[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 9, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H1105-H1108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS SHOT IN 2021

  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 heard my colleague on the other side of the 
aisle and I certainly appreciate his friendship and service.
  I would take some disagreement with my celebrating the extent to 
which the President of the United States has announced beforehand the 
race and sex of the next Supreme Court Justice. And I would remind my 
friend, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, in general, the 
extent to which the current President rejected, filibustered, blocked 
Janice Rogers Brown--notably both Black and female--he did so because 
she wasn't the right kind of Black and female. You see, she was a 
conservative. She was not a leftist, a liberal.
  So the current President blocked, when he was in the United States 
Senate, filibustered, fought, broke the rules and the traditions of the 
Senate to do it. By the way, Janice Rogers Brown, a Black female, 
qualified but conservative, judge. So he refused to let her advance. 
Why?
  Now, the President of the United States is going out and lauding, 
praising his predetermination that the next Justice must be Black or 
female, undermining the nominee before even making the nomination.
  I would note also that the President blocked, attacked, voted against 
Miguel Estrada. And did so, we know, for one reason. He was a Hispanic 
conservative. Now, how do we know that? We have a memo. Yes, indeed, a 
memo in black and white, spelled out among Democrat Senators and 
staffers back in 2003. I happen to know this because I was a lawyer on 
the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. But my, how this town loves to 
sweep aside little details, like the current Democrat President of the 
United States working in coordination with Democrat Members of the 
United States Senate when he was a Senator to stop, to block, to 
filibuster Miguel Estrada because he is a Hispanic conservative.
  And we can't have that, can we? Because it breaks the narrative. It 
destroys the narrative. Republicans are anti-Hispanic. Republicans are 
anti-Black. We can't have a Black conservative woman advance under a 
Republican President, George W. Bush. We can't have Hispanic Miguel 
Estrada advance under a Republican, George W. Bush.
  But, no, no, will you hear Jen Psaki talking about that at the podium 
at the White House? Or will you hear more lies, lies about the whipping 
of migrants at our border? Will you hear her talk about the fact that 
no report has been generated by the Department of Justice or the 
Department of Homeland Security or anybody else about the alleged 
whipping of migrants, which did not occur, which we know didn't occur. 
By fact, we know it didn't occur.
  But yet, the President of the United States and his own White House 
Secretary sat at the podium and accused them, ``them'' being our Border 
Patrol agents, standing on the front lines, being ignored, underfunded, 
chastised, refused to say any apology since that day. They refused to 
look at the Border Patrol agents and say, You know, we are sorry. We 
got that wrong. No report forthcoming.
  Anybody sensing a theme that my Democrat friends and colleagues in 
the White House on the other side of the aisle love to make race an 
issue? But they are going to sweep aside the killing of Miguel 
Estrada's nomination because he is a Hispanic male, Hispanic 
conservative; sweep aside the blocking of Janice Rogers Brown; sweep 
aside running to cry racism and whipping of the Rio Grande when it is 
the policies of the Secretary of Homeland Security that is specifically 
and intentionally endangering the American people; causing our young 
children across this country to die from poisonings and overdoses; 
causing bullets to be fired upon our law enforcement officers in Texas; 
ranchers to get overrun, livestock to get out, cartels to get 
empowered. And the Secretary of Homeland Security literally refuses to 
enforce any of the laws to stop that from happening.
  But, oh, no, he can't bring himself, and Jen Psaki can't bring 
herself, and the President can't bring himself to look in the eyes of 
the Border Patrol and say they apologize for saying that they were 
whipping human beings.

                              {time}  1445

  That is the state of the Democrat Party's commitment to race. It is 
all a fraud. It is all a fiction. It is all a front. It is all about 
continuing to foment racial division for partisan political gain. It 
has nothing to do about judging people by the content of their 
character and not the color of their skin because if it were, Janice 
Rogers Brown would not have been blocked and Miguel Estrada would not 
have been blocked. The President of the United States wouldn't be 
standing up at a lectern today predetermining the race and the sex of 
the next Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
  Mr. Speaker, I came down here today to talk about our law enforcement

[[Page H1106]]

community. A year and a half ago, I sat here on the floor of the 
House--maybe in the same spot--with the number 43 similarly positioned 
on a board. That 43 represented the number of law enforcement police 
officers killed in the line of duty at that time.
  Well, saying to the Speaker and to my colleagues--who, of course, 
notably, as I like to observe, are not here. This is our idea of 
debate, you know, in the United States House of Representatives. On 
fly-out day, everybody is getting home. Nobody is here.
  We never have actual debate. We never offer amendments. We never have 
a back and forth. We come back and have showboats and give speeches on 
the Capitol steps about how Republicans are better than Democrats or 
Democrats are better than Republicans. We never sit down here and 
actually debate. If we did, then we could have honest debate about 
policies that will protect this country and protect law enforcement 
officers from the constant barrage and attack levied against them 
across this country.
  I am sick and tired of seeing nonstop attacks on our law enforcement 
community for being the ones on the front lines every day dealing with 
crime and figuring out how to protect our communities yet getting 
tossed under the bus, cast aside as being the ones that we should be 
targeting.
  Eighty-four dead law enforcement officers across this country last 
year; 346 officers were shot in the line of duty; 103 ambush-style 
attacks on law enforcement officers, up 115 percent from the year 
before; 4 police officers were beaten to death; 3 were stabbed to 
death.
  Sergeant Joshua Bartlett, Lubbock County Sheriff's Office in Texas, 
shot and killed during a barricade at a home on July 15 of last year. 
Earlier in the morning, the subject had been stopped by a Texas Highway 
Patrol trooper for reckless driving and attempted to bait the officer 
into a confrontation. He returned home after the encounter and began 
walking around the neighborhood with a firearm at 1:15.
  When officers of the Levelland Police Department arrived, the man 
opened fire and barricaded himself inside. The regional SWAT team was 
requested as the man randomly fired shots from the home.
  Sergeant Bartlett was a United States Army veteran. He is survived by 
his wife, four sons, parents, and a brother.
  Police Officer Mitchell Aaron Penton, Dallas, Texas, was struck and 
killed by a vehicle operated by an intoxicated driver on February 13, 
2021. At the time of his death, he had a stepson, and his wife was 
expecting.
  Police Officer Brandon M. Stalker, Toledo Police Department, Ohio, 
was shot and killed during a barricade involving an arson suspect. 
Officer Stalker was on a perimeter position and was struck in the head 
and fatally wounded. He is survived by his two children and fiance.
  Police Officer Jimmy Inn was shot and killed while responding to a 
domestic violence call on May 11, 2021. He had served with the Stockton 
Police Department for 6 years. He is survived by his wife, 7-month-old 
son, and two stepchildren.
  Sergeant James Smith, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa, was shot and killed 
while attempting to arrest a subject who had assaulted and disarmed 
another law enforcement officer during a traffic stop on April 2, 2021. 
He is survived by his wife, two children, mother, brother, and sister.
  Lieutenant Michael Boutte was shot and killed after responding to a 
call involving a subject attempting suicide. He was a United States Air 
Force veteran and served with the Hancock County Sheriff's office for 8 
years. He is survived by his wife and two children.
  Police Officer Chris Oberheim, Champaign Police Department, Illinois, 
was shot and killed at about 3:20 a.m. while responding to a domestic 
disturbance call. He had been on the job 20 years. He was 44 with a 
wife and four children.
  Trooper Chad Michael Walker, Texas Department of Public Safety, March 
28, 2021, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained 5 days earlier when he 
was ambushed while stopping to assist what he believed was a disabled 
vehicle near Mexia, Texas. He served with the Texas Highway Patrol for 
6 years. He had 18 years in law enforcement. He is survived by his 
wife, 15-year-old son, twin 7-year-older daughters, and a 2-month-old 
daughter.
  Here are some of the quotes from my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle and at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue about police 
officers.
  Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, while criticizing FOX News 
coverage of soft-on-crime policies, stated, while laughing, ``What does 
that even mean?'' and referred to the coverage as an alternative 
universe.
  President Biden famously expressed support for the defund the police 
movement in 2020 and then had to walk that back after backlash.
  Vice President Kamala Harris applauded Los Angeles Mayor Eric 
Garcetti for defunding the police.
  Representative Ocasio-Cortez said, ``Defunding police means defunding 
police,'' arguing the cuts to the New York Police Department weren't 
enough.
  Representative Ayanna Pressley said she supports efforts to defund 
police departments.
  Representative Rashida Tlaib called for ``no more'' police. Tlaib's 
campaign has paid over $150,000 to defund the police activist Rasha 
Mubarak.
  Representative Ilhan Omar said:

       Not only do we need to defund, we need to dismantle police 
     departments.

  Representative Cori Bush said that she would ``make sure'' she has 
private security for her protection while simultaneously promising to 
defund the police. This weekend, Representative Bush doubled down in 
her support for defunding our police departments on Twitter.
  President Biden's Assistant Attorney General, Kristen Clarke, 
supported efforts to defund the police.
  President Biden's Associate Attorney General, Vanita Gupta, said 
officials must heed calls to ``decrease police budgets and the scope, 
role, and responsibility of police in our lives.''
  President Biden's Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, proposed a budget 
to divert funding from law enforcement.
  We see now what is happening in Minnesota, where you have one of the 
individuals who was a part of the mob violence riots in the summer of 
2020, who burned down a store, a commercial property, and did so with 
video footage indicating the glee of doing so--this being an individual 
with a very long criminal record.
  The man who owned or worked at the establishment, I think, had five 
kids and died as a result of the fire set by this individual in 
Minnesota. The United States Attorney's Office in Minnesota filed a 
sentencing brief that read exactly like the defense lawyer's brief, 
citing all the events of the summer, completely offsetting the dead 
father of five with a store burned to the ground during mob violence 
rule in the summer of 2020.
  This United States Department of Justice, this United States 
Attorney's Office in Minnesota, downward departed from the sentencing 
guidelines of 20 years down to 10 years, purposefully citing the 
political interest of the summer of 2020, the political cause of the 
summer of 2020, in recommending that downward departure despite the 
criminal record of the perpetrator of the crime, despite the destroyed 
and burned down building, despite the death of the owner of the store 
and the fact that he had multiple children. All of that was cast aside 
in the political judgment, not even of the judge, but of the United 
States Attorney's Office.
  Lo and behold, that acting United States attorney a few months later 
is now working at Main Justice. I would sure like to know why. I would 
sure like to know who was involved. I would sure like to know who made 
the calls. I would sure like to know from the current acting United 
States attorney if that acting United States attorney agrees with the 
sentencing recommendations of the so-called prosecutors in the 
Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office who turned a blind eye to their duty 
to keep the streets safe, to prosecute them under their oath to the 
Constitution and defense of the laws of the United States to protect 
the people of Minnesota, and chose to choose a political path, and 
chose to follow politics rather than do their job.
  We want to know. We are going to ask questions in the House Judiciary 
Committee. I can assure you that if the good people of the United 
States were to give the majority to the Republicans in January 2023, 
there are going to be

[[Page H1107]]

some questions asked and some answers delivered by this administration 
for their failure to enforce the laws of the United States while 
American people die, lose property, are harmed, are killed. At the 
border of Texas or in Minnesota--it doesn't matter--the laws of the 
United States are supposed to be enforced, and we should be standing up 
for the rule of law.
  We are going to demand answers to questions. I want answers from the 
United States Attorney General for targeting parents for daring to 
stand up to school boards. I want answers from the Secretary of 
Homeland Security for his clearly impeachable conduct for recklessly 
ignoring the laws of the United States, endangering my people and 
constituents in Texas, endangering the people of this country while 
empowering cartels and allowing fentanyl to pour into our schools. I 
want answers. We are going to demand answers.
  We are going to want answers and demand answers from Anthony Fauci 
and all the bureaucrats at NIH and CDC for shutting down our schools, 
shutting down our economy, lying about what we were seeing in terms of 
gain of function research in China.
  We are going to want answers, and we are going to get those answers. 
While this body fiddles, we will demand answers if the American people 
will give us the ability to get them.
  I mentioned our situation at our border. We are in the midst of a 
fentanyl, opioid, and drug crisis in this country, the likes we have 
not seen before.

                              {time}  1500

  Those of us who grew up in the eighties know what we saw with the 
cocaine epidemic. I was a 14-year-old when Len Bias notoriously died 
from an overdose within a week of being drafted by the Boston Celtics 
after his career at the University of Maryland.
  We know the horrors of the cocaine epidemic that led, by the way, to 
the crime bills of the 1990s supported by this President, supported by 
Black Americans across this country and lobbied for by Black pastors 
and Black leaders across this country because of the violence and the 
epidemic of drugs across our cities and across our towns in the 1980s 
and 1990s. We responded, and as a result, the crime rate went down.
  And now what are we seeing?
  Massive spikes in crime, massive spikes in drug use, carjackings in 
our Nation's Capital where it is easier to get carjacked than to order 
a hamburger while we are under lockdowns, and vaccine mandates and 
vaccine passports in the Nation's Capital.
  Side note: Yet another reason why we should never let the District of 
Columbia be a State. It is not supposed to have the political interest 
of a State. It is supposed to be our National Capital where people can 
come and go, where they can petition their government, and where they 
can come and do the business of the people. So we will address that 
issue as well in the next Congress.
  I am proud to represent Texas, but Texas is under assault. Texas is 
under assault every day by cartel-driven violence fueled by China and 
driven by the profit motive of pouring fentanyl into our communities, 
destroying our children's lives, causing addiction, causing death, and 
causing destruction. And this administration not only does nothing, it 
is worse than that, this administration purposefully--purposefully--
ignores the laws of the United States to the detriment and the 
endangerment of the American people.
  There is no other way to put it when our laws require operational 
control of the border and we do not have it.
  There is no other way to put it when our ranches are overrun, fences 
are cut, and livestock gets out.
  There is no other way to put it when there are stash houses in 
Houston, in San Antonio, in Laredo, in Del Rio, in McAllen, in Arizona, 
and in California. In every big city across this country there are 
stash houses where human beings are being moved for profit.
  There is no other way to put it when the current administration is 
releasing people into the United States. They are knowingly, in 
violation of law, releasing people into the United States under the 
guise of so-called asylum. They know it is not asylum, and they know it 
is not credible fear. They know they are releasing single, adult males. 
They are lying about it because we see them talking about the lies on 
tape.
  And the American people are the ones holding the bag. The American 
people are the ones who have their kids dying because they take a Xanax 
that is laced with fentanyl. And this administration doesn't care.
  This administration ignores the rule of law, ignores the Secure Fence 
Act, lets fencing rust in the field, and fails to require the fence to 
continue to be constructed which would help support Border Patrol and 
the communities in south Texas.
  But let me send a very clear warning signal to my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle: My colleagues take for granted the people of 
south Texas, as a political matter. And I can tell you, the people of 
south Texas are tired of it. The people of south Texas are tired of 
being on the front lines of a cartel-driven drug-and-human-trafficking 
war with bullets flying, people dying, morgues filled, and rape trees 
being used.
  And this body, the people's House, not only sits silent, they 
facilitate it, and they facilitate the Department of Justice and the 
Department of Homeland Security who does nothing but fuel the crisis 
even more.
  Mr. Speaker, 100,306 Americans are dead as a result of drug overdoses 
or poisonings.
  Mr. Speaker, how many minutes are remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 4 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I do want to finish by saying, it is our duty 
to secure the border of the United States. It is the duty of the 
Secretary to secure the border of the United States. There are 100,000 
dead Americans as a result of wide-open borders, and it is impeachable 
conduct by the Secretary of Homeland Security. We are going to address 
that issue if the American people will give us the ability to be in the 
majority.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding. I 
want to say, first and foremost, I thank him for his consistent, loud, 
smart, and well-reasoned comments on our open border and the impact on 
our citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I too want to bring attention to this criminal issue.
  I have this Sweet-N-Low packet that so many of us put in our coffee 
in the morning, and that illustrates, Mr. Speaker, that that one amount 
of sweetener, if it were fentanyl, would kill 500 Americans.
  In Arkansas, fentanyl deaths are up 441 percent since 2015. Over 600 
Arkansans have lost their lives. Every 5 minutes we lose a neighbor to 
an accidental drug overdose. Just last year, as my friend from Texas 
said, we lost over 100,000 Americans to accidental overdoses, which is 
now the leading cause of death between the ages of 18 and 45. We were 
here on this floor 3 years ago lamenting 55,000 Americans dying in 1 
year--the same we lost in the entire Vietnam war--and now it is 
100,000.
  Fentanyl is directly responsible for 64 percent of those deaths, Mr. 
Speaker, and a majority of that fentanyl within the United States comes 
from our porous Southwest border--the border that the Biden 
administration has continuously failed to secure--as it flows directly 
into our communities.
  Last year, enough fentanyl was interdicted--that is what we caught--
by our overworked Border Patrol to kill every American seven times 
over. It isn't enough to confiscate it at the border. We need strong 
leadership to discourage it from arriving in the first place, and we 
can do that by permanently scheduling fentanyl as a schedule I 
substance and increase the criminal penalties.

  We need strong leadership and strong policies to secure our border 
and respond to the illicit fentanyl that has been found in every street 
drug. Until then, sadly, as noted by my friend from Texas, Americans 
will continue to die at the hand of fentanyl.


                          Cheering on Team USA

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, as we cheer on Team USA this week and 
celebrate our athletes participating in the 2022 winter games, it is 
important we do not overlook the sins of the host nation, China.
  China has carefully crafted their image to distract the world from 
their blatant human rights abuses and their totalitarianism.

[[Page H1108]]

  The International Olympic Committee has worked to portray China in a 
positive light. The truth is, China is an authoritarian state set on 
the destruction of anyone and anything that doesn't adhere to its world 
view.
  The Chinese Communist Party believes that its administrative control 
over its people is the most effective form of governance. The Uyghurs 
continue to face genocide and crimes against humanity. The people of 
Hong Kong have seen the destruction of their liberal state. China seeks 
to expand its influence in the world through its predatory lending and 
its failed Belt and Road Initiative.
  We can do better. We need American leadership to counter this.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman's remarks about 
China, and I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________