[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H6201-H6204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONCERN FOR OUR COUNTRY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Good) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous materials.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight, concerned about
our country, and I am concerned about our willingness as Members of
Congress to meet the moment, to stand in the gap, to validate the hope
placed in us as the Republican majority, to stand in the gap and to
meet the moment to deal with the great crisis, the threats facing our
country.
I will begin by mentioning our national debt. The days of spending
without consequence are over. We have 40-year-high inflation as a
result of unprecedented, excessive, reckless spending. We are on track
this year for a $2.5 trillion deficit. We are running a monthly deficit
of about $200 billion a month.
We are suffering the consequences with 40-year high inflation and
grocery prices where Thanksgiving dinner costs 40 percent more than it
did when this President was sworn in 3 years ago. Gas prices are up,
utility prices are up, housing prices are up, rent prices are up, and
then you have got interest rates.
The American people are suffering further under 20-year high interest
rates, interest rates that have been increased by the Fed in a futile
attempt to try to combat inflation. Historically, you raise interest
rates because you have a hot economy and you are trying to ward off
inflation. In this case, the inflation has been caused by the
unprecedented levels of spending, and then we have further exacerbated
this, this administration, this Federal Reserve under this President,
with interest rates that have put home prices out of reach for most
Americans.
Now, we have got our credit being downgraded. Two credit rating
agencies have downgraded our debt, which will further cause interest
rates to go up and payments on our national debt to increase even more.
The snowball effect of $34 trillion in debt, record interest rates, a
$200 billion monthly deficit, is taking its toll. With each passing day
that we fail to deal with the greatest fiscal crisis in the history of
the country, we deepen the pain and the suffering that is put upon the
American people not only just today but in the future.
Meanwhile, how do we see Congress responding? Do we see a commitment
here in this House to cut our spending, to deal with our discretionary
spending, as we call it? Every dollar we spend in this House and in the
Chamber next door, every dollar we spend for discretionary spending,
everything that we vote on in spending, is borrowed. The total this
year of discretionary spending is somewhere around $1.7 trillion.
Again, with a $200 billion monthly deficit and $2.5 trillion worth of
deficit for the 12-month period, all of the discretionary spending is
essentially borrowed.
Are we going to meet the moment? Are we going to rise to the occasion
as a Republican majority?
If not now, when?
When will we take this seriously? When will we be willing to do what
the American people elected us to do?
If not now, when? If not us, who?
I am pleased to have with me my good friend, the courageous fiscal
warrior from Arizona, Mr. Andy Biggs, and I would like to hear his
thoughts on this national debt subject.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for
the purpose of a colloquy.
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Good for engaging me in this
colloquy.
I want to talk briefly about this number that has been put out there.
He is asking the question: Will we rise to the occasion?
I am going to give the bad news first. This is like in ``The
Matrix,'' the first version, where they give you the red pill or the
blue pill. The red pill is reality. The blue pill is you can continue
on in your slumber.
I am going to propose a different pill, and it is a black pill. The
black pill, I would suggest to you, means that reality is the awful
truth. The awful truth here is we know that we are not going to rise to
the moment.
Why do we know that? Because in the context of everything you just
gave us, I want to talk about that supplemental that has been proposed
by the Senate.
We have already passed out of this body a $14.5 billion supplemental
package for Israel. We found a way to pay for it. It goes to the
Senate. They don't bother to take it up. They don't want
[[Page H6202]]
that. In fact, one of the Republican appropriators over there said: We
don't do that; we don't pay for supplementals.
Wow. You know what? That individual was correct. It had never been
done before. We did it, but they don't want to do that.
Instead, they want to leverage a controversial spend of $61 billion
for Ukraine funding by leveraging what Israel needs, our good friend in
the Levant. That is what they want to leverage.
You know what they throw in there, as well? They throw in some money
for Taiwan; they throw in some money for the border. I won't get into
the border until you yield more time, but I will tell you this: That
money they are talking about for the border is not to stop the 10,000
to 12,000 people per day coming into the country; it is to facilitate
their entry and dispersion throughout the country.
If you think we are going to rise to the moment when we are dealing
with a group of people across the way, the leadership over there, that
have proposed that--and I am seeing, sadly, a momentum for that to
happen right here on the floor of this Chamber--then I would tell you
the black pill has been swallowed, and there is trouble and tough
sledding ahead for the United States of America because the people who
have been elected to fight that are acquiescing.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate his bringing up the
supplemental, because I want to give Speaker Johnson credit for what he
did with that House supplemental.
The supplemental, the $106 billion package that was proposed by the
President and the Senate majority leader of the Democrat-controlled
Senate, represents everything that is wrong with Washington.
To the point, we are running a $200 billion deficit, and yet we have
a supplemental, which again, as he said, means we don't pay for it. We
add it on; we tack it on; we borrow more; let's borrow $106 billion.
Virtually everyone in Congress, I think--certainly all Republicans and
most Democrats--want to support one of our true allies on the global
stage--one of our, I would submit, two or three allies at a minimum--
Israel, through the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas. We want to come
to the aid of our friend and our genuine ally Israel and give them the
help that they need, but Israel doesn't have $34 trillion in national
debt. Israel is not running a $200 billion deficit. Israel is fiscally
solvent. We are not. Even for something so worthy as this cause, we
have a responsibility to pay for it, if we can, and we can.
Therefore, Speaker Johnson met the moment and said let's pay for it
by taking some of the $80 billion that was allocated for the 87,000 IRS
hirings in the inflation increase act last summer, let's cut $14
billion from there to pay for the $14 billion for Israel, and it passed
on a bipartisan basis in this Chamber. Twelve Democrats voted for it.
Honestly, I thought, you know what? We are plowing new ground in the
House. We are separating the Israel aid. We are not doing again that
which is represented by what we typically do here in Washington, which
is all that is wrong with Washington. We say, we are going to hijack or
hold hostage our desire to support Israel. We can't give them that $14
billion unless you also give them the $92 billion that has nothing to
do with Israel: $60 billion for Ukraine, as was said, humanitarian
support for Hamas, and more money for Mayorkas to process illegals in
the country more quickly and more deceptively, another ill-defined,
disastrous humanitarian system. We are going to hold hostage $14
billion for Israel with the $92 billion we have got to choke down.
I thought when Speaker Johnson and this Republican majority rose to
the occasion with the support of 12 Democrats, who courageously crossed
the aisle and did the right thing, that the Senate would have to take
it up, that they wouldn't hold up support for Israel on a bipartisan
bill just because it was paid for and just because it was going to cut
by $14 billion the $80 billion IRS expansion and just because it didn't
include the $92 billion that didn't have anything to do with Israel.
I know my colleague joined me in calling upon the Speaker and calling
upon our Republican majority to stand with our Speaker. He needs to
know we have his back and we stand with him. We have passed Israel
support out of this House. We are requiring it to be paid for because
that is the responsible thing for our kids and our grandkids and for
the American people. We are not going to take up any other supplemental
that has support for Israel, and every supplemental must be paid for.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) to
hear some additional thoughts.
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, first of all, when the gentleman starts
talking about that, he raises a point that I have been arguing
vociferously about for some time, and that is Republicans manage to
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over and over again. We
negotiate against ourselves. That is what is happening on the
supplemental. That is what is happening on the NDAA.
We passed out of the Judiciary Committee today a bill, hugely
bipartisan, 35 people voted for it, 2 against it, including massive
reforms, reforms that groups across the spectrum, from right to left,
Republican and Democrat, have said these are the reforms we need to
see.
{time} 1945
The leverage goes away when you give an extension into April for FISA
in its current form, which is what the Speaker is acquiescing to after
telling us he wasn't going to go there. That is negotiating against
yourself. Why is that? What happens?
The leverage against the Senate on FISA then goes away. I was not
surprised to know that Chairman Turner said he will let the Judiciary
bill come to the floor. Why wouldn't he?
Because he knows that the leverage is now gone and the Senate has no
incentive to take up a meaningful reform bill. That is the problem. It
goes back to the border.
The border is the same way. There were 12,000 people that came across
yesterday. That was an all-time single-day record. There were 12,000
people encountered. That does not include the 10,000 people that got
away.
You are looking at 300,000 plus for the month of December that we can
project already. That will be a record. We say, oh, let's do H.R. 2. We
did H.R. 2. That was a good, solid border security package.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. That you were responsible in helping to craft
that bill--you and our friend Chip Roy.
Mr. BIGGS. We got it through. It went through and is languishing in
the Senate. We say things like: I will tell you what, let's put the
H.R. 2 bill on the supplemental. We are not going to do anything with
regard to the supplemental unless you actually give us border security.
It isn't policy anymore because the policy doesn't work unless you have
a lawful, rule of law type of government. We don't. We flat out don't.
This administration is lawless. They are not going to follow the law.
They are not following the law now. They are not following the law on
FISA, which is why we have to reform FISA. They are not following the
law on the border policies and the border laws. This is why we have got
to say we are going to stop funding a government that is lawless and
surveils American citizens and allows us to be overrun.
Did you know that in Portland, Oregon, they had more than 300
fentanyl overdose deaths in the first 3 months of this fiscal year?
They are on track for over 1,200.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Just in Portland?
Mr. BIGGS. Just in Portland. I am telling you that this is a regime
that is okay with dismantling our country. It is time that we stand up
and say no more. No more.
I am happy to talk about any other topic that you want.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. I want to go back to what you were talking
about in the supplemental, actually on the spending, as well as on the
FISA reforms.
This is a town of power and persuasion of leverage. I'm not sure we
effectively know how to use leverage when we have it. We are a town
that does things--a body that only does things when we have to, when
there is a deadline and when there is the pressure.
You talked about relieving the pressure on the FISA reforms because
of
[[Page H6203]]
the approaching deadline, the expiration of the current authorization.
Why would we be so fearful of that expiration to the extent that we are
unwilling to force upon the Senate the reforms that we are trying to
pass out of the Judiciary Committee? The Judiciary Committee voted 35-2
on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis that would pass this body if we
put it on the floor today.
The Senate apparently isn't so worried about the expiration that we
think they will take up our bill and pass it. There we would relieve
the pressure to reform FISA so it doesn't expire.
You can apply that to the debt situation. We did another continuing
resolution where we extended the Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer policies
and spending levels into mid-January and early February with the
promise that we work on passing our remaining five bills.
I am sorry to say and disappointed to acknowledge, we have not had
any demonstrated effort to bring those remaining five bills to the
floor. We don't have the commitment to the top line total programmatic
spending levels. Our commitment to cut spending, no matter how modest,
to cut spending from a year ago. This is something Congress hasn't
done--you know your history better than I do--in how many years, where
they cut the spending year over year.
We relieve the pressure. And then instead of trying to work during
the time that we have to pass these spending bills, we are not doing it
as we approach January 19. I expect this body is going to go home next
week and not report for nearly a month to work on the spending bills
that, in theory, we are supposed to pass before January 19's
expiration, this continuing resolution.
Where is our unified commitment?
We talk a lot about unity here. Unity requires a unified mission, a
unified purpose, and a unified vision to accomplish what?
We could point to so many existential crises created by our friends
on the other side, the Democratic majority when they had control, the
Senate majority, and the White House. I think you might agree, the two
most pressing are the two we mentioned tonight: the border and the
spending.
What, in the words of one of my favorite movies, ``The
Untouchables,'' Sean Connery saying, ``What are you prepared to do?''
What are we prepared to do to force a lawless administration to
secure the border?
What are we prepared to do to deal with the unprecedented level of
spending that is literally crushing us, creating the greatest fiscal
crisis the country has every faced?
What are we prepared to do as a Republican majority to come together
in a unified manner?
Why would we continue to fund our fiscal demise?
Why would we continue to fund an open border?
You know the border issue better than anybody. Some 8 million plus
were helped across this border by this administration and this
President's policies. Helped across.
There would be irreparable harm done if we secured the border today.
There are some 2 million known got-aways. These are the ones who don't
want all the free stuff and don't surrender to Border Patrol under the
policies of this administration for free travel, free housing, free
social services, free education, free--just about everything--benefits
that the American people don't get as citizens.
These are the ones who don't surrender for that because they have
criminal backgrounds and terrorist ties. We find 100 a year, the dumb
terrorists who Border Patrol apprehends. There are 100 a year with
terrorist ties. How many are among the 2 million?
If we sealed the border today, only time will tell on what scale the
American people will suffer catastrophic harm because of this
President's policies--far beyond what we have seen across the ocean
with our friends in Israel. What are we prepared to do?
Mr. BIGGS. What I would tell you is that when you have--let's take
Lukeville, Arizona, a small port of entry. There are people going from
Phoenix and Tucson down to the Sea of Cortez and they are going to go
down to Rocky Point, which is a lovely seaside village. It is a small
town, and people love to go down there. It is closed now. Do you know
why it is closed?
Because so many people, groups of 1,000 illegal aliens, are coming to
that port of entry. There is no way to process them. There is no way to
get them to Ajo or the Three Points Station or the Casa Grande station
because that takes hours. They closed that down.
You can now see sitting there 1,000 individuals. If you look closely,
you won't find a single woman or a child in that 1,000. They are all
men ages 18 to 35 from multitudes of nations.
You say: What are we willing to do?
I am going to offer a humble suggestion.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. I thought you might.
Mr. BIGGS. It is my suggestion and it is this: This administration is
lawless and has no desire to enforce the laws already in place. What I
would say is, how do you incentivize them?
Do you incentivize them by allowing them to keep the FRA spending?
Do you incentivize them when you say, okay, I will tell you what, we
are going to keep your Green New Deal subsidies that you said would not
cost more than $350 billion, which will now cost more than $2 trillion?
Will you do anything if we don't stop funding the things you desire?
The answer is no.
What I would say is, we know that Medicare, Medicaid, Social
Security, and veterans' benefits will continue on. Why not then
identify that we are going to pay for ICE, CBP, the air traffic
controllers, TSA, the military men and women, and then say that is it,
Mr. Biden. That is all we are going to continue funding. That is the
basic minimum to make sure that Americans are safe.
We refuse to do more spending. By the way, we are having to borrow
significant portions of that. We refuse to keep borrowing money and go
in debt so future generations will go bankrupt themselves until you
secure the border with demonstrable and measurable metrics.
I will give you one example. Yuma, Arizona. Yuma has one hospital and
there are about 80,000 people in Yuma. The emergency room on most days
is completely filled with illegal aliens. The local people, people who
are going to have babies. If there is a woman ready to deliver, do you
know where she is going?
She is driving 3 hours up to Phoenix or 3\1/2\ hours over to San
Diego. The people with heart conditions that need procedures on an
emergency basis, same thing, they are getting Air Evac'd up to Phoenix
or San Diego.
Here is the deal. Under the last full year of Donald Trump as the
President, do you know what they had?
They had a total of 8,600 encounters. That is for a year. Do you know
what they are doing in a week now?
About 8,000 a week. That is under this administration.
Do you think it is not a crisis?
Go down there and talk to the planters who have had to literally plow
under fields because these people come across, they go walking through
the fields. These are sensitive fields. Why is that important?
Because more than 90 percent of all green vegetables provided to this
country during the winter months come out of Yuma, Arizona. It is a
hazard to our food supply.
This administration doesn't care if it is a hazard to food supply.
They don't care if you have got 1,200 people going to die of fentanyl
overdose in Portland, Oregon. They just don't care. They are not going
to actually follow the law, so we have got to incentivize them.
If we do not have the courage to incentivize them, then why the hell
did we come to Congress?
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. You cannot overstate the harm being done and
the damage to our country by this border invasion. It is a border
invasion. As we have had hearings on this issue in the Budget Committee
or in the Education and the Workforce Committee, my friends across the
aisle don't like that I call it a border invasion.
Mind you, they don't care about the border invasion. They just don't
like me to call it a border invasion. This is on purpose. This is
intentional. Every resource and every effort directed to the border
over these past 3 years from this administration has been with the
intent to get as many illegals, as quickly as possible and as
successfully as possible, into the country.
[[Page H6204]]
To your point, why would we continue to fund and give billions of
dollars a month--hundreds of billions of dollars a month to a lawless
administration that is perpetrating this kind of harm on the country?
I would submit that never in the history of the country has our own
President done more to intentionally harm the United States than what
is happening with this border.
{time} 2000
I will say it again. Never in the history of the country has our own
President done more to intentionally harm the United States than what
this President has done with the border. Give me an example of
something that comes close.
The American people are counting on us. They gave us the majority a
year ago because we ran on fiscal responsibility. We have not met that
responsibility. We ran on securing the border, yet we continue to
maintain the spending levels and policies with continuing resolutions
and extensions that don't deliver for the American people.
They are trusting us, and they are putting their faith in us to stand
in the gap to be that one barrier to the policies under which they are
suffering and that are destroying the America that we know and love.
I am proud to serve with the gentleman from Arizona and many of my
colleagues here in Congress who are ready to do what needs to be done,
to make the tough choices, to cast the tough votes, and to honor the
trust and faith that the American people placed in us.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to serve with the gentleman
from Virginia (Mr. Good).
Let me say two things. I am more than willing to be here over the
next 5 weeks if it means that we can work to get these things
addressed.
Mr. Speaker, I will tell you one more reason why you should not be
giving up on FISA and why you should not be extending it. It is because
the authorities and warrants issued before April 10 will continue on
into 2025. We will have lost, perhaps even forever, our ability to
reform a program that has been weaponized against the United States of
America and our beloved fellow citizens.
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
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