[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1006-H1008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TEXAS RANGERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Roy) for 30 minutes.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise here on the floor of the
United States House of Representatives as we celebrate the 200th
anniversary of the Texas Rangers, Texas' oldest law enforcement agency.
I am proud to represent a number of Rangers personally. I am proud to
live in a county named after one of our most famous Texas Rangers. I am
proud to be the descendent of a Texas Ranger. I will have more to say
about all of that in a moment.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran), my
friend, to offer his thoughts on the Texas Rangers.
Mr. MORAN. Madam Speaker, I am honored to join Representative Roy and
so many from the Texas delegation today to recognize 200 years of
history--the 200th anniversary of our most prolific investigative law
enforcement agency in Texas, and one of the most prolific law
enforcement agencies in this Nation and worldwide, the Texas Rangers.
In 1823, Stephen F. Austin assembled a small collection of brave men
in a call to arms. Over the past two centuries, this small group
numbering less than 200 today, has undertaken almost every aspect of
law enforcement in Texas.
Let me pause there and reinforce that, less than 200 Rangers on the
job today. By the amount of work that they do, you would think there
were hundreds, even thousands across Texas, but indeed it is a small
elite force.
From investigating murder to conspiracy and every crime in between,
they have protected our borders, both in the 19th century and here
again in the 21st century. They have protected our Governor and our
historical Alamo.
The Texas Rangers are an esteemed symbol of the Lone Star State. They
are guardians of the highest order. They are the cream of the crop.
Because of that, they have been praised and storied again and again in
poem, in song, in movies, and in television--from the Lone Ranger to
Walker Texas Ranger. You see replications of these Texas Rangers over
and over again because of their unique toughness, but also because of
their compassion. They make sure that there is swift and sure justice
in Texas, but also fair and impartial justice.
Like so many other law enforcement agencies, it is not just the
possibility of ultimate sacrifice that sets them apart from so many
others, it frankly is their daily sacrifice. Each day when they get up,
they kiss their kids and their wives and their spouses goodbye, and
they head off to work. They set themselves apart by sacrificial service
to their communities, putting their life on the line day in and day out
for each of us in Texas.
As I did when I was a county judge in Texas, I am proud to back the
blue. I am honored to stand here today in recognition of the Texas
Rangers' 200 years of dedication and service to our communities.
To all of our officers: We honor you, we thank you, and we are
indebted to you. This Congress should look at the example of the Texas
Rangers and the examples set by so many law enforcement officers across
this country, and remind ourselves of what is truly important and who
we should indeed support when it comes down to it. We should always
back the blue.
Congratulations, Texas Rangers. Keep leading the way, keep setting
the standard, and keep making us proud.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's remarks about the
Texas Rangers. They are such an important organization in the world of
law enforcement. I say that as someone who served in the Office of the
Attorney General of Texas as the first assistant attorney general where
I had a large number of law enforcement, including former Texas
Rangers, working for me.
[[Page H1007]]
I worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in law enforcement. My
grandfather was the chief of police in a small Texas town, Sweetwater,
Texas, in the 1940s. My great-great-grandfather was a Texas Ranger.
As my colleague from Texas just discussed with respect to the
history, in 1821, Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, brought 300
families to settle land in modern-day Texas. There was no regular Army.
Austin assembled a fighting force to provide protection from Comanches
and eventually Mexican raiders, giving rise to the Texas Rangers.
Texans did what sovereign States have done throughout history,
stepping up and protecting our communities. We stood up for the rule of
law when there was none. Much of the action seen by the early Rangers
involved bloody conflicts with Comanche Tribes and gangs of bandits who
threatened the safety of Texans.
In years following, the Rangers proved indispensable during major
events such as the Mexican-American War; the pursuit of the criminals,
Bonnie and Clyde in 1934; and Hurricane Harvey rescue and recoveries
recently in 2017 and now currently today.
As local law enforcement slowly assumed much of the day-to-day
peacekeeping role that the Texas Rangers held before the turn of the
20th century, the Rangers now operate as a key investigative body for
the State of Texas.
Rangers were known for conducting major criminal investigations,
suppression of organized crime, border reconnaissance, SWAT, bomb
squad, Special Rapid Response, crisis negotiation, joint intelligence
center management, and investigation of unsolved crimes.
The impact of the Texas Rangers on the Lone Star State cannot be
understated. My home county, Hays County, is named for John Coffee
Hays, a renowned Ranger, appointed by Sam Houston, who fought one of
the most notorious battles against the Comanche near what is called
Enchanted Rock, in the district I represent a little west of Austin in
Gillespie County.
My great-great-grandfather, John Vaughn Roy, served as a Texas Ranger
in Hays, Travis, and Blanco counties--all three counties I represent
today, protecting my future home where I live now in Hays County, and
holding the line against lawlessness.
To the west, Captain Charles Schreiner of Kerr County, served with
distinction and went on to donate land for the Schreiner Institute
Military School in my district.
Today, I am honored to represent Ranger Ray Martinez, a living legend
in New Braunfels with a long history of heroism and service. The Ranger
spirit is alive and well today in my friend and long-time Texas Ranger
David Maxwell, who I worked with in the Office of the Attorney General
of Texas. He solved the over 35-year-old cold case in the unspeakable
murder of his own sister. That is the spirit of the Texas Rangers.
{time} (1415)
They were men who could not be stampeded. That is how former
Department of Public Safety Director Homer Garrison, Jr., described
them.
They have certainly lived up to that.
With so many other great figures of our history, some today wish to
rewrite the legacy of the Texas Rangers focusing only on the harshest
of narratives from the comfort of modern-day America--a comfort bought
by the sacrifice and the blood of Texas Rangers--all while ignoring
those sacrifices that they made to settle the West and establish the
rule of law.
The Scripture reminds us that greater love has no man than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends.
These heroes wake up every morning and put their lives on the line to
serve and protect their fellow Texans as did their predecessors.
The Texas Rangers are owed a debt of gratitude that cannot be fully
repaid, but today we do thank them, and we congratulate them on 200
years of selfless service.
Tomorrow will be March 2. That is Texas Independence Day.
On February 23, a Mexican force numbering in the thousands and led by
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began a siege of the fort. The
Texas forces held out for 13 days outgunned and outnumbered. They were
driven by the cause of liberty and their desire for a free Texas.
William Barret Travis wrote this about the siege:
I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under
Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and
cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man.
The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion,
otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the
fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot,
and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall
never surrender or retreat.
Then I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism,
and everything dear to the American character to come to our
aid with all dispatch.
The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no
doubt increase to three or four thousand in 4 or 5 days.
If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain
myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never
forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his
country--victory or death.
This week also includes Texas Independence Day as I said. The Texas
Declaration of Independence reads:
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty,
and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers
are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it
was instituted. . . .
The Texas Declaration of Independence states that:
In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of
self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the
people to appeal to first principles and take their political
affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as
a right toward themselves and a sacred obligation to their
posterity to abolish such government and create another in
its stead calculated to rescue them from impending dangers
and to secure their future welfare and happiness.
But what did they declare independence for?
What did Travis and the rest of the Alamo sacrifice for?
A Federal Government that opens our borders to cartels?
A group of Republicans who campaign on securing the border but who
run away in abject surrender refusing to actually do it?
That is the question before us right now. That is the question for
every Member of the Republican Conference.
I am speaking to you: If you do not secure the border now--now--you
are giving up any argument you have for the American people to put
their faith in you.
Will Republicans honor their campaign commitments to secure the
border? Yes or no?
What I am seeing right now from my Republican colleagues does not
give me faith that they will stand up in the breach as did those men
who stood on the wall of the Alamo.
I am tired of words. Things are going to change in this body. If my
Republican colleagues believe that they are going to be moving through
relatively meaningless provisions doing precious damn little for the
very people who sent us here to change things and they think that some
of us are just going to go along for the ride, then they are sorely
mistaken. We will not.
There will be no more games as I saw unfold today on the floor of the
House of Representatives where lies and misrepresentations were made
about legislation, specifically for personal reasons, to take down an
amendment.
This amendment, by the way, was designed to ensure that the executive
orders that are driving up inflation that this majority said they
wanted to expose out of the current President and our Democratic
colleagues on the other side of the aisle would exempt emergency
executive orders and exempt national security-related executive orders,
which are the very kinds of emergency executive orders that have been
killing this country for as long as I can remember and specifically for
the last several years through the COVID pandemic and emergency
responses.
These executive orders force needles into the peoples' arms. They say
``no'' but then they can't carry out their livelihoods.
This in turn will shrink the labor supply and drive up the cost of
goods and services by shutting down the greatest economy in the history
of the world.
My colleagues on this side of the aisle today ran away--ran away--
from actually holding the executive branch responsible.
Why?
For petty, personal, and political reasons. That ain't gonna fly.
That is not going to be the way this works.
[[Page H1008]]
Leadership is something that is observed and followed. It is not an
anointed position. We did not come to this Chamber to continue to allow
the executive branch to run over the American people.
Sitting today is a young man who served his country and is being
denied his commanding officer job and is being forced to try to pay
back student loans because he dared to say ``no'' to a vaccine mandate
that was politically driven.
What is this side of the aisle doing about it?
Not a damn thing.
What is this side of the aisle doing about open borders?
Nothing. Nothing.
What is this side of the aisle doing about an ATF rule about to make
felons out of 10 million Americans or more?
Nothing.
What is this side of the aisle going to do about spending?
Lip service.
We have a debt ceiling approaching, and we are running around like
chickens with their heads cut off. We should say something right now.
We should pass a bill off this floor saying that we will raise the debt
ceiling but only--only--if you end the disastrous student loans that
are going to cost $400 billion and drive up the cost of higher
education, only if you rescind the $91 billion of unobligated COVID
money, only if you go rescind the $80 billion designed to increase the
IRS to go after taxpayers--including, by the way, more often the
poorest among us and minorities--only if you will return spending to
2022 levels getting our spending back to preCOVID levels and make sure
that we cap spending so we stop funding the woke, weaponized
bureaucracy that is going after the American people.
Do that.
Send that over to the Senate. Send that over to the Senate and make
Chuck Schumer and the President of the United States choke on it
because the American people want us to cut spending right now. They
don't want us dillydallying around going out to focus groups and
talking to Frank Luntz and talking about what the hell we are going to
do with the American people. But that is too often what this body does
and particularly this side of the aisle.
We are not going to have 2 more years of the usual crap that this
body continually engages in.
No more spending money we don't have.
No more allowing lawlessness.
No more open borders.
No more mandates killing the American people.
No more mandates driving up the price of energy by subsidizing
unreliable energy and driving up the cost of that energy.
No more.
We are $32 trillion in debt.
Wide-open borders cause little girls to get sold into the sex
trafficking trade. The New York Times finally wakes up and writes a
story about it this week.
What do we do?
We pass a 3-page bill asking the Democrats to say that we will give
you reports on inflation but not if there is emergency spending,
because everybody has got to have their precious emergency spending.
Oh, gosh, there is a hurricane.
So who cares if it is inflationary?
So you dump $40 million.
Who cares if it is COVID and you dump $5 trillion out in the name of
an emergency crushing the greatest economy in the history of the world?
No, no. We can't have a report like that.
The American people are sick and tired of the same old same old. So
far, 2 months into the 118th Congress, I am not seeing it a hell of a
lot different than the same old same old.
The American people gave Republicans the majority. We ought to darn
well use it. It is time to stand up for the American people, and that
time is now. That time is not tomorrow. That time is not after another
retreat to go figure out how you are going to raise more money. That
time is not after another retreat to go look at poll testing.
Come down to the floor of the House of Representatives, stand up for
the American people who sent you here, and stop playing games with the
election certificate you were given to represent them.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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