[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 17 (Tuesday, January 30, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H275-H276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               INFLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, since President Biden took 
office, inflation has risen by over 17.2 percent. The spike in prices 
from the gas pump to the grocery store has forced Americans to spend, 
additionally, $11,000 a year just to afford basic goods.
  A family can't afford repair bills that have increased due to 
inflation, young people cannot save money to buy a home when the price 
of rent has increased by 18 percent, and seniors can't afford their 
medications when food prices have risen by 20 percent in just 3 years.
  This inflation is a tax on each and every American, and it is caused 
by the runaway spending of President Joe Biden's budget. American 
families cannot afford to carry on with business as usual. Our country 
cannot afford for inflation to outpace wages year after year while 
American families pay the price, and the Biden administration promotes 
continued reckless spending.
  At a time when Americans are already paying high heating prices, 
President Biden canceled the sale of liquefied natural gas, cutting 
jobs here at home, and raising the cost to heat our homes.

  It is time to address the inflation caused by Joe Biden's 3-year 
spending spree. It is time now to return to fiscal responsibility.
  It is time to stop growing our deficit and borrowing money from China 
to subsidize far-left energy programs.
  Americans are counting on us to counter this out-of-control 
inflation,

[[Page H276]]

and it is time that the President puts what is good for our country 
ahead of what would benefit him politically.


                          Resecure Our Border

  Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this past week, we learned 
that the Biden administration's open border policies have allowed an 
Al-Shabaab terrorist to live freely in the United States for almost a 
year.
  By promoting catch and release policies that allowed this to occur, 
President Biden has shown that he is uninterested in keeping American 
communities safe.
  Ending the remain in Mexico policy, reinstating catch and release, 
and halting the construction of our border wall have led to a record 
surge of illegal immigrants and a surge of illegal drugs pouring into 
our Nation, including deadly fentanyl.
  On Wednesday, December 7, 2022, Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez was 
killed in the line of duty just outside of Mission, Texas, while 
pursuing a group of illegal immigrants. This week, it is critical that 
we pass the Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act to protect our border 
communities by criminalizing fleeing from agents or officers during a 
high-speed chase.
  Americans deserve a border that is secure and a Nation that is safe. 
President Biden needs to immediately take action to resecure our border 
and stop the flow of deadly drugs and illegal immigrants into these 
great United States.

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