Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about how children feel about masks.

You see, while they are watching television, seeing Super Bowl games where adults are filling stadiums without masks and enjoying themselves, and while they see concerts happen, they see people go to work, they see adults going many places all over this country without masks, they are forced to wear a mask every single day at school, and it is wrong. Actually, it is child abuse.

Now, I know that sounds like strong words, but it really is because children are not at risk of COVID-19. As a matter of fact, children are at the lowest risk.

Do you know what is harmful to children? Having their faces covered all day long at school, not being able to see each other's faces; not being able to see their teachers' faces; and not being able to learn properly speech, emotions, having that connection, seeing each other's faces, and learning from adults seeing each other's faces.

Now, while Democrats are going on with the mask for thee and not for me, kids have had enough. And they are going to be future voters. They are sick and tired of being forced to wear a mask. It needs to end. Masking children is child abuse.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to another bill that puts China first and America last. Instead of focusing on a bill that is almost 3,000 pages worth $325 billion in spending, estimated, that doesn't really help America. It is going to give $8 billion to the UN Climate Fund and mentions coral reefs 383 times.

What Congress should be doing is working on a budget that will fund our government, since we are running out of money in just a few weeks. What Congress should be doing is doing something about the fentanyl that is coming from China that is killing young people. It is now the number one cause of death in Americans from 18 to 45, not COVID-19.

What Congress should be doing is funding a wall, building a wall, protecting our border, and deporting illegal aliens who are stealing American jobs. That is what we should be doing to help the American worker. But instead, we are debating a bill that is going to fund climate change and the Green New Deal and help the coral reefs. This isn't what Americans care about.

We all should be voting ``no'' and doing a better job.

Madam Speaker, maybe Mr. Perry and I can discuss together and maybe he can help me with some things. I am new to Congress. I am a freshman Member of Congress. I have been pretty shocked.

I thought Congress' role was to create a budget for the United States for our government, and we are about to run out of money in just a few weeks. The 117th Congress hasn't produced a budget to keep the government open. It is appalling to me as a business owner that we are even in this situation.

Private businesses go out of business when we are not able to produce a budget that makes a profit to be able to pay our employees, to be able to buy our materials and continue. That is something I am struggling with.

Something I am also struggling with, Mr. Perry, is that I heard the Democrats present a bill today that they are very much wanting to pass, what is called the America COMPETES Act, having to do with our American jobs and economy in relation to China.

But here is the real trouble for me, and this is where I struggle, American jobs are so important, but yet our border is wide open and being invaded every single day. I just can't comprehend why Congress doesn't pass legislation and write into law that illegal aliens should be deported because illegal aliens are competing with American jobs. I find that to be a major problem, especially being in the construction industry where we have to employ legal Americans to do these jobs.

That doesn't seem to be the case, and maybe you can help me out here.

Madam Speaker, absolutely. Then we learned yesterday that Border Patrol agents are completely demoralized; that they are not even capable of doing the job that they were hired to do, that our United States Government hired them to do because their authorities are not allowing them to do it.

They are not able to deport illegal aliens so that our American people can have jobs. No. Our American people are having to compete with them. But even worse what we learned is about fentanyl. Fentanyl coming from China. That is what bothered me when I was listening today when the Democrats debated this bill with us. Only in this COMPETES Act bill it mentioned fentanyl only 10 times.

Yet, it is Chinese fentanyl coming from Communist China that is killing young people. It is the number one cause of death with Americans age 18 to 45. That is a tragedy, but yet we have been controlled by COVID-19. Children in schools are forced to wear masks; people are told they have to take vaccines. It is totally out of control, but yet it is fentanyl from China.

Here is something else. Maybe Mr. Perry can help me out with this since I am new here. Why doesn't the Joe Biden administration--why don't the Democrats care about doing something about fentanyl, a horrible poison coming in from China, but yet they care more about coral reefs?

Madam Speaker, I am very excited to announce H. Res. 872, which has bipartisanship. The entire Georgia delegation has signed on congratulating the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team for winning the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association College Football Playoff National Championship. Go Dawgs.

We are also excited, and I am honored to have everyone's signature on this House resolution honoring the University of Georgia and their great championship win this year in 2022 and Coach Kirby Smart for leading the team to victory this year.

We just want to continue to share our excitement in Georgia, congratulating the University of Georgia.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor two of my constituents who recently celebrated 50 years of marriage on December 5, 2021. Ron and Jane Mckelvy of Ringgold, Georgia, should be lauded for the example they have set for their children, community, and country. I salute two true partners in life. May God give them both many years of joy and continued happiness together.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot about text messages. I would like the Democrats and the people on the January 6th Committee to produce their text messages, Mr. Speaker, denouncing antifa, BLM riots that raged across American cities for a year. I would love to read those.

But instead, we saw Democrats encourage, incite, and continue to call these riots peaceful. And then when they got arrested and put in jail, they bailed them out so they could go out and riot some more.

I rise in opposition to this resolution to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress because it is being held by nothing but a kangaroo court.

Congress' job is to make laws, not enforce them. That is the role of the executive and the judicial branch of this government, but somehow the communists here in charge have forgotten--or, no, not forgotten-- are purposely abusing the Constitution and what this body of Congress is supposed to do.

You see, when we go to this level to the point where we are forgetting and abusing what our power is, then the American people will trust us no more. And that is exactly what the January 6th Committee is doing.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Islamophobia bill. One thing that seems to be missing from this bill is the definition of Islamophobia. What this bill does is it sets up, through the State Department, an envoy to monitor and combat acts of Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occur in foreign countries. This is about Islamophobia in foreign countries and the State Department monitoring and combating these acts. This is what we need to talk about. What does that exactly mean?

If we pass this resolution, does that mean our State Department is going to be monitoring how Israel responds when rockets are being fired from Hamas into Israel? If they defend themselves, does that mean the State Department is going to combat their actions because it will be considered Islamophobic? More questions need to be asked.

In Europe, there are no-go zones with high crime statistics. As a matter of fact, rape is a modern occurrence that happens all the time in these no-go zones. So if women are raped by Muslims in no-go zones and they want to file charges against them, is our State Department going to be monitoring those trials and then combating these women's defense because they are claiming it is Islamophobic because Muslim men raped them and that becomes part of the conversation?

What exactly does this mean, and why is our State Department taking this on? It shouldn't be. As a matter of fact, this is a bill that we should not be debating. This is a bill we should not be voting on because the United States State Department doesn't need to be monitoring and combating Islamophobia when it is not even defined in the bill for foreign countries; not the United States of America.

I have heard a lot of conversation from my colleagues across the aisle about Islamophobia in America, which we completely are against hate of any kind against anyone. And that is why we have laws against such hateful crimes and actions. But monitoring what is happening in foreign countries, which the State Department does, doesn't mean that it needs to combat Islamophobia when it is not even defined in the bill.

This is a vote for every single person in Congress that should be ``no'' because this is an open door with no end to the book of where this can go for the United States of America, and this is a role that we should not be engaging in.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the CR. The American people are $29 trillion in debt, thanks to Congress. And this Congress wants to borrow more money and more time to figure out how to run the government and how to pay for it. That is an outrage to the American people.

You want to talk about courage and responsibility? Do you know what courage and responsibility is?

It is learning how to manage the people's money. The people work hard every single day. They have to pay the taxes. And then they have to trust this House, this body, and the Senate to create a budget, but every single time, it is the budget that puts them further and further in debt.

It is the audacity of Congress to borrow more money and not be able to come up with a budget that makes sense and that we can pay for.

What an outrage. What an irresponsibility. That isn't courage. That is not responsibility. That is out-of-control behavior that this Congress needs to rein in. This government should be shut down. You want to know why it should be shut down? Because the people in here cannot control themselves. The people in here do not understand how to balance a checkbook. And the people in here do not deserve the responsibility on how to spend the American people's money.

Madam Speaker, $29 trillion. Shut it down. Do not pass the CR. Shut it down.

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

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

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

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

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

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