Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, is guaranteeing up to $321 billion in loans to bail out European Union countries, like Greece, Portugal and Spain. That means American taxpayers will be on the hook for billions of dollars for these unsecured loans. We're the IMF's largest contributor.

Also, the European Union was formed to compete economically with the United States. Now it's crashing down like a socialist stack of cards. So U.S. taxpayers are going to pay to support our international competitor--the EU.

Why should American taxpayers bail out Europe's big pensions--and their government-run health care? Greece is in the EU and it's the EU's responsibility, not ours.

I don't see the IMF coming to the rescue of California and New Jersey. Their economies are bigger than Greece's and they are in financial chaos as well.

Mr. Speaker, the American taxpayer is tapped out. We have 10 percent unemployment. We don't have the money to bail out Greece. It's time Uncle Sam quit being the ATM for the rest of the world, stop spending money we don't have, and stop the bailout nonsense.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1299, supporting the goals and ideals of Peace Officers Memorial Day. Every year the President issues a proclamation naming May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Of course, in the days leading up to May 15, thousands of peace officers and their families come to Washington, D.C. They come here to remember their fellow officers and their loved ones who have given their lives, all in the line of duty. They participate in conferences and memorial services. They honor the memories of those who worked so hard to protect our communities and, in the end, made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for the rest of us.

Americans have been protected by peace officers for 217 years, ever since the early settlers in Boston, Massachusetts. They established a program called Night Watch to safeguard those Bostonians.

Not a day goes by that law enforcement officers do not face danger in their mission to keep us safe from crime, acts of violence, and now terrorism. On May 17, 1792, New York City's Deputy Sheriff Isaac Smith became the first recorded peace officer to be killed in the line of duty.

Mr. Speaker, since that time, 18,600 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty. Let me repeat: 18,600 peace officers in the United States have been killed in the line of duty. On average, 58,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted every year; and in 2009, 125 of those officers were killed protecting other Americans. Five of those fallen officers were from my home State of Texas. Those individuals were Senior Corporal Norman Smith of the Dallas Police Department. He was killed by gunfire on June 6, 2009. Lieutenant Stuart Alexander from the Corpus Christi Police Department. He was killed by vehicular assault on March 11, 2009. Sergeant Randy White of the Bridgeport PD was killed by a vehicle pursuit on April 2, 2009. Houston police officer Henry Canales was killed by gunfire on June 23, 2009. And Jesse Hamilton was killed on August 25 by gunfire, and he was a member of the Pasadena Police Department of the State of Texas.

2009 was a particularly difficult year for peace officer families. On the 21st day of March 2009, four members of the Oakland, California Police Department were shot and killed in the line of duty. Sergeants Mark Dunakin, Ervin Romans, Dan Sakai and Officer John Hege gave their lives in service to their fellow Americans, and we honor them in their service today.

On November 29, 2009 four members of the Lakewood Police Department in Washington were brutally ambushed as they sat in a coffee shop catching up on paperwork and planning for their upcoming shift. Sergeant Mark Renninger and Officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens and Greg Richards were all veteran law enforcement officers, each with between 8 and 14 years of experience. This loss was a staggering blow to the Lakewood community and the national community of peace officers. We continue to mourn this senseless loss and honor them for their service.

Although there has been great progress in protecting the safety of these men and women who wear the uniform, the death of every officer serves as a reminder to the whole country that our Nation's law enforcement officers still face dangerous and potentially deadly situations every day.

During my 20 years as a judge in Texas, I had the privilege of working alongside some of America's finest police officers. Later, during my term on the bench, some of those police officers were killed in the line of duty. Now, as a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Victims Rights Caucus, I recognize that peace officers are too often victims of crimes they seek to prevent.

When a peace officer puts on a uniform in the morning, they represent everything that is good, everything that is right about our country. And I am privileged to honor them here today.

Mr. Speaker, we in this House of Representatives need to always remember that outside these Halls, on the rooftops and around the Capitol are the Capitol police officers watching and protecting those who come to the people's House, to the Capitol Building and the surrounding buildings. And we need to remember that in 1998, two of those Capitol police officers, Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson, were killed in the line of duty in this very building as they were protecting other Members of Congress from a gun-wielding assailant that came into this place.

We should always remember that these peace officers every day are a cut above the rest of us, and they do represent everything that's good and fine and right about America.

Later this week, not far from here, on the west side of the Capitol, there will be the families of the slain police officers in the United States. Surrounding them, in a group, will be thousands and thousands of peace officers in the United States, all wearing the uniform, wearing a badge that they wear above their heart and a black cloth across that badge. Those people stand in honor of those families that have lost loved ones who were peace officers that represented the rest of us and were killed in the line of duty. We owe them everything that we can say that is good and noble about their work. We honor them. We praise those that are in the line of duty. We remember those that were killed in the line of duty, and we also remember their families.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in the last House resolution that we just discussed, Peace Officers Memorial Day, H. Res. 1299, I also want to mention the fact that Deputy Sheriff Shane Thomas Detwiler of the Chambers County Sheriff's Department in Texas was killed in the line of duty on July 13, 2009, and his cause of death was gunfire.

In this resolution, H. Res. 1094, of course I support this resolution. And this resolution commemorates the life of the late Cynthia DeLores Tucker. Ms. Tucker dedicated her life to eliminating racial barriers and fighting for civil rights and the rights of women. In 1927 she was born in Philadelphia. Her dad was a minister. After overcoming financial hardship and segregation during the Great Depression, she attended Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania at the Wharton School.

As part of the postwar civil rights movement, she worked to register African American voters in the 1950 Philadelphia mayor's race. She later became the first African American and the first woman to serve on the Philadelphia Zoning Board.

Then in 1965 she marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in support of the 1956 Voting Rights Act.

In 1971 she became Secretary of the State of Pennsylvania, making her the first female African American Secretary of State in the whole United States.

In 1984, Ms. Tucker founded the National Political Congress of Black Women, today known as the National Congress of Black Women; and with the help of this organization, she criticized the promotion of drugs and violence in gangsta rap music, and also how women were treated in the music industry.

She was also the founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus, and she was head of the minority caucus of the Democratic National Committee. Her life's work on behalf of racial and gender equality truly reaped fruitful change in our country.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. I commend the sponsor of this resolution, Diane Watson from California.

I yield back the balance of my time.

It's National Police Week, where we honor the lawmen and the women who protect this great Nation. As we pause to recognize the service and sacrifice of all U.S. law enforcement officers, we also need to remember the men and women who work on the border, our Border Patrol agents. Some have sacrificed their lives putting themselves between the bad guys and us. We owe their families a great debt for those sacrifices, like U.S. Border Patrol Senior Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar, who was killed in the line of duty in 2008. Agent Aguilar was attempting to deploy a set of road spikes to stop a narco- terrorist drug smuggler. The drug smuggler attempted to evade our agents and escape back into Mexico across the Imperial Sand Dunes in the Yuma sector of Arizona. The suspect, driving a Hummer, accelerated his vehicle and intentionally hit Officer Aguilar, and he was killed.

Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas of the Campo, California, Border Patrol Station was murdered in 2009 while performing his duties. Agent Rosas was responding to suspicious activity in the area notorious for alien and drug smuggling when he was shot and killed by unidentified assailants. The murder occurred in a remote border area near Campo, California, where Agent Rosas was shot several times in the head, execution style. Agent Rosas was 30 years of age.

Even our U.S. Park Rangers aren't safe from these terrorists. In the wake of 9/11, Kris Eggle protected his country by intercepting weapons, thousands of pounds of illegal drugs, and hundreds of illegal lawbreakers from foreign countries. He guarded a 31-mile stretch of our Nation's southern boundary. Kris was shot and killed in the line of duty at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on August 9, 2002. He was pursuing members of a drug cartel hit squad. They fled into the United States after committing a string of murders in Mexico. Kris was 28 years of age when he was mowed down by these narco-terrorists in Arizona.

Our Border Patrol agents are under constant assault. Not counting the murders, Madam Speaker, I have a chart here that illustrates just in the last few years assaults on our Border Patrol agents. These are the men and women on the border, protecting us from people crossing in. Going back to 2004, there were about 300, almost 400 assaults on our border agents. In 2005, about 680. 2006, 750. And then 2007, 2008, and 2009, all about a thousand assaults on our border agents. Most of these assaults, Madam Speaker, are committed by people crossing the border into the United States illegally and committing assaults on our Border Patrol agents. For some reason, we don't hear much about it in the national media. They seem to be concerned about other issues.

Madam Speaker, we have here what the Border Patrol agents call the ``war wagon.'' This is called the war wagon because they modify their Border Patrol vehicles, their pickup trucks, and they put wire mesh screens over the front windshields, over the side windows. They even protect the lights on top because when they get close to the border, people from foreign countries that are trying to come into the United States pelt our Border Patrol agents with rocks, and they destroy their vehicles. They also happen to harm our Border Patrol agents. So they have to improvise these war wagons to protect themselves from assaults.

During this Police Week, Madam Speaker, when we remember peace officers in this country that were killed, we need to remember the Border Patrol agents that do their duty every day trying to protect our porous border, because they don't get the resources the Federal Government should give them, including the National Guard. They are constantly under attack. A thousand assaults a year against our Border Patrol is a bit much, don't you think, Madam Speaker? We in this House of Representatives owe them the duty to make sure they are protected, and we do that by protecting the border and making sure that people who come into the United States are stopped at the border if they are here and trying to cross illegally.

Madam Speaker, our borders are a war zone. As a Texas Ranger once told me, he said, After dark, Congressman Poe, the border in Texas and Mexico gets Western. It gets violent. Our law enforcement officers are out-manned, out-gunned, and out-financed. We need

the moral resolve as a Nation to secure the dignity our borders, to protect the lawmen that are down there doing the job that we let them do, we ask them to do, and they are trying to do the best they can. They need more resources, more boots on the ground, and that includes sending the National Guard on the border, as requested by State Governors, because it is the first duty of government to protect the country and the people that live in it. And that includes Border Patrol agents.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, Brazil has become a haven for stolen children from the United States. There are over 50 kidnapped children in Brazil.

Fox News 26 in Houston, Texas, first brought attention to the story of one little girl who was stolen from her father--my friend and constituent, Marty Pate. Marty lives in Crosby, Texas, and he has not seen his daughter, Nicole, in 4 years. Her mother, Monica, is a native of Brazil. She took Nicole on a trip there in 2006, and she never came back.

Legal documents from Texas give Marty joint custody, and international law requires Brazil to return Nicole to America. Marty wants to see his daughter and have her visit her family in the United States, but officials in Brazil are still stonewalling and are ignoring their legal duty.

Our State Department must pressure Brazil to follow its international treaty obligations, and Brazil must stop sanctioning the kidnapping of American children.

Marty has the right to be reunited with his kidnapped daughter, Nicole.

And that's just the way it is.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. It's the day of the year that is proclaimed that we honor how prayer and how religion has affected our culture as a Nation. Every day, in this very House, we start with a prayer. Down the hallway in the United States Senate, every day, the U.S. Senate starts with a prayer. And then we have the Pledge of Allegiance. The Supreme Court has ruled that it is constitutional for us, the Senate, and all State legislatures, to start every day with a prayer. And so it is throughout the country.

We have the National Day of Prayer today, but it has a long history of establishment here in the United States, where we recognize this very important day. Many Congresses and Presidents have proclaimed days of prayer and fasting throughout our Nation's history. From Washington all the way to Madison and all the way through World War II, Presidents set aside days of national prayer.

In 1952, 58 years ago, a bill proclaiming an annual National Day of

Prayer was unanimously passed by the House and the Senate and signed into law by President Truman. It's not often in our history that everything passes this House and the Senate by unanimous consent. The new law required the President to select a day for national prayer every year. In 1988, the day was fixed by Congress as the first Thursday in May of each year. That law was signed by President Ronald Reagan.

Nobody is forced to pray on the National Day of Prayer. However, we now have a Federal judge who has ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, even though this day is set aside to honor God and the role that prayer has played throughout our history. Thanksgiving was set aside by President George Washington to honor the Almighty and to give prayer and thanksgiving for our history and for the work that the Lord plays in our very existence.

Most people are surprised to learn the United States Capitol, this building, was the place where church services were held for a number of years. In fact, before Congress even started assembling here, we had church services before then. But yet a National Day of Prayer has been ruled by a Federal judge to be unconstitutional.

Here's what the First Amendment says, Madam Speaker. It says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The First Amendment was written by James Madison, the author of the U.S. Constitution. In fact, he is the author of the first ten amendments. James Madison set in stone, proclaimed, Congress will make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Probably, James Madison knew more about the First Amendment than anybody else since he was the author; yet, in 1813, President Madison proclaimed a National Day of Prayer. It's ironic that the author of the First Amendment, who knew more about the First Amendment than anybody else, certainly Federal judges who live today, proclaimed the National Day of Prayer, and yet today, we have a Federal judge saying it's unconstitutional based upon the First Amendment. How ironic. Federal judges obviously--this particular Federal judge--forgot about the free exercise of religion part. That's why the National Day of Prayer is so important.

The Federal Government sets aside one day a year that honors the First Amendment. People may pray. They don't have to pray. But it recognizes how important prayer is in our culture. It enshrines in the public consciousness the fact that Americans have the right to the free exercise of religious beliefs.

``In God We Trust,'' Madam Speaker, is above the American flag behind you. It is the national motto of the United States: In God We Trust. Ours is not a secular Nation. It was founded on religious principles.

So I asked this Federal judge, What's next? Are you going to try to abolish Thanksgiving and Christmas as national holidays?

Madam Speaker, the National Day of Prayer is not only a good idea, it is constitutionally legal, whether secular, antireligious Federal judges like it or not.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Experience Corps Program of South East Texas on 15 years of improving the academic and life outcomes of our area's neediest young students. The remarkable Experience Corps engages older Americans to serve as literacy tutors in elementary schools; and they have had a tremendous impact.

Experience Corps South East Texas, initially known as Seniors for Schools, was one of the original five Experience Corps pilot projects across the country. It began as a demonstration grant in 1995-96 in two Port Arthur elementary schools with 17 members; and has grown locally to 67 members serving all seven PA elementary schools, 6 schools in Beaumont, and another in Vidor. They have served in excess of 2,875 students in these schools, and have always and continue to be the only tutoring program of their kind in the State of Texas.

We are lucky to have such a program in our schools--not only because of the vitality and sense of family and community that these volunteers bring, but also the significant academic gains they have enabled. In 2006 Experience Corps South East Texas, Port Arthur was part of a national, gold standard evaluation conducted by Washington University in St. Louis which revealed that students in the Experience Corps program made 60% greater gains in reading comprehension and word attack skills than similar students who were not in the program. Very, very few literacy interventions have shown these kinds of results.

The Principal of DeQueen Elementary School calls these volunteers, ``a dynamic, vibrant, knowledgeable, vivacious, caring group of people.'' I could not agree more. In fact, they are an inspiration to their peers and neighbors, and proof that the aging population has tremendous time, talent, skill, and a desire to share it all with younger generations. Experience Corps is a perfect match for these individuals.

On May 13, Experience Corps South East Texas will celebrate 15 consecutive and successful years of service, and I am honored to call these motivated and caring adults my constituents. They have provided a meaningful and engaging opportunity for senior citizens to serve one on one with students in need, and a consistent tutoring program with measurable results for elementary students. I commend them for their terrific work over these past 15 years and hope they can continue to serve our students and community for many years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the great work of one of my fellow Texans, Herman Milholland.

Herman Milholland is a truly special victim advocate who has served at the local, state and national levels. Since 1984 he has devoted his career to improving rights and services for victims of crime. In California, he directed a staff of over 125 people located in 43 offices--including law enforcement, prosecutors, courts and hospitals-- in providing direct victim advocacy, support and services to victims and survivors throughout the Los Angeles District Attorney's office. Since 2000, he has served as Director of the Texas Crime Victim Compensation Program, Director of the Statewide Automated Victim Notification Program, and since 2002, as Director/Chief of the Crime Victim Services Division of the Office of the Texas Attorney General.

Mr. Milholland is recognized as a strong leader in our nation's crime assistance field. Whether his efforts are focused on an individual victim in need of help or on a national initiative, he is a dedicated and committed advocate for crime victims.

In the crime victim assistance field, there is a great need for basic skills development in

organizational development and management. Because Herman Milholland has ``walked the walk'' as a program developer, manager and administrator, he has been able to provide greatly needed guidance to programs and individuals across the nation who seek to improve the overall management of victim assistance agencies.

Mr. Milholland has also created a crucial ``niche'' in the victim assistance field by focusing on the future of the field. He has devoted the past few years to developing important and greatly needed resources that address succession planning, mentoring, and guidelines for managing the new workforce-issues that, cumulatively, will strengthen individuals, organizations and the field as a whole.

His colleagues can attest to his ongoing willingness to volunteer for many activities at the local, state and national levels that seek to improve overall crime victim assistance. He is often called upon to serve on countless committees and boards, and to serve as a volunteer facilitator for many projects that require a leader with outstanding organization and communications skills. He always rises to the occasion.

Mr. Milholland is ``retiring'' in the fall of 2010. I highlight ``retiring,'' because I know that his life-long devotion to crime victim assistance will not cease when his official career ends.

On April 14, 2010, I was proud to honor Herman Milholland at the Congressional Victims' Caucus Awards ceremony, where he was presented with the Ed Stout Memorial Award for Outstanding Victim Advocacy. The award honors a professional whose efforts directly benefit crime victims and survivors. Herman Milholland is more than deserving of this award. I commend him for his outstanding contributions to the field of victim advocacy.

Madam Speaker, before I was elected to the U.S. Congress, I served as a criminal court judge for over two decades in Houston, Texas. I've seen up close and personally how drugs destroy lives, drive up crime rates and tear families apart. So when I heard about the good progress in the fight against drugs in Colombia, I decided to come down and see it for myself.

When I hiked in the jungles and flew over the coca fields about a month ago, I was accompanied by Brigadier General Francisco Patino Fonseca. I discovered one of the main reasons for Colombia's recent success battling the scourge of drugs is his strong, relentless zeal to capture the bad guys.

A native of Bogota and a 1981 police school graduate, Gen. Patino has dedicated his life to law enforcement. He has done everything from working for the Tisquesusa Police Department to serving as the Police Attache at the Embassy of Colombia in Spain.

Gen. Patino has been decorated some 58 times in his extensive service. With that kind of dedication and experience, he serves the Colombian people well in his role as the Director of Counternarcotics for the Colombian National Police (DIRAN).

And as Director, Gen. Patino has placed a new focus on human intelligence--bringing in more intelligence officers and tripling the intelligence budget. He is also committed to making sure his courageous team of officers have the best training in the world. The DIRAN training regimen is so well-respected around the world that in recent years over 80 students from twelve countries have attended its International Jungla course. The DIRAN mobile training teams have responded to training requests from Afghanistan, Mexico, and Ecuador.

Their training is paying off. Working hand in hand with American support, the Colombian Public Forces seized more cocaine, heroin, and chemicals used to make cocaine in 2009 than ever before. DIRAN accounts for less than five percent of the Colombian National Police force but has been responsible for the seizures of 66 percent of the cocaine, 90 percent of the heroin, 86 percent of the cocaine precursor chemicals and 63 percent of the drug labs by the entire police force.

The war on drugs in the United States is inextricably linked to the war on drugs in Colombia. It is no secret that it is mostly American dollars that buy Colombian-grown drugs. As a Member of the U.S. Congress, I want to thank Gen. Patino, his officers and the good people of Colombia for their tremendous dedication to fighting the drug cartels and working with the people of the United States. After observing the distinguished leadership of Gen. Patino and his officers, I am more confident than ever that this is a war we can win together.

Mr. Speaker, Deputy Louie Puroll was in his patrol vehicle last Friday afternoon in Pinal County, Arizona, patrolling the border, but he was 75 miles north of the border. There is not much Border Patrol activity there because it is so far north, but there is plenty of drug smuggling going on.

Deputy Puroll spotted backpacks full of drugs and suspicious activity. He radioed for backup and began to track the group. A drug cartel paramilitary squad opened fire on him with automatic weapons. He was shot in the side by an AK-47. This is the first time one of these squads has shot a lawman that far north, just 50 miles from Phoenix. The shootout lasted 10 minutes. The wounded deputy called for help on his cell phone, and it took an hour to find him.

The drug cartels, Mr. Speaker, are now shooting their way across our border. Until we put armed National

Guard troops at the border to stop these violent narco-terrorists, we risk the lives of our lawmen that are outmanned, outgunned and outfinanced.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, a friend of mine in Texas, John, sent me a recent article from the Tucson Weekly written by Leo Banks. The article shines a bright light on life in Arizona north of the border and the shock after the murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz. The murderer shot Rob, then his dog, and then fled down the Black Draw on the Geronimo Trail, headed back to Mexico. Rob's sister, Susan Pope, says things have gotten so bad, she can't honestly remember the last time she felt secure.

The Popes' home is in the mountains and it has been broken into three times. Susan works as a bus driver and a teacher at the one-room Apache Elementary School. That elementary school has been burglarized so many times that nothing of value remains there. How can you teach children in an atmosphere like that? They say everybody there knew something like Rob Krentz' murder was about to happen.

Susie Morales lives near Nogales. She said, when she cooks dinner in her kitchen, she can look out and see people, drug mules, with backpacks full of drugs. They are on a trail 75 yards from her front door. Another trail 50 yards from her back door exists. These trails are so close that, when Susie spots the paramilitary squads, she runs into her bathroom with her cell phone, hides and shuts the door. She has to keep her voice down so the drug cartels don't hear her calling for help, and she carries a .357 magnum with her at all times.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, however, says arrests are down on the border's 262-mile-wide Tucson sector. Those arrests are not numbers of actual crossers, however, and these misleading statistics are used to say border security is working.

However, the truth is just the opposite. The people who got away from officially numbered arrests outnumber them three to one. Frontline lawmen

will tell you that it is more like four or five to one to get away.

The Feds boast of 628 miles of fencing now in place, but only 310 miles of that is actually fence. The rest of it, 318 miles, is vehicle barriers that don't stop anybody on foot. Foot traffic still pours over the mountains south of Sierra Vista to the tune of 1,500 a week according to local citizens who count them by placing hidden cameras on the trails. Rancher John Ladd counted some 350 illegals on his San Jose ranch over a period of 18 days before this newspaper interview. He says he is on the phone with the Border Patrol on an average of three times a day, seven days a week, to report groups crossing his ranch.

As one resident said, ``We are under the gun all the time. There are people watching us all the time. The smugglers have scouts on the hills watching us, watching Customs, watching Border Patrol. They're terrorists, very militaristic, and they get a high out of it. As long as they can get away with it, it's okay. That's their mentality.''

They say the most dangerous thing you can do as a citizen is reach for your cell phone if seen by one of the drug smugglers. Forget you even own one. Keep your hands visible. And no sudden moves if you are spotted. If you encounter the wrong guy and he thinks you are calling Border Patrol, he might just start shooting at you.

Now, when men go out to work at their corrals on the border on their ranches, sometimes miles from the house, their wives go along, too. They are afraid to be alone in their own home. That is no way to live, Mr. Speaker.

People on the border are under siege by the crime cartels. The people-smuggling operations have been taken over by the drug cartels, and the coyotes and the drug cartels work together to smuggle people and drugs across the border, all in the name of money. To cross around Douglas, the rate has gone up to $2,500 per person. When they don't have the money to pay the drug smugglers and the coyotes, they carry drugs as payment to cross.

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said in recent Senate testimony, ``I guarantee that every group coming across that border today has a gun.'' Just Friday, a deputy sheriff was shot by narco-terrorists carrying AK-47s in Pinal County, 70 miles north of the border.

Those ill-informed elites that don't live in a border State, but reside in high rises in New York or San Francisco, live in ``never- never land'' when they criticize Arizona for trying to protect its people.

The border is not safe. Ask people who live on the border, both Mexicans in Mexico and Americans in the United States. Those residents call the border a war zone.

The United States protects the borders of other nations. It's about time we protect our own border.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I've spent my entire career advocating for victims, for those that have suffered at the hands of perpetrators both as a former judge in Texas and as founder and co- chair of the Victims' Rights Caucus. It grieves me that people resort to violence and commit such atrocities to their fellow neighbor. On April 6, 1994 and for the next three months our world learned an important lesson--violence is not the answer, nor is watching and doing nothing.

Sixteen years ago, beginning on April 6, 1994 more than 800,000 persons were killed in the Rwandan genocide, many being Tutsis.

A shot-down plane of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, and his death sparked the beginnings of the genocide because the very next day, April 7, 1994, the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the interahamwe went out and slaughtered thousands of people by setting up roadblocks and then going house to house killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The slaying went on for the next 100 days.

On June 22, 1994 the U.S. used the word ``genocide'' only after the Security Council deployed French forces in South West Rwanda. On February 19, 1995 Western countries committed to sending $600 million in aid, with $60 million coming from the United States. Rwanda bears a deep and grave loss from this tragedy, and the international community has come around them to support, encourage and comfort.

Much was said during this conflict, but little was done. We can do better. We must do better.

We send our sympathies out to the loved ones who died in the Rwandan genocide. We know that they are still greatly missed even sixteen years later. May we remember this time when so many lost their lives, and may we do better in interceding during future conflicts. Let us always take a stand against violence.

Madam Speaker, the court-martial of Navy SEAL Matthew McCabe for assault started yesterday in Norfolk, Virginia. This relentless American caught one of the worst terrorists in the world, Ahmed Abed, a terrorist who massacred and mutilated four Americans in Fallujah. However, Abed accused Petty Officer McCabe of poking him in the tummy once he was captured. Two other Navy SEALs were acquitted in trials last month of these false charges.

It's not like we don't know the terrorists are going to lie about being roughed up when they are caught. You see, the al-Qaeda training manual instructs terrorists to allege brutality when captured because it is the U.S. policy to take warriors off the battlefield until such accusations are resolved.

So we have three Navy SEALs sitting on the sidelines for over 6 months waiting. Meanwhile, news reports say Abed is set to be executed by the Iraqi Government for crimes committed against his own people.

Madam Speaker, our priorities are backwards. Abed needs to be tried and executed for his crimes rather than our government paying attention to his whining about his capture.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, our homeland security today is paralyzed by denial, ignorance and political correctness. Systematic dependence on luck is not a national security plan; it is a disaster waiting to happen.

From the borders to the big cities, America's national security is always in critical, or seems to be in critical disarray. In 1998, Osama bin Laden declared war on America, but we didn't pay attention to it. What is it going to take for our leaders to understand that radical Islamic terrorists want to murder our people?

Law enforcement in New York--Federal, State, and city--has done an incredible job in a short amount of time to apprehend the Times Square terrorist despite dangerous political games being played by some officials. In spite of politics, our lawmen acted swiftly, efficiently, and effectively in the capture of this terrorist.

But New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the media, ``If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be . . . homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something.''

Now, isn't that helpful?

The Times Square terrorist, Faisal Shahzad, was not a Tea Party-going taxpayer opposed to ObamaCare. There is no excuse for this reckless smear of the majority of Americans who opposes the government takeover of health care. It is irresponsible to play political games with national security; and even though Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano won't use the word ``terrorist,'' all of the indications are that this was an act of terror.

The terrorist, Faisal Shahzad, was captured last night on an airplane bound for Dubai. Reports say the airline contacted the authorities to say that he made a last-minute reservation for the flight and that he got on the plane after paying cash. He is from Pakistan. Somehow, this radical terrorist was granted American citizenship in 2009. Shahzad told the FBI he went through a terror training camp in Pakistan in the region of Waziristan.

He sounds like a terrorist to me.

This is where the Taliban operates--the same Pakistani Taliban that immediately claimed responsibility for the Times Square foiled attack. Reports say Shahzad had been in Pakistan for the past several months. Eight people have now been arrested in Pakistan. Two of them are related to Shahzad.

Over the past year, we have had a surge of attacks from radical Islamic jihadists who murder in the name of hate. For example, the Fort Hood shooter killed 14 Americans and injured 30 more. That was an act of terror. The attack on the Arkansas military recruiting station by a radical jihadist who killed an American soldier was an act of terror. Then there was the Christmas Day underwear bomber. That was an act of terror.

In that case, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said ``the system worked'' when we caught the underwear bomber. That means the government plan in that case is for passengers on the plane to tackle terrorists who are trying to explode bombs that are hidden in their underwear. That's a plan? That's our national system?

Combating terrorism takes vision. It takes moral clarity. There is no room for playing politics or politically correct games.

Ronald Reagan once explained it this way:

``Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

``It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.

``Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.''

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, America is a Nation founded on the rule of law, not the rule of men. That's why we have a Constitution and not a king. Law must apply to everybody and it must apply equally, regardless of race, color, or creed. People don't get to pick and choose which laws are enforced. They don't get to decide which laws they like and which ones they don't. That would cause chaos.

Federal law requires people to sign the guest book when they enter our country, otherwise they are here illegally. There is a lot of fear mongering, political hype, and misinformation about the State of Arizona trying to legally protect itself from illegal entry into its State.

Arizona acts because Washington is blissfully silent and sleeps. Rather than join this rant, the White House should grant the request of border governors and send the National Guard to the border to enforce the rule of law. After all, that is the government's job.

And that's just the way it is.