[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 5 (Thursday, January 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H365-H366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, we know the President doesn't like to read, 
but I think perhaps his acting chief of staff did.
  There was something called the Maginot Line the French built between 
World War I and World War II, an impenetrable defense against the 
German invasion. Unfortunately, the Germans went around it.
  Here we are in the 21st century. The President wants $5.7 billion to 
build a wall along part of the Mexican border. Now, his own acting 
chief of staff, when he was a Member of Congress and perhaps speaking 
more freely, said:

       You go under, you go around, you go through. What they need 
     is more manpower and more technology.

  That is Mick Mulvaney, well, saying something different now, I guess, 
because he wants to keep his job. But the point is, he had an honest 
opinion then, and that is the way it will work.
  Here are a few things:
  You can go over walls and fences--oh, by the way, we just had a 
demonstration today that the steel slats the President now wants can be 
cut with a handsaw.
  Tunnels, drugs come through that way and people are smuggled in that 
way.
  Oh, they are using the squad copters. You can buy those pretty 
cheap--oh, and then some more primitive device over here.
  But, actually, the flood of drugs coming into the United States comes 
in right here, legal border crossings.
  A couple of problems with that right now:
  First off, the people who are manning the border crossings aren't 
getting paid.
  Secondly, they don't have enough technology or the capability of 
inspecting more than 10 percent of the vehicles that come through. So 
for the cartels: ``Hey, what the heck. We just lost a semi.'' What do 
they care? Pocket change. ``Couple of hundred thousand

[[Page H366]]

bucks, million bucks--whatever. We don't care.'' They just try all the 
time.
  And we don't have the defenses we need. We could invest there, but, 
no, the President wants the wall.
  Now, there is another way that drugs are coming into this country. 
Last year, the Coast Guard intercepted $5.6 billion--sound familiar? 
$5.6 billion, almost as much as the President wants for the wall--worth 
of illegal drugs being shipped via the ocean into the United States.
  The Commandant of the Coast Guard testified 2 years ago, they are 
only intercepting 20 percent of the known shipments because their 
medium endurance cutters are half a century old. They don't have enough 
helicopters. They don't have enough air support. They don't have enough 
fast-pursuit boats.
  But, no, we are going to invest in a stupid static way. They can go 
around it in the oceans. They can go around it in the desert. They can 
go under it. They can go over it.
  And the people who are really doing the job, like the Coast Guard, 
guess what. They are not getting paid either. The first line of 
defense, Customs and Border Protection--not being paid. The Coast 
Guard--not being paid.
  There is a very long list of Federal employees who are critical to 
national security who are not being paid today and don't have the tools 
they need. But the President wants to invest in a stupid static wall 
because they promised one.
  And, oh, by the way, Mexico is going to pay for it, which, of course, 
they aren't.
  You know, yesterday the tip sheet from the Coast Guard support group, 
the Trump administration, had helpful tips for coasties: you could hold 
a garage sale; you could perhaps dog walk; you could register as a 
mystery shopper.
  They actually posted this for people who are the first line of 
defense in the United States of America, instead of saying: ``Put them 
back to work and pay them, pay them for defending America.''
  Now, the President says he can relate to this. He understands. Yes, 
when he was in business, he stiffed a whole lot of people, and he is 
stiffing 800,000 Federal employees right now.

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