[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5092-H5095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FEELING THE IMPACTS IN TEXAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) is recognized until 
10 p.m. as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Hill), my neighbor.


                        Week of Prayer for China

  Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from Texas for 
yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the continued death 
of freedom and personal rights occurring in greater China.
  Last week, Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90 years old, the former cardinal 
from Hong Kong, was arrested by the Chinese Communist Party in Hong 
Kong for speaking out for democracy.
  This arrest threatens the fundamental freedoms of all individuals 
with the courage to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party by 
demonstrating the extent of the regime's aggression, threatening these 
advocates with life in prison or worse.
  For years, Cardinal Zen has advocated for democracy and religious 
freedom for the Chinese people. I have had the opportunity to meet with 
Cardinal Zen and have heard his pleas for freedom and advocacy for 
citizens in Hong Kong and Roman Catholics in China.
  Next week, we will recognize a week of global prayer for China. 
During the week, we will pray for all suffering under the Chinese 
regime, including Cardinal Zen.
  I urge my colleagues to take a moment to pray for religious tolerance 
and individual rights, to pray for a bright and safe future for the 
Chinese people, a future without persecution, a future with the 
fundamental freedoms we all deserve.
  We must keep Cardinal Zen and the other brave individuals advocating 
for freedoms that we enjoy here today and every day in our prayers 
today, tomorrow, next week, and until the Chinese people are no longer 
under the boot of Communist persecution.


                Preserving Peace and Stability in Taiwan

  Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation 
that I have introduced with the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Sherman).
  Our bill, H.R. 7704, the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, is a 
necessary step to help deter the Chinese aggression or the potential 
aggression, I think we should all hope, against Taiwan.
  In 1979, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act to preserve and 
promote a close relationship between the United States and Taiwan. For 
43 years, the United States has been committed to the preservation of 
human rights, peace, and stability for the people on the island of 
Taiwan.
  Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party has been growing more 
comfortable in taking coercive and aggressive actions toward Taiwan.
  Our bill will ensure that the financial consequences for CCP 
officials and their immediate family members are immediate if they are 
tempted to get any ideas from their brutal, repressive, murderous 
friends in Russia.
  Under my bill, if the President reports to Congress any threat to the 
security or social or economic system of Taiwan made by China, as 
required under the 1979 act, the Treasury will report on all illicit 
and corrupt assets of senior CCP officials and their immediate family 
members and will take steps to prohibit these officials from benefiting 
from these funds at U.S. financial institutions.

                              {time}  2140

  We cannot risk any lack of clarity regarding the U.S. commitment to 
Taiwan. Aspiring global strongmen must know personal consequences are 
in store for any aggressive behavior.
  Madam Speaker, I urge quick consideration and adoption of our bill, 
the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for his 
comments and for his tireless commitment to pointing out the atrocities 
in China; our needs and interests in making sure that we stand with the 
people of Taiwan and stand strong in the globe and stand up as a strong 
country.
  I would note, as we sit here today, that we had a number of issues 
that are of paramount importance to the American people. One of which, 
of course, being from the State of Texas, is the state of our border.
  Today, official numbers came out from Border Patrol that there were 
234,088 encounters in April. Of those, some 96,908 were turned away 
under so-called title 42 of our health code. But what that means is 
that at least 137,180 were released into the United States, and perhaps 
more.

[[Page H5093]]

  Madam Speaker, 1,300 pounds of fentanyl, intercepted. Of course, 
today, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is down 
at the Rio Grande Valley doing photo ops. Going down to the Valley so 
he can try to hide what he said to me and what he said to Republicans 
in the House Committee on the Judiciary who were questioning him just 
two weeks ago.
  We said: Do you have operational control of the border?
  And he said, Yes, I do.
  Well, I wonder if my friend from Pennsylvania could help explain to 
the American people how 234,000 apprehensions, of which almost 130,000 
are being turned into the United States, how that is somehow 
operational control.
  The gentleman was an officer in the United States military. Does that 
sound like operational control?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Perry).
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the good gentleman from 
Texas for yielding.
  I think that what most people don't understand--and some even in this 
body--is that when you think about operational control of the border, 
you are assuming that the administration wants to stop people from 
illegally crossing. You are thinking that they are about border 
security and about national security.
  We actually voted in this body, as you know, to fund at higher 
levels, Border Patrol, ICE. And many on our side of the aisle even 
voted for it, either unwittingly or knowing that this administration 
was actually going to use that money, not to stop people from coming 
across the border illegally, not to uphold the law, not to stop the 
invasion that is guaranteed by our Constitution to the States, but to 
actually become more efficient at processing individuals coming across 
the border illegally and moving them very quickly into the interior of 
the country.
  They used the money so that they don't have the optics of what is 
happening at the Del Rio bridge. That is why they wanted to be more 
efficient. They don't want the optics of people huddling underneath a 
bridge, coming from some other country or some other places illegally, 
and not having anywhere to go, and the squalor and the potential crime 
element that is associated with it.
  Since they don't want that optic, what they have done is used the 
money that has been appropriated, the additional money--not to mention 
all the money that has already been appropriated--to move them more 
efficiently into the interior of the country.
  So when the Secretary says he has operational control, sure, they are 
operationally controlling the influx of illegal aliens, right? That is 
the actual definition, right? That is the word that is used--illegal 
aliens into the country. And so on that charge, they are actually doing 
very well.
  Unfortunately, the American people, and my good friend from Texas, 
Chip Roy, know they are suffering right now under horrific high prices 
that they barely can afford, whether it is for fuel in their car, 
whether it is for being able to buy groceries, if you can find them.
  And heaven forbid you are a family that has a small child that needs 
formula. No extra money for that, Mr. Roy. No extra money for 
Americans.
  Mr. ROY. Well, as the gentleman knows, as we sit here in the people's 
House, I just got an update from the border showing the Border Patrol 
is building a new soft-sided tent compound in Eagle Pass, Texas.
  Another picture of it shows a big tent with chain-link fences up--
remember the kids in cages?--chain-link fences up. And it says it is 
roughly 215,000 square feet, which is almost five acres.
  So to the gentleman's point, why would they be doing that? Why would 
Secretary Mayorkas be ordering Border Patrol to build a five-acre tent 
facility in Eagle Pass, Texas?
  Mr. PERRY. Well, you know why.
  Mr. ROY. I know exactly why. Could it be because they believe their 
mission is to process more aliens coming to the United States? That it 
would encourage more to come; have them come across the river--never 
mind being exploited by the cartels--then get put into this facility to 
be processed and released.
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, into the country but without the view of 
the cameras, without the access of the American people in to see what 
is happening in their country. That is the chain-link fence around it, 
without the view of what is happening in every single community which 
is due to fentanyl overdoses.
  Every single person in America now likely can say they know some 
family, somebody in their town that died of a fentanyl overdose. So 
that is coming from China, as the good gentleman from Arkansas was just 
talking about what is happening in China--it comes from China through 
Mexico across our southern border and into your town.
  That is national security. That is border security. That is health 
security. And our country and the leadership and this administration is 
not providing it at this time.

  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, the gentleman knows that we are feeling that 
impact in Texas.
  He just mentioned fentanyl. We just got the new data from the CDC: 
117,000 dead Americans.
  Yet, nothing but crickets coming from our colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle. They don't care. They don't care about 117,000 dead 
Americans, directly as a consequence of Chinese-produced fentanyl 
pouring in through cartels, through Mexico, into the United States. 
Nothing. Crickets.
  Have you seen a bill on the floor of this body to deal with that?
  Have you seen any efforts by our friends on the other side of the 
aisle to secure the border of the United States legitimately or force 
the hand of Secretary Mayorkas to actually enforce the policies of the 
United States?
  Madam Speaker, very specifically, we have a discharge petition at the 
desk with the signature of every Republican but not one Democrat 
willing to go to the Democrats leading the administration and say, We 
need to secure the border of the United States and enforce the 
policies, including title 42 and whatever it takes to secure the 
border.
  Is the gentleman aware of that?
  Mr. PERRY. I am aware of that.
  Madam Speaker, right here on this floor, the President came and gave 
his State of the Union and said he wanted to secure the border. That is 
what the President said, he wanted to secure the border. Yet, the 
fentanyl keeps coming in. The money has been spent. In many towns they 
have defunded the police, right? The drugs keep coming in.
  And as there is a primary election going on right now in my home 
State in Pennsylvania, many people from across the aisle have said they 
want border protection, they want national security, they want to stop 
the fentanyl.
  But given any opportunity to vote in favor of that, to come down and 
sign the discharge petition, not one Democrat, not one Democrat signed 
the discharge petition to force that bill to the floor to say keep 
title 42 in place and leave us an opportunity to make sure that people 
and drugs and the crime element supported by the cartels don't come to 
America. Not one will step up.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I would ask the gentleman a question. We are 
talking about the extent to which the American people are hurting. He 
talked about the baby formula. We are talking about the border--wide 
open borders, fentanyl pouring in, American people dying. What about 
the fact that gasoline prices are skyrocketing, energy prices are going 
up?
  We know we are producing 55 million fewer barrels of oil in February 
of 2022 than we did in February of 2020. The United States is expected 
to revert to being a net oil importer in 2022 after we had become a net 
oil exporter.
  In the March 2020 debate, President Biden said no more drilling on 
Federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore; no ability for the 
oil industry to continue to drill, period.
  Yet, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they don't want to 
talk about that because they know full well it is precisely the 
policies of the administration to purposely limit the ability to 
produce oil and gas in this country that is empowering Putin to go 
after Ukraine and that is damaging the price of gas at the pump and 
harming the American people.
  Our Democrat colleagues sit silent because they worship at the altar 
of the green agenda. Because that is their agenda, not the benefit of 
the American people, not the ability to drive your car, go to work, 
take care of your

[[Page H5094]]

family, afford gas, afford the goods and services that are going up 
because the diesel prices are going up, the inflation is skyrocketing. 
Because they refuse to open up American oil and gas, which we sit on a 
bevy of.
  It is enormously important for our national security and the national 
security of our friends around the world. I know the gentleman, being 
from Pennsylvania, is well aware of the absurd energy policies that are 
harming the American people because they worship at the altar of the 
Green New Deal and the green agenda.
  Mr. PERRY. That is exactly right.
  Madam Speaker, the American people see and are feeling it every 
single day when they go to the gas pumps, when they have got to get 
their kids to soccer games and multiple activities, driving back and 
forth, and they can't afford to fill up their gas tanks anymore.
  This is because we are at the beginning of implementing the Green New 
Deal, forcing it on Americans; not letting you make the choice, but 
letting policymakers in Washington, D.C., determine how your life is 
going to be.
  And while the President says, in this very body, they want to have a 
vote on price-gouging. Meanwhile, we are not allowing the people to 
produce the gas and oil that we desperately need to keep our energy 
economy going. Our country runs on energy, right? The President is 
saying no more leases. Not one pipeline is being built.

                              {time}  2150

  No more leases. No more refining. It is not happening. They actually 
said that we are producing more gas and oil than ever before in 
history. But you just gave them the numbers, Mr. Roy. You just gave us 
the numbers. It is actually less. That is what happens, and you are 
going to pay more. For every single gallon that you buy, you are going 
to pay more. And this is all by design. They don't want you to have the 
choice. They actually want to force you to drive an electric vehicle.
  As long as we are talking about energy and the lack thereof, Mr. Roy, 
it was just reported in your State to be prepared for blackouts and 
brownouts because there is going to be a lack of electricity 
production.
  Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 21st century. America knows how to 
produce energy. We know how to make electricity. We know how to 
transport it. Yet, it is happening in California, and now it is going 
to start cascading across the country because of the policy decisions 
of the Green New Deal and those who worship at the altar of this green 
agenda that forces us to take these things that we can't afford and are 
inefficient and ineffective.
  Mr. ROY. Absolutely. It is this green agenda that has us bowing down 
to China in order to get the minerals and resources in order to make 
solar panels and wind farms. If you look at Texas that produces as much 
wind as any State in the country, Texas only had 17 percent wind 
production from its wind farms last week, which was a big chunk of the 
problem that we had in terms of energy production.
  Our grid is over-reliant on wind and solar. When you have a windless 
cloudy day, what do you need? You need fossil fuels. What else do you 
need? Nuclear power. Do you know how much nuclear power or fossil fuel 
generation we have in the pipeline, so to speak, right now across this 
country or even in Texas? Minuscule. Because of the worshipping at this 
ridiculous agenda.
  Do you know how many coal-fired plants they have in China? Something 
like 1,100.
  Mr. PERRY. And opening one a week.
  Mr. ROY. And opening one a week.
  Do you know how many coal-fired plants we are opening in this 
country? Zippo.
  Do you know what kind of rules we have coming out right now to hammer 
the coal industry in Texas and elsewhere? Massive rules.
  Do you know what that means for the American people? No energy, lower 
energy, higher costs. That is 100 percent true and provable.
  Yet, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle walk around in some 
daze saying, oh, we are going to get this magic unicorn energy from 
wind and solar on a windless, cloudy day. It is absolutely absurd.
  The American people are suffering. The American people are suffering 
because of the Democratic policies that are causing harm to them, 
driving up prices, making it impossible for them to have a reliable 
grid, reliable energy. We are sitting on a mountain of it in this 
country. We are exporting liquified natural gas from this country. 
CO2 is going down. We are not relying on China. We are 
sticking it back on them, and our people are benefiting and prospering.
  The Democrat agenda is: stop that. Go beg China. And then pay more 
for your goods and services. Then what does Joe Biden say? What does 
Jen Psaki say in all of her infinite wisdom heading off to MSNBC after 
she accuses our Border Patrol agents of whipping people? She says: 
``Oh, buy a Tesla.'' Go spend $60,000 and go buy an electric car.
  Do you know what? If you are in Austin, Texas, and you want to drive 
to Midland, I guess you have to stop somewhere in the middle and hope 
you can charge.
  Mr. PERRY. And hope you can charge. And I sure hope you have the time 
to sit there and charge, right? It is not like filling it up at the gas 
station and you get back on the road and keep going and make it in a 
reasonable amount of time.
  The gentleman from Texas is absolutely right. I mean, he talked about 
the fact that we are empowering China. Eighty-five percent of the 
critical minerals that come here to make the solar panels and windmills 
come from China. Now, of course, we subsidize all that. That subsidy 
means it is coming from your tax dollars.
  Of course, I don't know whether you know this or not, Mr. Roy, but I 
suspect you do, those tax dollars going to pay for those raw materials 
in China are then--those tax dollars go to mine it, to mine it in the 
Congo, right?
  Mr. ROY. Yes.
  Mr. PERRY. One of the biggest mines in the world, the biggest mine in 
the world. Slave labor, child slave labor, right? We are talking about 
saving the rainforest, meanwhile they are cutting all this stuff down 
to mine these minerals, so we can feel good. So we can feel good about 
our ourselves and America. Meanwhile, it is supporting child slave 
labor with your taxes, supporting deforestation of the rainforest. For 
what? For higher prices and less availability, and it is just going to 
keep coming, ladies and gentlemen, as long as the agenda of the left 
keeps being implemented.
  Mr. ROY. You know what I have here in front of me? I have a 
photograph that a friend--I think he is one of the six people watching 
on C-SPAN right now--just texted me and said, Here is a picture of 
gasoline at the pump. Diesel I should say, not gasoline. Diesel, 194 
gallons. Do you know what the bill was? $1,090.
  You want to know what is coming, American people, this summer? Have 
you looked at the inventory numbers for diesel? Ladies and gentlemen, 
it is coming. All of those goods and services sitting in trucks, trucks 
that are having to pay $1,090 to fill their tank, that is getting 
passed on to you. You are going to pay for that. You, the American 
people, are going to pay for that while Democrats in this body, in the 
Senate, and in this administration wave it off, laugh it off, and say: 
``Go buy a Tesla.''
  Well, that isn't going to make your prices any cheaper. That isn't 
going to enable you to be able to afford the goods and services you 
need.
  I know we have only got a few minutes left, so I want to ask one more 
thing of my friend from Pennsylvania. We are talking here about energy, 
and we know how much energy is at the central debate about what is 
going on between Russia and Ukraine. And we know the administration 
didn't do a darn thing leading up to what is happening in Ukraine to 
cut off Nord Stream 2 to open up American oil and gas to try to cut off 
what we knew was coming and what Putin was doing.
  Yet, last week we had a vote on the floor of this body on a $40 
billion unpaid for blank check in the name of standing with Ukraine. 
Only 57 Members of this body out of 435 possible Members--however many 
are here right now--57 dared to say, Hey, wait a minute, maybe we 
should actually debate $40 billion that is not paid for that is going 
to go into the State Department, go into the Department of Defense, 
going around the world, paying

[[Page H5095]]

for refugee resettlement, paying for food around the world, paying for 
continued support of military operations in Ukraine.
  I know the gentleman supports Ukraine and Zelenskyy, and I know the 
gentleman opposes Putin, but did you have a problem with a $40 billion 
blank check?
  Mr. PERRY. I had a problem with $40 billion with 5 hours, 5 hours of 
consideration for $40 billion. When we took the text to the staff and 
asked them about this line, what is this $300 million, and they said, 
Well, we don't know. And we are expected to vote on that. We are 
expected to vote for that or somehow we are aligned with Vladimir 
Putin.
  Keep in mind, my good friend from Texas, 2 weeks prior to this we did 
this lend-lease without any time limit, without any funding limit, then 
come back, and the President asked for $33 billion, we give him $40 
billion. We can't afford our diesel. Pretty soon you are not going to 
be able to afford your food. We won't do anything on our own border. 
Prices are going up for every single person.
  Every American wants to help Ukraine, but we are Americans, and the 
Representatives in this body represent America.
  Mr. ROY. I agree with the gentleman. I support Ukrainians, but I 
represent Americans, and Americans want to stand alongside Zelenskyy 
and push back on Putin, but they want us to do our job responsibly.
  When I hear the majority leader of the other party say, ``a time of 
war.'' When I sat with the majority leader in a Rules Committee meeting 
upstairs, and he said: ``We are at war,'' I was wondering when we voted 
to go to war. If we are going to have a proxy war, and we are going to 
give $40 billion to Ukraine because we want to look all fancy with our 
blue and yellow ribbons and feel good about ourselves, maybe we should 
actually have a debate in this Chamber, a debate in this body because 
the American people expect us to do that.
  When the border of this country is wide open, and cartels have 
control of it, and fentanyl is pouring in, and we have $30.5 trillion 
in debt, and gas prices are spiking, and it cost $1,100 to fill a tank 
of diesel, and we go, Oh, blank check, $40 billion. By the way, I am 
looking at my colleagues on this side of the aisle on that same point.
  The American people deserve and expect better than that. I yield to 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. PERRY. You are absolutely right, Mr. Roy. The American people at 
least deserve the debate. Five hours, ladies and gentlemen, 5 hours for 
$40 billion. People around here complain about all kinds of things.
  Mr. ROY. Heaven forbid we vote on bills put before this body.
  Mr. PERRY. Right. That is a problem. But $40 billion, no problem.
  Meanwhile, our citizens, the citizens that I represent, they are 
having a hard time figuring out, do they pay their insurance, do they 
pay their mortgage? I talk to people on a regular basis that say they 
put their bills on their table, and they put a date on them when they 
are due and when they think they will be able to pay for them. They 
say, I have never had to do that before. I am selling stuff to pay my 
bills because I can't afford what is happening in my country right now. 
Meanwhile, we can't talk for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour about $40 
billion to some other country. Meanwhile, we just gave a blank check 2 
weeks before to let the President spend any amount of money for any 
amount of time on the same country. We didn't declare war.
  Mr. ROY. I know the gentleman is correct. I know we are just about 
out of time.
  I would just say in closing, the American people expect us to do our 
job. The American people expect us to vote, the American people expect 
us to stand up for them, and that is what we are happy to be here 
doing. I appreciate the gentleman joining me tonight.
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
allowing me to be part of this Special Order and speak on behalf of and 
fight on behalf of the American people that are struggling right now.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________