Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, the mass shootings across our country cry out for solutions that work. The good news is we know what works, and we also know what doesn't work.

We have been passing gun control laws for more than 50 years. The number of American households with firearms has dropped significantly in those years.

So let me ask: Are things getting better or worse?

We know this from decades of experience: Gun control laws are extremely effective at disarming law-abiding citizens. They are completely ineffective at disarming criminals, madmen, and terrorists. They create a world where law-abiding citizens are defenseless and the gunman is king.

The day after the Uvalde massacre, a criminal with an AR-15-style rifle shot into a crowd that was gathered for a graduation party in Charleston, West Virginia. A woman with a concealed weapon shot him dead on the spot. Nobody else was hurt. Had that occurred on a school property or other so-called gun-free zone, the death toll could easily have been counted by the dozens.

The left scoffs at the notion that only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.

Well, do they know of any other way?

There is none.

The only question is how long it will take for that good guy with a gun to show up. It has often been said that the police can be there in minutes when seconds count. And what we found time and again is that even when the police get there, they don't always act.

Those who are directly threatened by a gunman are those who are in the best position to stop such an attack because they are there on the spot and their lives depend on it. And yet the left won't let them.

We think nothing of seeing an armed guard at a bank or a shopping mall. They are there to protect our money and our merchandise by killing bad guys with guns. Yet the left goes berserk when anyone suggests that we do the same thing to protect our children.

What makes the left believe gun laws will be any more effective at keeping

guns out of the hands of criminals than our drug laws have been at keeping drugs out of the hands of addicts?

The difference is that drug laws don't disarm law-abiding citizens from defending themselves, their children, and their fellow citizens. Gun laws do.

The President tells us that hardening our schools isn't the answer. Well, if he actually meant that, he ought to dismiss the Secret Service and open the front door of the White House and be sure to declare it a gun-free zone.

Of course, hardening vulnerable venues like schools works. There is a reason why 98 percent of mass shootings occur in so-called gun-free zones: There is nobody there to shoot back, and the criminals know that. The Buffalo shooter noted precisely that in his manifesto.

The good news is we know what works. Prosecuting gun criminals and putting them in prison until they are old and gray works. Yet woke district attorneys across the country refuse to do so. Executing murderers works. Yet the left has largely succeeded in all but abolishing the death penalty.

And protecting the right of responsible citizens to return fire works. It stops an estimated half million to 2 million crimes in this country every year.

The father of modern policing, Sir Robert Peale, often observed that the police are simply an extension of community; that, in reality, the community is the police and the police are the community. Every citizen, he said, has a right and duty to defend themselves and to uphold the law. The police are there, not to replace private citizens, but to support them.

So let me ask, is the surest path out of this violent chapter of our history the quixotic quest to get 400 million guns off the streets, or is it to get the criminals who use them off the streets? That is what we once did, before social justice replaced criminal justice.

We prosecuted gun criminals to the fullest measure of the law. We executed murderers. We identified the dangerously mentally ill and confined them so we could treat them. These measures worked until the left seized control of our cities and reversed them.

I think it is long past time to take those streets back, get the criminals and dangerously mentally ill off of them, and protect our children with the same resolve and force as we use to protect our money.

Madam Speaker, this is called the Protecting Our Kids Act, but sadly it does no such thing. The one thing that we could do immediately to protect our kids is the one thing that the Democrats refuse even to consider.

We think nothing of it when we see an armed guard at a bank. Well, they are there for one purpose--to stop anyone who is trying to steal our money. And, yet, when we suggest that we should use the same force and resolve to stop someone from killing our children, the left goes berserk. I simply do not understand such a screwed-up value system as that.

President Biden's press secretary says that hardening our schools is not something he supports. Think about that. The most heavily guarded person in the world in the most hardened fortress in the country is telling us that we cannot protect our children and our schools as seriously as we protect our money in our banks. Of course, hardening the schools works.

Listen to the sick mind that produced the massacre in Buffalo. He wrote, ``Attacking in a weapon-restricted area may decrease the chance of civilian backlash. Schools, courts, or areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack. Areas where CCW permits are low may also fit in this category. Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.'' That is the Buffalo shooter. Criminals understand that even if the Democrats in this House do not.

In committee, I offered an amendment to require schools receiving Federal security funds to have at least one armed guard on every campus and to allow school officials who have met the requirements of their State to carry a concealed weapon to have it on campus to protect their students if they want to. This is something that can be implemented immediately and that could well have stopped the massacre at Uvalde.

It doesn't depend on criminals obeying the law, as this bill does. It doesn't depend on someday, maybe, reducing possibly the 400 million firearms in this country. It doesn't make self-defense harder for honest and decent people. In fact, it makes self-defense easier for honest and decent people. It would make future attacks on our schools much less likely to succeed and infinitely more dangerous to those contemplating such an act. Yet, the Democrats refuse to even consider it.

We know how to reduce gun violence. Harden our schools and protect our

children with the same seriousness as we protect our money. Prosecute gun criminals. Send them to prison for the rest of their lives. Execute murderers. Confine the dangerously mentally ill so that we can treat them. Stop letting terrorists into the country across our southern border.

Yet, woke district attorneys often refuse to prosecute gun criminals or they quickly drop gun charges to reduce their sentences. The Democrats have all but abolished the death penalty. They have released dangerous criminals from our prisons, released dangerous criminal, illegal aliens into our communities, flooded our streets with the dangerously mentally ill, and turned a blind eye as terrorists come across the border that they have left wide open. And then they wonder why we are plagued with violent criminals.

Maybe it is time to get serious about removing criminals from our streets and fortifying our schools. That is something we could do today that will have an immediate effect today.

Protecting Our Kids Act. It does no such thing. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise to oppose the previous question on the rule so that we can immediately consider H.R. 6858 to reverse the Democratic policies that have deliberately created the highest gasoline prices ever suffered in this country.

I remember the 1970s, when America was dependent on foreign oil. OPEC cut back production, and the government tried to hide the price hikes by fiat, just as the Democrats now propose. The result was mile-long lines at gas stations, odd and even rationing days, and an economic recession.

Under the Republican policies of Donald Trump, America achieved something that seemed impossible in those days: American energy independence. Under Republican policies, we were producing more oil than Saudi Arabia. We were producing more oil than Russia. The average price of gas was a little over $2 a gallon.

Now this time, OPEC didn't cut back on foreign production; the Democrats cut back on American production. They canceled the Keystone pipeline that today should have been pumping 830,000 barrels of oil every day into the American economy. They suspended oil and gas leasing on Federal lands. Just last week, they withdrew drilling leases covering a million acres in oil-rich Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, the left has said for years they wanted to raise gas prices to get people out of their cars and to end American fossil-fuel production. Well, good job, Democrats. Mission accomplished. The price of a gallon of gas hit an all-time record this morning of $4.52 a gallon. In the people's republic of California, it is now $6.02 a gallon, something to look forward to. Welcome to the world of scarcity, the world of Democratic socialism.

The fact is, our energy crisis is self-induced, and it won't change until the zealots directly responsible for it are turned out of office. For example, watch the vote on the previous question on this rule. If it fails, Republicans will immediately bring to the floor a measure to reverse these disastrous policies. H.R. 6858 will greenlight the Keystone pipeline. It will fast-track leasing and permits to restore American production and independence. It will fast-track LNG facilities stalled under this administration. In short, it will restore the Republican policies that produced the affordable and plentiful gasoline that we took for granted just a few short years ago.

But the sad fact is, we don't have the votes to bring this measure to the floor, although we will try. That is up to the American people to change.

Do you want to know who the real price gougers are? They are the Democrat majority sitting on the other side of this aisle. If you voted for them, this is exactly what you voted for. If you are surprised by that, you weren't paying much attention. The good news is, you can correct that mistake this November.

Madam Speaker, the gentleman is absolutely right. The bill purports to assert a very important constitutional right, the right to trial by jury in civil actions. But it does so by denying everyone a very important other constitutional right, the freedom of unimpaired contract, the right of two parties to agree to exchange goods and services according to their own best judgment.

Now, because of the excesses and expenses and uncertainties that have plagued our civil courts, many consumers and producers, and many employees and employers, find it advantageous to waive their right to civil jury trials in any disputes between them in favor of a simpler, cheaper, and faster arbitration.

Now, proponents tell us it is an uneven playing field, and this requirement is often imposed in nonnegotiable, take-it-or-leave-it propositions. This isn't exactly true. Every employee and every consumer, no matter how weak and vulnerable, has an absolute defense against a bad agreement. It is the word ``no.'' No, the pay isn't good enough. No, the price is too high. No, I don't like the binding arbitration clause or any other terms, and I am taking my business elsewhere.

Now, even when there aren't good alternatives, the fact is that every provision in a contract is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition if one side or the other insists on it. The question for each side is whether the totality of the contract is beneficial to them or not. It is every grownup's right to make that decision for themselves without somebody in government making it for them.

Remember, the so-called forced arbitration provision forces the company to accept arbitration as well. For example, I am not a lawyer. I can't afford to hire one to take a big company to court. For me, binding arbitration helps level the playing field by providing me with an inexpensive alternative that the company must abide by. This bill takes that protection away from me.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, through arbitration, employees prevail three times more often, recover twice as much money, and resolve their claims more quickly than they could through litigation. And in most cases, the employer pays the entire cost of arbitration.

According to one study, in claims between $10,000 and $75,000, the consumer claimant was charged an average of $219. Now, you compare that to the cost of hiring an attorney and taking on an entire corporate legal department.

The net result of this bill will be higher prices for products and lower wages for workers as companies factor the high cost of litigation into their business models.

Madam Speaker, that is not fair.

Madam Speaker, setting aside the Democrats' neurotic obsession with all things Donald Trump, this measure has many provisions that would receive bipartisan support if the bill's author were so inclined.

But when we speak of protecting democracy, we need to remember what democracy is. It is the process by which the sovereign people, through

elections, decide who will control and direct the powers that we entrust to our government.

``The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.'' If the executive branch begins to operate independently of the President, the will of the people is thwarted and democracy is diminished.

For example, the Tenure of Office Act limited the President's authority to remove Cabinet officers, a dangerous concept ultimately repealed by the Congress and repudiated by the Supreme Court. Provisions in this bill, such as those that interfere with Presidential appointments, cross that very bright constitutional line.

Mr. Speaker, the Caldor fire raged in the Sierra Nevada of California for 68 days last summer, consuming more than 221,000 acres of forestland, making it the 15th largest and the 16th most destructive fire in the history of California.

It literally wiped out the Gold Rush-era town of Grizzly Flats, and for days threatened the city of Lake Tahoe. It destroyed nearly 800 homes, leaving hundreds of families homeless and destitute.

On September 13, President Biden visited the scene. On that occasion, officials from El Dorado County and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services apprised him of the need to assist these displaced families. He said, ``We're going to take care of them. There's a lot we can do, and it starts off being a Federal responsibility, in my view.''

The President was absolutely correct in that assessment. The fire exploded in the El Dorado National Forest that was catastrophically overgrown due to Federal environmental laws that have made removal of excess timber all but impossible.

According to local officials I have spoken with, the excessive use of backfires by the Forest Service also appears to have needlessly exacerbated the fire. This fire is indeed a Federal responsibility, and the Federal government owes to every one of the fire's victims the full resources available to get them back on their feet.

And yet, despite multiple appeals, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused to approve individual assistance for the victims of the Caldor fire.

The FEMA denial is a stunning double standard when compared with assistance granted in other fires that did far less damage. For example, the California Office of Emergency Services identified nine other individual assistance grants that FEMA approved in 2021 for fires that cumulatively destroyed fewer homes than those destroyed by the Caldor fire alone.

Survivors hoping to rebuild their homes face an insurance deficit of $200,000 or more. Many survivors are uninsured, and nearly all of them are underinsured due to the severity of recent wildfire seasons. Some survivors who were able to remain on their properties still lack access to potable water.

Moreover, residents of Grizzly Flats--the town completely wiped out by the fire--are disproportionately low-income, elderly, and socioeconomically vulnerable. Their homes and their belongings were all they had, and now they have nothing.

Even those who did not lose their businesses to the fire lost many months of income as evacuations shut everything down. The regional economy will continue to suffer if survivors are not able to rebuild. Critical infrastructure has been either damaged or completely destroyed, including schools, fire stations, and the Grizzly Flats Post Office.

While local officials, residents, and organizations are doing everything they can to provide support to one another and to rebuild, they will not be able to recover without the Federal assistance that they desperately need and deserve.

Last year, FEMA denied the request for individual assistance for the Creek fire in Fresno and Madera counties. When I appealed to President Trump to correct this injustice, he immediately reversed FEMA's decision and granted individual assistance to these homeowners.

President Biden made a solemn promise to the victims of the Caldor fire to help them rebuild. He personally saw the damage and heartbreak caused by the fire. He has the authority to reverse FEMA's denial and fulfill his promise. I have now written three letters to him drawing this to his attention and making this request. So far, I have not even received the courtesy of a response.

``We're going to take care of them, and there's a lot we can do.'' Those were the President's words spoken to these families in September. These families have now passed their first Thanksgiving without their homes and many without their livelihoods that were taken from them by this Federal fire. They are approaching a dismal Christmas, waiting and praying for the President to fulfill his promise.

I appeal to the President to use his authority to keep his promise to the victims of the Caldor fire. As President Trump did for the victims of the Creek fire, I call upon him to reverse FEMA's outrageous decision and release the funds these families are depending upon to rebuild their lives and their communities.

Madam Speaker, the latest estimate for the Democrats' build back broke bill is $4.9 trillion. That averages about $40,000 per family over the next decade.

They say it is paid for. Well, by whom?

By you, of course, through direct taxes, tax-driven price increases, and worst of all, inflation.

And what do you get?

Well, amnesty for 7 million illegal aliens. That is the entire population of Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana combined.

Now, explain to me how working Americans are helped by flooding the market with low-wage foreign labor.

The trillions of dollars of excess spending by the Democrats has already driven the inflation rate to 6.2 percent and rising. Madam Speaker, that means if you earn $50,000 a year, the Democrats just took $3,100 of that. If you have managed to put $100,000 towards your retirement, the Democrats just took $6,200 of that.

Policy matters. When Republicans reduced the tax and regulatory burdens, we delivered the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the lowest poverty rate in 60 years, and the fastest wage growth in 40 years. The Democrats have reversed these policies and reproduced the misery that we are suffering today.

The American people know that we are on the wrong track and that this bill sends us deeper into that cold and bleak winter.

Build back better?

How about put things back the way they were before you broke them, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, if the previous question is defeated, we will take up the Illegal Immigrant Payoff Prohibition Act.

Last week, our Nation was stunned by the revelation that the Biden administration is about to use our tax dollars to pay thousands of illegal immigrants $450,000 apiece and up to a million dollars per family.

Why? Because they were separated from their minor child when they were arrested for the crime of crossing our border illegally.

Now, remember, any American citizen arrested with a child is immediately separated from that child. The adult goes to jail, the minor is taken into protective custody. That is what happened.

The penalty for illegal entry is supposed to be a fine and prison. The Democrats are literally changing it into a million-dollar jackpot.

This administration has already made a mockery of our immigration laws by refusing to enforce them. This has now produced the greatest illegal border incursion in our country's history.

Working- and middle-class Americans are the most harmed by this because it is their wages that are depressed by flooding the market with low-wage labor. It is their classrooms that are strained with non- English-speaking students. It is their emergency rooms that are overwhelmed by illegal immigrants demanding basic services. It is their communities that are made more dangerous as gang activity increases and criminal, illegal aliens are released back into their neighborhoods.

And now, to add insult to injury, the Democrats propose taking their tax dollars to make thousands of lawbreakers fabulously wealthy as an apology for President Trump actually enforcing our laws and securing our border. That is insane.

The American people understand that quite clearly. Republicans will not allow this twisted travesty to go unchallenged. If there are any sane Democrats left in this House, I invite them to join us by voting ``no'' on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, the President hasn't mentioned Afghanistan since he turned the phased, conditional withdrawal under Trump into an unconditional surrender to the Taliban. Nor has he yet found the time to see, much less admit, the chaos that his policies have produced by collapsing our southern border.

Yet, putting these things out of sight and mind doesn't change the dangers they have unleashed. I am afraid that together, they pose a terrifying prospect for our country that Americans should prepare themselves to face in coming days.

Trump's phased withdrawal included keeping Bagram Air Base. This strategic American asset ensured that U.S. airpower could be projected throughout the region as both a bulwark to support the Afghan defense forces and a deterrent to the extremist regimes throughout the Middle East. In addition, Bagram included the Parwan Detention Facility that held, under Afghan control, between 5,000 and 7,000 hardened terrorists.

Instead, Mr. Biden ordered--and his woke generals executed--a surprise abandonment of Bagram in the dead of night without even notifying our allies. It took the Afghan Government by complete surprise and set off a shockwave that resulted in the rapid collapse of Afghan forces. In turn, this meant not only the loss of billions of dollars of U.S. military equipment to the very forces that attacked us on 9/11, but also the release of the most dangerous terrorists in the world.

Now, we know where one of those terrorists went. Ten days later, Abdul Rehman detonated a bomb at the airport in Kabul, killing 13 of our servicemen and -women, including a constituent of mine, Sergeant Nicole Gee of Roseville, California.

That is what one of them did. We still don't know where the thousands of other terrorists released from Bagram are or the plans they are pursuing.

I think it is a very good bet that more than a few of them are making their way right now to our open southern border. We know the Border Patrol has intercepted a number of known terrorists already. The Government of Panama told Congressman Gonzales from Texas that it intercepted 52 known terrorists with intent to make their way into the United States and tried in vain to warn the Biden administration.

What we don't know is how many have already infiltrated our country among the tens of thousands admitted by the Biden administration since the surrender of Bagram. We don't know how many more are among the gotaways who escaped the Border Patrol while it has been overwhelmed processing the masses who responded to Biden's open border invitation. Nor do we know how many radicalized Taliban or ISIS-K are among the nearly 100,000 evacuees being admitted into the United States from Afghanistan.

The Homeland Security Secretary, Mr. Mayorkas, informed us that it is not necessary for them to show that they assisted U.S. forces, but only that we don't know of any hostile actions that they have committed. In other words, if we don't know who they are or what they plan, that is sufficient for permanent residence in the United States.

Americans should brace themselves for what is surely coming. If these terrorists, unleashed because of the President's policy in Afghanistan, are able to make their way into our country because of the President's immigration policy, I am afraid that the price paid by innocent Americans will be horrendous. The mass bombings we read about in other countries may soon arrive on our shores, and if they do, the responsibility will rest squarely with the President, his administration, and his apologists in both public office and the press.

On October 14, I requested Mr. Mayorkas to provide the number of foreign nationals encountered on our southern border by nationality, the number that were in the Terrorist Screening Database, and whether any were imprisoned at Bagram Air Base. As of this date, we have received no response.

Mr. President, wake up. This terror is coming. For all we know, it is already on its way. For all we know, it is already here. For God's sake, secure our border, start enforcing our immigration laws, fully vet any asylum claims or refugees before they are admitted into our country. Or else, be prepared to bear the full condemnation of history for the terrors you will have set in motion against your country and your countrymen, betraying the highest trust in the land.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we learned that this year has broken all historical records for illegal immigration. The CBP arrested 1.7 million foreign nationals illegally crossing our border this year. That is the entire population of the States of Alaska, Wyoming, and Vermont combined. And it is a Federal crime. It is a misdemeanor for the first offense. It is a felony for reentry. Yet, this administration is not only not prosecuting this crime; it is actively assisting and encouraging it.

Today, the Attorney General, the official responsible for prosecuting Federal crimes, could not even give us a ballpark guess of how many are actually being prosecuted, and, I suspect, because that number is zero.

He couldn't tell us what is being done to enforce the Federal law that forbids hiring illegals. He wasn't aware of President Biden's inauguration day order to Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to faithfully execute the law.

Now, I ask you, is it just possible that the administration's refusal to enforce our immigration law might just have something to do with the fact that our country is now being overwhelmed by this unprecedented incursion on our border?

Ask any of the migrants. They will tell you the sole reason they are coming is because of the Biden administration's decision to open the border. Under Donald Trump's leadership, they say they never would have considered making the trip, because we had achieved control of our border for the first time in a generation.

Yet, on inauguration day, Mr. Biden reversed the Remain in Mexico policy, he ordered ICE not to enforce the law, and he abandoned the border wall.

This Attorney General has no idea if his department is doing anything to enforce those immigration laws. Well, Mr. Speaker, without immigration laws, we have no border; and if we have no border, then we have no country.

Gallop estimates that based on their polling, there are 42 million people living in poverty in South America and the Caribbean who intend to come to the United States now that they can.

I would ask my fellow Democrats on the other the aisle, how are American workers helped by flooding the labor market with another wave of low-wage labor? How are our children helped by filling their classrooms with non-English-speaking classmates? How are our communities made safer by making it harder to deport criminal illegal aliens and gang members? How are our hospitals made more accessible by overwhelming emergency rooms with illegal immigrants demanding care?

Mr. Speaker, no civilization in history has survived the mass migration that we are now watching move toward our border. And history is screaming this warning at us, that countries that either cannot or will not enforce their borders simply aren't around very long.

People ask me all the time now, how can this be happening to our country? Well, the answer is pretty simple, if you voted for the Democrats, this is exactly what you voted for. And if you are surprised by that, you weren't paying any attention.

Mr. Speaker, during the Trump administration, Republicans passed one of the biggest tax cuts in American history and the largest regulatory relief ever. Together, they produced the biggest economic expansion in our lifetimes.

Before the lockdown left took a wrecking ball to our economy, Americans were prospering with the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the lowest poverty rate in 60 years, and the fastest wage growth in 40 years. For the first time in decades, the income gap was narrowing.

Well, Joe Biden and the Democrats have reversed these policies with reckless abandon, and it is no coincidence that real wages for Americans have declined every single month since he took office.

History is crystal clear on this point: No country has ever taxed, spent, and borrowed its way to prosperity, but many have done so to their ruin.

Brian Riedl tallied up the total cost of the Democrats' new spending bills for the New York Post today and estimates $8 trillion over the next 10 years, more than $60,000 per family. Joe Biden and the Democrats tell us it won't cost you a penny. It will all be paid by somebody else.

But here is the dirty little secret of government spending. Government cannot put a dollar into the economy that it hasn't first taken out of the same economy. Every dollar it gives to you, it must take from you, and there are only three ways to do that: through current taxes, which rob you of your current purchasing power; through borrowing, which robs you of your future purchasing power; or by printing money, which robs you every time you go shopping by reducing the value of your earnings, while it silently hollows out your savings and retirement funds.

Don't fall for their lie that their taxes will only fall on businesses. Businesses don't pay business taxes; you pay business taxes. You pay them as a consumer through higher prices; you pay them as an employee through lower wages; and you pay them as an investor through lower earnings. That is your retirement fund.

You know they are coming after working families because they want to hire 87,000 new IRS agents--87,000 new IRS agents. That is every man, woman, and child living today in Miami Beach, Florida, or Ogden, Utah. Imagine the entire population of one of those cities hired to go after every taxpayer in America.

And get this: The Democrats' so-called American Families Plan will require your bank to report every one of your private transactions over $600 to the IRS--every transaction you make over $600 automatically reported to the IRS.

Does that sound like they are coming after the Biden family? No, they are coming after your family.

If you are typical, you already paid more in taxes last year than you paid for food, clothing, healthcare, and entertainment combined. Yet, according to the Democrats, that is just not enough.

What else do you get for your $60,000 of new taxes and inflation and tax-driven price increases? Well, you get amnesty, legal permanent residence, and a fast track for citizenship for 8 to 10 million foreign nationals who illegally entered our country and demand to stay.

Now, let's just take the lower number, 8 million. That is the entire population of Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont, South Dakota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Montana, and Maine combined--this at a time when real family earnings are declining, crime is increasing, homelessness is rampant, and mounting debt is killing the American Dream of a better future for our children.

Explain to me how American workers are helped by flooding the labor market with low-wage labor.

Of course, the woke ruling class makes out very well. That $60,000 taken from your earnings over the next decade will, for example, pay bonuses of up to $50,000 each for reporters and bloggers across the country who so shamelessly do the Democrats' bidding. There are lavish handouts to Ivy

League universities and the fashionable elite who buy $82,000 Teslas.

There is even a new civilian climate corps, presumably filled with officious little climate pioneers ever eager to report whose chimney is smoking, who is watering the lawn on the wrong day, and who is spreading forbidden climate disinformation.

It is easy to make fun of all this until you realize this is about to become law. America, for God's sake, wake up. Our country is on the precipice.

I have just one question for my Democratic colleagues: What makes you think socialism will work any better here than everywhere else it has been tried?

Mr. Speaker, the collapse of our southern border now poses a mortal danger to our country. No civilization has ever survived the magnitude of mass migration that this administration is not only accommodating but is encouraging.

When Donald Trump left office, we had operational control of our borders. The border wall was nearing completion. Court-ordered deportations were finally being enforced. The Migrant Protection Protocols negotiated with Mexico reduced the number of fraudulent asylum claims to a trickle.

All that Biden needed to do was to continue these policies. Instead, he reversed them on his first day in office. He ordered the border wall to be abandoned, leaving construction gaps that make it useless. He ordered ICE to cease enforcing the law. He reversed the remain in Mexico policy. And he sent a clear and unmistakable message heard around the world: America is now a nation without borders. And nations without borders aren't around very long.

The numbers are staggering. In July, Customs and Border Patrol encountered 212,000 foreign nationals illegally entering our country. That is the entire population of Birmingham, Alabama, in a month. In August, another 209,000, which is Des Moines, Iowa.

There have been, already, 1\1/2\ million such encounters this year, and the Gallup organization warns us there are 42 million people living in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean who intend to come here if they can. And they are.

Almost overnight last week, 15,000 Haitian nationals illegally crossed the border and set up camp in Del Rio, Texas. It is reported that DHS is tracking an additional 40,000 to 60,000 Haitian migrants between Colombia and the U.S. border. Contrary to claims by the administration, only a fraction of them have been returned to Haiti. It appears the vast majority are being rapidly and furtively processed into our communities.

There is no denying the fact that this is a deliberate policy by this administration to fundamentally change the economy, politics, culture, customs, and institutions of the American Republic.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee just voted to grant amnesty, permanent legal residence, and a fast track to citizenship for between 8 and 10 million foreign nationals who have already illegally entered our country, defied our laws, thumbed their noses at our sovereignty, and are demanding to stay and are expecting American taxpayers to continue to support them.

Eight to 10 million, we need to understand what that means. Eight million is the entire population--every man, woman, and child--living in the States of Alaska, Maine, Delaware, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Montana, and Vermont combined.

This is at a time when real family earnings are declining, crime is increasing, homelessness is rampant, and mounting debt is killing the American Dream of a better future for our children.

Is it any wonder our borders are overwhelmed? Ask the migrants why they are coming. Every one of them will tell you it is because of Joe Biden's promise of admission, amnesty, and citizenship.

That is why we are seeing this tragic and shocking trafficking of young children, and it is going to continue until we secure our border and start enforcing our immigration laws, which are already among the most liberal in the world.

We are told we need to legalize those who illegally took Americans' jobs as essential workers during the pandemic. The fact is, 45 percent of the entire workforce is considered essential by the government. That is hardly an exclusive group. What the Democrats are really saying is that if you are part of the 55 percent of Americans they don't consider essential and you lost your job during their leftist lockdowns, you will be pushed aside for those who violated our laws, broke the rules, and now compete in the job market that you are trying to get back into, while using your money to do it.

Please, someone, explain to me: How are American workers helped by flooding the labor market with another wave of illegal immigration? How are our children, who have been robbed of an entire year of their educations, helped by filling their classrooms with non-English- speaking classmates? How are our communities made safer by making it harder to deport criminal illegal aliens and gang members? How are our hospitals made more accessible by overwhelming emergency rooms with illegal immigrants demanding care?

Mr. Speaker, people are asking me every day: How could this have happened to our country? And the answer is simple. If you voted for the Democrats, this is what you voted for. And if you are surprised, you weren't paying attention.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, near the end of World War II, the United Stated detonated the first atomic weapon at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico.

Between this first test in 1945 and 1963, the United States did conduct nearly 200 atmospheric, that is aboveground, atomic weapons tests. These activities and other aspects of our atomic weapons program may indeed have led to cancer in some people and other radiation- related illnesses.

That is why, in 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, to provide restitution to these individuals. This would add to RECA an apology to individuals in many States. Now, notably, this amendment would extend an apology to individuals residing in States not even eligible for compensation under the current terms of

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, every American knows the image of George Washington crossing the Delaware, the fallen rifleman at Gettysburg, and the marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Our history is punctuated with moments of individual heroism and virtue so profound and moving that they live forever in the memories of our countrymen and the proud story of our country.

To these iconic images, history has now added another: that of a young marine sergeant in full combat gear cradling a helpless infant in her arms amidst the unfolding chaos and peril in the besieged Kabul Airport and proclaiming: ``I love my job.''

The entire story of the war in Afghanistan is told in this picture: the sacrifices borne by young Americans who volunteered to protect their country from international terrorism, the heroism of those who serve their country even when their country failed them, the idealism of a generation that tried to bring enlightened modernity to an afflicted society, and, most of all, the stark contrast between good and evil, tyranny and freedom, barbarity and justice, and brutality and mercy.

Above all others, this is the image that describes it all. It is given power and immortality by the spirit of the young woman in this photo, Marine Sergeant Nicole Gee. Through the ages to come, this picture will speak of the sacrifice of blood and treasure of 20 years of struggling and of the vision, hope, liberty, justice, and humanity that summoned patriots like Nicole Gee to leave their homes and families and place themselves in harm's way on the other side of the world. As Shakespeare put it: ``This story shall the good man teach his son.'' Historians looking back on this age will find its story summarized in this single picture and illustrated in the life, dreams, and ultimate sacrifice of Nicole Gee.

They will note that her life ended just days after this photo was taken at the age of just 23 years. They will remember that this angelic young lady was cut down with 12 of her brothers and sisters by incarnate, insensate evil. They will ponder where that young life might have led.

That is an important question, and the answer is known to all who knew her. She could have done anything she wanted. She was married to her high school sweetheart, 4.1 GPA at Oakmont High School, ``one pretty badass marine,'' as her sister put it. She could have done anything she wanted, and what she wanted most was to serve her country and to serve humanity.

Who else but a guardian angel amidst the chaos and violence of those last days in Kabul could look beyond all that and look into the eyes of an infant and proclaim: ``I love my job''?

Speaking of the fallen heroes of past wars, James Michener asked the haunting question: Where do we get such men?

Well, here is the answer: We get such men and women from little towns across America like Roseville, California. They leave their family and friends in pursuit of the highest virtues of which human beings are capable, and they do it because their country asks them and because it is noble.

I don't know how to offer condolences to Nicole's family, to her husband, Jarod; her father, Rick; her sister, Misty; and her family and friends. The loss they bear is beyond my comprehension. I can only offer my awe and gratitude that humanity has within itself a small band of brothers and sisters like Nicole Gee; for without them, America, that ``last best hope of mankind on this Earth,'' would not be possible.

A few steps from here in the rotunda is a fresco called The Apotheosis of Washington. It depicts General Washington in uniform ascending to the heavens flanked by Victory and Freedom and surrounded by the essence and fruits of a free nation. And in that depiction, Washington beckons.

From little towns like Roseville, California, decent young men and women with promising futures like Nicole Gee have answered. I don't know how their families can bear it, but I do know that we owe them. Before her father left the stage at a community memorial, he had one request. He pleaded:

``Never forget her please, never forget her.''

We can never repay that debt except to honor her memory, keep her sacrifice always in mind, and to draw inspiration from her dedication and devotion to God and country--to all those who sacrificed everything ``to proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.''

Madam Speaker, not long ago, our elections worked well. We maintained accurate voter registration rolls and routinely removed people who moved or died.

After all the candidates had their say, on election day, we went to our local polling place. We brought our children to watch the process and taught them to respect it.

Our neighbors on the precinct board handed us our ballot after we identified ourselves and signed the roll. We took

it into a curtained booth where no one could pressure us to vote a certain way. We then handed that ballot back to our neighbor, who placed it in a locked box.

It was very hard to cheat because every ballot had a simple chain of custody.

The woke left seeks to destroy that process. Where they control the law, registration is instant, and outdated registrations are rarely removed. Ballots are sent to every name, followed by partisan harvesters to collect them. In fact, over 300 mail-in recall ballots were just found in the possession of a felon passed out in his car in Torrance, California.

Back in California, you can print ballots on your home printer and then send them in. Ballots are no longer secret. Family members, spouses, caregivers, or party hacks can cajole or pressure you as you cast your vote.

Every fraudulent vote disenfranchises a legitimate voter. That is the ultimate in voter suppression.

This bill effectively makes it impossible for States to restore integrity measures like in-person election day voting or voter ID. It ensures that the chaos and turmoil of recent elections is magnified and institutionalized.

In every election, somebody wins and somebody loses. Democracy depends on both sides having the confidence that an election was fair and accurately reflects the will of the majority. How can anyone have that confidence under such a system as the left would impose? The answer is we can't.