Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I really appreciate him bringing up these very important details

that I highly doubt we will hear anything about from the January 6 Committee.

You know, there are some very interesting facts that came out today, as a matter of fact. Reporting on the failure of this Chamber, this Capitol to be secured.

And I will tell you something. On January 6, I was a brand new Member of Congress.

January 3 was my first day on the job.

That is right. Three days.

And I looked at the Capitol and thought this was the most secure building that I could possibly be in, at least in this city, possibly in the country, because it is our Nation's Capitol. And tragically, we found out that it was not. I was shocked by that.

What amazes me is the overwhelming amount of evidence that the National Guard was requested to be here and it was continuously turned down. And the biggest shocker to me is that there were three people that turned it down. It was Chuck Schumer in the Senate, Nancy Pelosi in the House, and Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The Sergeant at Arms.

Nancy Pelosi.

The Speaker of the House is the one in charge of the House Sergeant at Arms.

And the House Sergeant at Arms and the Senate Sergeant at Arms turned down the request for the National Guard to keep all of us safe from the threats that they knew existed.

No, we will not hear that from the January 6 Committee that spent millions of taxpayer dollars supposedly investigating January 6. I highly doubt we will hear that. But I want you to know that when we take back the majority, these will be the investigations that we take on.

Now, I want you to know some other things that really bother me. As we have spoken about the failure and absolutely purposeful refusal to protect this Capitol by Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, Chuck Schumer, and Mayor Muriel Bowser, these are the failures. They did it on purpose.

There are other things I don't think we will hear about tonight, and I remind everyone.

Number one, we still do not know who the pipe bomber is. Who is the person? There are videos everywhere. It is all over the FBI website but we don't hear that coming out consistently from the January 6 Committee.

You know what else we don't hear enough about? We do not understand what is happening to the over 800 people who have been arrested and charged for the events on January 6. We don't know what is happening to them, and there are dozens of them right here in this city wasting away in the D.C. jail, being treated like political prisoners of war.

And you know what? This is before they have been convicted of anything. They are there pretrial. And no one cares about them. No one on this January 6 Committee dares to ask a question, what is happening to these people and why their due process rights are being so flagrantly and horrifically violated, pretrial. Pretrial, they are sitting in that jail.

Do you know they have begged to go to Guantanamo Bay because they think terrorists are treated better than they are treated here? But no one cares about them.

These people have been arrested and charged, and they are wasting away in jail.

Do you want to know something else that we are probably not going to hear about? What about the fact that there is a man named Ray Epps? Do you know who is not in the D.C. jail? Ray Epps. Ray Epps is not in the D.C. jail, and I know because I went in the D.C. jail. I did not see him there. He also is on video over and over again telling people to go in the Capitol.

I don't think we are going to hear about Ray Epps. I don't think so. I don't think he is on the witness list.

Do you know who else we probably won't hear about? The man on the scaffolding, the so-called scaffolding commander that told the crowd, told them, sent them, gave them orders to go in the Capitol. Storm the Capitol.

I haven't heard about him being questioned, have you?

No. Do you want to know something else? Here is a woman we don't hear anything about, a woman named Rosanne Boyland, who was trampled in the tunnel, trampled to death. We never hear anything about this woman. She died in the tunnel of this Capitol, and I saw the video myself when I was in the D.C. jail, from one of the people being held there pretrial, by the way, of her body being drug across the floor, and then it was taken somewhere else.

Do you know what happened when they were dragging her body away? They pulled her away from someone that was giving her CPR. She was pulled away from lifesaving CPR. Why did that happen? Are we going to hear about that from the committee tonight? I doubt it. They don't care about Rosanne Boyland.

Here is my major issue. We are representatives of the people of the United States of America, and all I hear from everyone in this body is all they care about is themselves. The American people are suffering from so many things happening from the decisions of this body, but the people in this body and the people in that committee don't care about Rosanne Boyland from Georgia, by the way. They don't care about her family. They don't care about justice for them. They don't care about anything else but, oh, what happened to us on January 6.

Well, what happened to the American cities in 2020 that were burned and looted and destroyed because of BLM violence? Nothing. All that money raised on ActBlue for BLM? It went in their pockets. No one paid to rebuild those communities. Not at all.

You know who else we probably won't hear about is Michael Byrd, who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt right out there. We don't hear about his reckless record of guns, which is all we have talked about all week in here. We aren't hearing about that. Why aren't we hearing about that record? Why? Why isn't he standing trial? He is not. He just gets to get away with it. It is on video; I bet you we won't see this video, but I have seen it. It is out there.

Did you know Ashli Babbitt was trying to stop people from breaking in? That is on video. I have watched it over and over. She was trying to stop people from breaking in, and then she was shot and killed.

Yes, a lot happened on January 6. Do you know what else--and the American taxpayers pay for this--there are surveillance cameras all over this building. If we really want to know the truth about January 6, it is real easy. All we have to do is release the video footage, and everyone can see for themselves what exactly happened. I think the American people deserve that while they have to watch and go through this big cinematic production tonight and carrying on for weeks and weeks and weeks. And the American people pay for it, by the way. The American people deserve to see all the video surveillance, not just the little cut and pasted pieces that the January 6th Committee is going to show tonight.

Most of all, I want to finish with this: There is something terrible happening in this process, and it is called defamation of character. The 45th President of the United States' character is being defamed and all of his staff and his family and all Republicans. Everyone's reputation is being defamed as lies are being told about all of us and President Trump just for politics, and it makes me sick. It absolutely disgusts me.

If we are supposed to represent the American people, and we are supposed to do a good job and uphold this place

with honor and keep its reputation good for the people we serve, then we should be truthful. But what is about to happen tonight is not going to be truthful. It is going to be a political narrative, and it is all for politics. It is sickening.

In 1990, our schools became gun-free school zones, and on September 6, 1990, when I was 16 years old, my high school went on lockdown because one of the students at my school brought three guns to school in a duffel bag on the school bus, brought the guns into our school, and proceeded to take control of our high school. And he was the only person in the school who had guns. That is why that happened.

There was no one to protect us who had a gun that day. The only person with guns was the very mentally ill, upset teenager who had brought guns to school that day to kill other students. I know that fear. As a matter of fact, I think I am the only Member of Congress that that has actually happened to.

I am also a mom. I have dropped off my kids at school for years, wondering would this happen at my children's school. Would they face a terrible fate like the poor children in Uvalde? This should never happen to our children, and I can't help but point out to all of us here, while we are debating how to protect our kids in school and we are debating our Second Amendment gun rights, I want to point out that we are all so privileged to be in this building being protected by armed guards with guns who are protecting our lives.

It is shocking to me that this body of Congress won't do the same thing for children in schools all over America because we know one thing works. We know that a gun is a tool, and it is a weapon that can be used to defend yourself or defend others. We are all lucky enough to have that privilege, but our schoolchildren aren't.

If we really want to be serious about protecting our kids here in America, we will repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act, and we will put into action real legislation that protects children in schools everywhere, all over America, with good guys with guns, the same way we are being protected.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill.

I find it shocking to hear language coming from my colleagues across the aisle accusing Republicans of the horrific shooting in Buffalo, when in fact, the shooter's manifesto itself stated he acted as a lone wolf. No Republican had anything to do with that.

I also find it shocking to hear these accusations coming from the party that supported BLM riots that caused over $2 billion in damages in cities and communities across the country.

Now, when we are talking about identity politics, we should remind one another that there were 6 people murdered and 62 others injured by a Black American who drove his car through a Christmas parade in Waukesha. There was also a Black American that shot and injured 23 people on a New York City subway. I am not hearing any of those examples as domestic terrorism from my colleagues across the aisle, and I don't understand why. I think these acts should be blamed on the people that are doing them, not on people's identity and their skin color.

Another thing that is wrong with this bill is it provides unlimited money to profile Americans that the Department of Justice says are white supremacists. That is why Democrats want to pursue every single conservative in America, simply because they want to choose who is a white supremacist and not.

Mr. Speaker, the Speaker, herself, has called Republicans enemies of the State.

If the Speaker does not like Republicans' politics and considers us enemies of the State, we all know what domestic terrorists will mean to Democrats. That will mean anyone who stands in their way in their lustful quest for power. This would be parents that are trying to hold people accountable with their tax dollars for how their children are taught, or anyone else that they want to blame for something they want to use for politics.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Road Patrol Corporal Christopher Dye.

Christopher dedicated his life to the people of Walker County and our Nation, making the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Christopher worked at the Hays State Prison and the Walker County Sheriff's Office until the tragic events of 9/11 struck our country.

In October 2001, Christopher joined the Army and dedicated the next 12 years to serving our country. Christopher was a member of the 118th Airborne Infantry, performing tours in

Iraq and Afghanistan. Even after developing lymphoma, he never gave up his post.

Christopher was highly decorated for his valiant service and returned to the Walker County Sheriff's Office to work alongside his family.

In November 2020, Corporal Dye encountered fentanyl on a drug arrest. This exposure caused him to suffer a massive heart attack, and he passed away that evening. Corporal Dye was awarded the Walker County Sheriff's Office Employee of the Year award later that year.

He is survived by his wife Kelly Jo and their five children.

Today, I am introducing a resolution honoring Corporal Dye for his selfless sacrifice to the people of Walker County, northwest Georgia, and the Nation.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Ukrainian supplemental bill.

Madam Speaker, $40 billion, but there is no baby formula for American mothers and babies.

An unknown amount of money to the CIA in the Ukraine supplemental bill, but there is no formula for American babies and mothers.

Madam Speaker, $54 million in COVID spending in Ukraine, but there is no formula for American babies and mothers.

Madam Speaker, $900 million for nonprofits and organizations in Ukraine, but there is no formula for American babies and mothers.

Madam Speaker, $8.7 billion for economic support and funding in Ukraine, but there is no formula for American mothers and babies.

If this is about claiming that it is about saving lives, let's be real, then we would care about war-torn countries like Ethiopia. So that is a bunch of hypocrisy, because I never hear Ethiopia brought up here. Totally ignoring our own border crisis, our own baby formula crisis, and brutal inflation, skyrocketing gas prices that no one can afford, but $40 billion for Ukraine?

Stop funding regime change and money laundering scams and U.S. politician coverups of their crimes in countries like Ukraine. The American people do not support paying for constant U.S. involvement in foreign affairs while our own government fails our own country.

Let me remind everyone here: We swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and our borders. We should be paying attention to our country right now.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider H.R. 471, the PAUSE Act of 2021.

This important bill, introduced by my good friend Yvette Herrell, would maintain health screening protections at the border and ensure that the Biden administration does not allow foreigners to enter our country illegally without being properly vetted.

I am from Georgia. For those of us that don't live in border States, it is a lot different when we see on the news the stories of the massive invasion at our southern border. It is a lot different when we read about it.

But when I went to the border just a few days ago with Congressman Tony Gonzales--he put together a great trip, and I am so grateful--it became very clear to me. What is happening at our southern border is a crisis of epic proportions, and it is difficult to comprehend it until you actually see it in person.

This is a complete human and drug trafficking operation that is doing nothing for Americans but hurting our country and enriching the cartels. They have grown their network and expanded it massively throughout their country, into our country, far-reaching, even into our cities, as was explained to us by the Border Patrol, where they recruit from our own American cities to come down to Mexico to help them traffic humans and drugs across our southern border.

This should never be happening, and it certainly was not happening not long ago under the Trump administration, where we had the most secure border we have had in decades.

Mr. Speaker, I urge our Congress to take this very seriously. As we are discussing other countries and other borders, this is the one country where we all swear an oath to uphold our laws and defend our Constitution, and we serve the American people from each of our own districts.

We should be taking extreme seriousness to this invasion at our southern border, not only for the COVID-19 pandemic but also for the many other dangerous diseases such as tuberculosis and others that they bring into our country.

Passing title 42 is imperative, and it is the most important thing this Congress can do at this time, as there is an average of 7,000 people coming across the border every single day and hundreds of thousands of got-aways that we don't know who they are, where they are from, and what their purpose and intent is to do in the United States of America.

We already know that 42 known terrorists have been apprehended at our southern border, but we don't know how many terrorists exist in those hundreds of thousands of got-aways.

When I listen to a grown man cry over the amount of illegal aliens that are, 24 hours a day, coming across his ranch in Eagle Pass, it is a shame, and it is a tragedy.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 471, the PAUSE Act, to protect all Americans from Biden's border crisis.

Mr. Speaker, right now, the American people are over $30 trillion in debt because Congress is incapable of being responsible with the American people's hard-earned tax dollars.

Over $30 trillion in debt and counting is a sum total that we will never be able to pay back in our lifetimes, our children's lifetimes, our grandchildren's lifetimes, our great-grandchildren's lifetimes, and so forth.

Our dollar is on the verge of crashing. We are also on the verge of being the competitive currency with another foreign country's currency, possibly China. We are not in good shape financially.

We also are looking at 7.9 percent inflation and rising, with nothing to stop it. We are looking at gas prices that are getting so expensive that people can hardly afford to fill up their gas tanks.

Crime is out of control, and there is no reason for that. But coming up, on May 23, the Biden administration is going to suspend title 42, which is going to allow approximately an estimated 18,000 illegal aliens to come across our border.

If you total this up, in over 5 months, we are looking at potentially over 2.7 million people coming in throughout the summer and into the fall. This is unsustainable. This is also against our Constitution and is completely irresponsible.

Now, we have something coming up that Congress is going to be voting on, a 41-page COVID-19 supplemental bill because, for some reason, we are supposed to be spending more money that we don't have on future COVID and future COVID variants and future COVID vaccines because, really, that makes a lot of sense.

Why is that an emergency? It is in the future.

This bill, at $10 billion, of which up to $9 billion is for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority--what is the purpose of that? It is in the future. Is this gain of function research? We have a lot of questions, but we don't have answers.

This is also--for future COVID, by the way--supposed to provide $750 million in efforts to fight future variants to build future vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Haven't our vaccine manufacturers made enough money when COVID vaccines were mandated across the country? They are still making a lot of money.

We have already spent $4.6 trillion in resources on COVID, $4.16 trillion in obligations, $3.63 trillion in outlays across 44 government agencies.

The U.S. has made $825 billion in direct payments. The U.S. has issued $845 billion in loans. The U.S. has given $540 billion in grants, $50 billion in contracts, mostly through HHS and Defense, and so forth and on and more spending and more spending. Again, we are over $30 trillion in debt.

Currently, the death rate for COVID is 1.22 percent. By the way, this death rate has continued to go down, thankfully. We are all thankful for that. Yet, Congress wants to spend more money for future COVID, for future vaccines, and for future variants when there is no need to do so.

What we should be doing is we should be helping Americans get back to work. We should be helping small businesses.

Most of all, we should be securing our southern border to protect our country and our national security interests, and to protect our people, instead of being completely concerned and wrapped up in another country's border and their people.

While we are failing Americans here at home, we are too concerned about countries abroad.

Now, we have other serious problems. We have things that more Americans have been ignored on. There have been approximately 11,943 deaths reported on VAERS, but no investigation. There have also been 1,676 miscarriages reported on VAERS; 5,592 heart attacks reported on VAERS; 5,164 cases of myocarditis reported on VAERS; 13,230 permanently disabled cases reported on VAERS, yet no investigation. But we are supposed to spend $10 billion on future COVID, future variants, future vaccines?

If we are going to spend some money, why don't we spend some money looking into these cases reported on VAERS?

This is why I introduced the Justice for Vaccine Victims Act of 2022 because there needs to be an investigation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the House to discuss why we need to focus on our country first. We are seeing rapidly rising inflation. It is completely out of control.

While here in Congress and in the Washington bubble, which is disconnected with the rest of America, all we are hearing is potential war with Russia over the country of Ukraine. Ukraine is not a NATO member ally, and President Biden had told them that we would be only standing with our NATO member allies.

All we are hearing on the news is Ukraine. Yet, here in America, what real Americans care about are gas prices they can't afford, inflation that goes up and up to where grocery bills are unaffordable, and they are very concerned about our out-of-control, open border.

Crime is out of control, yet Washington is completely disconnected and seems to care more about sending our sons and daughters to a potential war where they do not belong.

I urge my colleagues here in Congress, instead of working on a future COVID bill, spending billions of dollars on COVID that doesn't exist, let's care about our border and let's care about working to have energy independence to lower gas prices for Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about America in crisis, and it is crisis after crisis.

The American people can hardly get their feet underneath them. You see, after riots, the next thing that came was COVID, and then elections, and now more COVID mandates, masks, more COVID, and now, potentially, the thoughts of war.

But there is a lot more happening on top of that. We are in a real crisis in America, especially with American energy. You see, right now, the number one call I receive in my office from my constituents--and it is mainly the only thing they are calling about--is the price of gas.

The price of gas, the average right now, is $4.32. People calling my office are saying they can hardly afford to fill up their tank. They are not sure if they are going to be able to fill up their tank to take their kids to school, to be able to go to the grocery store and afford the high cost of food now. They are just not sure where this is going.

They also call and say they don't understand why the Biden administration, why Congress, why our Federal Government isn't doing anything to help Americans be able to pay for gas at the pump.

You see, it wasn't too long ago that we were energy independent in America. There was a different mindset in charge. There was a mindset of putting our country first, our tax dollars first, putting Americans first, and considering ramping up energy in America and growing energy in America instead of declining and killing energy in America.

But now, that seems to be the way of our government. It is hurting Americans, and people cannot afford it. This should not be a political issue. This is an issue for every single person that drives a car and truck.

Now, it seems to be the goal is to make every single American drive an electric vehicle. If that is the goal, there is a big problem here. It is not up to the government, the United States Government, to force people to buy an electric vehicle. It should be up to the United States Government to do things like take care of our national security, secure our border, help oil companies produce more oil to increase energy independence, increase natural gas production, continue to build more nuclear, to grow energy in America. But that doesn't seem to be the way.

No, we are looking at the third straight week in a row of over $100 a barrel of oil. Currently, it is at $112.12. This is a disaster.

In March 2020, President Trump directed the Department of Energy to purchase 30 million barrels to begin filling our strategic reserves. But President Biden announced in his State of the Union that he would once again tap the strategic reserves and release 30 million barrels of oil in a desperate attempt to reduce gas prices here at home.

Now, Biden is considering releasing even more. This follows an SPR release of 50 million barrels of oil in November 2021, which did nothing to prevent the spike in gas prices. And, no, it is not what is happening in Ukraine. This was happening before Ukraine.

The SPR is supposed to be used for national security emergencies and major weather events. These are our emergency oil supplies. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. It seems to be the continuing plan to reduce America into being dependent on foreign countries.

You see, the biggest problem started on day one when the Keystone XL pipeline was completely stopped. That would have supplied 830,000 barrels of oil from Canada to U.S. refineries. That would have helped Americans once that was finished. But, no, that was an executive order by President Biden to suspend it, to suspend all oil and gas leasing on Federal lands and waters. That was a continued America last energy plan.

While a Federal judge ruled the leasing bans to be illegal, the Biden administration has issued zero new leases on Federal lands. That is not helping Americans.

Another issue that happened in May 2021, President Biden removed sanctions against Nord Stream 2, which were previously put in place by former President Trump. In February 2022, President Biden reversed course and reimposed the Trump sanctions, noting the overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas.

President Biden's far-left socialist agenda, Build Back Better, was an effort to cripple domestic energy by increasing oil and gas production payments to 20 percent, increasing bonding and surety requirements to more than 15 times their current levels, imposing a new severance tax, and establishing new annual fees of $10,000 per mile for offshore pipelines.

President Biden's fiscal year 2022 budget request explicitly opposed funding the construction or maintenance of projects that would lower the cost of gas, diesel, or energy derived from fossil fuels.

Biden's Department of Energy has slow-walked liquefied natural gas exports that could reduce Europe's dependence on Russia.

These are all the things that have led to the increase of the price of gas at the pump that is hurting my constituents in my district in northwest Georgia. This is hurting Americans. None of these things have helped us.

Now, here is what we have to consider. We also have bigger problems. The Consumer Price Index, which is a key inflation index, hit a 40-year high in February. The CPI increased to 7.9 percent over the past 12 months, and this is inflation that happened before Russia invaded Ukraine. You can't blame Putin for that one. This is all happening right here at home.

Let's talk about inflation and how it is hurting Americans. Here is one thing that everyone can understand. Used cars and trucks are up 41.2 percent; 41.2 percent is unbelievable.

If you have been on vacation lately, you know that if you try to rent a car or truck, they are very hard to find.

Gasoline is up 38 percent.

Lodging away from home, going to a hotel while you are trying to go on vacation, or, say, people that are traveling for business, that is up 25.1 percent.

Now, if you are cooking at home and trying to save money making a meal

for your family, bacon is up 18.8 percent. Peanut butter, for those great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that moms and dads make for kids' lunches, is up 15.6 percent. Pork is up 14 percent.

Clothing is up. Dresses are up 13.5 percent.

Airline fees are up 12.7 percent.

The cost of a new vehicle is up 12.4 percent. If you are in the market for a truck, well, guess what? You will have a hard time getting one, or an SUV, because many of them are sitting on the lots, still waiting for microchips.

Eggs are up 11.4 percent. Coffee is up 10.5 percent. Baby food is up 8.4 percent.

Transportation services are up 6.6 percent.

Beer is up. You know there is a problem when the cost of beer is up 5.3 percent.

Now, 2021 went down as the worst year for inflation since 1981, but it looks to be 2022 is going to be worse. The problem for Americans is, it is not that anyone is increasing their wages. They are actually being hurt by all of these economic forces that are hitting American families hard.

Don't forget, the same people that were big Democrat voters, which are those people suffering with big student loans, these are people that are working their jobs, trying to pay their student loans, trying to afford their car payments. They can't afford gas at the pump, and no one seems to be helping them.

Inflation is a tax on everyone, and no one is exempt. That is what people are complaining about here in America, not what the people that run around Washington think. It is a lot different when you talk to people on the ground.

Now, another thing people are very upset about is what is happening at our border. We have a true border crisis, and it is time to start caring about it.

Listen, it is an insult to all border communities because President Biden visited Texas but continued to refuse to visit the southern border or other surrounding communities that his failed open border policies have endangered.

The real issue is, while President Biden is more interested in working with Iran, Russia, and China to go reenter an Iran nuclear deal, he doesn't seem to care about what is happening at the border.

According to Customs and Border Patrol data, there were 153,941 migrant encounters at our southern border in January. That is a 96 percent increase from the previous year. This was the second-worst January on record. Of the 153,941 illegal immigrants encountered at the border, the Biden administration released 62,573 of them into the United States.

This new data comes at a time when ICE deportations are down 70 percent from 2020, the fewest number of deportations in 5 years. This equates to an average of just 100 deportations a day, even as Border Patrol agents encountered up to 7,000 illegal immigrants daily.

But only 100 get deported? Why? You have to ask why.

Since Biden took office, over 2 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at our southern border. Biden has still not visited the border even during this historic crisis. It doesn't seem that President Biden even cares.

Border officials have estimated that nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants have escaped into the United States without being caught under President Biden. But we don't even know if that is the right number. That is just an estimate.

Out of 104,171 migrants issued notices to report by ICE between the end of March and the end of August 2021, 47,705 failed to report. They just don't bother showing up.

There were 10,763 arrests of migrants with criminal convictions in fiscal year 2021; that is up 2,438 from fiscal year 2020, and that is up 4,269 in fiscal year 2019.

But here is the real issue. Fentanyl is flowing across our borders. Seizures of fentanyl increased by 134 percent in fiscal year 2021 under President Biden's watch.

Now, fentanyl is the number one reported reason of cause of death for young people ages 18 to 45. What are we doing in our country when this deadly drug is flowing across our wide-open border that our President doesn't even seem to care about, that no one is interested in closing the border or securing the border?

How are we failing Americans and failing young people, where fentanyl that comes over from China is so easily flowing across the border? This is a disaster. It is a complete disaster.

Now, what I find absolutely mind-boggling is how here in Congress we passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus bill last week that was 2,741 pages, and we didn't even have 24 hours to read it. That is a complete failure to the American people and the American tax dollars who are the ones paying the $1.5 trillion for the omnibus bill.

There is not a company or a small business in the private sector that operates this way. But our Federal Government is reckless and out of control, and the American people are feeling the consequences. You just have to ask the question: Why? Why does Congress work this way? It is just not working. It is not working for the American people.

Now, this week we were addressed by President Zelenskyy and the crisis that the Ukrainian people are going through. It was heart- breaking to hear the stories he told, the video that he showed, the tragedies that we are hearing about over and over, but we also aren't given enough information.

Last week, Congress approved $13.6 billion to go to Ukraine. Now, this is after years and years of sending billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and funding all kinds of things in Ukraine. Who does Congress work for? I think that is the greatest question. What is the purpose of this institution where we take American taxpayers' dollars and send it to countries all over the world? We send money to all kinds of foreign countries and fund all kinds of things.

Now, one of the most fascinating stories that went on and on across the internet and news companies--you heard it on TV and saw it on social media everywhere--was this big discussion about biolabs. Now, I thought it was pretty fascinating, a lot of people were interested in it, but we were all told no, no, no, you can't talk about biolabs because that is fake news, that the United States doesn't fund biolabs in Ukraine--the United States wouldn't do that.

Well, come to find out, in fact, it is true. The same news companies and the same sources are telling us that it is not true that the United States funds biolabs--you could also look up their older news stories from years ago where, in fact, they were talking about the United States funding biolabs. So the misinformation going on is real and the American people deserve to know what they are paying for.

This comes on the heels of after 2 years--and this is just so tragic--that not only the United States but the entire world has been dealing with COVID-19. Now, it has been a true tragedy what has happened with COVID. Over 968,000 Americans have died--that is according to The New York Times today--over 6 million people have died worldwide. That is according to The New York Times today.

For the last 2 years, Americans have dealt with the consequences of U.S. funding these labs and funding the gain of function research. Now, it is something that we really have to recognize and we have to talk about, but our government did fund the gain of function research. We know that to be true through EcoHealth Alliance.

The gain of function research is what allowed the virus that is transmitted between bats to be turned into a virus--like a Dr. Frankenstein virus--that can be transmitted between humans. We have to ask the question: Why would the United States Government engage in funding something as horrific as that? How is that science? It is a good thing to ask these questions.

Now, here is what else is interesting. Just today Dr. Fauci, who happened to be the one to help fund the gain of function research, decided to come out and say that mask mandates should be brought back. This is at a time where we are finally getting rid of mask mandates. He is also recommending a fourth COVID vaccine shot.

Now, I don't know about you guys but many of us were vaccinated as kids against polio, we had our MMR, and I have never seen the CDC coming out,

saying, oh, you got to get your second polio shot, you got to get your third, you got to get your fourth, and this may continue to keep going.

I think the question we all should ask is: When does it stop and when are enough vaccines enough? We don't have that question because now Congress is discussing and debating a future COVID bill, an emergency bill. This is a future COVID bill to fund future variants and future vaccines. And not only future vaccines for the United States, but future vaccines for the entire world because somehow the United States is responsible for vaccinating the world against future COVID variants that we haven't even seen yet.

And somehow Congress thinks that we should do emergency funding, possibly up to $22 billion to study and prepare for future COVID variants and future COVID vaccines, and as many things as we need to do, but yet we aren't seeing them. How is that necessary to have emergency funding at $22 billion to fund something that we don't know is going to happen and shouldn't happen and would never have happened without the U.S.-funded gain of function research to the Wuhan lab? I think these are questions worth asking.

Now, another thing I would like to point out is President Trump had asked Congress for $22 billion to build a wall down at the southern border. Imagine if Congress had found it important or recognized the important need to go ahead and fund $22 billion back in 2017 or 2018, that wall would have been built.

I can tell you right now, I don't think we would be seeing and hearing about the numbers of illegal immigrants coming across our border and deadly fentanyl coming across like this. Imagine if Congress had taken seriously border security under President Trump and funded that $22 billion then that now Congress is considering funding for future COVID that we don't even have yet. These are good questions to ask.

These are the kind of questions that the regular American people ask, not the ones that live here in the Washington D.C. bubble; they are very disconnected here with real America.

Now, this is the thing that I just find so amazing. As we consider funding future COVID and future COVID vaccines, we have people at home that are sick and tired of their children being masked in school. They do not want to be forced to take a vaccine that they feel they should have the ability to decide about their own health, if they want to take it or not.

We are still trying to get back on track with not having to wear masks on airplanes, not having to send our kids to school to be masked, and not have to be shut down anymore. We have not recovered yet from the COVID crisis of the past 2 years. But, no, we have to consider more future COVID variants and future vaccines, and vaccinating the world against future COVID everything.

It never seems to stop, it is crisis after crisis. Unfortunately, a U.S.-funded gain of function research in a U.S.-funded lab in China gave birth to COVID-19 that has hurt the entire world.

Here is what we need to discuss. We need to ask the question: What is happening in these U.S.-funded labs? And we need to be willing to talk about it. We also need to ask the questions about the VAERS statistics. What if there are vaccine injuries? What if there are vaccine deaths?

It is okay to ask these questions because these may have affected people's lives, and that is important to do, right? But when we are talking about biolabs, we do know for a fact that the U.S. has funded the contracts not only to take over the labs, reconstruct them, but also build them. This goes through grants through private companies at millions and millions of dollars.

Now, what if these biolabs are handling very dangerous pathogens that may lead to the deaths in people in the areas. There are reports of possibly deadly pathogens escaping these biolabs in places like Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, that is responsible for killing people. What if that is true? I think these are questions that we should ask because no American citizen wants to be held morally and ethically responsible, and the U.S. Government should not be funding something that is killing people in a country that is not even our own, let alone here at home.

These are worthy questions. For that reason, because it has become such an issue and because it upsets so many people that I talk to constantly, I have introduced a bill to stop taxpayer funding for bioweapons and eliminate these programs from the Federal Government because no government should be creating bioweapons. That is evil and wrong.

Now, the name of this bill is the Stopping the Spread of Taxpayer- Funded Bioweapons Act. What if strange outbreaks surrounding U.S.- funded biolabs are the result of these labs and the work that is taking place in them? What if these labs are creating viruses just like COVID- 19?

This is something that all of us should be against. That is why it would be so important to pass this bill and make sure that our United States Government is never funding anything deadly and never funding something like COVID-19. These are consequences that we cannot take and we should not handle and we should not ever consider.

Now, as we go further, we have a lot of issues to consider. We have an economy that is definitely in trouble. We have hyperinflation and gas prices out of control. We are looking at what is going to happen in Ukraine with Russia and what is going to happen in the world with all these sanctions. There are some issues to consider.

Now, the value of our dollar is extremely important. The value of our dollar affects our entire economy. If the value of our dollar were to go down suddenly, that would affect all Americans. Right now we are in a critical time where Saudi Arabia is discussing with China--talking to them about possibly switching from the petrodollar to trading with China's currency.

We have sanctioned Russia. And as Russia is looking at taking Ukraine and they are invading Ukraine and killing people in Ukraine, Russia has turned to China. Just recently Russia made a $117.5 billion deal with President Xi of China. That deal is to sell oil and gas to China.

Now with sanctions tightening on Putin and Russia, will we see Russia turn to China and switch to China's currency? What if Russia and Saudi Arabia switch from the dollar to China's currency? Then think further, what happens if countries like Venezuela or Cuba or any other country turns to China's currency?

If we go into a situation where we have two world competing currencies, the dollar is going to be hit very hard, and that is going to hurt America's economy, that is going to hurt every single one of us. If we think we are suffering under high inflation right now and high gas prices, well, we haven't seen anything yet. This is a dangerous situation and these are the things that I don't hear being talked about here in Congress very much.

These are not the things that our leaders are considering when they are beating the drums of war--wanting to go in and go to war with nuclear Russia. These are not the things that are being considered for our children and for our country's future, but these are the most important things they should be considering. Unfortunately, they are not.

Now, what we all should be doing is encouraging President Zelenskyy and President Putin to get to the negotiating table and stop people from being killed. That should be the most important thing we care about.

Sanctions are being put in place, and we should be considering what are going to be the real human costs when we are stopping countries from trading very important products like grain, fertilizer, and energy because it may be a punishment to those governments, but the real punishment is to the people in other countries and our own.

So my questions for our Congress--our United States Congress--are: Which country do we honestly serve? Which country do we honestly care about? And which people do we care about?

Because this body right here is funded by the American people and their hard-earned tax dollars, and the American people and their hard- earned tax dollars are the people we should consider first.

It is the United States of America we should consider first. It is the United

States currency, the dollar, we should consider first, and it is the United States economy we should consider first, our small businesses, our big businesses, and our border that should matter.

Now, Mr. Speaker, tonight, I will finish with this: I think it is important for the United States Congress to talk more, to slow down in our decisions, to read our bills--every single one of us has the time to read them--and for every single one of us to vote in person--not by proxy--and not simply by saying ``yea'' or ``nay''.

So, Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for this time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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