Floor Statements

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 169 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Stated against:

Mr. Speaker, gasoline is nearly $4 a gallon. Meanwhile, the administration seems to have a deliberate crusade against the U.S. energy industry and domestic energy independence.

Even before Steven Chu became Energy Secretary he said: ``Somehow we have to figure out a way to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.''

Well, that plan is working.

The administration is stonewalling the safe development of a Canadian pipeline to my district in southeast Texas that will send crude oil and jobs to American refineries. The administration is using the out-of- control EPA to implement questionable scientific regulations that hammer domestic energy capability. This includes the expensive regulations of CO2 and the EPA attempt to defy the will of Congress by implementing cap-and-trade regulations.

The offshore drilling moratorium by the administration is nonsense. A court ordered the moratorium lifted. Now that same court has held the administration in contempt for not in fact lifting that moratorium.

Each of these is evidence that the administration is at war with domestic energy and the will of the American people. Meanwhile, gasoline prices are getting near those in Europe.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the pirates are back. These are not the Blackbeard, eye-patched, hook-for-a-hand, peg-legged kind of pirates from the Hollywood movies. The modern-day pirates are skilled, rich, violent, armed with automatic weapons, and are driven by a business that is generating up to $7 billion a year.

My constituents from Texas, Bill Rouse and his wife Judy, have navigated the oceans for years. Recently, they and another group of international navigators and sailors decided that Somalia and the Somalian pirates had made the seas too dangerous to sail in that region, forcing them to transport their ships and boats by barges to safer ports. Bill said that we cannot allow a bunch of thugs to take an entire ocean away from the world. And that is exactly what these pirates are trying do. They have taken control of parts of the ocean and are trying to mock the most powerful nations on Earth, including ours.

Days before the ill-fated American ship Quest left for their journey, Bill asked Scott Adam to join them in transporting their boats. Adam, the skipper, said of the Quest, the Quest was circumnavigating the globe, and it was a lifelong quest. And they continued on their trip, although it turned out to be doomed, in the Indian Ocean. Just a week after Scott Adam and three other Americans were captured, they were executed pirate-style after Somali pirates captured the ship the Quest.

Pirates have also hijacked and kidnapped a Danish family. Bill Rouse has also met with these people on this doomed ship. This family, including small children, is now on the Somali mainland, still held hostage. Their captors have arrogantly warned that any military effort to save them will result in their immediate execution.

Bill has told me of other stories about the tight-knit community of people sailing in that region from all over the world. And they have been forced off of the sea because of the pirates. There are not enough resources to respond to these constant threats; and these pirates not only kidnap, murder, and hold for ransom small boat owners, but attack freighters and other commercial vessels as well.

In just 2010, Somali pirates hijacked 53 ships and held a total of 1,100 hostages for ransom; and pirate attacks have increased dramatically in recent months. Here is a drawing of the recent attacks of the pirates in the Indian Ocean. The red represents all of the pirate attacks between March of 2009 up until October of 2010. But the blue, which you see just as much of, represents the attacks by pirates in the Indian Ocean in just the last 4 months.

Piracy is a growing business because nations pay the ransom. Every dollar paid in ransom is helping the pirates of the seas finance their cause, expand their reach, and their thirst is even getting greater for more bounty and loot. Despite an increased international naval presence, the Somalian pirates are getting bolder, and they are getting more violent.

America has been dealing with the threat of pirates since the days of our Founding Fathers, over 200 years ago. During the youngest years of America, the Barbary states would blackmail American ships and the United States by demanding money in return for the safety of U.S. ships that crossed the Mediterranean Sea. For years, the United States and European governments paid the humiliating tribute to protect the ships, but then in 1801 the Barbary pirates felt the wrath of the United States when Thomas Jefferson sent the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps to take care of business with the Barbary pirates.

This was the most famous action of the marines during this time. And the phrase, ``from the shores of Tripoli,'' has been immortalized in the marine hymn. Jefferson sent a clear message to the Barbary states and their pirates: don't mess with the United States. And they didn't for 200 years. The Somalian pirates should study a little American history. If they would, they'd find out that there will be a day of reckoning that will eventually come to them and their evil ways. Thomas Jefferson destroyed them. We will see what happens now.

Our Constitution gives us the authority in article I, section 8: ``To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas.'' These ocean lines are essential to American commerce and travel, and we must do everything in our power to stop the pirates off the Somalian coast. These pirates of the seas must find out that if they continue to mess with the United States, they will find themselves in a deja vu of 1801. And they, like the pirates before them, will disappear in the ash heap of history.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the lone survivor, the last doughboy of World War I, Frank Buckles, has died at the age of 110. This photograph of Frank Buckles was taken when he was 16 years of age. He lied to numerous recruiters so he could join the United States Army and go ``over there'' in World War I. He served in the Ambulance Corps, rescuing other doughboys who had been wounded in Europe. He came back home to America.

During World War II, he was in the Merchant Marines, Merchant Seamen, and he was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines. He was held as a prisoner of war for 3\1/2\ years.

Later, Frank moved to West Virginia, and he drove his tractor until he was well into his hundreds. This is a photograph taken of him when he was 109 years of age. It was taken not far from here on The D.C. Mall because, you see, it was Frank's wish toward the end of his life that we, as Members of Congress, authorize the building of a memorial to all of the doughboys who served in World War I, all 4 million of them who have all died; 116,000 of them were killed in World War I.

Mr. Speaker, we have memorials for Vietnam, World War II, and Korea on The Mall, but we don't have a memorial for all of those who served in World War I. We have a memorial, and this is a photograph of it, for the folks that lived here in D.C. and served in World War I, but we don't have a memorial for all that served.

So I have filed, today, legislation on behalf of Frank Buckles and all those other doughboys that we authorize the building of a memorial on The Mall for those who served in World War I, those doughboys. It is time for Congress to do something for those young men and women who served.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of foreign criminals in the United States prisons. Up to 19 percent of our jails house criminal aliens. These do not include immigration violations either. They have been convicted of everything from rape, robbery and murder. Then, after they serve their sentence, when we try to deport them, many of their native countries won't take them back.

The number of foreign criminals in this situation is staggering. There are over 140,000 of these outlaws that have been sent home but won't go back. So what do we do? By law they get a get-out-of-jail-free card to live in the United States because we cannot permanently keep these misfits in jail.

The worst offending countries include Cuba, China, India, Jamaica and Pakistan. Maybe we should stop foreign aid altogether or refuse to issue legal visas to these countries that refuse to take back their criminals. There must be unpleasant consequences for countries that refuse to take their convicted nationals back home.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the unique history of the great state of Texas.

Today, March 2, marks Texas Independence Day.

On this day, 175 years ago, Texas declared its independence from Mexico and its dictator, Santa Anna, the 19th century Muammar Gadhafi.

In 1836, in the small farm village of Washington-on-the-Brazos, 54 Texians, as they called themselves in those days, gathered to do something bold and courageous: Sign the Texas Declaration of Independence and once and for all ``declare that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign, and independent republic.''

As these determined delegates met to declare independence, Santa Anna and 6,000 enemy troops were marching on an old beat-up Spanish mission that we now call the Alamo, where Texas defenders stood defiant, stood determined.

They were led by a 27-year-old lawyer by the name of William Barrett Travis.

The Alamo and its 186 Texans were all that stood between the invaders and the people of Texas.

And behind the cold, dark, damp walls of that Alamo, Commander William Barrett Travis sent the following letter to Texas requesting aid.

Here is what this appeal said in part: ``To all the people of Texas and Americans throughout the world, I am besieged by a thousand or more of the enemy under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannon fire for over 24 hours, but I have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded surrender at its discretion; otherwise the fort will be put to the sword. I have answered that demand with a cannon shot, and the flag still waves proudly over the wall. I shall never surrender or retreat. I call upon you in the name of liberty and patriotism and everything dear to our character to come to our aid with all dispatch. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself for as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his honor and that of his country. Victory or death.''--William Barrett Travis, Colonel, Texas Army.

After 13 days of glory at the Alamo, Commander Travis and his men sacrificed their lives on the altar of freedom March 6, 1836.

However, those lives would not be lost in vain. Their determination did pay off, and because heroes like Travis, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie held out so long, Santa Anna's forces took such great losses they became battered and demoralized.

As Travis said, ``Victory will cost them more dearly than defeat.''

The Alamo defenders were from every State and 13 foreign countries.

They were black, brown, and white. Their ages were 16 through 67, and they were all volunteers.

They were mavericks, revolutionaries, farmers, shopkeepers, and freedom fighters; and

they came together to fight for something they believed in: freedom and independence.

General Sam Houston, in turn, had the time he needed to devise a strategy to rally other Texas volunteers to ultimately defeat Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

The rest is Texas history.

The war was over, and the Lone Star flag was visible all across the broad, bold, brazen plains of Texas.

Texas remained a nation for 9 years and claimed land that now includes part of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, even up to the Canadian border.

In 1845, Texas was admitted to the Union by only one vote when a Louisiana Senator changed his mind.

By Treaty with the United States, Texas may divide into five States, and the Texas flag is to fly even with the U.S. flag and not below it.

Freedom has a cost. It always does. It always will.

And as we pause to remember those who lost their lives so that Texas could be a free Nation, we cannot forget those Americans that are currently fighting in lands across the seas for the United States' continued freedom and liberty today.

Texas Independence Day is a day of pride and reflection in the Lone Star State.

It is a day we remember to pay tribute to heroes like William Barrett Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Jim Bonham, Sam Houston, and the rest of the volunteers who fought the evil tyrant and terrorist Saint Anna. It was an effort to make Texas free, and that effort was successful.

My first grandson is named Barrett Houston in honor of William Barrett Travis and General Sam Houston.

So, today, we remember that Texas was a glorious nation once and won freedom and independence because some fierce volunteers fought to the death for liberty over tyranny.

On this Texas Independence Day, let us not forget those brave men and women in our military that are fighting to preserve and uphold our freedom from a new world threat of terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Congress and the country will join in celebrating this Texas Independence Day.

In Colonel Travis' final letter and appeal for aid, he signed off with three words that I leave with you now: ``God and Texas.'' ``God and Texas'' and the rest, as they say, is Texas history.

And that's just the way it is, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, ``Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes.''

Ma and Pa Joad did everything they could to save their farm from slipping away into the dust bowl, but ultimately they lost to a force far greater than any effort they could muster.

Mr. Speaker, though this is just one line ripped from the pages of ``The Grapes of Wrath,'' farmers and ranchers today are facing a modern day dust storm--the wrath of the EPA. Just when you think you've heard it all, bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. come up with some hair-brained idea that leaves you scratching your head in wonderment.

The Environmental Protection Agency has apparently run out of things to regulate and tax so they are considering new guidelines for regulating ``particulate matter emissions''--more commonly known to you and me as ``dust.''

Now, I know what you are thinking, this just cannot be true. What kind of crazy scheme is this?

Well, the EPA ``Dust Police'' would specifically regulate farm dust. Farmers would be required to have dust collectors on their harvesters, planters, combines, and haying equipment.

But my personal favorite is the crackdown on dust created from driving a pickup truck down a dirt or gravel road. I am not making this up. The Federal Government is considering farm dust regulations that are caused from driving on a dirt road.

So I thought, well, maybe this is just some backdoor attempt to rid America of our majestic four-wheel-drive pickups that liberals loathe so much and find some way to force these battery-operated toy cars on the rest of us.

But the new proposals don't just apply to dust created from driving. No, they are fair and they are balanced in their overreaching authority. Farmers and ranchers are going to have to somehow limit the dust created by livestock on their property as well.

So, say Bessie the cow kicks up too much dust running over to your pickup truck at feeding time. The EPA is going to fine you for Bessie's misconduct. You need to move your cattle to another pasture during the daytime? Well, don't do it on a dry day because they may kick up too much dust.

The Dust Police solution is to manage dusty dirt roads with water, or--get this--pave them with asphalt. Now, this is another can of worms.

Every farmer and rancher will have the ``Water Police'' raining down on them by the time the first drop hits the dirt. I would think EPA would be aware of the fact that we already have a shortage of water on ranches and farms in our country. But make no matter to them, they still want you to control it.

And what about this paving the asphalt over these roads? Really, they can't be serious. Aside from the sheer magnitude of this undertaking, the idea is completely unfeasible and it's cost prohibitive.

The absurdity of these types of Federal regulations is what makes normal Americans all across our country frustrated with Washington,

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday was just a normal day in Houston, Texas. Seven families left their babies at Jackie's Childcare, and went along to work just as they did every day.

A daycare is supposed to be a place where parents trust caregivers with the safety of their kids. After all, that is what they are supposed to do--keep children safe. The owner, however, Jessica Tata, left the children by themselves and carelessly drove off to Target. Meanwhile, the pot of oil she had left on the electric stove caught fire, and those seven babies burned in a massive fire.

Elizabeth Kojah, Kendyll Stradford, Elias Castillo, and Shomari Dickerson all burned to death. They were all under the age of 3.

It took several days for the authorities to get their act together to file charges. Meanwhile, Tata was able to flee to Nigeria. As the Good Book says: ``The guilty fleeth when no one pursueth.''

There should be no question in any person's mind that Jessica Tata should be held responsible for this crime. So the long arm of the law needs to capture her and return her to Texas and let a jury decide what to do with that baby killer--because justice is what we do.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the border war continues, and there is no end in sight. This week, President Calderon of Mexico is coming back to Washington D.C. He is going to meet with our President. It will be interesting to see if he continues to blame America for his problems.

You remember the last time he was here, he stood here on the House floor and dressed us down as Members of the United States House of Representatives, blaming us for his problems, blaming us for the corruption, blaming us for the drugs that are in Mexico, blaming us for the violence in Mexico, blaming the folks in Arizona for trying to protect their own border. I wonder if he will continue the blame game.

The problem is the situation is worse, not only on the border, but in Mexico. Corruption along the border with Mexican law enforcement continues, even though the Mexican military is doing a fairly good job of reining in the drug cartels.

And he blames the United States for the guns that are in Mexico. You must remember, Mr. Speaker, just some of the guns that go to Mexico are from the United States. Guns from all over the world end up in Mexico. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of those is Mexico doesn't protect its borders any better than we do.

People throughout the world know if you can get to Mexico by any means, whether you want to bring contraband, drugs, guns or people, you can eventually get into the United States. Mexico, like the United States, doesn't have operational control of the mutual border between the United States.

Even the General Accountability Office, who are the people who keep up with statistics, made this report recently, that on the United States border with Mexico, only 44 percent of the border is under the control of the United States and only 15 percent is airtight.

So who controls the other 56 percent of the U.S. border with Mexico? If it's not the United States, it's not Mexico, who controls it? We don't know. Probably the outlaws, the drug cartels. They are the ones that have operational control of both sides of the border because the situation on the border continues to get worse.

Mexico doesn't protect its border from people going into Mexico from any direction, and the United States doesn't protect its border adequately to keep drugs and violence from coming into the United States.

Unfortunately, this is continuing to get worse. Last year, 65 Americans were killed in Mexico, and to my knowledge, none of those cases was solved. You see, Mexico has a terrible record of solving crimes not only against Americans, but against Mexican nationals. Over 3,000 people were killed in Juarez last year. That's more people than were killed in Afghanistan last year. It is a serious, violent situation.

And will it continue to come across the border? Some say, oh, it won't come to America. Let me give you one statistic. The 16 border counties in

Texas that border Mexico, on any given day, about 35 percent to 40 percent of the people they have in their jails are foreign nationals charged with crimes in the United States. These are not immigration violations. These are crimes, some of them violent crimes--35 percent to 40 percent. So the crime is already pouring over because people can go back and forth across the U.S.-Mexican border at will because there are parts of the border that no one controls.

In fact, the situation is so bad this year that the Texas Department of Public Safety today has made a statement telling young people about spring break. And here is what they say: ``Various crime problems exist in many popular resort areas of Mexico such as Acapulco and Cancun, and crimes against U.S. citizens often go unpunished.''

``The safety message is simple: avoid traveling to Mexico during spring break and stay alive.'' So, we are even being warned not to let your kids go to Mexico during spring break because it is not safe.

So what do we do about this? Well, there was raids recently this week because of an ICE agent that was killed in Mexico. Raids were made in the United States, and 676 drug cartel members were arrested, $12 million was seized, lots of drugs and lots of guns. And it's a point that we need to understand as citizens, that the drug cartels operate in Mexico, but they operate in the United States as well. They bring those drugs to other gang members throughout the cities of America, and they sell those wares here in the United States. So the crime does occur on both sides of the border. And we need to understand that.

It is important that we deal in reality and understand that the border is a war zone. A Texas Ranger once told me, he said, ``Congressman Poe, after dark on the Texas-Mexican border, it gets western.'' Those days need to end. We need to put the National Guard on the border and secure the border. It will protect the United States and Mexico. And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, it has been 5 months since David Hartley was brutally murdered by pirates on

Falcon Lake. His body remains missing, and those responsible for this border murder remain at large.

Shamefully, the only American peace officer apparently still working on this case is Sheriff Sigi Gonzalez of Zapata County. He has identified four of the seven shooters as Zeta Cartel members.

At least there's still somebody on the case.

The local sheriffs cannot do the job that they are supposed to do of protecting their counties while doing the Federal Government's job of protecting the border as well. Sixty-five Americans were murdered in Mexico last year, and not one case has been solved. Unfortunately, some of the Mexican border law enforcement personnel are in cahoots with the drug cartels. That relationship breeds incompetence and corruption.

Until the FBI, the State Department and Homeland Security get fully engaged in the murders of Americans in Mexico, it will be the responsibility of local sheriffs to keep the peace on the border.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, we have come to the end of a long chapter in American history. The lone U.S. survivor of World War I, Frank Buckles, has died at the incredible age of 110.

At 16, Frank Buckles lied about his age so he could join the Army in 1917 and go ``over there'' to fight for the cause of America. He drove an ambulance in World War I in Europe. During World War II, Buckles was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines and held as a prisoner of war for 3 years. Until recently, Buckles continued to drive his tractor on his farm in West Virginia.

It was Buckles' passion to have a memorial built on the Capital Mall to honor all those doughboys that served in the great World War I. We have memorials for the other three major wars of the last century, but not one for World War I.

I met Corporal Buckles when we introduced this legislation that is named in his honor. It is time we build such a memorial, and it is time we also allow Frank Buckles to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. History must remember this last patriot of World War I and the 4 million other Americans that served.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, last November, the Helsinki Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe extended an invitation to the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra and a representative from the current Thai government to present testimony at a briefing on the alleged human rights violations that took place in Thailand back in March 2010 at a legal demonstration resulting in the deaths of at least 80 Thai civilians and the imprisonment of at least 350 other civilians.

Unfortunately, this briefing was postponed until the new Congress convened and a new commission chairman was appointed. Now that the new Congress is here, I hope the Helsinki Commission will re-issue the invitations. I am personally traveling to Thailand next week with my colleague Congressman Dana Rohrabacher from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to look into the extent of the alleged human rights violations, including the detainment of over 350 demonstrators by the current Thai government.

It is our intention to meet with representatives from the Thai Government and with opposition leaders to study the current situation. But it is clear that in the wake of the worst violence in decades, the Thai Government needs to hold free and fair elections.

With the recent uprising in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East and Asia by individuals who demand their freedom, Congress needs to be clear that it stands for the basic freedoms and rights of people around the world.

Mr. Speaker, last year the military received over 3,000 reports of sexual assault involving other members in the service. This week, 17 veterans are saying that the military ignored their cases of sexual assault while they were on active duty. These accusations have occurred in all branches of the military.

The most recent complaint came from a woman who says she was drugged and gang raped by two fellow members of the Navy. This ended her career. Another rape victim reported the crime to the Marines, and she was ordered not to tell anyone, and to respect the alleged rapist, who was of a higher rank.

The perpetrators of rape in the military must be held accountable for their misdeeds, and victims should be respected and validated by the military. The United States has the world's finest military personnel, and we must support all of them, including victims of crime.

And that's just the way it is.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

The issue is, is this constitutional? It's not whether it's a great idea, whether an individual mandate is going to save us all. The issue is whether it's constitutional. Now I do not believe the Constitution gives the Federal Government the authority to force an American to buy anything, whether

it's health care insurance, whether it's a car, or whether it's a box of doughnuts. And if we allow the Congress to go in and force Americans to buy a product or be punished by paying a fee which is a fine, and if you don't pay the fine, you could be prosecuted under the IRS code and go to prison, then where does it stop? Where does Congress then stop its nonsense of forcing Americans to buy products all in the name of saving us all?

This portion is unconstitutional. We should not force Americans to buy any product. And we should defund the individual mandate for the simple reason it's unconstitutional. Let's talk about that issue in this discussion and debate on the House floor.

Madam Chairwoman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairwoman, I understand a point of order is reserved by the other side.

This amendment to the CR is very simple. The State of Arizona has implemented laws in its State to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the State. The United States Federal Government, in all of its awesome power, has jumped in and sued the State of Arizona at taxpayers' expense, preventing them from enforcing the rule of law in their own State.

The Federal Government doesn't enforce the rule of law on the borders. Just recently, the GAO has reported that only 44 percent of the border is secure. That means somebody else controls the other 56 percent of the southern border, and it is not the United States of America. Arizona is trying to protect its people. The Federal Government won't protect the border, but yet it sues the State of Arizona.

This legislation will prohibit the Federal Government from using its resources and any money to implement the lawsuit against the United States of America v. The State of Arizona and Janice Brewer, the Governor thereof.

It's a very simple amendment.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter).

This issue is an issue of public safety, which is the first obligation of the Federal Government, to protect the people, to protect the homeland. And that is why it's important the Federal Government get out of the way of the State of Arizona trying to protect the good citizens there in Arizona from the drug cartels that are coming into their State.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I wish to speak on the point of order.

Madam Chair, the law does not legislate. In fact, it prohibits legislation. All it does is tell the Department of Justice they can't spend any money on this lawsuit.

I would accept the ruling of the Chair.