[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.
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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.
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