[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 213 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H7631-H7634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE DANGERS FACING OUR COUNTRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Roy) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for being 
willing to stand on the floor of the United States House of 
Representatives, when unfortunately so many of my colleagues are not, 
this evening to talk about the danger facing our country. And the 
gentleman outlines, I believe if I am correct, that we will be facing 
$112 trillion of debt come 2050, if we do not change course. If we do 
not take the steps necessary to make changes with respect to our 
healthcare spending and make wise policy choices--like any family, any 
budget that you have to maintain, if you are running a business, 
nonprofit, a university, virtually everybody in the world, or at least 
everybody in the country--except this body right here--that has to 
maintain and balance a budget and make determinations and make tough 
choices.
  If the gentleman would indulge me for a minute or two, for a couple 
more minutes on the floor. When was the last time the gentleman recalls 
we have had the ability to amend a piece of legislation on the floor 
of this body? Truly amend it?

  Does the gentleman remember?
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROY. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Brilliant question. And I cannot actually think of 
something that was substantive, where there was a collective idea from 
my brothers and sisters on the left or the right that there was actual 
intellectual battle here where we made something better.
  This place is functionally an intellectual dictatorship.
  Mr. ROY. Would it surprise the gentleman that it was May of 2016, the 
last time that an amendment was offered on the floor of this body in 
open debate?
  Now, to be clear, that is an assessment of leadership in both 
parties. But how on earth can we actually solve the problems, I would 
ask the Speaker, if we don't come down and sit at this table, stop 
looking up at the C-SPAN cameras and just sit around this table and 
start with a budget--like any family or any business--and say, Here is 
how much money we have. Here is how we can responsibly spend for the 
betterment of the people. Have disagreements about what those 
priorities are and make choices.
  When was the last time that we have done that? It is a rhetorical 
question, but I know one data point is that May of 2016 was the last 
time that any Member of this body was able to walk on to this floor and 
offer an amendment that wasn't precooked up in the Committee on Rules 
previously and already set up by the leadership structure of either 
party.
  Would the gentleman agree that that is no way for the people's House 
to operate?
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Would the gentleman yield to allow me just a quick 
colloquy with him?
  Mr. ROY. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. The process is broken. It is why I come here almost 
every week--and you do, too--and we try to just focus on what is ahead 
of us. I just spent a half an hour sort of focusing on debt and 
deficit. That is not Republican or Democrat, it is what is ahead of us.
  You have been here a few years. How many actual real discussions--
other than theater of, We should do a study commission. We should write 
a strongly worded memo; the theater of this place--instead of doing 
what is really hard, and understand, you can't just do one thing. That 
is the great fraud now. We have gotten ourselves in such a difficult 
position, it has got to be everything.

[[Page H7632]]

  A couple years ago I came here, and we brought in 19 attributes that 
you had to do almost at the exact same time to maximize enough economic 
growth, enough technology disruption, all the things to make it work. 
You actually helped me on some of that. But my fear, those are really 
uncomfortable, and you will have an army of lobbyists really unhappy 
with you when you tell the truth about the math.
  Mr. ROY. Well, the gentleman is completely correct, and there is no 
debate about that. You want to have a conversation about solving the 
Medicare crisis driving $112 trillion, then you have to have a 
conversation about solving the healthcare crisis. And to solve the 
healthcare crisis, you need to actually be willing, both sides of the 
aisle, to take on the army of lobbyists representing the insurance 
companies, the hospitals, pharmaceutical companies--all minting money 
right now, by the way, literally minting money--and you have got to be 
willing to have a conversation about that to actually figure out how we 
can transform our healthcare system to be patient-centered, doctor-
centered, and not have to go to an insurance bureaucrat or a government 
bureaucrat to figure out what your healthcare looks like and then get 
competition, transparency, and drive down prices. Because if you drive 
down prices, we can actually solve the Medicare crisis.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. The gentleman knows in many quarters I am a bit of a 
heretic on this. I actually believe we are on the cusp of miracles, if 
it is true that we just found a cure for Type 1 diabetes. If the math 
is true, about one-third of all U.S. healthcare spending is just Type 2 
diabetes--for my Native American populations, for my urban poor, for my 
rural Anglo poor--the amount of diabetes, the misery, the suffering, 
wouldn't it be one of the most elegant, noble things we can do is say, 
screw this noise we are doing, we are going to do our Operation Warp 
Speed.
  Now we see there is a stem cell to the islet-producing insulin. There 
is a path, but it requires intellectual discipline, telling the truth, 
and saying no to a lot of people who are going to be upset because a 
cure ends the misery. It also ends the manipulation.
  Mr. ROY. Well, I would agree with the gentleman. And to your point, 
you asked me a question about how many times we have had a real 
substantive debate. The closest I can remember was I made this point 
about amendments on the floor of the House. And the gentleman from 
Maryland, the leader, said in an agreement, Yeah, I wish we had more 
debate on the floor. And I would say to the leader, let's do it. Right? 
Let's start.
  Let's drop a bill on the floor, instead of a 2000-page monstrosity 
that costs X-trillions of dollars that was passed by the Committee on 
Rules, was brought to the floor, that we then offer an MTR, and then we 
go and give press conferences about why we can't support it. That is no 
way to actually do the work of the people.
  The NDAA bill last week, let's put a bill here on the table and then 
let's offer amendments. Right? We had a whole fight about, draft our 
daughters, about vaccine mandates, all these things. Well just start 
with the NDAA and then offer some amendments. Let the votes work. Let 
the people speak.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Chip, you are a heretic.
  Mr. ROY. I am, I am.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Before I leave you, I am still hopeful. I think there 
is a path that saves us, but the window for that escape is getting very 
narrow.
  Mr. ROY. It's shrinking.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. The speed of debt accumulation, the unwillingness to 
deal with complex problems with complex solutions--because that is 
reality--is closing fast on us. And the number of Members who are like 
you, who are willing to come to the floor and say very difficult things 
that are truthful, they are becoming rare. I thank the gentleman for 
the colloquy.

  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman. I appreciate your 
steadfast commitment to try and speak the truth and come down to the 
floor and speak to the American people, and unfortunately all too 
often, an empty Chamber.
  I appreciate that my colleagues, many of whom were able to get a 
flight and go home--and God bless them--but we have problems to solve. 
And we ought to be here debating in this Chamber rather than posturing.
  Mr. Speaker, I would note that previously my colleagues were 
eulogizing and remembering Senator Bob Dole. As we all know, he was a 
World War II veteran who was injured in combat; a man of great 
distinction who served in public life pretty much since his service in 
World War II. And he is a reminder, as we all know, of losing that 
generation. There are precious few remaining.
  Both of my grandfathers have passed who served in World War II. We 
lost Senator Dole this week. I was on a flight to Austin, Texas, 
earlier this week, on Monday, with an honor flight, with eight veterans 
of World War II who came up for Pearl Harbor Day on December 7. None of 
those eight had been present at Pearl. Two of them were over 100 years 
old. One of the men, I sat next to him on the plane flying up to D.C., 
had served and been in combat in Iwo Jima. There is only a few of these 
folks left.
  And what I want to spend a minute focusing on, as we are heading out, 
and I know we will be back next week for a day, but we are getting 
close to winding down and heading home for Christmas. I want to 
remember what that generation did.

                              {time}  1845

       Joe Crute and Jim Swartz remember vividly the merciless, 
     frigid cold they survived during the Battle of the Bulge: 
     ice, wind, snow, frozen ground, frostbite, amputations, 
     pneumonia, Americans dying from hypothermia in a land far 
     away from their homes.
       Approximately 1 million Allied forces endured the 
     inhospitable conditions during the fight that lasted from 
     December 16, 1944, until January 25, 1945, a span which, of 
     course, surrounded Christmas.
       This was the Germans making their last major offensive 
     strike on the Western Front during World War II. Almost 
     90,000 of them ended up wounded, missing, captured, or dead 
     from battle injuries.
       Seventy-seven years later--this was written 2 years ago--
     when recalling the bitter conditions of the Battle of the 
     Bulge, Swartz stared at his large hands, rubbing them 
     together as if to warm them. I have something to show for it, 
     he said when sharing his experiences. I have the results of 
     that cold. My hands are almost to the place where they are 
     useless from the frostbite.
       You couldn't drink the water from the lakes due to the fact 
     of dead animals and dead bodies in the water, so we had to 
     purify that. Some of the boys couldn't get to the water. Some 
     of them, the water was frozen in their canteens. So what did 
     they do? They ate the snow to keep their body liquefied.
       We attempted to make shelter in the ground, but to no 
     avail. You tried to dig little holes in the ground to sleep. 
     The ground was so hard you couldn't dig a hole. So what you 
     did is you got pine branches off of the pine trees, laid them 
     down on the ground and laid there and covered yourself up 
     with half of your pup tent. That is how you tried to keep 
     warm.
       One day, a fellow soldier was mortally wounded. He was a 
     little bit bigger than I was, Crute said. He was shot in the 
     back. I ran and got his mackinaw off. It fit him perfect, but 
     when I put it on it was an overcoat. It felt good. I pitied 
     the poor guy, but it was so cold.

  At that time in 1944, there is the famous exchange that happened when 
the German commander wrote our commander, General McAuliffe, basically 
saying battalions are ready to annihilate the United States troops in 
and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after 
this 2 hours term. General McAuliffe replied, famously, ``nuts,'' and 
they fought on. They battled on.
  Many of the soldiers spent Christmas 1944 celebrating the best they 
could. The American soldiers were within Bastogne. Christmas services 
were held by the Army chaplain. Some in the country went and visited 
with others. One story:

       We were out in the outskirts of Bastogne and we found this 
     farmhouse. Inside was a man and a woman and a little boy and 
     a little girl. The wife, she gave us some soup and some black 
     bread. We stayed there all night in this farmhouse. The war 
     was going on fiercely outside, and for some reason the 
     farmhouse never got hit.

  We were there Christmas Eve. We sang Christmas songs that night with 
this Belgian family. We sang Jingle Bells and Silent Night. The words 
were different, but the music was the same.
  The thing that strikes me as we think about that generation and think 
about what they did in World War II in response to Pearl Harbor, 
signing up and enlisting and going out into the Pacific and going into 
Europe to stand up against tyranny around the globe

[[Page H7633]]

and defend our country, but also others around the world, for an idea 
and for something bigger than they.
  They signed up without a question. Churchill famously observed that 
once we were bombed by the Japanese on that December day in 1941 that 
caused then-President Roosevelt to come into this room and give that 
famous speech about that day that will live in infamy--Churchill 
observed that the war would be won.
  The sleeping giant had been awakened because the world knew who we 
were. The world knew what America stood for. It knew that that sleeping 
giant had been awakened. Nothing could be assumed. It took a massive 
ramp-up, massive sacrifice, rationing, women enlisting, Rosie the 
Riveter, men enlisting, going across, 400,000 dead, represented on 
those stars at that memorial here on The Mall.
  The world knew what we would do. The question I would ask my 
colleagues today: Does the world know what we would do today? Does the 
world know who we are? Does the world know what we will do as we watch 
China on the rise, Russia rattling against Ukraine, Iran rattling about 
nuclear capability in an unstable Middle East, threatening our friend 
and ally Israel?
  The cartels in violence and unrest on our southern border--does the 
world know whether we have the resolve to stand up in defense of the 
rule of law and in defense of freedom and against tyranny around the 
globe but with the resolve necessary to win it?
  When President Reagan stood athwart the Soviet Union and talked about 
peace through strength and told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down these walls, 
the world knew our resolve. Do they today? Can we accomplish the 
objectives of defending this country and standing up in the world when 
we refuse to do the basic job of managing our own affairs and our own 
country responsibly?
  We amassed a mountain of debt in World War II: 125 percent of GDP by 
1946 coming out of the Depression. We got back and got busy growing our 
economy. We grew out of it and got that down. We are sitting here today 
in relative peacetime with $30 trillion in debt, barreling toward $112 
trillion in debt as my colleague just articulately illustrated on the 
floor of the House to an empty Chamber, minus myself and the Speaker. 
We are doing nothing about it. Nothing. Literally.
  Just last night, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth among my 
colleagues because we dared force votes on 30 suspension votes. Oh, no, 
we might miss a Christmas dinner or a Christmas party. Oh, no, we might 
not catch our flight home early enough.
  Madam Speaker, $2.7 billion was authorized last night in suspension 
votes, all bills that often just sound good in the headlines. Three of 
us voted against a bill that would provide $500 million over 5 years to 
support research and funding for therapies for ALS. I was one of those 
three ``no'' votes.

  Do you think I want to go back and talk to people and families that 
are afflicted by ALS? Where are the rest of my colleagues in explaining 
where that $500 million is going to come from? When we are faced with a 
conflict like our forefathers were facing, when Pearl Harbor was 
bombed, when Hitler was on the march, and we resolved to fight, we 
could because our economy was strong enough, and we were disciplined 
enough to try to do the right thing. Are we able to do that today when 
we are not even disciplined enough to sit here and figure out how to 
manage the budget and the spending of the United States so we don't 
drive our country into complete and total bankruptcy and destroy it for 
our kids and our grandkids?
  Literally, everybody, both sides of the aisle, say, well, it is just 
some votes. Some people today were giving me trouble because one of 
those suspension votes might be used as a political weapon by one of my 
Democratic opponents or one of our Democratic colleagues because they 
managed to pass some bill with a 375-40 bipartisan vote.
  Oh, no, don't give somebody a political weapon so they can go run an 
ad. Nowhere was there concern about another $2 billion or $3 billion 
just passed through on suspension bills that we hardly debated.
  When we talk about and venerate men like Bob Dole and men serving in 
World War II, and we look at our grandfathers and our great-
grandfathers who sat there in the frigid cold or stormed Iwo Jima or 
stormed the cliffs at Normandy, can we fight those fights tomorrow? Are 
we capable of it? Do we have the resources to do it, much less the 
resolve, if we can't even resolve in this body to preserve and protect 
the actual foundation of this country to be economically and 
financially firm and stable?
  If we don't resolve, the 435 Members of this body, to do the hard 
work, as my colleague from Arizona was pointing out, of making tough 
decisions about Medicare and Social Security and mandatory spending, 
but also the discretionary spending that I talked about last night, but 
also the National Defense Authorization Act that we just threw $25 
billion at the Defense Department with no real reforms or changes to 
how they spend money, how are we ever going to save this Republic?
  I said last week in a speech that this is the United States House of 
free stuff because that is what it has become. It has become an entity 
that doles out money to whatever cause because it sounds good and feels 
good.
  There was $500 million for ALS research. God bless them. I am glad 
that research is going to occur. But someone has to sit on the floor of 
the House, and say: Where are we going to get the money? Not just print 
it.
  I can't go next door to my neighbor and knock on the door, and say: 
Hey, it is time for you to give me your check. What check? Well, the 
check for ALS. Well, what do you mean? Well, it is a good cause. The 
check for cancer, I am a cancer survivor. The check for polio, my dad 
is a polio survivor--whatever it might be.
  Not one of us in this Chamber has the right to knock on our 
neighbor's door, and say: Give me a check to go give to another thing. 
You wouldn't do that. But through the power of this body as a whole we 
print money, borrow money, and then dole it out for political benefit 
and nothing more. It is cowardly. It is embarrassing. It is destroying 
the Republic.
  Thread by thread, the flag is getting tattered because we refuse to 
do the hard work, as my friend from Arizona said, of making tough 
decisions to ensure that we can sustain this Republic.
  We will come back in next week and the debt ceiling will get raised. 
That is as true as the Sun coming up in the east. Not a thing will be 
done to right the ship of the massive amount of debt piling up around 
the ears of our kids and our grandkids. Nothing will be done next week 
to solve that problem.
  Republicans will blame Democrats using a crazy procedural ploy in the 
Senate, passing a bill to blow up the filibuster to allow the debt 
ceiling on a supposed one-time basis to be raised with a 51-vote 
threshold so that they can go back to the American people, and say: I 
didn't vote to raise the debt ceiling, but you did.
  Don't let them hide. They did. They concocted the scheme. They voted 
to make sure that that happened, and the debt ceiling will be raised. 
Not a thing will change about how we carry out our work. Nothing will 
be done to make this country fiscally sound again.
  Madam Speaker, may I ask how much time I have left.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Manning). The gentleman has 5 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, let me take a minute to thank the staff, the 
floor staff. We come down here and speak into late hours. We have votes 
like last night that go until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. because some of us 
forced some votes. I appreciate all of your hard work. As a former 
staffer, I know it is not easy.

                              {time}  1900

  The American people are a great people. The American people want this 
body, the Senate, and their leadership in Washington to actually 
represent them again. I am going to keep giving this speech over and 
over again, and I am going to keep calling for this body to do the hard 
work of representation. We don't govern; we represent.
  Those men who sat in the freezing cold--frostbite, amputations, 
pneumonia, death, and picking up jackets off of their fallen compatriot 
to stay warm to defeat Hitler's Germany--

[[Page H7634]]

those men who responded to Pearl Harbor 80 years ago this week, and 
President Washington overlooking this Chamber here in that portrait 
crossing the Delaware Christmas Eve night 1776, what will we do to 
honor their memories?
  What will we do to carry forward this Republic for which they fought, 
died, bled, and lost limbs? Senator Dole carrying a pen in his crippled 
hand, what will we do to honor that sacrifice?
  That is our calling as we embark on the second half of this Congress. 
I don't accept that just because my party is not in control of this 
Chamber for the next year that we can't find a way to actually do the 
hard work of representation.
  My ask of the Speaker, the leader, my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle, and my colleagues on this side of the aisle: restore regular 
order on this floor. Bring bills to the floor and allow us to vote, 
debate, amend, and do the work the American people expect us to do.
  It is the least that we can do to honor the memory of those World War 
II veterans whom we are losing by the day, all of those who have 
sacrificed to defend this country, and all of those who sat there on 
that Christmas Eve day in Bastogne singing Christmas carols hoping to 
get back to this great country.
  Let's fight to save that great country.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________