruitment and are just flat false.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Al Montna, a true champion of conservation in Northern California. Al's involvement with Ducks Unlimited began in the early 1960s when his natural love for waterfowl hunting drew him to the organization. Like many avid waterfowl hunters, Al realized early on that his passion could only be preserved and shared with future generations through conservation.

Al began restoring the intricate web of wetlands and uplands that North America's migratory birds rely on each year to fulfill their life cycle needs. Al continually improves the wildlife habitat on his own farm, transforming Montna Farms every fall and winter into a migratory bird wonderland. If you've traveled on highway 99 just outside of Yuba City between November and January, chances are, you've witnessed dozens of cars pulled over on the side of the road, with passengers leaning out the window using binoculars and cameras to glimpse the tens of thousands of waterfowl swarming around his rice fields. Thanks to dedicated conservationists like Al, people will be able to enjoy the wildlife of this region for years to come.

As is the case with most family farms, and certainly with Montna Farms, Al has been blessed with a family that has a shared vision for what it means to be good stewards of the land. His two daughters, Nicole Montna Van Fleck and Michelle Montna Vogt share the family's passion for the environment and being stewards of a more sustainable world. Today, they have begun to pass that same passion to Al's six grandchildren. And of course, none of these achievements would have been possible without Gail Montna, Al's wife and partner for 55 years. Gail's grace and shared loved of wildlife shines through all of Montna Farms; past, present and future.

As a third generation Central Valley farmer, Al's commitment to the land as well as the people and wildlife that depend on it is unmatched. As the Bible tells us in Luke 12:48, To those much is given, much will be required. The responsibility to give back to his community has been the forefront of Al's mission since it began nearly 60 years ago. Now, after many decades of committed volunteer service to conservation, Al is retiring as the Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Ducks Unlimited--a role he took over in 2017. Al's professional endeavors, awards, successes, innovations and accomplishments are far too numerous to list here. However, Al's greatest achievement is his role as a steward for America's wetlands and waterfowl resources, and that legacy will endure for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant to be preserved for an actual emergency, such as in the case of catastrophic weather or in times of war. But President Biden has started the largest ever loan from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

From that loan, we have seen he has shipped 5 million barrels of oil, not for lowering the prices, as they thought that putting some of that oil on the market might affect the price. No, they are actually shipping it to foreign countries, including China. A million barrels of oil is allegedly going to China out of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is supposed to be for us in case of emergency, not playing markets, not trying to make some money.

It is unreal. Since day one, President Biden walked into office and started shutting down our energy industry, the pipeline, exploration permits and leases. They have gone this direction.

That makes our fuel more expensive for everybody on the whole supply chain: Farmers, manufacturers, people taking their kids to school, people going to the store. It is hurting everybody.

They are sending it now to China.

Whose side is President Biden on?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with deep, deep regret and sadness over the loss of a local legend, Cotton Rosser, who was 93 years old.

Known as a top rodeo man all over the north State and even all over the country, he is known for winning so many awards and accolades in his job as a rodeo man.

He used to open for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas at least 10 years in a row. He had the Flying U Company, a rodeo company that traveled all over the Western States, bringing his show.

He was always, always improving the show, making it into something spectacular. He would bring ideas from ice skating and others to make the show even more spectacular. He was innovative in that.

He was recognized in 2019 as a Legend of ProRodeo, 1995 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee, 1985 PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year, over 60 years doing shows, and over 70 years in rodeo.

He was truly a good man, a nice man, and his family is his legacy, the good people they are, that he leaves behind.

The legacy with the Red Bluff Round-Up and taking stock up there and Colusa Western Days, I have participated in all these things as an observer, the Marysville Stampede. It has just been such a rich part of northern California and the West and, indeed, the whole country.

I will leave you with a quote from him. You know, he was 93, so in recent years, having had to retire somewhat, he said, ``I am just the PR man now. I never imagined my rodeo career would be like this. I am the richest guy in the world with memories and friends. I loved every minute of the rodeo business, and I would do it all over again.'' Such a great memory, indeed.

A good friend of mine; hard to deal with. We are very proud of Cotton Rosser in northern California.

Security for our Supreme Court Justices

Mr. Speaker, any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to make an official announcement on their decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson case.

Ever since the draft opinion was leaked, radical leftists have tried to intimidate, threaten, and harass the conservative Justices on the Court.

There have been multiple attacks against pro-life and pregnancy centers across the whole country. A deranged individual was caught plotting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his family at their home.

He was caught carrying a handgun, two clips of ammunition, a tactical knife, pepper spray, a crowbar, a nail punch, duct tape, a hammer, and a screwdriver outside their home.

The White House refused to condemn this heinous crime. The pro- abortion group, Ruth Sent Us, publicly threatened Justice Amy Coney Barrett's children, as well. They tweeted the exact location of the children's school and church, along with the schedules of when they would be there. These radicals are jeopardizing the lives of our Justices' families.

It took a month for congressional Democrats and Senate Leader Schumer to bring the Supreme Court Police Parity Act to the floor for a vote. This bill offers security to family members of the Supreme Court Justices, which is more critical than ever.

While unnecessarily delaying the bill, Speaker Pelosi even had the audacity to claim, ``Nobody is in danger over the weekend because of our not having a bill.'' There was an assassination plot. Of course, people were, in fact, in danger.

Despite the slew of threats, I pray that the Court does the right thing for our Nation's unborn and upholds our Constitution.

Overturning Roe does not ban abortion but rightly returns the abortion debate back to Congress and to the State legislatures. In our Republic, those elected by the people should be the ones to create laws and balance tradeoffs, not judges.

In the nearly 50 years since Roe became the law of the land, over 63 million unborn children have been killed due to judicial activism.

Life begins at the moment of conception, and an overwhelming number of Americans believe in protecting babies still in the womb. In order to preserve our judicial system, we cannot allow these intimidation tactics to win the day. The Court must be allowed to do its job unfettered while not actively legislating from the bench.

Madam Speaker, on President Biden's first day in office, he canceled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. It was a campaign promise.

This would have brought 700,000 barrels of oil per day into the United States. Instead, this move has cost thousands of Americans their jobs as well as much of their income.

Continuing his attack on our energy industries, he halted all oil and natural gas leases on Federal lands, despite a judge's ruling against this illegal ban.

His administration has also shut down the congressionally authorized oil and gas program in the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and has threatened industry with regulation and increased royalties, which will significantly impact investment in new energy production. Indeed, the large financiers are already backing away due to their ESG idealism and the intimidation by the government to do so.

ANWR is actually 19.6 million acres. The 1002 Area is a small fraction of that total area, and the actual drilling itself will take place on an even smaller fraction of that, as well.

Most recently, the Biden administration has scrapped a court-ordered offshore 5-year lease in the Gulf of Mexico. This could likely spell a complete ban on offshore leases until the end of his whole term.

What does he expect is going to happen? Well, we are seeing it, and the people are feeling it: $5 gas nationally; $6, $6.50 in California, where everything is more expensive; $7 for diesel.

How do they expect that trucks are going to deliver items to the store or trucks are going to bring things from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers or from the field to the dryer, to the mill, the fertilizer brought to the field, the seed brought to the field? All these things, how do they expect they are going to happen with $7 fuel and higher?

The expectations are it is not going to get better anytime soon. We have seen proposals by the Biden administration to relieve the gas tax and diesel tax, which is about 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 on diesel. I think we would always be happy to take a reduction in taxes, whether it is temporary or not, but it is not going to make but a tiny impact on $5, $6, $7 fuel.

What we need is production. Production will alter the market. When they are hesitant or reluctant or just flat saying no to increasing production, especially in a worldwide market where we had been relying on Russia for some reason for about 8 percent of our oil consumption, yes, we need to replace that.

We shouldn't buy anything from Russia. We shouldn't really be buying anything from China. Why do we want to be dependent on them for anything? Solar panels? Our energy policy in this country needs to be turned on its ear and put back to something that favors Americans.

They are blaming everything under the Sun for these rising costs except for the policies they are putting in place. The President is blaming MAGA Republicans. What does that even mean? How does that make sense?

Washington, D.C., has been under one-party rule for the last couple of years. It is clear: The price hikes we are seeing at the gas pump are caused directly by the Biden administration's anti-American, anti- energy policies. His exact words while campaigning were: ``No more drilling on Federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. It ends.''

Well, you are seeing the effects, and it is unaffordable for people. Normal folks don't have discretionary income to even get through an emergency, in a lot of cases, within their family, and we keep heaping this upon their backs, for their energy needs, driving their vehicles, and heating their homes.

We are taking away natural gas. There are areas moving to do that. Cities and certain other jurisdictions want to say no more natural gas for your stoves, heaters, and such. They want it to be all electric.

These hostile actions are, indeed, creating long-term uncertainty. We are seeing the futures contracts for energy are staying high.

How much longer can we do this? How long will they be in place that way? Less drilling results in higher oil prices, which means higher gas prices for consumers. It is that simple. It is not rocket science.

Instead, the President is traveling to Saudi Arabia to beg for them to send more of their oil to us. We have the reserves in many States in our own country that we can be tapping into and doing it more ecologically soundly and certainly more economically soundly. He would rather, I guess, lie in the pockets of OPEC oligarchs than create the high-paying jobs we have right here and do it well.

We know that American energy is the cleanest and safest in the world. It is much cleaner than natural gas that Russia was sending to Western Europe and now is cutting off from them. Well, that is a surprise, isn't it? Germany gets rid of their nuclear power plants and cuts back on other forms of energy, and now instead, because they cannot rely on Russian gas coming in through the big pipe, they are having to restoke their coal-fired plants.

Isn't that amazing? You actually go backward on environmental issues when you don't plan, when you can't foresee what might happen with what Russia would do.

We could be a major exporter, and we should be a major exporter, helping our European allies and helping Americans have jobs and decently priced energy that comes from our own country.

Madam Speaker, according to a new whistleblower report, OSHA had reports of health and safety problems at the Michigan baby formula plant all the way back in February 2021. That is a year before the plant was indefinitely shut down by FDA and well over a year before the Biden administration even acknowledged it.

The administration knew for at least months, if not well over a year, that this crisis would happen with the shortages, but they failed to act because they didn't consider it a top-level crisis. Now, over 70 percent of the Nation's baby formula is out of stock. In what universe is that not a top-level crisis?

How is it possible that our FDA is so incompetent that they sat idle for 14 months, knowing full well that American babies and families would suffer shortages?

How inept is the administration that they would admit to knowing about this looming crisis for months but ignored it?

How cruel is the Biden administration that while American parents desperately search for formula for their babies, the administration is taking it right off the shelves and shipping it down to the border?

Even the Biden administration's deal with the Abbott plant to restart production will take 6 to 8 weeks to put formula back on the shelves. People can't wait that long.

The Biden administration should have addressed this worsening baby formula shortage when House Republicans raised the alarm months ago. We will hold this administration accountable for this issue.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Tennessee with that very warm introduction and allusion to the fact that we do produce food in California when we are given the water that we already own to do so, but that is a little different supply chain discussion that we could be having tonight.

I want to focus this evening on the border situation that is unnecessarily wide open. It doesn't have to be this way. It is just inattention to enforcing the laws and doing the things you would normally do to maintain a border.

We have millions of dollars' worth of steel fence material laying in piles down there next to the border that could be used to fill some obvious gaps that would make it so much easier for Customs and Border Patrol to do their jobs that they would like to do.

Morale down there, of course, is really bad amongst our officers, just for inability to do their job effectively, and not being supported by this Federal Government and this administration.

And also, the wild accusations that those that are mounted on horseback using their reins in order to move their horses about and steer them where they want to go, somehow they have been accused of using those as whips upon illegal immigrants coming across the border; all part of just a bunch of hype and misinformation put out by the administration, by the media, to make a narrative on the border that is completely false and vastly unproductive for the American people, as we see so much fentanyl coming across, so much illegal activity.

And also, since the Biden administration took over, at least 50 individuals that we know about on the terrorism watch list have been caught red-handed, trying to sneak across our border to do God knows what in cells inside this country.

So you really do have to commend the Border Patrol, what they are able to get done on finding these 50, and

saving the countless lives they do, whether it is preventing terrorism, catching these drugs that are coming across and just, in general, at least trying to slow the tide coming in here illegally and affecting so much of our society.

But we have to wonder with the nearly 3 million illegal border crossings in Biden's term, how many dangerous individuals did get away or sneaking through--the getaways are what we are talking a lot about these days because we have no way to put a number on that. They affect our whole society, our whole system of social programs, crime, everything else. They don't seem to be interested in this administration of getting a handle on that.

They have taken away, of course, our demoralized border agents' resources to be able to keep the border as safe as it could be, cutting them back and giving them--reassigning their mission, repurposing is a common word around here. So instead of doing that job of enforcing the border, they are basically running a welcome wagon operation, transporting illegal immigrants to be processed and turned right into the country.

Hopefully, they will show up within a couple of years for the massive backlog of court hearings they would have on their status, whether they actually deserve asylum or not, which isn't really the case. Probably 80 or 90 percent of them are here for economic relief, economic opportunity in our great country.

So what do we have? The Biden administration, having halted construction, and then some of the other methods with which we can somewhat control this tide at the border. They are working really hard at trying to roll back title 42, which is one of the best resources that the Border Patrol agents have to quickly expel those who are coming here illegally from certain countries.

Their soft-on-crime policies have incentivized millions of illegals to continue to cross into our country, knowing that even if they are caught, they can just skip their court date to stay here because the backlog might be too long, or because the cell phone they got handed at the border they can't be reached at. That is supposed to be our way of keeping track of them, by handing them a cell phone.

So, with a caravan of 15,000 waiting on title 42 to come across, we have got a giant problem that makes our core personnel at the border powerless to stop it.

We have seen the pictures. I have been there myself on a trip to Yuma, and it is devastating. It is devastating for the morale of the people on the borders, the cities, the economies there, Border Patrol themselves.

So instead of giving the border agents the tools they need, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are making up fake, dangerous scenarios all over the country.

Instead, the FBI is going after concerned parents at school board meetings speaking out over some of the filth that is being taught and put into our schools. They are trying to label them as domestic terrorists.

Then they push legislation that would go after our servicemembers and law enforcement personnel for various things that they get accused of while doing their jobs, if they are not being defunded to begin with.

So even though our data shows that servicemembers and law enforcement personnel are more likely to be a victim of terrorism, they are getting accused of being terrorists themselves.

FBI and Department of Homeland Security must start focusing their efforts at the southern border instead of politicizing law enforcement officers and concerned parents at school board meetings.

Everything is backwards with the way this administration is handling the issue at our border, energy, the food shortages that are pending because we are not prioritizing the basic building blocks that make a society strong, the economy strong, families strong, and America strong.

We have got a lot of work to do to educate the public. Maybe it will take the midterm election to turn it around. I wish the people that were operating the government would put America first instead of some crazy agenda on the Green New Deal or globalism.

So I appreciate the time here tonight. I thank my colleague from Tennessee for running this for us and allowing us to continue to speak out and put the truth out there in front of the American people.

Madam Speaker, as we are becoming painfully aware as Americans, energy independence is vital to our national security and our everyday lives.

America needs to embrace a true energy policy that supports every type, from natural gas, oil drilling, nuclear, hydroelectric, and the other renewables. We cannot simply declare that some methods of power generation are off limits like the Biden administration and others have been trying to do to natural gas and oil.

Energy production of all kinds is important for rural economies which provide jobs, income at the farm level and at the wildcatter level, tax revenue, et cetera.

Take California, for example. We are the leading State in biomass production, right, our crowded forests, untended for so many years due to policies of the Forest Service getting sued to not do anything before or after a fire.

So in my northeast part of the State, we have millions of tons of waste biomass just sitting on our forest floors, dry, decomposing, turning into CO2, waiting to be part of the next catastrophic forest fire which we see happening in overabundance.

The Dixie fire started in my district last year--one million acres-- when a tree fell into a power line.

Using biomass is a win-win-win for everybody. It brings local jobs, putting our workers in these rural towns that are suffering economically for years due to the shutdown of this timber industry, basically, putting those folks back to work, tending to work that needs to be done to have forests thinner, cleaner, healthier, and less fire- prone.

But as we continue toward green energy and strict carbon and environmental regulations which only recently began, we are seeing that other forms of energy are not being available, too.

Nuclear. Nuclear energy is a serious alternative energy source and really shouldn't be alternative because it is CO2-free. It has been around for a long time, but for some, it isn't politically correct.

California has one remaining nuclear reactor, the one at Diablo Canyon, not too far from San Luis Obispo, where my tie comes from. Diablo Canyon takes up only 900 acres of land and provides nearly 10 percent of California's energy portfolio, almost 10 percent in one power plant, and they want to take it offline because it is not politically correct.

Of course, in California, it is responsible for 23 percent of our carbon-free generation, if you want to play the carbon game.

In a State that faces rolling blackouts to our grid every summer, every time the wind blows because we don't want tree branches falling into power lines, we can't fare without that 10 percent of energy provided by nuclear power, which doesn't have that threat.

Nuclear power plants are cheaper to run than most, even accounting for managing and disposing of radioactive material, which there are ways to deal with the radioactive leftovers, too, if we can just get to them.

Nuclear power is consistent, 24/7. Unlike solar and wind, it is available all the time. It is not affected by the clouds or lack of wind. Solar and wind power do have their place in our portfolio, but we know we can't completely rely upon them.

We can't build enough batteries to store enough power without having mines in Africa taking advantage of kids' labor to put them in place.

When a wildfire inevitably rages like it has year after year, sending thick, black smoke into the air, our solar panels are obscured by ash and screened from direct sunlight. The solar and wind systems just don't put out what they need to in order to have a modern grid.

Our State has already inexplicably banned the sale of gas-powered backup generators. What are people supposed to do at their homes? When they take away backup generators that are gas-powered, what are you supposed to power them with, a battery? Ridiculous.

One of the most critical sources of renewable energy along the entire Pacific Northwest is hydroelectric generation. It accounts for about 12 percent of our State's total portfolio and is the cheapest form of renewable energy available.

It is about 50 percent the cost of nuclear, 40 percent the cost of fossil fuels, and 25 percent the cost of using natural gas. Yet, it faces numerous obstacles as well.

They want to remove the dams. They are calling it the largest ever dam removal project--they are so proud of, it seems--up on the Klamath Basin, up on the Klamath River.

Four dams: the J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1 and No. 2, and Iron Gate are scheduled to be removed, if they have their way. That will take renewable, available 24/7, power to over 70,000 homes offline, and it will have to be replaced by miles and miles of solar panels or windmills chopping up birds someplace.

Why do they want to remove this? Because of political correctness. They hope that maybe it will help the river have slightly cooler water for salmon spawning, maybe 1 degree, but it won't really work that way because it is going to leave all sorts of silt and hurt the Klamath River.

So one thing after another. We have to find a reliable energy source.

Madam Speaker, for months, the Democrats and the liberal media have been intentionally falsely accusing Border Patrol agents of whipping illegal immigrants coming across our southern border. The media falsely mislabeled the agents' long reins, which they use to control their horses, as whips.

Of course, where are all the fact checkers about this information? I guess they are absent over at The Washington Post and CNN.

Yet, the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security isn't interested in the truth, either. They want to punish these Border Patrol agents who are doing their job and arresting illegal immigrants. Following a false narrative and special interest pressure, the DHS has announced plans to discipline these folks on horseback involved in the so-called incidents.

Prosecuting these law enforcement officers will do nothing but lower the already-low morale at the CBP.

The Biden administration's open-border and soft-on-crime policies have incentivized 2 million illegal immigrants to come across our southern border and have stripped Border Patrol agents from having the authority to stop it. Instead, they have become Welcome Wagon workers.

There is a caravan of illegal immigrants, nearly 20,000 strong, awaiting the day Biden fulfills his destructive promise of ending the border protections under title 42.

We need a true border policy that protects Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Hern's strong effort in helping shepherd our budget concept through the RSC to get back to fiscal responsibility and make sure it is on the front burner.

I am also pleased to follow my good colleague from New York, too. You have California and New York, and if you throw in Illinois, you don't see a whole lot of conversation coming out that you want the country to emulate as far as fiscal responsibility. I hope that is a bit of a breath of fresh air.

We are looking at the situation we are in right now as a country. It is just unbelievable, in this last 15, 16, 18 months, just how far it has turned upside down. We can't blame it all on COVID. We have to look at the policies that have been put in place.

Yes, we did spend a lot of money in Washington, D.C., on the COVID- era problems. Some of it is justified. Some of it is completely out of control.

There are still COVID dollars sitting in little pots somewhere that people are envying and wanting to turn into things that are completely unrelated, just make it slush-fund-type stuff. That is not right because these are the American people's dollars. This is the American people's debt.

Unfortunately, we are just adding debt to it. We don't really have sustained income to back up the money we have been borrowing from the future on this. When you couple that with the inflation that we are dealing with now, when we are looking at interest rates that are edging up in order to basically try, essentially, to put the brakes on government spending, that is what has driven this.

The higher numbers for interest rates, for payments on American debt, are going to devour our ability to budget on things that we actually do want to do and care about around here. If the interest rates and interest payments are so high, we can't do the elective part of our national budgeting. That is going to be horrendous for the American people.

Mr. Hern, when we are looking at the overall inflation picture with the numbers we are talking about earlier, 8.6 percent, we know it is a lot higher. I can echo what Mr. Barr was saying a while ago. My farmers--I am a farmer myself in my real life--we are not seeing a mere 8 percent on fertilizer, diesel, parts, tires, service calls, on everything. It is a much higher number than that.

My family grows rice and has been doing it for nearly 100 years. My colleagues and my neighbors have been doing the same thing. How are we going to afford to be able to put food on the table for the American people that is affordable? I just don't see that. With what you are dealing with in Oklahoma on energy--your energy helps us.

Mr. Speaker, it is fascinating that he would say that. You plug it into the wall.

I just saw a recent interview with a major figure with a major car manufacturer introducing and talking about their electric vehicles. They were questioned at that press conference: Where is the power coming from to charge this electric car?

Well, from that building right over there.

Okay. It is a building, but it is not a generation plant.

Well, I don't really know.

Another person in the group answered and said: Well, this is powered by a source that is about 90 percent coal-driven.

I am not against coal. I think coal is great. It has powered our country for many decades. It is extremely important and shouldn't just be phased out. It is still at least 35 percent.

The naivety of a major manufacturer not understanding that the electricity has to come from somewhere, and it is going to have to be somehow reasonably priced in order to make it somehow work for this big dream they have of electrifying everything, it is unbelievable what the people are going to face.

As Mr. Hern mentioned, President Biden called it the incredible transition. The people I know, the regular folks, haven't been asked if they want to transition to electric vehicles or an electric stove or anything else. They want to just stick with what they have because you are looking at the price of electric vehicles, which are $50,000, $60,000, $70,000. The price is bumping up, and they have to recall them because things aren't working quite right.

We are force-feeding something just because government can mandate and pass a law that--hey, we are just going to require that you do it. Well, the market and technology don't always keep up with the whims of a dream that somebody would have in a bureaucracy.

Phase them in, but we are looking at an issue that is being force-fed in the Biden plan to have an incredible transition. It is incredibly painful to the American public.

That is why the direction that the RSC budget is trying to go is to achieve balance finally. If we are going to service more and more debt at a higher interest rate, and we keep adding the numbers, as my colleague from New York was talking about--if the Biden plan calls for $73 trillion of increased spending over what we are already doing at a deficit over the next 10 years, we have big trouble.

Government doesn't always do that well with a dollar spent. In the hands of the American people, they are going to make the best decisions for their families on: Do they want to upgrade their car? Do they need to add a room to their house for an expanded family? Are they going to redo their garage or redo their roof? Maybe they are even going to take a vacation if they can afford the $7 gas in California to run an RV and go see Yellowstone or something.

It is amazing how this place continues to think that the massive deficit spending is going to somehow benefit the economy. It doesn't work that way. Inflation drives higher prices to the end-users, driven by government spending. We have to get it under control.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hern's work is really stellar on trying to put this out there. This should really be nonpartisan, Republicans and Democrats. The blueprint for this would be back in the mid-1990s when we achieved a balanced budget, I believe it was 4 years in a row, with President Clinton coming to the table and working with Newt Gingrich and Senator Dole and others on actually passing four balanced budgets in a row.

That is credit everybody can take for having a strong economy at the time. I think it would still be a legacy of the Reagan and Bush years, where we put things back on track of having an income that they benefited from in that context.

Mr. Hern, what do you see as far as that blueprint of balancing back then as something we can emulate here?

Mr. Speaker, while I cannot rise in support of H.R. 2543, I would like to highlight one piece of this package that will make a difference in this district. Mr. Speaker, rural and low-income communities have many things in common including lack of access to financial services. In a rural area such as my district, constituents often drive 20-40 miles, even crossing county lines to receive access to their own funds. This is the case in more than one of the counties in my district. I want to applaud the efforts of the credit unions which are highlighted in this bill and support their efforts to bring more financial services to rural and unserved communities.