[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H208-H214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      52 WEEKS OF BROKEN PROMISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, today, at least on one question, Americans 
are more united than ever before. This week, as we mark the 1-year mark 
of the Biden Presidency, the vast majority of the American people agree 
that the Biden Presidency has been a failure.
  After 1 year in office, President Biden's approval rating is the 
lowest ever recorded after the first year in office of any President in 
American history.
  Why is no mystery. By every measure, Americans are worse off today 
than when Biden took office. Inflation, crime, the debt, the border, 
Afghanistan, a never-ending pandemic, Americans have endured 
humiliation abroad and division at home, and all of these disasters are 
man-made.
  Everyone knows why inflation is at a 40-year high. Everyone knows why 
Americans' wages have been cut by 3 percent or more. Democrats spent 
trillions and then passed the largest Federal budget in history.
  How, in less than a year, did we go from energy independence to 
begging Saudi Arabia for oil? Well, maybe it has something to do with 
the President banning new natural gas production in the United States.

  You see, the media wants to make things complicated. They want you to 
believe that no one really knows why you are paying close to $4 per 
gallon at the pump. They want to separate the consequences of the last 
year from its cause. But don't be fooled, Madam Speaker.
  There is a border crisis because the Biden administration stopped 
building the wall, cut deportations by 90 percent, and reversed every 
single one of President Trump's successful border enforcement measures.
  Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 
45 because it, too, is pouring across a wide-open southern border. It 
is that simple.
  Crime immediately shot up after Democrats' antipolice riots, because 
of Democrats' antipolice riots.
  There are still hundreds of Americans stranded in Afghanistan because 
the Biden administration didn't prioritize its own citizens for 
evacuation.
  President Biden's COVID policies do not work. That is why COVID 
cases, hospitalizations, and deaths all rose during the Biden 
Presidency. Americans endured mandatory vaccinations, pointless mask 
mandates, endless school closures, and never-ending Dr. Fauci 
interviews. And it was all for nothing.
  Americans can see what is in front of them. That is why they have 
rejected this administration. The proof is in the pudding, and the 
pudding is stale.
  The question is, can Americans endure 3 more years just like the last 
one? I believe that they can, but they shouldn't have to. That is why 
the Republican Study Committee is here tonight. We will hold the Biden 
administration accountable every step of the way. We will make sure 
that the past year of crises and catastrophes never repeats itself.
  Madam Speaker, tonight, I will yield to a number of my colleagues, 
like the next speaker. The gentlewoman from the great State of Indiana 
(Mrs. Walorski) is going to share some thoughts with us.
  Mrs. WALORSKI. Madam Speaker, the American people have faced 52 weeks 
of broken promises.
  The President who promised to unite the American people instead has 
pitted citizens against one another.
  The President who promised to work with Americans across the 
political spectrum has prioritized a radical agenda that caters only to 
the extreme wing of his party.
  The President who promised to protect the American people has left us 
vulnerable at the southern border and across the world.
  The President who promised to build back better has only hindered 
America's economic recovery.
  For a year, we have witnessed failure after failure. The American 
people have paid the price. Day after day, Hoosiers and Americans 
across the country experience the real ramifications of the Biden 
administration's policy agenda.
  With inflation at a 40-year high, we are paying the price of the 
President's reckless spending during every trip to the grocery store 
and the gas station.
  Despite spending trillions of dollars on the President's so-called 
rescue plan, we are facing escalating supply chain bottlenecks and 
workforce shortages with no end in sight.
  Thanks to the Biden administration's open border policy, every town 
across America is a border town. As illicit drugs pour across the open 
southern border, including a 1,000 percent increase of fentanyl last 
year, every neighborhood is at risk.

[[Page H209]]

  While Democrats work to defund the police, Americans are facing 
dangerous crime surges in cities all across the country.
  In the end, it all comes down to control. If you don't want to get 
the vaccine, you are fired. If you dare to ask what your children are 
learning in school, you are labeled a domestic terrorist.
  This is America under 52 weeks of Joe Biden's leadership. The 
American people deserve better.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the great State 
of Indiana for her comments. I know she and I both agree that Hoosiers 
are sick and tired of this leadership, or lack thereof, that we have 
seen from President Biden over the last year.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. 
Foxx), the ranking member of the House Education and Labor Committee 
and a great mentor and colleague.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Indiana for 
holding this Special Order tonight and calling attention to the 
problems of the past year.
  I could use many words to describe President Biden's first full year 
in office, but the one that comes to mind immediately is incompetence.
  There is a blueprint for the economic and societal ruin that has 
stabbed America in its back for a year. This administration is the 
architect of that blueprint.
  Inflation has skyrocketed to its highest level in 40 years.
  Job creators have faced innumerable setbacks that have threatened 
their livelihoods.
  The ever-growing Federal bureaucracy has metastasized like a cancer.
  Parents have been targeted by the FBI and DOJ in what can only be 
described as a wave of new-age McCarthyism that has been spun by this 
administration.
  The southern border has all but collapsed due to gross mismanagement.
  The list goes on and on.
  Simply put, the policies and actions of this administration mirror 
the agenda of political arsonists.
  No matter how ambitious or forward-thinking the Biden administration 
tries to bill itself as, it cannot shake the stench of incompetence 
that surrounds every initiative it heads up.
  Socialism is no longer an ominous shadow on the horizon. This 
administration has brought it to our doorstep.
  This great country must be saved from the ruin that this 
administration has created.
  Republicans will be the ones to save it.
  Republicans will be the ones to safeguard the values and freedoms 
that have always defined America.
  Republicans will be the ones to turn this country around and deliver 
for the American people.
  When we retake the House of Representatives and the Senate this year, 
that is precisely what we will do.
  Americans demand it, and we will act.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, from Indiana to North Carolina to Kansas 
and beyond, the American people are feeling the effects of this 
disastrous administration.
  I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), my colleague and my 
friend, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and a 
leader in the Republican Study Committee.
  Mr. ESTES. Madam Speaker, this week we look back over a year of 
failures; from the economy and crime to foreign policy and national 
security. There is not one area where a year of total Democrat control 
shouldn't receive an F.
  It is hard to believe it was only a year ago this Thursday that 
President Biden swore to uphold the Constitution just outside the 
building from where we stand today.
  Despite assuring the American people that he sought to unify the 
country, Biden's first hours in office were marked by divisive and 
controversial executive orders.
  Biden's incompetent economic policies destroyed our chance at a 
strong economic recovery and harmed hardworking families and small 
businesses.
  A year later, Americans are paying about 50 percent more each time 
they fill up their tank. That is after President Biden canceled the 
Keystone XL pipeline, halted new oil and gas leasing on Federal land, 
and proposed burdensome taxes and regulations on small energy 
producers. These policies all matter. They impact real people.
  That is why tonight I wanted to share some insight and experiences 
from folks in Kansas after a year of President Biden holding office.
  Nick, a new father in Derby, has certainly noticed the increase in 
fuel. He just had a baby last year and started a new job. Paying more 
at the pump means that he has less for his newborn's needs, and as 
every new parent knows, diapers aren't cheap.
  But that is not the only thing Kansans are paying more for.
  The Biden administration has directly caused rising prices by 
flooding the economy with their Big Government spending. The prices of 
many other everyday goods like beef, bacon, eggs, chicken, and coffee.
  That is a lot for any American, but it is especially noticeable for 
Nancy, a grandmother on a fixed income. She shared that each time she 
goes to the grocery store she notices her grocery bill keeps going up.
  That is not to mention bare shelves and out-of-stock items that many 
Kansans have experienced when they go shopping.
  Beyond the economy, we have witnessed the failure to keep our country 
safe from illicit drugs flowing into our country at the southern 
border.
  Executive orders have halted the production of a barrier at our 
southern border, and open border policies have allowed drugs and 
trafficking to become commonplace. Every State is now a border State, 
as fentanyl makes its way to communities in Kansas and across the 
country.
  CBP reports that more pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern 
border than in the previous 2 years combined.
  In a recent survey, a majority of Kansans from my district told me 
the issues of most importance to them are the economy, rising prices, 
immigration, and our Federal deficit.
  It is time for Congress and the President to start addressing these 
core concerns. Americans cannot afford another year of radical 
socialist policies with this administration.
  I thank my good friend from Indiana for hosting this Special Order.

  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Estes for his comments.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Moore), one 
of our leaders in Congress on the Republican side fighting for veterans 
every day on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and my colleague and 
friend.
  Mr. MOORE of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the 1-year 
anniversary of the Biden administration. And what a year it has been.
  The crisis raging across our Nation because of the incompetency of 
this administration threaten the lives and livelihoods of countless 
Americans.
  On his first day in office, President Biden gave a taste of what was 
to come by spitefully eliminating President Trump's border policies and 
stopping the wall, fueling a border crisis that we have not seen in a 
generation.
  The drug and human trafficking that we have seen at our porous border 
reaches every community in our Nation. Untold numbers of American 
families who have lost loved ones to drugs and violence, those families 
will be broken forever.
  But instead of coming after criminals, Biden's Justice Department has 
focused its crosshairs on engaged parents--moms and dads--and labeling 
them just because they had concerns about CRT or maybe mask mandates, 
they are labeled as domestic terrorists and now are charged with hate 
crimes.
  Our economy is in shambles. The Biden jobs deficit, the difference 
between jobs created and those he promised to create as part of his so-
called stimulus from March, has swelled to 1.11 million.
  Historic inflation has surged to the highest level in four decades. 
Gas and energy prices are at the highest they have been since the 
Obama-Biden administration.
  The supply chain crisis has brought any economic recovery to a 
standstill. Have you been to the grocery store lately? Retailers are 
facing a 12 percent out-of-stock level on many household

[[Page H210]]

staples. Empty shelves are the new norm.
  And let's not forget the pandemic. President Biden centered his 
campaign on having a solution for the virus. It is clear now that like 
every other crisis we face, Biden has no plan.
  By resorting to harmful and unconstitutional mandates and shutdowns, 
President Biden is threatening the very liberty that is the foundation 
of this great American experiment.
  And then there is Afghanistan, an issue that is very personal to me. 
What the Biden administration allowed to happen there, leaving so many 
Americans and allies behind to the Taliban is a historic tragedy.
  But does Joe Biden seek unity? No. He resorts to smearing over half 
the American people who disagree with his radical agenda.
  But that is how this leadership of the Democratic Party in Washington 
thinks. They believe that the country is theirs to govern as they wish, 
to force their will on you and me.
  Well, we have had 1 year of Democratic Party control; and in only 1 
year, the Democratic Party has tried to take our country from us. I say 
it is time we take it back.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, as President Biden continues to fail the 
American people in so many ways and his poor leadership has created 
crisis after crisis after crisis, I can't think of anywhere in the 
country that shows us just the opposite type of leadership than the 
free and open State of Florida.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. 
Cammack), one of Florida's great leaders, a freshman leader in the 
Republican Study Committee, my colleague and friend.
  Mrs. CAMMACK. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from the great State 
of Indiana for yielding, and I am still holding out for my honorary 
Hoosier title.
  Madam Speaker, this week we mark 1 year since Joe Biden was sworn in 
as President and Commander in Chief of the United States. Now, there 
are 525,600 minutes in a whole year, and somehow Biden has used every 
single one of those minutes to diminish and destroy the strength of the 
American economy, its workers, and our national security. During the 
first year of the Biden Presidency, America has faced more COVID deaths 
than in the prior year, a disastrous exit from Afghanistan of which we 
are still getting Americans out, a 40-year high inflation rate, and so 
much more.
  Now, this country has spent the last year staring down a border 
crisis that has gone unmanaged and a pandemic that has gone unabated. 
In 2021 alone, there were over 1.7 million border encounters. Keep in 
mind, the comparison of 500,000 or less the year prior. Now, while our 
brave border agents were left underresourced and unsupported, this 
administration first attempted to ignore the crisis then sought to 
downplay the consequences. The so-called border czar, Vice President 
Harris, refused to visit the border and see this crisis firsthand. This 
amounted to criminal negligence, and Americans won't soon forget the 
role that Biden and his administration played in dramatically weakening 
America's national security.
  Now, as millions of illegal immigrants poured over our southwest 
border, COVID continued to sweep through the United States. The Biden 
administration was caught flatfooted, once again, on testing capacity 
nationwide and distribution of critical lifesaving therapeutic 
treatments. In my home State of Florida, we had a fantastic monoclonal 
antibody treatment program going, and the Federal Government stepped in 
and stopped it. Why? Because they are threatened by the freedom. They 
are threatened by the success. Over 440,000 Americans have lost their 
lives to COVID-19 under the Biden administration. That is more than 
when the pandemic began and the entire year of 2020.
  Further, images of high gas prices at the pump and empty shelves at 
the supermarket define the first year of the Biden Presidency. As our 
Nation has grappled with a global pandemic, this administration has 
stood on the sidelines while Americans have struggled to get basic 
necessities. Every sector of the American economy has been hurt by 
supply chain issues caused in part by abusive Chinese trade practices 
and, also, weak administrative leadership.

  On top of these mounting challenges, the Biden administration has put 
the entirety of their political capital behind over $6 trillion worth 
of so-called social justice spending bills meant to prop up failing 
government programs and a liberal wish list of items. The economic 
devastation from so much uncontrolled spending has already been felt in 
historic levels of inflation and will certainly be burdening 
generations of Americans to come.
  This administration's first year in office has been a disaster from 
top to bottom. Instead of working to change positively, Biden has 
worked to change our country into a population of dependents because 
that is, at the end of the day, what this administration is about: 
Dependency and control.
  We can take our country back, and we will. To Americans hurting in 
the first 52 weeks of this administration, remember, November is 
coming.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida for her 
comments.
  I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), one of the 
greatest voices of common sense in the entire Congress, a senior 
Republican leader on the House Education and Labor Committee, my 
colleague, and friend.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, as has just been said, I think the first 
year of this administration has been about as disastrous as it could 
possibly be.
  I will focus on the COVID pandemic. Over 300,000 people had died when 
President Biden took office, nevertheless, things in a way were looking 
up. Donald Trump had been given a combination of monoclonal antibodies 
and several other things in a cocktail in which he was cured just a few 
months before President Biden took office.
  One would have thought all one had to do was follow down the path of 
treatment that Donald Trump received and it would be the end of the 
pandemic. Instead, we are over a year after him taking office, and at 
least in Wisconsin we don't have enough monoclonal antibodies to deal 
with the people who are sick today.
  Even though ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine have also shown 
promise, the CDC and NIH under President Biden have not shown a 
leadership role and encouraged more doctors to use them. Vitamin D can 
do a tremendous job in reducing the number of people who succumb to 
this disease, but again, a complete lack of leadership out of 
Washington, some people feel a complete lack of leadership because 
there is not enough money to be made in Vitamin D by the drug 
companies.

                              {time}  1945

  We recently had calcifediol imported into this country from other 
countries, and it has not been anywhere near publicized as it should 
be. It is time for President Biden to step up, to make sure monoclonal 
antibodies are available to everybody and put an end to the pandemic. I 
have had my own staffer use monoclonal antibodies, and it turned him 
around from being quite ill within 24 hours just fine.
  Madam Speaker, it is time to look at things other than just making 
money for the drug companies. It is time to solve this problem.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Fitzgerald), my colleague and a freshman Member of the House.
  Mr. FITZGERALD. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, as we are hearing from many of my colleagues tonight, 
there is no shortage of policy failures to reflect on as we approach 
President Biden's 1-year anniversary. But the one that is still beyond 
belief and a complete disaster is the cancellation of the Keystone 
pipeline project.
  On day one, just hours after being sworn into office, the President 
halted construction of the pipeline, bringing down thousands of good 
jobs, many of them in my home State of Wisconsin and many of them in my 
district. This decision undermined our country's energy independence 
and destroyed a safe and efficient route to transport oil.
  Oh, and now Russia is flush with cash as they market their oil around 
the entire globe. That is right. Killing the Keystone project didn't 
just stop the transportation of oil; it completely

[[Page H211]]

reconfigured the way that this works globally.
  Listen, while President Biden continues to ignore the negative 
implications of his agenda, my Republican colleagues and I have been on 
the forefront proposing solutions--in this case, the Keystone XL 
Pipeline Construction and Jobs Preservation Act.
  Madam Speaker, after seeing the disaster that President Biden left in 
his wake after only 1 year, I can only fear what will come in the next 
3 years.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Garcia), a fellow veteran and friend.
  Mr. GARCIA of California. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman and 
shipmate from Indiana for this evening's Special Order.
  Madam Speaker, we the people really aren't asking much of our elected 
officials. Above all things, we just want them to do what is right for 
our country and be on the side of Americans. This isn't a party thing. 
This isn't a Republican versus Democrat thing. Regardless of party 
affiliation, we just want them to do what is right for the country.
  The current Presidential administration and its policies have failed 
us in this regard and in a frighteningly short period of time. In just 
1 year, this administration and its policies have eroded America's 
status as the lone, premier superpower; eroded our energy independence, 
making us once again beholden to OPEC, literally begging Middle Eastern 
nations to provide us with more oil; eroded an economy that was 
thriving before COVID and beginning to recover in the midst of COVID, 
and now, we are experiencing inflation that we haven't seen in 40 
years; eroded our Nation's security, tucking tail against a group of 
savages and terrorists in Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting for 
the right reasons.
  After almost 2 years of no American deaths in Afghanistan and 
relative stability in a country that was formerly a breeding ground for 
terrorists, this administration set an arbitrary exit date and backed 
that date up with absolutely no plan. This admin stranded hundreds of 
Americans in Afghanistan and left our allies high and dry. The ad hoc 
and sloppy withdrawal led to the death of these 13 precious American 
servicemembers--absolutely avoidable and absolutely the fault of this 
administration.
  We are really not asking for much from our elected officials. We the 
people just want this administration to stop giving hope to the bad 
guys and to start taking care of our Nation, our workers, our jobs, the 
small business owners, our children and their education, and to allow 
parents the right to understand what our children are being taught in 
school, the right to make school choices for our children.
  We are asking that the administration stop calling parents terrorists 
and start preventing actual terrorists from infiltrating our country. 
We are asking for secure borders, so we don't see 175,000 human beings 
come across our border and into our Nation each month without any 
accountability.
  If you care about the Dreamers, if you care about the potential DACA 
recipients, like many of us do, then you must first end this man-made 
border crisis.
  We are really not asking for much. We just want someone to stand up 
and fight against this ridiculous defund the police movement and make 
our streets safe again.
  We don't want the cost of goods and supply chain issues to overcome 
our income. We are asking simply that we fairly value the time, the 
skills, and the experience of our workers so that when they work harder 
and provide quality service, they make more money and keep more money. 
We don't want higher taxes only to see the government at all levels 
squander our hard-earned money.
  Madam Speaker, above all things, we just want the President to be on 
our side and to have the backbone to stand up for the good guys. We are 
not asking for much. We just want this administration to stop giving 
hope to the bad guys.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, thanks to our next speaker, I have been to 
the border in Arizona and Texas, both during President Trump's 
Presidency and now during President Biden's Presidency. What our next 
speaker has taught me along the way is the night-and-day difference. 
The border was under control under President Trump; it is wide open 
under President Biden.
  What I have learned and what I have stressed more than ever before is 
that what is going on at the border impacts my district in northeast 
Indiana every single day.

  Our next speaker is the co-chair of the Border Security Caucus. No 
one does more in Congress to highlight these issues and work toward 
protecting and securing our border than Dr. Brian Babin.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).
  Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Banks), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee. I 
thank him so much for having this very important Special Order.
  Madam Speaker, this week marks 1 year since Joe Biden became 
President, and what a lawless year this has been. Never in my entire 
life would I have dreamed that we would have a President who 
prioritizes criminals and illegal aliens over law-abiding American 
citizens. But here we are.
  The reckless policies coming out of this White House and the 
Democratic Party as a whole have put you and your families in grave 
danger.
  It is not hard to see where the left's demonization of law 
enforcement and the decision to gut police department funding has 
gotten us. Thanks to the Democrats, we are now in the midst of a crime 
wave with record-high homicide rates in more than a dozen major cities 
across this great country of ours. The city of Chicago alone saw at 
least 800 homicides in 2021, a number that we haven't seen in decades. 
Bad policies lead to bad consequences. And folks, we are living these 
in technicolor.
  More than 100 of our brave police officers were shot in ambush-style 
attacks last year. Meanwhile, we have seen violent criminals released 
into our neighborhoods to commit more violent crimes.
  It is happening in my own district in Houston, Texas, in the 36th 
Congressional District, which had its deadliest year in nearly 40 
years. In Harris County, 113 criminals were granted bond after capital 
murder charges in 2021. Yes, you heard that right: capital murder 
charges.
  Numerous Harris County citizens have been murdered by repeat 
criminals out on bail, murders which, tragically, could have been 
avoided. Innocent Americans are being hurt and killed by this foolhardy 
Democrat policy. But accountability starts at the top. Will this crime 
wave be just another crisis to go unresolved in 2022, or will this 
President and his party come back to reality and work with us to stop 
it?
  America is watching.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, when I became the chairman of the 
Republican Study Committee, which is not just the largest conservative 
caucus in Congress but the largest caucus overall in the entire United 
States Capitol, I had to choose someone to lead the Republican Study 
Committees' Budget and Spending Task Force.
  For almost 50 years, this task force and the Republican Study 
Committee has put forth a fiscally responsible balanced budget in the 
Congress to lead the way toward fiscal responsibility. And no one has 
done a better job of that in my time in Congress than Kevin Hern, a 
small business owner from the great State of Oklahoma. He has chaired 
and run this effort well.
  Over the last year, we put out a budget that we showed to the 
Congress. We could balance the budget in 6 years. That is in stark 
contrast to what the Democrats and President Biden have done to put 
forth the largest budget that this country has ever seen.
  I don't just appreciate the leadership of Representative Hern; I am 
proud of the effort he put forward.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern).
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana for the 
opportunity to speak to everyone tonight.
  Madam Speaker, this week marks a historic milestone, the 1-year 
anniversary of the Biden Presidency. There is a date in January that 1 
year ago has affected all Americans, and that was the election of Joe 
Biden to the Presidency, his taking office.
  Looking back at the previous 12 months, several words come to mind:

[[Page H212]]

failure, confusion, disarray, pain, dishonesty.
  I am sure that many of my colleagues will touch on these and many 
other themes relevant to what has unfolded at the White House since its 
latest occupant took office some 11 months ago. However, I want to 
focus on one word that has defined the Biden administration this year, 
and that is ``inflation.''
  Every single month since Biden took office, inflation has risen 
higher. In the past 11 months, inflation has reached its highest level 
in 40 years.
  Most of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have never 
experienced this type of inflation. The last time it was this bad, 
``E.T.'' was showing in theaters. Jimmy Carter, the man largely 
responsible for those hardships, was a one-term President for this very 
reason.
  Thanks to the Biden job-killing policies, taxpayers are paying the 
price. Our economic recovery is stagnant. Our small businesses are 
being crushed out of existence. December brought us to a 7 percent 
increase in inflation over the previous year, a number that American 
families are feeling every single day in their pocketbooks.
  While inflation is up 7 percent, wages have only risen 4.7 percent, 
meaning that real wages are actually negative, not positive. Americans 
are paying a whopping $3,500 more for basic necessities than they were 
last year. For all the back-patting Biden has done for the dismal 
number of jobs created under his administration, we are still over 4 
million jobs short of prepandemic levels.
  This is the Biden economy. Polling proves that inflation is the top-
of-mind issue for the vast majority of Americans. So you would think 
that this administration would be doing everything in their power to 
alleviate that burden. Instead, they are focused on flushing the 
markets with even more unchecked spending. When will it end?

  The President's dismal approval rating isn't a result of his standing 
with Republican voters, who haven't liked him from the start. Rather, 
Democrat and independent voters across the country are voicing their 
strong displeasure with how poorly our country has been run this past 
year.
  We know what works, and we know what doesn't. What the President is 
doing is only exacerbating the problem, something just about everyone 
outside of D.C. knows.
  The White House must stop the spending spree, stop imposing 
unconstitutional mandates, and stop pushing radical legislation. The 
best thing this President could do right now is just get out of the 
way.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Oklahoma again 
for his leadership and the important words that he had to share with us 
tonight.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Carl), a 
new member of the House Committee on Armed Services who is playing an 
outsized role on the Committee on Armed Services as we work hard to 
support our troops who need our support more than ever before.
  Mr. CARL. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Banks), my colleague, for organizing this Special Order.
  Madam Speaker, when my father was a child, he sold newspapers on the 
streets in Oklahoma City. He was 6, 7, and 8 years old. He would tell 
me stories that they would show up every morning and fight over the 
best corners because they knew they could sell the most newspapers. 
That was when we were in the middle of a depression.
  We are not in a depression today--yet. But yet, we still have 
fighting over those same corners.
  Today, instead of fighting over the sale of newspapers, they are 
fighting over the sale of drugs, and these are illegal drugs that are 
coming across our border.

                              {time}  2000

  Most people don't realize how potent fentanyl is. Let me give you an 
example. One grain, one single grain of fentanyl can kill a grown man. 
You can take two packs of sweetener that you sweeten your drink with; 
that is enough to kill every member of Congress, House and Senate, to 
give you some idea of how potent these drugs are. Could you imagine a 
50-pound backpack of it coming across our open borders?
  My personal observation is these intercity killings are primarily 
against minority communities. Where is the outrage for these children 
which are our responsibility? They are our responsibility, not another 
person's responsibility. Our communities are being flooded with illegal 
drugs being brought in from the left and the right, across our southern 
borders. My Democrat colleagues remain silent.
  Madam Speaker, I truly believe President Biden cares about the lives 
that are being lost due to illegal drugs and the violence that is being 
claimed due to these illegal drugs. But where is he? Why is the 
President not being the leader that he was elected to be? We need a 
President that is a leader and that will step out there.
  We have had a full year to address this simple issue. This simple 
issue is the illegal drugs. No one seems to be paying attention. I 
promise you it affects every family. Every family in America that has a 
family member or friend that has been affected by this fentanyl needs 
to hear this because we can stop it. We can do it.
  This is an American issue that all communities should be in an uproar 
about. There are simple, commonsense solutions to fix this problem. I 
am asking, no, I am begging President Biden to sit down at the table 
and work across the aisle. Let's secure our southern border and stop 
the flow of these illegal drugs into our community that are killing, 
killing our kids.
  Let's build a wall now instead of stopping the wall. Let's build a 
wall now and finally put safety and security back into America. First 
and foremost, our responsibility is the safety of the citizens of this 
country.
  Mr. President, please hear my plea. Now is the time to take action. 
We need an American leader.
  Mr. BANKS. I thank the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Carl. It is such a 
powerful statement as we think about the drugs that are flooding over 
the border, that are impacting communities, destroying families.
  The lack of attention by this administration to do anything about it 
is appalling to the American people. As they see what is going on at 
the border, they know the border is wide open. They know that this 
President is responsible for the lack of leadership to secure the 
border that has allowed drugs to flow into communities and affect and 
destroy so many families across this country.
  Enough is enough. We call on the President. We ask President Biden to 
step up to the plate and address this issue so that more families 
aren't ruined, and more communities aren't destroyed because of the 
amount of drugs and the drug epidemic that is affecting our country.
  Again, I said in my opening statement fentanyl is now the leading 
cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45. Why isn't the President 
paying attention to that statistic and doing anything about it to 
address it?
  Madam Speaker, next, I yield to a senior member of the House Armed 
Services Committee, someone who I know has a heart for our veterans, 
someone who has served under four Presidents since he has been in 
Congress. His perspective is powerful.
  I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Wilson), my 
colleague, mentor, and friend.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. As we reach the one-year anniversary of 
President Biden in office, I borrow from the great Ronald Reagan and 
his extraordinary question during the 1980 Presidential debate and ask: 
Are you better off today than you were a year ago? The obvious and sad 
answer of thinking Americans is no.
  Since President Biden took office January 20, American families have 
suffered under a one-party Democrat rule, destroying jobs. The 
continued taxing and spending policies of Biden and Democrats have 
caused inflation. This situation is getting worse and will challenge 
our children's future, while threatening the savings of retirees.
  Bidenflation has hit the highest rate in 40 years, and the 
astronomical price increases that come with that affect all of our 
pocketbooks. A few examples include, gas is up 56 percent higher than 
over a year ago. Propane, kerosene, and firewood are up 40 percent. 
Beef and bacon are up 19 percent. Chicken is up 10 percent.
  Compounding this damaging effect, most workers have not received 
wages

[[Page H213]]

that keep up with inflation, according to The New York Times. Families 
have actually lost possibly $5,000 in just one year. Also, the December 
Jobs Report came in at less than half where economists projected.
  Since President Biden took office, he has failed to protect our 
southern border. Over 1.7 million illegal aliens have invaded, 
benefiting the drug cartels and benefiting the horror of promoting 
human trafficking.
  Energy independence has been replaced by energy dependence, resulting 
in skyrocketing costs. President Biden's policies worldwide have been 
disastrous. A feeble response to Putin is putting Ukrainian families at 
risk of mass murder with already 14,000 people killed; bowing to China 
as it continues the genocide of weaker Muslims; capitulating to Iran as 
it shouts death to America, death to Israel; appeasement of Afghanistan 
leading directly to thirteen American heroes murdered; leaving 
Americans behind and establishing Afghanistan as a safe haven to attack 
American families with suicide bombers, as we saw claimed this weekend 
at the Texas synagogue.
  American families have never been at greater risk of attack than they 
are today in American history. The Democrat elite think they are 
smarter than everyone, and they think Democrat voters and Democrat 
media are ignorant to believe $5 trillion in spending costs zero. That 
is a direct quote from the President.

  So I ask the rhetorical and famous question again. Are you better off 
today than you were a year ago?
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, last but not least, I yield to the 
gentleman from the great state of Texas, (Mr. Arrington), my friend, 
someone who fights so hard for freedom, for families.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), my 
friend and colleague from the Hoosier State.
  Looking back over the last year under the leadership of this 
President and single-party rule, for a guy who wants my team to win, my 
team is not the Republican Party, Madam Speaker. It is the great United 
States of America. It is my children, quite frankly. Personally, it is 
my children who I want to inherit the blessings of liberty and 
opportunity in this great country.
  That is our greatest calling, to hand this country back better than 
we found it, take on the challenges that face our country, work 
together to solve the problems, and make this a better, stronger, 
safer, more prosperous, more free Nation for the next generation. That 
has not happened, not even close, not even close.
  I am disappointed to say that this President and his colleagues in 
the Democratic Party have absolutely failed our country. I didn't say 
they were bad people. In fact, there are many of them I would call 
friend and proudly. As a team elected by the American people to do the 
job I outlined, they have failed miserably. As we say in west Texas on 
Saturday morning after Friday night lights, when we are looking at the 
film, the eye in the sky doesn't lie. If you look at the footage, you 
watch the film, you can't help but see one self-inflicted disaster 
after another.
  Madam Speaker, let's start with the tone and the promise to unify 
this country and its leaders, to usher into this Chamber and to 
politics and political rhetoric civility and unity. That is a big F.
  This President, I would say, took more unilateral actions and, along 
with his Democrat leaders in Congress, have jammed through more 
partisan bills than they have worked together to address the issues 
facing this country. We are more divided today than we were.
  If our Speaker, Ms. Pelosi, would actually focus on the things that 
would be required to prevent another riot on this Capitol, then you 
would have the Capitol Police and the Inspector General of the Capitol 
Police saying, we are better prepared than we were a year ago. We are 
actually less prepared today because there has been so much hyper-
partisanship and so much political weaponization and theater than there 
has actually been real governing of our great country. So there is the 
tone which is failure.
  The most important job of the Federal Government is to provide for a 
common defense. It is the safety and security of the American people. I 
know you have heard Chairman Banks. I am sure the remarks today have 
been replete with the debacle in Afghanistan and the sadness with which 
all Americans watched that. At the same time that they watched this 
needless, senseless incompetence, they saw America's credibility slip 
quickly, not only with our enemies but with our allies. I don't know if 
there was ever a time that the American troops packed up and left with 
Americans, our fellow citizens, crying out because we left them behind.
  There is a litany of problems with what happened in Afghanistan. This 
President is ultimately responsible. He didn't listen to his advisors. 
People died. Our troops, we spent 20 years and trillions of dollars, we 
lost the lives of our sons and daughters in uniform to the tune of 
roughly 2,400. What do we have to show for it besides that 
embarrassment of a withdrawal?
  I live in Texas. We are at ground zero with respect to the chaos at 
the border and the record number of people and crime activity and drugs 
that are powering into our country. This President has been derelict in 
fulfilling his sacred duty to uphold the law, plain and simple.
  Worse, working with his Democrat colleagues in this Chamber, they 
have poured fuel on the fire that is burning out of control at the 
border by saying we will give you more carrots. We will create more 
incentives. We will turn the volume up so that people will come in by 
the millions with the offer of reparation, with the offer of 
citizenship, mass amnesty, the ability to vote in our elections.
  You can't make this up, but this border crisis is real. The American 
people who live along the border feel like this President and their 
government has given up on them and has failed them. I would agree.
  With respect to the economy, I know we had a tough job for all 
Americans and all leaders for both parties to get us up and out of the 
recession related to the pandemic. For this President and my Democrat 
colleagues, to put policies in place that incentivize people to stay at 
home rather than to go back to work, I am talking about enhanced 
unemployment policies. I am talking about welfare expansion without 
work requirements, actually a repeal of work requirements. To put 
massive amounts of government spending into the marketplace, it is no 
wonder that we are seeing runaway inflation in every corner of our 
marketplace and in every good and every service that our working 
Americans depend on.

                              {time}  2015

  The majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck have lost 
almost $400 a month on account of the real wage decrease because of 
inflation, self-inflicted, one after another, and the state of the 
Union is more fragile now than ever. It is less hopeful than it was 1 
year ago.
  I don't see any posture of change or relenting on the horizon from 
this President, even with these startling statistics and facts that are 
laid out plainly for everybody to see. I am not bashful to give blame 
or credit to either side when it is due, but this is a one-party rule. 
We haven't even talked about the crime spree, we haven't talked about 
the promises made and broken with respect to COVID, the authoritarian 
mandates in one breath and action and in another breath saying that we 
are going to work together and defer to States, this isn't a Federal 
solution. I am confused. I am concerned.
  I have got to say 1 year in review is bleak and dismal. I don't say 
that with partisan glee, I say it with tremendous sadness and with 
profound grief over the opportunities lost in a backslidden country 
where we can do so much better. We have done better together. 
Republicans don't have all the answers. I don't have all the answers. 
But this has not been the great, strong, and constructive leadership 
that our Nation has seen in the past from, quite frankly, from both 
parties.
  So I hope and pray, Madam Speaker, that this President will hear not 
my voice but the voices of the American people, the voices who cried 
out from the will of the people in Virginia where the We the People 
wave has begun, and that we will make changes, and that he will focus 
on the real needs; he will stop placating the left, which seems to

[[Page H214]]

be the MO and has been for the last year, and start focusing on the 
priorities that are important to the American people and to working 
families: safer neighborhoods; a secure border; strong, effective, and 
respected military and law enforcement; real growth; real 
opportunities; real wage increases like we saw when we cut taxes; and 
just a better quality of life and better hope over the horizon for our 
children.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Banks for allowing me to be a part of 
today's Special Order.
  Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend for so many 
important comments that he and the others have shared with us today as 
we mark the 1-year anniversary mark of President Biden taking office as 
the current President of the United States.
  Once again, this President ends his first year in office with the 
lowest approval rating of any President in American history. The 
American people are feeling the decline of America. They see it, and 
they hate it because they know it doesn't have to be this way. They are 
crying out for leadership. They are begging the party in power--the 
Democratic Party that controls the Congress and owns the White House 
under President Joe Biden--to do something about inflation, because 
they feel it and see it every day when they go to the grocery store. 
And they beg the Democratic Party to do so something about it. They are 
begging President Biden to address inflation, the worst inflation of my 
lifetime.
  They are baffled why the party in power and this President are 
completely tone-deaf to the needs of the American people as they suffer 
through this disastrous set of consequences of the policies of this 
President.
  Madam Speaker, you heard a lot tonight about the effects of the COVID 
lockdowns and policies that have hurt our kids in schools and have hurt 
so many working Americans as they feel the pressures of these lockdowns 
and the failed policies of this administration. You have heard a lot 
tonight about the effects of fentanyl and the drugs that are coming 
over the wide-open border because of the failed border policies of this 
President.
  You have heard a lot tonight about the embarrassment that Afghanistan 
has caused the American people on the world stage. The American people 
know that when we put America's interests first in our foreign policy, 
the world is safer and better off. But under this President, America is 
less safe from North Korea to the Middle East, China and Russia, all of 
these countries are seizing on America's weakness under President 
Biden's leadership, and the world is less safe because of it.
  Madam Speaker, I call on the Democratic Party and President Biden to 
step up to the plate. America can't afford to suffer another 3 years of 
what they have suffered through over the last year.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President and the Vice President.

                          ____________________