[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              BACK TO WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Mann) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss my priorities for 
protecting America's future. We need to reduce and reprioritize 
government spending, secure the border, and end the weaponization of 
the Federal Government.
  The Biden administration's spending has created massive inflation and 
increased our national debt to $33 trillion, and $2.4 trillion of that 
debt has accrued over just the last 365 days. That is over $76,000 
every second.
  The Biden administration's spending is out of touch with what 
Americans want, and it is crushing our economy. We are all feeling it, 
especially in middle America where new and costly regulations are 
forcing small businesses to close, gas is nearly $4 a gallon, and 
people's paychecks are overtaxed.
  House Republicans have offered commonsense solutions to these 
problems. We have passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act to stop wasteful 
taxpayer spending, reclaim unspent COVID relief money and promote pro-
growth economic policies, and we must stand firm in our commitment to 
reducing and reprioritizing government spending.
  While the Biden administration is burning through taxpayer dollars 
like there is no tomorrow, there is also a humanitarian crisis raging 
at our southern border, and it is getting worse every day. This is a 
national security emergency. As we speak, fentanyl is flooding American 
streets, victims of human trafficking rings are getting abused and 
killed, and our brave border patrol agents are overwhelmed.
  The funding to secure the border had already been appropriated by 
Congress before President Biden even took office, and then he killed 
the completion of the border wall by executive order. In response, 
House Republicans passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which would 
force the Biden administration to resume construction of the border 
wall, increase the number of Border Patrol agents, protect 
unaccompanied children from human trafficking, and terminate catch-and-
release policies.
  We also passed the Schools Not Shelters Act and the HALT Fentanyl 
Act. We must keep pressing to secure the border and protect Americans.
  In addition to wasting taxpayer dollars and ignoring the border 
crisis, the Biden administration is overseeing and directing an 
unprecedented weaponization of the Federal Government. President 
Biden's Department of Justice refuses to apply justice equally, and 
House Republicans are constantly fighting back against overreaching 
government regulations that are hurting agricultural producers and 
small business owners.

  Even the Supreme Court had to step in and declare the Biden 
administration's definition of Waters of the United States was 
unconstitutional.
  When government grows, freedom shrinks. So we must stop the 
weaponization of the Federal Government to protect our freedoms. The 
appropriations process is a critical opportunity to address all of 
these concerns. We must restore fiscal sanity. Americans deserve to 
have their taxpayer dollars used wisely, and giving the President 
endless, no-limit credit cards is no way to govern in a democracy.
  It is hard for me to imagine how anyone would love $33 trillion of 
debt or love the open border or love losing to China or love $200 
billion of unaccounted for COVID relief dollars so much they would be 
willing to shut down the Federal Government to maintain them.
  We have 10 days to pass the remaining appropriations bills in a 
fiscally responsible way. We owe it to the American people to work 
tirelessly toward that end and to get our country back on track.

                          ____________________