[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10326-H10330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Meadows) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to 
stay in the fight to make sure that we help this President deliver on a 
promise that he made years ago.
  I am sad that tonight we are here, and we are on a backdrop of a 
potential government shutdown; but, really, what it is is more a 
function of the fact that we have not done our job like we should have 
done already.
  The President, many, many months ago, said that he would not sign 
another funding bill unless we gave him wall funding. So what did this 
House do? It passed a bill to fund the Department of Defense and passed 
a short-term CR. And they said: Do you know what? We are going to have 
that fight, but we are going to have that fight after the midterms.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, it is after the midterms, and we are here with a 
number of my colleagues tonight to say that we are ready to fight on 
behalf of all the freedom-loving Americans to make sure that we have 
secure borders and that never again do we have to worry about 
terrorists and drug traffickers coming across our southern borders.
  So I have a number of my colleagues tonight, Mr. Speaker, who want to 
speak on this to encourage the American people to stand with us in this 
fight.
  I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful that my colleagues are here 
standing up for the crisis, to solve the crisis on the border.
  Securing the United States and the American people, this border, is a 
fundamental, constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government. 
We have Members of the House and Senate who are still unwilling to 
ensure we have control over our borders, unwilling to ensure we know 
who enters the United States, and unwilling to enforce our immigration 
laws.
  Some of the opposition has forgotten their previous support for 
border walls back then, before they didn't fundamentally disagree with 
border security or the border wall. But now they simply don't want 
President Trump or elected Republicans to get a win. What they want is 
open borders.
  In 2006, some of the Democrats still in the Senate today, including 
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, voted in favor of the Secure Fence Act 
to build a southern border wall.

  For now, Republicans still control Congress. Rumor is that our 
leaders are negotiating a deal to avert a shutdown and fund the 
government through February 8. Once again, we are kicking the fight for 
border security down the road.
  When are we going to stand up and fight, if not now?
  Our coalition of Members here have drafted an amendment that would 
allow us to deliver on our promise to make the necessary policy changes 
to end catch and release, increase the number of immigration judges, 
and provide $5 billion in border wall funding.
  In all of the debate about borders and illegal immigration, many of 
the headlines focus on those who have come here illegally, but I urge 
you to remember people on the American side of the border. Remember the 
ranchers and residents living along the border who are impacted by 
smuggling and trafficking that goes on because of our lack of will in 
this body. Remember our Border Patrol agents who risk their lives every 
day trying to keep us secure.
  I urge my colleagues in the House and our leadership to think about 
what is best for America. Is it the status quo, or is it standing up to 
fight for the security and sovereignty of our Nation?
  Clearly, we must stand up and fight now. I urge my fellow Members to 
support funding for the border wall before January 3 comes; and if we 
have to, I am willing to stay here to make sure that happens.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to another gentleman from Arizona 
(Mr. Gosar).
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for 
yielding.

[[Page H10327]]

  Mr. Speaker, a study came out earlier this year that said the opioid 
epidemic today is deadlier than the Vietnam war in 1968. That study 
found that opioids had cost our country more than 1.7 million years of 
life. Those are moments of joy, family, and community that are lost 
irrevocably. And as we move into the Christmas season, it is worth 
thinking about the millions of American families dealing with addiction 
and overdose tragedies.
  We have done a great deal in Congress to try to fight the epidemic, 
from beefing up grants, to tougher law enforcement, to fixing the pain 
medication guidelines, to cracking down on bad actors in the 
pharmaceutical industry. But we have not addressed the immigration 
issue, which is central to the crisis.
  The book, ``Dreamland,'' written by veteran L.A. Times Reporter Sam 
Quinones, provides one of the most definitive accounts of how we got to 
this grim place we are today. It details how Mexican nationals south of 
Arizona pioneered a new model of drug distribution, decentralized and 
customer centric, that successfully flooded our towns and cities with 
black tar heroin just as the availability of prescription opioids was 
ebbing.
  Our porous border was the lynchpin of that model in two ways:
  One, it allowed traffickers to be caught by police, to be deported, 
and to reenter the country, ensuring an unbroken stream of illegal 
labor for trafficking organizations;
  Two, it allowed drug dealers to display their ill-gotten gains at 
home in Mexico, gaining status in their towns by poisoning our people.
  That is above and beyond the simple fact that an insecure border 
allows massive amounts of drugs to be smuggled into our country.
  Make no mistake, we are under chemical attack. Fentanyl is so potent 
that even a small amount, the equivalent of a few grains of salt, can 
be lethal. Earlier this year, police seized enough fentanyl to kill 26 
million Americans.
  Securing the border is a matter of life and death. We have got to 
build the wall. This amendment that we are talking about here would 
provide the $5 billion that the President has asked for and ensures 
that he has the legal authority he needs to get it done.
  Let's back the President and the American people here in the House 
today and put the wall money in the funding bill. It is not going to 
happen under Nancy Pelosi, that much is certain. Now is the time. This 
is the bill, and this is the body, and we are at the right place. The 
American people can't afford any more delay.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Perry).
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, we are here to talk about the promise that we 
made to the American people.
  As the proud son of immigrants, my great-grandmother escaped the 
child bride situation in Colombia and came here with the shirt on her 
back and her little girl and just enough skills to make it through in 
America, and she did it legally.
  We are a compassionate country who supports legal immigration, but we 
are here to talk about illegal immigration and the one chance we have 
left to solve that.
  Border security is a bipartisan issue, and it is not just about a 
wall or a fence. It is about stopping things like illegal immigration 
and human trafficking, because seeing little girls sold into sex 
slavery into this country is not a compassionate thing for the American 
taxpayer to be a part of.
  It is about declining economic conditions for America's working poor, 
knowing that the average high school dropout in America makes about 
$25,000 a year and, over the last 20 years, that has increased the 
amount of people, through illegal immigration, who don't have a high 
school diploma by about 25 percent. Who is standing up for the working 
poor that were born in this country?
  And then there is the abuse of the American taxpayer. Pennsylvanians, 
where I represent a portion of the population, paid an additional $1.3 
billion in taxes this year for things like education, incarceration, 
healthcare, and a whole raft of social services.
  Senior citizens struggling to pay their property taxes in 
Pennsylvania risk losing their homes paying for those kind of things, 
and it is completely avoidable.
  There is the rise of the opioid crisis, where fentanyl, across the 
border, the southern border, has increased 750 percent since the 
beginning of the year. I talked to my DAs today. In the two major 
counties I represent, that is one death a day due to opioid and 
fentanyl overdose.
  Then there is the potential for terrorism through our southern 
border, where our Border Patrol says that they seize 10 terrorists a 
day.
  Mr. Speaker, regardless of all those reasons that I have just 
outlined, there is still just one more that is the most important, and 
that is that we made a promise to the American people to secure the 
border. This is our last chance.
  Nancy Pelosi will not do this, and the American people are counting 
on us to do what we said we would do. And that is why I am advocating 
for the funding package for the border in the CR, or I have to say 
``no.''
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Jordan).
  Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, everyone knows the old line: Fool me once, 
shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. But we are going to have to 
change that line. We are going to need a new one. The new line should 
be: Fool the American people four times, shame on Congress.
  Remember what we did in March? The March big omnibus spending bill? 
We said: Oh, no. We are not going to put the border wall funding on 
this bill because we are going to do it in September.
  Then we get to September and say: Do you know what? Wait a minute. We 
are not going to put it on this bill because we are going to do it on 
December 7.
  And then December 7 has come: Wait a minute. We are not going to keep 
our promise. We are not going to put the border wall funding money on 
that bill. We are going to do it December 21.
  And what did we learn today? Now they are talking about kicking it to 
February 8. You have got to be kidding me. Really?
  I mean, February 8, when Nancy Pelosi is Speaker, I am supposed to 
believe--we are supposed to believe that we are then going to build the 
border security wall and keep our promise from the 2016 campaign? No 
way.
  Four different times we promised something and then kicked the can 
down the road. I will tell you this: You know when else we should have 
done it? March, September, December 7.
  And now do you know when we really should have done it? Last week. 
Last week when the President of the United States stood in the Oval 
Office and told Congresswoman Pelosi: Nancy, this is fine. This is 
fine. We don't need to go behind closed doors. Transparency is a good 
thing.
  Let's do what we said. Let's build the border security wall that we 
should have passed last week. Instead of taking a 6-day weekend, we 
should have passed it last week.
  So I am sick of the games. The House Freedom Caucus is sick of the 
games. More importantly--most importantly--the American people are sick 
of the games.

                              {time}  2100

  So just like Congressman Perry said, let's do what we said. We make 
this job way, way too difficult. It is pretty simple. What did you tell 
the voters you were going to do? What did they elect you to do? Go do 
that.
  Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, the Freedom Caucus is going to do that. We 
have an amendment. We have an amendment that says $5 billion for the 
wall, reform our asylum laws, fix the problem--a commonsense, basic 
amendment that everyone in this country knows needs to be done.
  And now is the time to do it. We didn't do it the four times before, 
but now is the time to do it. So let's get it done this week. Let's do 
what we said.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman's leadership of our group. I 
appreciate his Special Order tonight. We know what we have to do. Let's 
just do it.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't agree with the gentleman more. 
It is time that we deliver on behalf of the American people and fulfill 
the promises that the President made many months ago.

[[Page H10328]]

  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce), 
someone who has been key in that, who knows this problem better than 
most, because he represents a district in New Mexico.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I do represent the Second District of New Mexico. That 
is the part of New Mexico that lies on the border with Mexico.
  Make no mistake about it: This issue is one that is important to the 
entire Nation. We are talking about a single subject, and that is 
securing the border. That is all the discussion is about. The rest of 
the spending in the bill, maybe it is right, maybe it is wrong, but 
that is not part of the discussion. The discussion is: Are we going to 
secure the border or not?
  The gentleman from Ohio had it exactly right, that the President sat 
there and said we are going to take this in front of the American 
people. He said: I will take responsibility for it, and we are going to 
have that discussion.
  But then the Speaker of this House has said we are not going to have 
the discussion.
  We came here as Members of Congress to make important decisions, 
sometimes very weighty decisions, sometimes very hard decisions. 
Frankly, this decision is not that hard: Secure the border. That is it.
  That is all we are asking for from this institution and from our 
friends in the Senate, but somehow we are finding that that is too hard 
an ask. The American people don't think it is too hard an ask.
  It is not that it is a racial question. The Second District of New 
Mexico is 52 percent Hispanic, 60 percent overall minority. They agree. 
No matter how they feel on immigration, no matter how they feel on 
amnesty, they agree that the border must be secure. They agree that we 
must know who is coming here and why they are coming here.
  As we watched the people gathered in Tijuana, there are concerns 
about exactly who makes up this group. A secure border allows us to 
answer those questions. An open border does not allow us to answer 
those questions.
  So I am here tonight to stand with my friends in the Freedom Caucus 
to say to the Speaker, to say to the leaders, that we simply need to 
take up this question. We have the amendment. It is very 
straightforward, very simple.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the amendment. I support the question: Will we 
secure the border? The answer should be yes.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Jody B. 
Hice).
  Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from 
North Carolina for recognizing me tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know that immigration continues to be one of the 
most pressing issues that we are facing in our country today. The 
question of illegal immigration is not going away. In fact, it is 
growing. It is getting worse. It is getting more complex with each 
passing day, and Congress has repeatedly failed to take any action 
whatsoever.
  We have the opportunity now in this spending bill to finally deliver 
results for the American people--again, something that we have not done 
over and over and over again.
  The Department of Homeland Security has reported that, roughly, on 
average, 2,000 illegal aliens are crossing our southern border every 
day. Now we learn from Border Patrol that, in recent months, there has 
been an increase of 90 percent attempted illegal individuals crossing 
our borders compared to this time last year.
  The border crisis is for real, and it is time for us to act.
  The President has requested $5 billion. That is really not a whole 
lot of money compared to the $1.3 trillion that we spend in 
discretionary spending every year.
  Look, the wall is not the whole answer, but it is the first step, 
because walls work. Wherever there have been walls put in place, there 
have been great results that have been produced: for example, a 92 
percent drop in illegal traffic in San Diego since a wall was there; 95 
percent decrease in El Paso; 90 percent decrease in Tucson. Walls work.
  Now, look, there are other things we need to do, some practical 
steps, from closing the asylum loopholes, stopping chain migration, 
making E-Verify mandatory. There are other things, but I hear, right 
now, the voices of millions of Americans from my district and across 
the country, as we have all heard the chant: Build the wall. Build the 
wall. Build the wall.
  We are standing here tonight as a voice for millions of Americans who 
feel like they have lost their voice in Washington, and we are saying 
it is time right now. Build the wall. Let's do it.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Norman).
  Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this Special Order.
  You know, I walked in this Chamber tonight, and I thought: This 
brings a new meaning to ``major in the minor.'' We have something that 
is as important as the sovereignty of this country in securing our 
borders, and here we are, at the last hour, saying we are going to get 
out of here before Friday on something this important.
  You know, I was in line, getting some work done, and the President 
came on. He challenged Speaker Pelosi, and he challenged the Senator. 
He said: Bring the fight on. We are going to stay here. We are going to 
fund the wall. We are going to get the $5 billion.
  Now we hear talk that maybe we won't. We are going to pass a 
continuing resolution for 2 months.
  I am sick of it. Nobody can fund your business month by month by 
month.
  Here we are, abdicating our constitutional obligations to make this 
country sovereign.
  As has been pointed out by Mr. Meadows and Mr. Jordan, the drugs, all 
the things that come into this country--I am for immigration, but it is 
legal immigration. We need to sit up here as long as it takes. If it is 
the next 6 months, sit up here until we get it.
  If we think we are going to get it when the gavel passes on January 
3, it is not going to happen. I support what we are doing. Now is the 
time for us to have a backbone, finally, and support this country and 
make sovereign borders a law. Fund it.
  You know, $5 billion? How did the previous administration get $153 
billion to give to a rogue country? We can't come up with $5 billion? 
It is sad, to say the least.
  I support what we are doing. Hopefully, we can get this thing done. 
Sitting up here, it is time to fight.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 13 minutes remaining.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Griffith), my good friend.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for recognizing me 
tonight. I appreciate it.
  Recognizing that the time is drawing short, and we have lots of other 
people who want to speak on this issue, I will attempt to keep myself 
in check on the time.
  Mr. Speaker, everybody knows we have to secure our border. When we 
talk about building the wall, we are not talking just about bricks and 
mortar. We are talking about securing our borders with all devices 
available to us, whether that be drones or smart fences like they have 
in Israel where they protect 17 miles of border with a fence that, if 
something hits it, they send people out to see what is going on.
  We have to use all the tools in the toolbox. And the $5 billion is 
just the start on what we need to do to protect all of our borders, but 
it is an important start.
  We have heard about the drug crisis, and all of our districts are 
affected by it. A lot of times, people say in the mountains of 
southwest Virginia: Morgan, why are you so concerned about this illegal 
immigration?
  Let me tell you why. The Mexican drug cartels are bringing 
methamphetamine into my district. They use it as a distribution area. 
They are the main supplier of that drug. Now that we have gotten 
opioids a little bit under control, and we are starting to get that 
where it should be, the Mexican cartels are our biggest problem in the 
mountains of southwest Virginia.

[[Page H10329]]

  It is important that we secure our borders, build the wall, protect 
the American people, protect our borders, and protect our laws.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Budd), my good friend.
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for recognizing me 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, we know our immigration system is broken and desperately 
in need of reform. No sovereign country in the world is scrutinized the 
way America is just for simply wanting to secure our borders.
  For decades, the United States has taken in millions of immigrants. 
In fact, that number is about a million per year, and that is something 
we are going to continue to do.
  Immigrants, historically, have been a major asset to the growth and 
prosperity of our country. However, the issue before America is not 
legal immigration but illegal immigration.
  It is interesting to me that, throughout the years, Democrats have 
supported securing our borders. In 2006, the Secure Fence Act was 
signed into law by President Bush authorizing 700 miles of border fence 
and $50 billion in total maintenance. That is a far stretch from the 
small $5 billion, in comparison, that President Trump is asking for 
today.
  We should remember that the Secure Fence Act passed through Congress 
with bold and broad Democrat support.
  So in 2013, we should also remember that Senator Schumer himself 
sponsored a bill that invested $46 billion in border security 
improvements that added 700 miles of border fencing. That is $41 
billion more than what President Trump is currently asking for.
  So what changed, Mr. Speaker, between now and then? Simply, politics. 
Politics is the only thing that has changed. But, to me, securing our 
country's borders and making sure people feel safe should be above 
politics.
  Our ICE agents and Border Patrol need the necessary resources to do 
their jobs effectively and with confidence. It is hard to plug a leak 
when you are working with the wrong tools. The solution is simply to 
shut off the water at the source.
  In closing, I would pose these questions to my friends across the 
aisle: If now is not the time to secure our border, then when is? If 
not today, then when? And where do we go from here?
  If we can't come together to solve a problem that both Republicans 
and Democrats know exists, I worry that our tribal political 
environment will hold the security of American citizens hostage for 
years to come.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my Democrat colleagues to turn back the clock and 
remember a time when putting the country first was more important than 
putting the party first.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his friendship and for his 
time.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer).
  Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call upon this body to 
fulfill its duty to protect the American people.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to claim that 
strengthening border security is about separating families or 
preventing them from immigrating to the U.S. In reality, it is about 
protecting the American people by stopping the flow of dangerous 
individuals across the southern border.
  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen has confirmed that 
ISIS has produced written materials that encourage ISIS followers to 
cross our Southwest border, given the loopholes that they are also 
aware of, and that, on average, her department now blocks 10 known or 
suspected terrorists a day from traveling to or attempting to enter the 
United States.
  The four individuals shown here, one of whom had been previously 
identified and flagged for insurgency/terrorism, were stopped in Panama 
while trying to make their way to the U.S. Thanks to a fortunate tip 
and coordination between U.S. and Panamanian law enforcement, these 
individuals were stopped.
  This should be alarming to every American, especially concerning the 
dangerous individuals we may have missed and will continue to miss due 
to our lack of robust border security.
  I am proud of the job our Border Patrol and law enforcement officers 
are doing to protect their country, and I urge my colleagues to do our 
duty to protect the American people from dangerous individuals by 
taking border security seriously and fully funding the President's 
proposal for border security.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud).
  Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for recognizing me 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight I speak to the humanitarian and criminal crisis 
at our southern border.
  This crisis has been permitted to exist because of Congress' failure 
to act. For over 30 years, the American people have been promised 
results, but they have received empty promises.
  We know from history that our southern border wall works. This is not 
a new concept. Where we have implemented a wall, we have seen great 
success in curbing illicit activity.
  Our Nation is a generous nation, one of the most diverse in the 
world, and our generosity is being taken advantage of by illegal 
cartels across our southern border. These cartels have created a 
humanitarian and criminal crisis that abuses the rule of law and costs 
innocent lives.
  Cartels recruit and send migrants across our border, making thousands 
of dollars a person, in a strategy to tax our human resources and 
distract from our enforcement against drug trafficking.
  As the Representative of the 27th District of Texas, the southern 
part of my district is just 2 hours from the border.

                              {time}  2115

  I know the good men and women who serve on our southern border, and 
they always prioritize life. Cartels know this and take advantage of 
it.
  Failure to complete a southern border wall and loopholes in our 
asylum laws have created a magnet for illegal immigration. According to 
DHS, around 80 percent of asylum cases that go to a hearing are 
rejected by the judge as illegitimate.
  DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton pointed out earlier this year that 
smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better 
than most.
  The catch-and-release process, whereby migrants come into the country 
and are issued a date to appear in court, often years away, are 
released into the interior, and it is driving this humanitarian crisis. 
ICE reports that the number of migrants, including many women and 
children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent years. 
They often find themselves at risk for assault and abuse, such as rape, 
beatings, kidnapping, and robbery.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  December 19, 2018 on Page H10329 the following appeared: ISIS 
reports that the number of migrants, including many women and 
children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent 
years.
  
  The online version has been corrected to read: ICE reports that 
the number of migrants, including many women and children seeking 
entry, has increased dramatically in recent years.


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 

  Tonight, Mr. Speaker, we are here advocating for an end to the 
humanitarian and criminal crisis on our southern border caused by 
Congress' failure to act. This means ending the status quo, funding 
border security, and closing the loopholes in our broken asylum system.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from North Carolina has 3 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Babin).
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, ``securing our border'' is a term that we 
have heard so often it has lost its punch inside the beltway. But that 
doesn't mean the American people have forgotten about it.
  We made a promise to our folks to secure our borders, and we have to 
keep that promise. Without question, funding to build a wall is 
necessary, and now is our chance to do it. Many sections of our border 
cannot be secured without a wall, and Congress must act to ensure that 
it is built. But bad policies like catch and release must be addressed 
by Congress as well.
  Take the recent quotes and actions from many of the migrants who have 
been in these caravans, abusing our catch-and-release policy to seek 
asylee status in order to work in our country. These migrants were 
demanding entrance and jobs, waving foreign flags

[[Page H10330]]

while burning ours, cursing our government and our President, and 
vowing that our laws mean nothing to them.
  Are these people who share our allegiances? Should we not demand a 
lawful immigration system so that we can determine who we let in? Is 
not a secure border a prerequisite for that?
  We must increase penalties for illegally crossing our border. Earlier 
this year, I cosponsored the Zero Tolerance for Illegal Entry Act, 
which would make doing so a felony. This would encourage legitimate 
asylum seekers to do so at authorized points of entry. This should be a 
component of reform.
  Just this week, in a story we have seen over and over, agents 
arrested illegal border crossers with over 100 pounds of meth. Without 
our border agents, these dangerous drugs would be in our schools and in 
our communities.
  We made a promise to our constituents to build this wall. We must 
prioritize the interests of the American people. I am willing to fight 
for this, and I hope that my colleagues are as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, as I close out this particular Special 
Order, I think it is appropriate for us to remind the American people 
that there is a bad case of Potomac fever up here in Washington, D.C. 
They forget what they promised the American people, yet what they must 
do is not forget this time.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to back up the President. If he vetoes this 
bill, we will be there. But, more importantly, the American people will 
be there. They will be there to support him. Let's build the wall and 
make sure that we do our job in Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________