[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 184 (Wednesday, October 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5707-H5714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           AMERICA IN CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Louisiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, during my time this 
afternoon, my colleagues and I will address the burning issues that are 
on the hearts and minds of all our constituents back home--really, all 
Americans--and that is the numerous self-inflicted crises of the Biden 
administration and the House Democrats' increasingly radical leftwing 
legislative agenda.
  Madam Speaker, Democrats may narrowly control the House, the Senate, 
and the White House, but over the past several weeks, it has become 
abundantly clear that they just cannot govern.
  America is in crisis. Everybody knows that, and everybody can feel it 
in so many areas.

                              {time}  1630

  Today, the White House spends its days doing damage control on all 
these multiple crises of their own making.
  Just think of what we are facing right now. We have an economic 
crisis where jobs remain unfilled, prices for basic goods continue to 
rise, and the shelves sit empty.
  We have got an energy crisis that has led to the highest gasoline 
crisis since 2007, and we know the projections for warming our homes in 
the winter are off the charts.
  We have multiple foreign policy crises, and we have on the southern 
border humanitarian, national security, and public health crises like 
we have never seen before.
  These really are existential kinds of threats to the country. I know 
our colleagues like to throw that word around, but it really does apply 
here. And while all Presidents confront crises beyond their control, 
that is not what is happening here. These crises--the things we are 
talking about today--are the direct result of this administration's own 
actions.
  We know that inflation is rising because Democrats are flooding the 
economy with money and supply is down because of labor shortages caused 
by the Democrats' so-called pandemic policies. Gas prices are up thanks 
to a steady assault on our energy producers by the Biden 
administration. Our foreign policy is in crisis because of the Biden 
debacle in Afghanistan and all the other fumbles that they have made.
  The border problem is simple. They opened the border. They put a 
welcome mat there and told everybody around the world to come on in. 
The Democrats opened it, and so we should not be surprised or shocked 
at the result of that invitation.

[[Page H5708]]

  Here in Congress the picture is no better. If you think about this, 
the Democrats have a mere three-seat majority in this House. We have a 
fifty-fifty deadlock in the Senate. There is no objective person in 
this country who could look at those numbers and say that the Democrats 
have any mandate to ram through the most partisan and most expensive 
legislative package in the history of this Nation using the slimmest 
majority possible.
  If you ask the Democrats what is in the bill, Madam Speaker, they 
can't tell you because they don't know.
  Is amnesty in it?
  Well, the House certainly worked to add it.
  Taxpayer funded abortion? A carbon tax? A tax on prescription drugs?
  They have been working very hard to include all those things. The one 
thing they do know for sure is that they are deadlocked. They are 
insistent that they want to spend $5.5 trillion of hardworking 
Americans' tax money while inflation goes through the roof and while we 
are trying to recover from a pandemic. This is the worst possible time 
to be doing what they are doing.
  The American people expected competence in the White House. They 
wanted bipartisanship in Congress. They have received instead the most 
incompetent White House of our lifetimes and a Democrat-led Congress 
trying to push the most extreme agenda in our history.
  This is not hyperbole; these are facts. And my colleagues are going 
to lay out many of the reasons, many of the facts, and much of the 
evidence that proves what every American now knows intuitively. If 
House Democrats drop their radical, dangerous agenda right now, I 
promise you, Madam Speaker, they would find so many Members of this 
party on our side of the aisle who would be ready to work with them in 
a bipartisan fashion tomorrow. We have so many challenges facing the 
country. But they won't do that. They are dug in. And their votes prove 
over and over now that they are determined to be Big Government 
socialists and not the Democratic Party of our parents' generation.
  This afternoon we will highlight what this agenda is doing to our 
country.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, first of all, I thank my 
good friend and colleague for organizing and leading this leadership 
hour.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the Biden administration's 
energy crisis. This is a crisis that was created by the Biden 
administration.
  Last week, the price of gas reached a 7-year high. In fact, in my 
home district, Pennsylvania-15, we are now paying anywhere from $3.49 
to $3.67 a gallon--well over the price any American should have to pay.
  In 2019 and 2020, the United States was a net total energy exporter. 
This means for the first time since the 1950s we were exporting more 
energy than importing. We were energy independent, and we saw the many 
benefits across all sectors of United States manufacturing, production, 
and consumption. For example, in 2020, the average gasoline price in 
the United States was $2.17 per gallon.
  I am proud to represent a district and come from a State that plays 
such a large role in domestic energy production. In fact, Pennsylvania 
is the second largest producer of natural gas and the third largest net 
supplier of energy to other States. Without the energy production of my 
district and others in rural America, our cities would wake up cold, in 
the dark, and hungry. But President Biden chose to stifle American 
energy production, issuing executive order after executive order 
reducing and even pausing our own access to oil and natural gas.
  In addition, the Biden administration has reached out to OPEC-Plus 
begging them to produce more oil which--let's not forget--is less 
environmentally friendly, less humane, and less regulated than United 
States sources.
  Last week, I joined my colleagues in a letter to this administration 
opposing the pleas, the begging to OPEC-Plus, and encouraging the use 
of American produced energy to meet our current needs. We asked the 
administration to reverse the crushing executive orders impeding our 
own energy production and to work with Congress on issues affecting 
American energy security and supply. We know the answer to this self-
imposed crisis: we must lift the limitations on our own energy supply.
  By repealing these executive orders and encouraging American 
producers to harness our abundance of natural resources, we can meet 
our energy needs and we can ensure Americans and our allies have access 
to affordable, reliable, and exportable energy produced in the United 
States.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman, once again, for his 
leadership.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, this is such an important 
issue in Louisiana, my home State. We are a big energy State. We were 
so excited to have achieved not just energy independence under the 
Trump administration but energy dominance. We were a net exporter, and, 
of course, all that has been reversed, as my friend just explained.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
  Mr. ROSE. Madam Speaker, the fight to restore law and order and 
secure our southern border continues. Border apprehensions remain at a 
2-decade high as the Department of Homeland Security warns officials to 
prepare for roughly 400,000 illegal migrants crossing the border just 
this month.
  President Biden is more committed to ending President Trump's 
policies that had successfully slowed the surge of illegal crossings 
than he is to securing our border. The cartels and human smugglers have 
taken notice of our weakened position and are more than willing to 
exploit these changes for their financial benefit. Meanwhile, those who 
are understandably seeking opportunity and a better future are being 
coached to gain entrance to the U.S. by claiming asylum.
  As a result of our open southern border and the refusal by the Biden 
administration to detain the majority of those we encounter, more than 
2 million illegal immigrants are expected to pass through our southern 
border this year. Already, 1.2 million have entered the country 
illegally and have been apprehended since President Biden took office, 
and millions of these are expected to be brought into the interior of 
our country--all at taxpayers' expense.
  The desperate situation at the southern border calls for urgent 
action. Instead, House Democrats are determined to use the budget 
reconciliation process to pass amnesty for millions of illegal 
immigrants. This type of thinking, if turned into law, will have 
staggering consequences for our Nation for years to come. Widespread 
illegal immigration is detrimental not only to Americans and our 
families but to our Nation and even the migrants themselves.
  As one of the Representatives in Congress for middle Tennessee, I 
have the responsibility to safeguard our sacred freedoms. But if we 
cannot control our borders, how can we defend our sovereignty as a 
nation?
  That is why I am fighting to restore law and order at the southern 
border.
  President Biden and House Democrats can no longer run from this 
crisis.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's 
effort, and I thank him for sharing his insights this afternoon.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the great gentleman from the big State of 
Texas (Mr. Sessions).
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Louisiana not only for his leadership to our conference but also 
speaking up and taking time out of his schedule to speak directly to 
America and Americans about important issues that face our country 
today.
  Madam Speaker, we hear time after time our colleagues from the 
Democratic Party talk about all the violence that is taking place in 
large cities. Murders are up 30 percent last year according to the FBI 
who talked about this rise. And then we turn around and see where they 
are the activists who are leading the defunding of police, the 
destabilization of our cities. The bringing together of illegals into 
this country with record drug deals and amounts of drugs on our 
streets, record numbers of death from fentanyl, opioids--misery.
  But what does our President do?
  He goes off on an aggressive agenda, one which is fueled by the 
radicals in

[[Page H5709]]

his party, one which he fully believes in, one that he is proud of, and 
one that they sustain and are still pushing. It is not enough just to 
push and push big spending and Big Government. It is actually an agenda 
that is in chaos. A chaotic agenda is apparent to the American people.
  For a second I would like to have us think back about what we have 
had previously with Republicans not only in charge in the House and the 
Senate but in the Presidency leading this great Nation. Our goal as 
Republicans is to have America to be a land of hope, to have America to 
be a land of opportunity, to have America to be a land of freedom, for 
America to be a land of achievement, and for America to be a land of 
heroes.
  For this to happen, Madam Speaker, it means that America needs its 
ability to go back to work and to have the dignity of work. Madam 
Speaker, it means that we need to have Americans who go to work not 
because a government or a political party wants to keep people away 
from work and is using trillions of dollars of government funds to keep 
them there.

  Madam Speaker, we have an administration and a President who wants to 
take people's freedom away by requiring them to wear not just masks but 
to have vaccinations or lose their job.
  But, Madam Speaker, the thing that is harming America that is 
apparent to everyone right now is the cost of items just to live. 
Inflation and monetary policy are what the Fed is responsible for, the 
Fed bank. And they are prepared to give hundreds of billions of dollars 
and trillions of dollars, some $5,000 trillion is what they will be 
asked to go take loans out on again. That devalues not just the 
American dollar, but it actually causes a price increase directly at 
the grocery store where people buy their food and basic elements.
  Inflation is at a 40-year high, but we keep hearing about how much 
money the government is going to put in people's pockets. But it is 
robbed when they net it out, Madam Speaker.
  It is robbed when they net it out because inflation robs not just 
people who have families, but it robs those who live on a fixed income. 
It robs the vitality and the ability that we have to be ingenious and 
to move our country forward.
  So, Madam Speaker, please know this, that the Republican Party and 
our Members who are here tonight are not just speaking about things 
because we disagree, it is because we love our country. We believe that 
what was built and available for America and Americans is the greatest 
country in the history of this world. We believe in Americanism. We 
believe in American exceptionalism. We believe in the Constitution. We 
believe in freedom and a right to make our own decisions in our own 
homes and in our own communities.

                              {time}  1645

  Increasingly, we are finding that this new administration, the House 
and the Senate under Democratic control, are taking away the basic 
rights and freedoms that would have been enjoyed by free people, but 
they are not because this administration intends to extend the long arm 
of the Federal Government into all transportation, to all members of 
the military, and to free people who want to live their own life.
  Madam Speaker, Republicans are on the floor today to offer better 
ideas, to offer hope and solutions, but perhaps more importantly to say 
this, that we believe that it is time that this administration get off 
its radical agenda, radical agenda that is leading America into chaos.
  If the President would listen, if the Speaker of the House would 
listen, and if the Senate majority leader would listen, they would hear 
even members in their own party saying that a radical agenda will 
greatly change America to where we would become a socialist Nation.
  Madam Speaker, we are here offering the example that we have known 
that made America great, and it is called capitalism and freedom.
  I want to thank Mr. Johnson for taking the time to gather Republicans 
together on the floor to offer not just our vision but also to 
highlight to the American people that elections have consequences, and 
we look forward to next year. I want to thank the gentleman for 
allowing me this time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his 
comments, and that clarity and conviction is so necessary right now. I 
love how the gentleman is articulating the stark differences between 
the two competing visions for this country right now. The chasm is so 
wide between the Republican and Democratic Parties, and we say that 
without any pleasure at all.
  It is a sad development in our politics that this is not--listen to 
us at home--this is not your parents' and your grandparents' Democratic 
Party.
  Madam Speaker, I am delighted to move from Texas and move over to 
Alabama.
  I yield to the gentleman from a Alabama (Mr. Carl), a good friend of 
mine.
  Mr. CARL. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. 
Johnson) for organizing this Special Order.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to address President Biden's failure to 
secure our borders and enforce our national immigration laws. The Biden 
administration's disregard for the national security threat and 
humanitarian crisis they have created is extremely troubling. The 
American people deserve better than this. My constituents in south 
Alabama, as well as millions of folks across America, share my concern. 
That is why today I sent a letter to President Biden asking him a few 
simple questions. They are as follows:
  Why did you stop construction on the border wall even though we had 
supplies on the ground and contractors ready to finish it? Why?
  What is the plan to secure our border and enforce our immigration 
laws today? Do we have a plan?
  What is the plan to prevent additional surges of illegal immigrants 
who are crossing our border? As we know, there are 30- to 50,000 on the 
way that are going to get here, and I want to know what the plan is 
before they get here; not a week after they get here.
  What is the plan to handle thousands of individuals living in 
makeshift camps along the border? Can the White House assure us that 
these criminals who are sneaking across the border will not be released 
in our community?
  I challenge my friends from across the aisle to stand up and start 
speaking out. This is not a Republican issue. It is an American issue. 
We have got to stand up for our constituents because when we are 
getting these people coming across the border with diseases, 
undocumented, the drugs, it becomes an American problem, and we as 
Americans have got to stand together and fight this.
  If we can't get the Democratic Party, the Democrats across the aisle, 
to listen to what we are saying, there will be a tsunami in 2022 that 
will change this House for a long time. And that is not what we need. 
We need to be working together.
  Although I doubt my letter will get a response from President Biden, 
I will continue to fight to secure our border so we can protect the 
health and the safety of American citizens.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and 
appreciate him being here tonight and articulating that so well.
  I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).
  Mr. CLYDE. Madam Speaker, I thank Vice Chairman Johnson, my good 
friend from Louisiana, for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, no matter how hard the White House attempts to spin 
this economic crisis as a high-class problem, our Nation's financial 
future is in shambles because of the Biden administration's policies 
and it affects all of us.
  Inflation continues to climb ahead of the holiday season hitting a 
13-year high just last week. From the gas pump to the grocery store, 
Americans are paying more for just about everything while they are 
working less. Despite having over 10 million job openings across the 
country, only 194,000 jobs were added last month, making September 
President Biden's worst jobs report since taking office.
  Instead of putting the brakes on spending, Biden and his allies in 
Congress are carelessly adding fuel to the inflationary fire by 
advancing their $1.2 trillion--only 9 percent--infrastructure bill, and 
$4.3 trillion Big Government socialist spending package. So

[[Page H5710]]

in the face of an economic catastrophe, Democrats are gearing up to 
spend a whopping $5.5 trillion on their liberal wish list. That is 
wrong for small businesses. That is wrong for hardworking people across 
the country, and that is just wrong for America.
  Squandering trillions of dollars for unpopular, radical, and 
dangerous policies, while imposing a $2.1 trillion tax hike to pay for 
it, will only inflame the current economic crisis and burden Americans 
with more financial instability.

  How many more empty shelves will it take and record-high gas prices--
yes, look, $3.30 per gallon is where we are right now. That is a 50 
percent increase from where we were for the last 4 years under the 
Trump administration. How many more struggling Americans will it take 
for the Biden administration to get serious about this economic crisis 
and call it a crisis, and act like it is a crisis?
  For the sake of our country, I call on President Biden to join us. 
Reverse course and work with Republican lawmakers to get our economy 
back on track.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for those 
insights.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Burchett).
  Mr. BURCHETT. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my sometimes friend from 
Louisiana for that kind introduction and thank him so much for 
yielding.
  Madam Speaker, the current state of our economy is like a car about 
to blow through a railroad crossing. As the car approaches the tracks, 
indicator lights flash red warning of danger ahead. Despite warnings, 
the car tries to beat the oncoming train across the tracks. We have all 
seen this scenario. The train T-bones the car at full speed leaving it 
in pieces.
  Think of this preventable crash in economic terms. We are ignoring 
flashing red fiscal indicators like rising inflation, as illustrated in 
some of the issues right here; weak labor force participation; and $28 
trillion of national debt. We need to heed these warnings. If we don't, 
we face the complete destruction of our entire economy.
  Joe Biden and the Democrats are crashing our economy. They control 
the spending in Congress and the Federal agencies overseeing various 
sectors of the economy. Since these folks don't seem to care or want to 
work with us Republicans, they are the only ones who can stop this out-
of-control economy from colliding with disaster.
  Instead of steering the economy away from danger, Joe Biden and the 
Democrats are going to put the pedal to the metal in pursuit of their 
multitrillion dollar, far-left political agenda. Their expensive 
socialist plan recklessly overstimulates the economy, pays folks not to 
work, and bloats our national debt.
  Pumping trillions into our economy will devalue the American dollar. 
Combine this with rising prices, everyday folks won't be able to afford 
a whole lot. Democrats risk crashing the economy if they choose to move 
forward with their political agenda, Madam Speaker.
  Let's not lie about who is going to be hurt the most if this happens. 
It will be our poor and working-class folks, our fellow Americans--both 
the Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals. Paychecks 
just won't go as far as they did before, as we are seeing already. 
Vulnerable folks will struggle to afford basic goods and services for 
their families.
  Picture that car colliding with the train, Madam Speaker. Think of 
that total devastation. It can be prevented if the flashing red warning 
signs are taken seriously and heeded. Joe Biden and the Democrats need 
to get control of our economy or let the Republicans take the wheel.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my always friend. 
The gentleman's metaphor paints a real picture. We are headed for a 
crash if we don't change course.
  Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Owens), my good friend and Super Bowl champion.
  Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Louisiana 
for his leadership.
  Madam Speaker, as crisis after crisis emerges from this 
administration, I would like to take a moment to discuss an issue that 
has been on my mind and in the hearts of millions of Americans: the 
crisis at our southern border.
  It is a humanitarian, national security, and public health crisis 
that must be addressed immediately. I have seen these horrific scenes 
for myself down in McAllen, Texas, and further south through the Darien 
Gap where families, women, and children endure a dangerous trek to 
America.
  For the past 9 months, the border has served as a hotbed for drug 
smugglers, human traffickers, child trafficking, and illegal 
immigration, and is a direct result of the disastrous and harmful open 
border policy of President Biden and Vice President Harris.
  These policies are enriching the cartels, smugglers, and human 
traffickers who prey on and abuse women and children crossing the 
border. Some report earnings as much as $14 million a day.
  These are horrendous crimes and they have no place in our country. 
Here is what we know: During the month of August, almost 19,000 of the 
208,000 illegal immigrants to cross the border were unaccompanied 
minors. With a record number of minors crossing the border alone, we 
need to be actively taking steps to prevent predators from exploiting 
these innocent children.
  Another fact: The number of illegal immigrants taken into custody 
along the southern border topped 1.2 million since February. This does 
not count the hundreds of thousands of got-aways. This crisis is not 
seasonal, is not inherited. It appears like a purposeful chaos by our 
Democratic Party. We must restore security at the southern border, end 
illegal immigration, and take immediate steps to prioritize the health 
and safety of all Americans.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
his comments. The gentleman is right. It does appear to be purposeful. 
The chaos, there is just too much of it, and that is what people back 
home say. This has to be intentional.
  There is no way that we could have these many dilemmas piled upon 
each other this quickly unless there were some ulterior motive. It is a 
rhetorical question, I suppose, for the American people.
  Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

  Mr. VAN DREW. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Johnson, my always 
friend, for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, our country is experiencing an unbelievable crisis at 
our southern border. In August alone, the United States Customs and 
Border Protection encountered over 200,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico 
border which was a 317 percent increase from August of last year. Let 
me repeat that one more time: a 317 percent increase from just one 
single year ago.
  President Biden has prioritized reversing effective Trump-era border 
policies such as the Remain in Mexico Policy and most notably, the 
border wall. They were working. We literally have tons of building 
materials, all of which have been bought and paid for by the 
hardworking men and women American taxpayers, sitting in the desert 
collecting dust because President Biden cares more about trying to be 
politically stylish than he does implementing policies to protect and 
strengthen our America which we love so much.
  Is President Biden requiring these migrants to show proof of 
vaccination? The answer is no. Are they being tested for COVID-19? The 
answer is no. Are they being tested for other deadly viruses? The 
answer is no.
  Americans are still unable to return to their normal ways of life but 
hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are allowed to breach and 
break through the border and infect our Nation. How does that make 
sense? How can any one individual American make any sense or understand 
that?

                              {time}  1700

  Drug cartels are recruiting and using children as drug mules, they 
are sexually abusing women, and they are responsible for bringing 
enough fentanyl into America to kill every man, woman, and child, at 
least 10 times over, and we read it in the headlines. This is unlike 
anything we have ever seen before in our America, yet this 
administration continues to leave this

[[Page H5711]]

border wide open. Again, how does it make sense? How can we understand 
it? How can we believe it?
  The Border Patrol is on track to encounter more migrants this year 
than it has in any year prior. In fiscal year 2021, roughly 10,000 
migrants with criminal records were detained at the southern border. 
This is no joke. This is a real tragedy for America. The former Border 
Patrol chief has also stated that our Border Patrol is encountering 
known and suspected terrorists at ``a level that we have never seen 
before.'' This is no joke. This is the real world which we live in now 
in America.
  There are serious shortages among Border Patrol agents, and somehow 
congressional Democrats and the administration are making zero efforts 
to address them. They fail to recognize the severity of the issue or 
even admit that there is an issue to begin with.
  Again, it is no joke. These men and women are putting their lives in 
danger. Half the time they don't even have the backup that they should. 
I remember when I went to the border and saw them encountering all 
types of dangerous situations. Not a single backup sometimes. How can 
we do that to our American men and women in law enforcement?
  Make no mistake about it. I don't want anyone to think otherwise. 
Make no mistake--this is the worst border crisis that we have ever 
experienced in America. President Biden is actively destroying our 
country and our way of life by not taking this crisis seriously at all. 
But he should. I will say it again. This is no joke. It is the real 
thing.
  Madam Speaker, God help us all. We must save our country.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for doing 
all he does to save this country, and we have a lot of work still to 
do.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Meuser), who is my good friend.
  Mr. MEUSER. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend Mr. Johnson very 
much, our conference vice chair, for putting this together today.
  Madam Speaker, as we all know, we have the latest crisis under the 
Biden administration, known as the supply chain bottlenecks, 
particularly at our U.S. ports. We have thousands of ships waiting to 
be unloaded with goods that the consumers of the U.S. have purchased.
  Now, some of this could be said to have been COVID related due to the 
manufacturing delays and disruptions in the U.S. and worldwide. But 
that was the reason for shortfalls last year. This situation has been 
very much exacerbated by the policies of the Biden administration.
  You see, in Q4 of 2020, we had a 4 percent GDP growth, which is 
pretty good, and it was followed by 6 percent in Q1 of 2021, which is 
very good. Then came along the so-called rescue plan, which every 
economist worth anything said was three times too high in taxpayer 
dollars. They continued enhanced unemployment supplement under this 
plan; spent trillions of taxpayer dollars; extended 100 percent health 
insurance through COBRA, a further disincentive to work; and sent 
stimulus checks of $5,600 to families of four.
  There is something in all of the sciences, Madam Speaker, known as 
the law of cause and effect, and the effects of these actions have 
included disincentives to work, rampant inflation, heavy consumer 
spending, but nobody to make the goods and provide the services.
  So since the production in the U.S. is down, all of these products 
are now coming from Asia as the thousands of containers waiting off our 
coast prove. So the blunders and mistakes being made have caused 
overdemand, weak production, and less trucks on the road.
  Some in this House call this the economy of the future, the modern 
monetary theory. My constituents call it Big Government socialism 
versus free market capitalism or just simply economic madness.
  But wait. We are not finished. Or they are not finished. Progressives 
in this House that, let's be honest, run this House and the White 
House, are holding a transportation and infrastructure bill hostage 
while doubling down--no, tripling down--no, 3.5 trillion down on all of 
the effects of this liberal economic policy. So we will continue with 
the disincentives to work; we will continue spending us into oblivion; 
and we will add to it taxes on small businesses and families and all 
who purchase goods while inflation increases, making American business 
less competitive worldwide.
  This is why $3.5 trillion in a reconciliation plan must be stopped, 
and the American people need to contact their Members because they are 
not giving us a seat at the table to negotiate or discuss this 
disastrous plan.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for that 
really good explanation of what we are facing right now. People back 
home are scratching their heads, how can it come to this? Well, you 
see, it is the result of policies that are being implemented by this 
administration.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), 
also my good friend.
  Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from Louisiana for 
holding this Special Order and his leadership in our conference.
  It started off with the war on fossil fuel and then the border 
crisis. Now, this new deal is about a war on small business. And the 
Biden administration and Bernie Sanders' trillion-dollar tax-and-spend 
bill, it is not about addressing our Nation's urgent needs, which I 
have just described, like: rising inflation; supply chain crisis; 
illegal immigration--we should not say illegal immigration; it should 
be human trafficking and drug trafficking--or the crime rate in the 
country. It is a blueprint to bankrupt and fundamentally turn America 
into a Big-Government, socialist Nation.
  So what is included in their House Democrat bill? It includes a 
radical expansion of the IRS, granting them unprecedented access to the 
bank transactions of a vast majority of Americans. Again, a war on 
small business. It allows on-demand, taxpayer-funded abortions by 
excluding the Hyde amendment protections. Folks, we are just one of 
three countries that allow elective, full-time abortion. The other two 
are not good company: China and North Korea.
  It provides college financial aid for illegal immigrants. It advances 
Green New Deal priorities to the tune of $630 billion at the expense, 
again, of small businesses.
  It forces taxpayers to spend nearly $14,200 per person per year for 
government-controlled healthcare plans, doubling the cost of the 
average employer-sponsored healthcare plan.
  It continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able-
bodied adults without dependents, at a time when there are 10.1 million 
jobs openings. Folks, I am talking 25 million people, work-capable 
people.
  That is not all. The Democrats are desperately trying to sell this 
bad bill, with both Biden and Nancy Pelosi falsely claiming it will 
cost zero dollars. You have got to be kidding.
  But the American people can see that this costly bill will wreck our 
economy, all to advance the Democrats' socialist agenda.
  We must fight for the future of this Nation by stopping their tax-
and-spending spree. My friends, why in the world would you follow the 
Biden administration and Bernie Sanders over the cliff after every 
legislative initiative that has been created by this administration has 
resulted in a crisis and caused the American people tremendous 
suffering? Stop this nonsense.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, it is nonsense indeed.
  Madam Speaker, as they say, everything in Texas is bigger, including 
the representatives.
  I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), also my good 
friend.
  Mr. PFLUGER. Madam Speaker, thank you to my good friend from 
Louisiana.
  Crisis after crisis after crisis.
  Madam Speaker, I rise against the extreme anti-American policies that 
we see right now that are being discussed in this forum, in this House.
  I ask two simple questions of the President: Are you making us more 
secure? Are you making us more prosperous?
  And the answer to that is no. Unequivocally, no.
  We have got an anti-American energy movement in this country that is 
going to devastate every American. It is

[[Page H5712]]

going to leave us cold, dark, and hungry; it is going to embolden our 
adversaries; and it is going to harm our environment.
  This administration is taking a hard line against American energy by 
canceling thousands of pipeline jobs, by canceling drilling permits, by 
kneecapping our energy producers with targeted tax increases and 
harmful regulations.
  Americans are already feeling the pain of the Biden energy crisis at 
the gas pump, at the grocery store, where we see exorbitant prices that 
are continuing to skyrocket.
  Just today, I had a Democrat colleague who said: In my district, 
small businesses are feeling the pain everywhere. I said: Well, push 
back. Stop this madness. Any vote for reconciliation is a vote against 
the American worker; it is a vote against American energy.
  To make matters worse, heating bills are forecasted to be 54 percent 
higher in 2021. Under this administration, make no mistake about it, 
middle-class families will pay the price, and they will be forced to 
think twice before turning the heat on this winter.
  We are nearing an all-out energy emergency that is eerily close to 
where our neighbors in Europe are feeling, at $25 for gas--$25 in 
Europe. It is only going to get worse.
  Instead of unleashing the producers in the Permian Basin, where I 
represent, people who have done more to innovate and bring emissions 
down to levels that the Paris climate accords could never have dreamed 
of, we are cutting them off at the knees. The American family, our 
mothers and fathers, the working-class American, is who is paying for 
this.
  Adversaries whose energy is nowhere near as clean as ours are going 
to benefit from this.
  You see that today, on average, $3.30 per gallon, over a dollar more 
at the pump than what we saw last year. It is only going to get worse.
  I am urging my colleagues to oppose this radical agenda, to stand up 
for American energy producers, and to provide every American household 
with affordable, reliable energy that has come from this country that 
has allowed us to lift a billion people out of poverty in this world.

  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, Mr. Pfluger said it so well. 
We feel this acutely in energy States like Texas and my home State of 
Louisiana, the Permian Basin and Haynesville Shale, but all across this 
Nation. We benefit from domestic energy production. It is not only the 
cleanest and the most efficient, it benefits us here at home. It is 
that America first idea that this administration is abandoning too 
quickly.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Obernolte).
  Mr. OBERNOLTE. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening deeply concerned 
about the pressures that have been brought to bear on America's supply 
chains and the effects that those pressures are having on inflation and 
on the constituencies that we represent.
  Every day, I talk to members of the community from my district who 
are struggling in paying their bills. They are struggling because, just 
in the last year, they are being asked to pay over $20 more in my 
county to fill their gas tanks to get to work. They are being asked to 
pay substantially more for commodities like milk and eggs and bacon.
  Madam Speaker, economists say that this inflationary pressure is 
greatly exacerbated by the irresponsible spending decisions that have 
been made right here in this Chamber in the last 18 months. That is 
important to talk about tonight, because we are considering the largest 
spending bill in the history of our country.
  In fact, if you take the version of that bill that is in print and 
the spending it represents, combined with the extra Federal spending 
that has been approved over the last 18 months, added together, that 
exceeds the combined annual wages of every single American. I find that 
a stunning statistic. I am also very concerned about the possible 
impact that this spending will have on our national debt.
  Now, the administration just this week has said that this spending 
package will be fully paid for and will not add a single dollar to our 
deficit. My response to that is: prove it.

                              {time}  1715

  Speaking charitably here, it strains credibility to believe that that 
would be the case. It is certainly not the case that the current 
version of the spending bill that is in print is fully paid for. But if 
the new version will be paid for, prove it. Wait to vote on the bill 
until the Congressional Budget Office has had a chance to score it and 
verify that that claim is accurate.
  Madam Speaker, even if that is the goal, I would submit that America 
does not have a revenue problem. In fact, last year we collected more 
in tax revenue than in any year in our entire country's history. We do 
not have a revenue problem, Madam Speaker. We have a spending problem.
  Even if you believe, as some of my colleagues do, that the problem is 
that we don't tax people enough and that we need to enact the largest 
tax increase in the history of our country, which is what this bill 
would do, then my question would be, why would we not use that extra 
revenue to shore up the social safety programs that are already in 
danger of failing, programs that people depend on, like Medicare and 
Social Security?
  Why would you not use that extra revenue to pay down the $2 trillion 
of deficit that we currently have every year and the almost $29 
trillion of national debt that we will be passing on to our children 
and their children?
  Madam Speaker, I pray that we will get our fiscal house in order and 
stop this reckless Federal spending.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
those insights. It is so important that people recognize what is 
happening here.
  Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Louisiana has 12 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman 
from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I urge the American people not to take 
their eyes off the ball. I honestly sometimes believe the reason the 
majority party is putting people like Steve Bannon in the headlines, or 
mandatory vaccines, as horrible as they are, or driving up the cost of 
gas to over $3 per gallon, it is to cause the American public to avert 
their eyes from the most long-term dangerous policy that the Biden 
administration is implementing, and that is what is going on, on the 
border.
  I was down on the border last Thursday in the Yuma sector. So the 
American public understands, there are nine sectors along the border, 
and every time I go down there, I find more things that should scare 
the American people to death.
  First of all, we have just the sheer number of people who are 
crossing the border. A year ago in July, for all nine sectors, an 
estimated 8,000 people were crossing the border. We are now up to over 
100,000 people a month crossing the border.
  As far as the type of people coming across the border, I saw 
something in the Yuma sector I hadn't seen before, and that is dozens 
of identifications scattered along the ground where people crossed from 
Mexico into Arizona. Why are people throwing away their identification 
prior to checking in at the Border Patrol? There is only one obvious 
reason. They don't want the United States to know who they are.
  These people are paying the drug cartels to come here. If you are 
from Mexico, you are paying $3,000 or $4,000 a person. If you are from 
Central America, you are paying $6,000 to $8,000 a person. If you are 
from Brazil, you are paying over $10,000 a person.
  The drug cartels are recruiting people by putting on Central American 
TV or Brazilian TV ads urging people to come here. There are some 
Americans who are taking out ads telling people it is not all it is 
cracked up to be to turn yourself over to the drug cartels.
  But right now, clearly, many people are crossing the border. These 
are not people, by the way, coming across in desperation. They are 
people with very top-of-the-line shoes or top-of-the-line purses, well-
done hair, well-done nails. People have to realize that people are not 
always coming here out of even a little bit of desperation. They are 
coming here because it has been advertised

[[Page H5713]]

they will make more money coming here.
  As far as families, in July, in all nine sectors, there were about 
15,000 unaccompanied children coming here. You go down there and see 
children in what can only be described as pens, being held on mats as 
they wait for the United States to transport them wherever they want. 
They write on their clothes which address they should be delivered to, 
and we turn the children over to nonprofit organizations that will 
transfer these children to New York, to Denver, wherever they want to 
go.
  It drives the Border Patrol up the wall because, of course, if any 
American took a 5-year-old child and dropped them off at the airport 
and said, ``Please deliver this child to Oregon,'' or Maryland or 
wherever, social services would be after them.
  But the United States, due to neglect, has pushed a policy in which 
people south of the border are encouraged to turn their children over 
to the Border Patrol and transfer them wherever they want.
  Of course, as we have more and more children come here, the Border 
Patrol cannot patrol the border because they have to spend all their 
time processing the little children. The more Border Patrol is not 
patrolling the border, the more people are just walking in here, 
without any vetting at all.
  Last year in the Yuma sector, they would be processing maybe 25 
people a day. This year it can be up to 700 people a day. And it is not 
a difficult thing.
  The way they treat each other is kind of a sign that maybe they might 
not make the greatest people to have around America. They needed help 
recently because of fights between the Haitians and the Colombians. Is 
that a sign of the type of people that we are letting into our country?
  Other things that you learn down there: In the past, when I would go 
down to the border, I was under the impression that if people had any 
symptoms, they were tested for COVID. Now, we don't want another 
100,000 people a month here under any circumstances. But right now, I 
was told that we like to test them, but of course, you can't require 
people to be tested, which means we are letting people in this country 
who may well have COVID.

  Now, I don't know what to make of that. I guess what I make of it is 
when the Biden administration requires mandatory vaccines for people, 
it is really not that important. They are just doing it to avert 
people's eyes because if it were that important, they would be 
requiring at least tests for people coming over the border. But they 
don't even require tests. We will just let them come here.
  Other activities of the Biden administration clearly are acting as 
magnets to bring more people here. One of the reasons why the people on 
the Mexican side of the border, the Mexican military, does not seem to 
care as much now as they did a year ago is because why should they risk 
their lives taking on the drug cartels when the American Government, by 
all of their actions, indicate that they don't care whether we enforce 
the border?
  Two examples. We have, of course, as well advertised free medical 
care for people coming here, and there are Border Patrol agents who 
believe people just come to the United States for the free, superior 
medical care.
  In the reconciliation bill that is being passed here, people who come 
here illegally are getting free college. Talk about a magnet to come to 
the United States. Of course, it shows contempt for the American middle 
class that we are seeing more and more.
  If you are a member of the American middle class and want to go to 
college, you take out those student loans, go $30,000 in debt, go 
$40,000 in debt, go $50,000 in debt. But if you are somebody showing up 
here illegally, you get free college. Talk about advertising that our 
administration does not even remotely care whether our immigration laws 
are being obeyed or not.
  The other thing that we have moving through here, again, on the 
reconciliation package is we believe about 10 million more people 
coming here, who we did not appropriately, vet are going to be eligible 
for amnesty and allowed to become American citizens, which is a further 
magnet, bringing more people here.
  While there are a lot of things filling up the newspapers today--
well, people don't read newspapers, but a lot of things filling up the 
TV screen or the computer screen--I want the American people to contact 
their legislators and pay attention to what is going on at the border.
  There are people right now who permanently want to change America, 
and they are going to get away with it unless there is more of an 
uproar here saying: ``Get that immigration stuff out of the 
reconciliation package. Finally hire some more Border Patrol agents to 
see what is going on down there. And please, please, please go back, 
Biden administration, to the Mexican Government and renegotiate deals 
where we keep people south of the border.''
  By the way, while I am talking about things that indicate there is a 
complete lack of caring on the southern border on the part of the Biden 
administration, when was the last time we saw Vice President Kamala 
Harris at the border? I tell you, if you go down to the border there 
are all sorts of Congressmen poking around, seeing what is going on 
with the most important issue facing America today. Where exactly is 
Kamala Harris, as she just brazenly ignores this crisis?
  Please, America, wake up, and defend our southern border.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend. He is 
right. We better wake up.
  Just by way of a quick reminder, over 1.2 million illegal immigrants 
have been apprehended at the border since February alone. We know that 
number is grossly undercounted because of all the got-aways and people 
who came totally undetected across the totally open border.
  Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
LaMalfa), my good friend.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, today marks exactly 9 months in of the 
Biden administration. The motto was Build Back Better. So, where do we 
stand? What have we built back better on behalf of the real American 
people out there?
  He talked about unity in his inauguration speech. It only seems to be 
that he has unified the American people in anger at the cost of doing 
business. Everything has gone up for American families, as you see from 
this chart here.
  In my home State of California, everything is going up. We see fuel. 
We heard the national average is $3.30. In my home State, it is 
anywhere from $4.20 to $5. Now, it is not the rest of the country's 
problem how the State runs itself, but it kind of underlines that we 
have big problems.
  What is the focus going to be? The Biden administration is going to 
make it where farming in California is even more difficult. We are 
going to have fewer of the crops California grows, therefore driving 
inflation even more on everything when these crops have to be replaced 
with foreign imports.
  I mean, come on. The inflation is being caused by this government, 
when you pull just $4 trillion or $5 trillion of spending out of 
midair. Now they are threatening to have tax increases on certain 
people, whether it is corporations or the rich or whoever. But then 
they back off on that, and they say no tax increases on those under 
$400,000.
  It is going to be impossible to pay for this without doing that. Show 
us how you are going to do it. The inflation is going to kill the 
American worker, especially middle- and lower-income folks.
  It is irresponsible what is going on. Just throwing these terms, 
trillions of spending--stimulus spending is basically what it is 
because it isn't infrastructure. Trying to sneak it through in budget 
reconciliation by getting a mere 50 votes over in the Senate is really 
a sleight of hand that is going to hurt this country.
  This country is already hurting compared to a year, year and a half 
ago, the way our economy is right now, our energy reliability, our food 
reliability. You want to talk supply chain? All the ships are sitting 
off California, waiting to be unloaded.
  There is one thing about it: If we were building it here, if we were 
producing it here, manufacturing it here, we wouldn't have to be 
worried about unloading ships. But when you chase the jobs out of the 
country with horrendous regulations and the taxation

[[Page H5714]]

that is going to be upon business, farmers, timber fallers, you don't 
get a good result.
  The Biden administration needs to take a real good hard look at how 
economics actually work and quit doing this to the American people 
because, I will tell you what, we are not going to have much left after 
4 years of all this.
  I appreciate my friend here from Louisiana trying to bring this to 
the American people with the time here tonight on seeing how this 9 
months in of the Biden administration is costing and hurting regular 
Americans.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, Mr. LaMalfa is exactly 
right. It has been only 9 months. It is only going to get worse.
  Madam Speaker, what you have heard tonight is a quick summary from a 
number of our friends. We could go on for hours if we had the time, but 
I know we are almost out of time.
  We talked about the economic crisis, energy crisis, foreign policy 
crisis, border crisis. It goes on and on and on. I will summarize and 
close with this: We have two competing visions for America. It is now 
very clear: It is free-market capitalism v. Big Government socialism.
  I think the American people see the results of the latter. I hope we 
have an opportunity very soon in the next election cycle to get back to 
the former.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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