[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 48 (Thursday, March 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H3822-H3825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           AMERICA IN CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Georgia 
(Mrs. Greene) for 30 minutes.
  Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about 
America in crisis, and it is crisis after crisis.
  The American people can hardly get their feet underneath them. You 
see, after riots, the next thing that came was COVID, and then 
elections, and now more COVID mandates, masks, more COVID, and now, 
potentially, the thoughts of war.
  But there is a lot more happening on top of that. We are in a real 
crisis in America, especially with American energy. You see, right now, 
the number one call I receive in my office from my constituents--and it 
is mainly the only thing they are calling about--is the price of gas.
  The price of gas, the average right now, is $4.32. People calling my 
office are saying they can hardly afford to fill up their tank. They 
are not sure if they are going to be able to fill up their tank to take 
their kids to school, to be able to go to the grocery store and afford 
the high cost of food now. They are just not sure where this is going.
  They also call and say they don't understand why the Biden 
administration, why Congress, why our Federal Government isn't doing 
anything to help Americans be able to pay for gas at the pump.
  You see, it wasn't too long ago that we were energy independent in 
America. There was a different mindset in charge. There was a mindset 
of putting our country first, our tax dollars first, putting Americans 
first, and considering ramping up energy in America and growing energy 
in America instead of declining and killing energy in America.
  But now, that seems to be the way of our government. It is hurting 
Americans, and people cannot afford it. This should not be a political 
issue. This is an issue for every single person that drives a car and 
truck.
  Now, it seems to be the goal is to make every single American drive 
an electric vehicle. If that is the goal, there is a big problem here. 
It is not up to the government, the United States Government, to force 
people to buy an electric vehicle. It should be up to the United States 
Government to do things like take care of our national security, secure 
our border, help oil companies produce more oil to increase energy 
independence, increase natural gas production, continue to build more 
nuclear, to grow energy in America. But that doesn't seem to be the 
way.
  No, we are looking at the third straight week in a row of over $100 a 
barrel of oil. Currently, it is at $112.12. This is a disaster.
  In March 2020, President Trump directed the Department of Energy to 
purchase 30 million barrels to begin filling our strategic reserves. 
But President Biden announced in his State of the Union that he would 
once again tap the strategic reserves and release 30 million barrels of 
oil in a desperate attempt to reduce gas prices here at home.
  Now, Biden is considering releasing even more. This follows an SPR 
release of 50 million barrels of oil in November 2021, which did 
nothing to prevent the spike in gas prices. And, no, it is not what is 
happening in Ukraine. This was happening before Ukraine.
  The SPR is supposed to be used for national security emergencies and 
major weather events. These are our emergency oil supplies. But that 
doesn't seem to be the case here. It seems to be the continuing plan to 
reduce America into being dependent on foreign countries.
  You see, the biggest problem started on day one when the Keystone XL 
pipeline was completely stopped. That would have supplied 830,000 
barrels of oil from Canada to U.S. refineries. That would have helped 
Americans once that was finished. But, no, that was an executive order 
by President Biden to suspend it, to suspend all oil and gas leasing on 
Federal lands and waters. That was a continued America last energy 
plan.
  While a Federal judge ruled the leasing bans to be illegal, the Biden 
administration has issued zero new leases on Federal lands. That is not 
helping Americans.
  Another issue that happened in May 2021, President Biden removed 
sanctions against Nord Stream 2, which were previously put in place by 
former President Trump. In February 2022, President Biden reversed 
course and reimposed the Trump sanctions, noting the overwhelming 
incentive to move away from Russian gas.
  President Biden's far-left socialist agenda, Build Back Better, was 
an effort to cripple domestic energy by increasing oil and gas 
production payments to 20 percent, increasing bonding and surety 
requirements to more than 15 times their current levels, imposing a new 
severance tax, and establishing new annual fees of $10,000 per mile for 
offshore pipelines.
  President Biden's fiscal year 2022 budget request explicitly opposed 
funding the construction or maintenance of projects that would lower 
the cost of gas, diesel, or energy derived from fossil fuels.
  Biden's Department of Energy has slow-walked liquefied natural gas 
exports that could reduce Europe's dependence on Russia.
  These are all the things that have led to the increase of the price 
of gas at the pump that is hurting my constituents in my district in 
northwest Georgia. This is hurting Americans. None of these things have 
helped us.
  Now, here is what we have to consider. We also have bigger problems. 
The Consumer Price Index, which is a key inflation index, hit a 40-year 
high in February. The CPI increased to 7.9 percent over the past 12 
months, and this is inflation that happened before Russia invaded 
Ukraine. You can't blame Putin for that one. This is all happening 
right here at home.
  Let's talk about inflation and how it is hurting Americans. Here is 
one thing that everyone can understand. Used cars and trucks are up 
41.2 percent; 41.2 percent is unbelievable.
  If you have been on vacation lately, you know that if you try to rent 
a car or truck, they are very hard to find.
  Gasoline is up 38 percent.
  Lodging away from home, going to a hotel while you are trying to go 
on vacation, or, say, people that are traveling for business, that is 
up 25.1 percent.
  Now, if you are cooking at home and trying to save money making a 
meal

[[Page H3823]]

for your family, bacon is up 18.8 percent. Peanut butter, for those 
great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that moms and dads make for 
kids' lunches, is up 15.6 percent. Pork is up 14 percent.
  Clothing is up. Dresses are up 13.5 percent.
  Airline fees are up 12.7 percent.
  The cost of a new vehicle is up 12.4 percent. If you are in the 
market for a truck, well, guess what? You will have a hard time getting 
one, or an SUV, because many of them are sitting on the lots, still 
waiting for microchips.
  Eggs are up 11.4 percent. Coffee is up 10.5 percent. Baby food is up 
8.4 percent.
  Transportation services are up 6.6 percent.
  Beer is up. You know there is a problem when the cost of beer is up 
5.3 percent.
  Now, 2021 went down as the worst year for inflation since 1981, but 
it looks to be 2022 is going to be worse. The problem for Americans is, 
it is not that anyone is increasing their wages. They are actually 
being hurt by all of these economic forces that are hitting American 
families hard.
  Don't forget, the same people that were big Democrat voters, which 
are those people suffering with big student loans, these are people 
that are working their jobs, trying to pay their student loans, trying 
to afford their car payments. They can't afford gas at the pump, and no 
one seems to be helping them.
  Inflation is a tax on everyone, and no one is exempt. That is what 
people are complaining about here in America, not what the people that 
run around Washington think. It is a lot different when you talk to 
people on the ground.
  Now, another thing people are very upset about is what is happening 
at our border. We have a true border crisis, and it is time to start 
caring about it.
  Listen, it is an insult to all border communities because President 
Biden visited Texas but continued to refuse to visit the southern 
border or other surrounding communities that his failed open border 
policies have endangered.
  The real issue is, while President Biden is more interested in 
working with Iran, Russia, and China to go reenter an Iran nuclear 
deal, he doesn't seem to care about what is happening at the border.
  According to Customs and Border Patrol data, there were 153,941 
migrant encounters at our southern border in January. That is a 96 
percent increase from the previous year. This was the second-worst 
January on record. Of the 153,941 illegal immigrants encountered at the 
border, the Biden administration released 62,573 of them into the 
United States.
  This new data comes at a time when ICE deportations are down 70 
percent from 2020, the fewest number of deportations in 5 years. This 
equates to an average of just 100 deportations a day, even as Border 
Patrol agents encountered up to 7,000 illegal immigrants daily.
  But only 100 get deported? Why? You have to ask why.
  Since Biden took office, over 2 million illegal immigrants have been 
apprehended at our southern border. Biden has still not visited the 
border even during this historic crisis. It doesn't seem that President 
Biden even cares.
  Border officials have estimated that nearly 400,000 illegal 
immigrants have escaped into the United States without being caught 
under President Biden. But we don't even know if that is the right 
number. That is just an estimate.
  Out of 104,171 migrants issued notices to report by ICE between the 
end of March and the end of August 2021, 47,705 failed to report. They 
just don't bother showing up.

                              {time}  1830

  There were 10,763 arrests of migrants with criminal convictions in 
fiscal year 2021; that is up 2,438 from fiscal year 2020, and that is 
up 4,269 in fiscal year 2019.
  But here is the real issue. Fentanyl is flowing across our borders. 
Seizures of fentanyl increased by 134 percent in fiscal year 2021 under 
President Biden's watch.
  Now, fentanyl is the number one reported reason of cause of death for 
young people ages 18 to 45. What are we doing in our country when this 
deadly drug is flowing across our wide-open border that our President 
doesn't even seem to care about, that no one is interested in closing 
the border or securing the border?
  How are we failing Americans and failing young people, where fentanyl 
that comes over from China is so easily flowing across the border? This 
is a disaster. It is a complete disaster.
  Now, what I find absolutely mind-boggling is how here in Congress we 
passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus bill last week that was 2,741 pages, and 
we didn't even have 24 hours to read it. That is a complete failure to 
the American people and the American tax dollars who are the ones 
paying the $1.5 trillion for the omnibus bill.
  There is not a company or a small business in the private sector that 
operates this way. But our Federal Government is reckless and out of 
control, and the American people are feeling the consequences. You just 
have to ask the question: Why? Why does Congress work this way? It is 
just not working. It is not working for the American people.
  Now, this week we were addressed by President Zelenskyy and the 
crisis that the Ukrainian people are going through. It was heart-
breaking to hear the stories he told, the video that he showed, the 
tragedies that we are hearing about over and over, but we also aren't 
given enough information.
  Last week, Congress approved $13.6 billion to go to Ukraine. Now, 
this is after years and years of sending billions of dollars in aid to 
Ukraine and funding all kinds of things in Ukraine. Who does Congress 
work for? I think that is the greatest question. What is the purpose of 
this institution where we take American taxpayers' dollars and send it 
to countries all over the world? We send money to all kinds of foreign 
countries and fund all kinds of things.
  Now, one of the most fascinating stories that went on and on across 
the internet and news companies--you heard it on TV and saw it on 
social media everywhere--was this big discussion about biolabs. Now, I 
thought it was pretty fascinating, a lot of people were interested in 
it, but we were all told no, no, no, you can't talk about biolabs 
because that is fake news, that the United States doesn't fund biolabs 
in Ukraine--the United States wouldn't do that.
  Well, come to find out, in fact, it is true. The same news companies 
and the same sources are telling us that it is not true that the United 
States funds biolabs--you could also look up their older news stories 
from years ago where, in fact, they were talking about the United 
States funding biolabs. So the misinformation going on is real and the 
American people deserve to know what they are paying for.
  This comes on the heels of after 2 years--and this is just so 
tragic--that not only the United States but the entire world has been 
dealing with COVID-19. Now, it has been a true tragedy what has 
happened with COVID. Over 968,000 Americans have died--that is 
according to The New York Times today--over 6 million people have died 
worldwide. That is according to The New York Times today.
  For the last 2 years, Americans have dealt with the consequences of 
U.S. funding these labs and funding the gain of function research. Now, 
it is something that we really have to recognize and we have to talk 
about, but our government did fund the gain of function research. We 
know that to be true through EcoHealth Alliance.
  The gain of function research is what allowed the virus that is 
transmitted between bats to be turned into a virus--like a Dr. 
Frankenstein virus--that can be transmitted between humans. We have to 
ask the question: Why would the United States Government engage in 
funding something as horrific as that? How is that science? It is a 
good thing to ask these questions.
  Now, here is what else is interesting. Just today Dr. Fauci, who 
happened to be the one to help fund the gain of function research, 
decided to come out and say that mask mandates should be brought back. 
This is at a time where we are finally getting rid of mask mandates. He 
is also recommending a fourth COVID vaccine shot.
  Now, I don't know about you guys but many of us were vaccinated as 
kids against polio, we had our MMR, and I have never seen the CDC 
coming out,

[[Page H3824]]

saying, oh, you got to get your second polio shot, you got to get your 
third, you got to get your fourth, and this may continue to keep going.
  I think the question we all should ask is: When does it stop and when 
are enough vaccines enough? We don't have that question because now 
Congress is discussing and debating a future COVID bill, an emergency 
bill. This is a future COVID bill to fund future variants and future 
vaccines. And not only future vaccines for the United States, but 
future vaccines for the entire world because somehow the United States 
is responsible for vaccinating the world against future COVID variants 
that we haven't even seen yet.
  And somehow Congress thinks that we should do emergency funding, 
possibly up to $22 billion to study and prepare for future COVID 
variants and future COVID vaccines, and as many things as we need to 
do, but yet we aren't seeing them. How is that necessary to have 
emergency funding at $22 billion to fund something that we don't know 
is going to happen and shouldn't happen and would never have happened 
without the U.S.-funded gain of function research to the Wuhan lab? I 
think these are questions worth asking.
  Now, another thing I would like to point out is President Trump had 
asked Congress for $22 billion to build a wall down at the southern 
border. Imagine if Congress had found it important or recognized the 
important need to go ahead and fund $22 billion back in 2017 or 2018, 
that wall would have been built.

  I can tell you right now, I don't think we would be seeing and 
hearing about the numbers of illegal immigrants coming across our 
border and deadly fentanyl coming across like this. Imagine if Congress 
had taken seriously border security under President Trump and funded 
that $22 billion then that now Congress is considering funding for 
future COVID that we don't even have yet. These are good questions to 
ask.
  These are the kind of questions that the regular American people ask, 
not the ones that live here in the Washington D.C. bubble; they are 
very disconnected here with real America.
  Now, this is the thing that I just find so amazing. As we consider 
funding future COVID and future COVID vaccines, we have people at home 
that are sick and tired of their children being masked in school. They 
do not want to be forced to take a vaccine that they feel they should 
have the ability to decide about their own health, if they want to take 
it or not.
  We are still trying to get back on track with not having to wear 
masks on airplanes, not having to send our kids to school to be masked, 
and not have to be shut down anymore. We have not recovered yet from 
the COVID crisis of the past 2 years. But, no, we have to consider more 
future COVID variants and future vaccines, and vaccinating the world 
against future COVID everything.
  It never seems to stop, it is crisis after crisis. Unfortunately, a 
U.S.-funded gain of function research in a U.S.-funded lab in China 
gave birth to COVID-19 that has hurt the entire world.
  Here is what we need to discuss. We need to ask the question: What is 
happening in these U.S.-funded labs? And we need to be willing to talk 
about it. We also need to ask the questions about the VAERS statistics. 
What if there are vaccine injuries? What if there are vaccine deaths?
  It is okay to ask these questions because these may have affected 
people's lives, and that is important to do, right? But when we are 
talking about biolabs, we do know for a fact that the U.S. has funded 
the contracts not only to take over the labs, reconstruct them, but 
also build them. This goes through grants through private companies at 
millions and millions of dollars.
  Now, what if these biolabs are handling very dangerous pathogens that 
may lead to the deaths in people in the areas. There are reports of 
possibly deadly pathogens escaping these biolabs in places like 
Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, that is responsible for killing people. 
What if that is true? I think these are questions that we should ask 
because no American citizen wants to be held morally and ethically 
responsible, and the U.S. Government should not be funding something 
that is killing people in a country that is not even our own, let alone 
here at home.
  These are worthy questions. For that reason, because it has become 
such an issue and because it upsets so many people that I talk to 
constantly, I have introduced a bill to stop taxpayer funding for 
bioweapons and eliminate these programs from the Federal Government 
because no government should be creating bioweapons. That is evil and 
wrong.
  Now, the name of this bill is the Stopping the Spread of Taxpayer-
Funded Bioweapons Act. What if strange outbreaks surrounding U.S.-
funded biolabs are the result of these labs and the work that is taking 
place in them? What if these labs are creating viruses just like COVID-
19?
  This is something that all of us should be against. That is why it 
would be so important to pass this bill and make sure that our United 
States Government is never funding anything deadly and never funding 
something like COVID-19. These are consequences that we cannot take and 
we should not handle and we should not ever consider.
  Now, as we go further, we have a lot of issues to consider. We have 
an economy that is definitely in trouble. We have hyperinflation and 
gas prices out of control. We are looking at what is going to happen in 
Ukraine with Russia and what is going to happen in the world with all 
these sanctions. There are some issues to consider.
  Now, the value of our dollar is extremely important. The value of our 
dollar affects our entire economy. If the value of our dollar were to 
go down suddenly, that would affect all Americans. Right now we are in 
a critical time where Saudi Arabia is discussing with China--talking to 
them about possibly switching from the petrodollar to trading with 
China's currency.
  We have sanctioned Russia. And as Russia is looking at taking Ukraine 
and they are invading Ukraine and killing people in Ukraine, Russia has 
turned to China. Just recently Russia made a $117.5 billion deal with 
President Xi of China. That deal is to sell oil and gas to China.
  Now with sanctions tightening on Putin and Russia, will we see Russia 
turn to China and switch to China's currency? What if Russia and Saudi 
Arabia switch from the dollar to China's currency? Then think further, 
what happens if countries like Venezuela or Cuba or any other country 
turns to China's currency?
  If we go into a situation where we have two world competing 
currencies, the dollar is going to be hit very hard, and that is going 
to hurt America's economy, that is going to hurt every single one of 
us. If we think we are suffering under high inflation right now and 
high gas prices, well, we haven't seen anything yet. This is a 
dangerous situation and these are the things that I don't hear being 
talked about here in Congress very much.
  These are not the things that our leaders are considering when they 
are beating the drums of war--wanting to go in and go to war with 
nuclear Russia. These are not the things that are being considered for 
our children and for our country's future, but these are the most 
important things they should be considering. Unfortunately, they are 
not.

                              {time}  1845

  Now, what we all should be doing is encouraging President Zelenskyy 
and President Putin to get to the negotiating table and stop people 
from being killed. That should be the most important thing we care 
about.
  Sanctions are being put in place, and we should be considering what 
are going to be the real human costs when we are stopping countries 
from trading very important products like grain, fertilizer, and energy 
because it may be a punishment to those governments, but the real 
punishment is to the people in other countries and our own.
  So my questions for our Congress--our United States Congress--are: 
Which country do we honestly serve? Which country do we honestly care 
about? And which people do we care about?
  Because this body right here is funded by the American people and 
their hard-earned tax dollars, and the American people and their hard-
earned tax dollars are the people we should consider first.
  It is the United States of America we should consider first. It is 
the United

[[Page H3825]]

States currency, the dollar, we should consider first, and it is the 
United States economy we should consider first, our small businesses, 
our big businesses, and our border that should matter.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, tonight, I will finish with this: I think it is 
important for the United States Congress to talk more, to slow down in 
our decisions, to read our bills--every single one of us has the time 
to read them--and for every single one of us to vote in person--not by 
proxy--and not simply by saying ``yea'' or ``nay''.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for this time, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.

                          ____________________