[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 14, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H626-H633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HOUSE REPUBLICANS' LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS THIS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, tonight, Members will cover a variety 
of topics, as will I. We will cover particularly the Biden 
administration's war on American energy.
  I am going to make a very, very clear point on what is going on with 
the Biden administration's foreign policy. While he limits and 
restricts what American exports can do with respect to liquefied 
natural gas, it makes it harder for our allies to have their energy 
needs met. It forces them to turn to Russia, where Russia can make 
revenue to wage war in Ukraine.
  If every American could actually understand what is going on, the 
U.S. is not allowed to export LNG to our allies overseas, at which 
point Russia can then continue to sell to desperate nations with these 
energy needs. They take that revenue and wage war on Ukraine. We are 
now constantly pushing to be able to spend more U.S. tax dollars to go 
to Ukraine.
  Wouldn't it be more productive to make strong energy policy to limit 
what Russia can do overseas? We would be in a better position to help 
Ukraine, which I am very supportive of. We are going to make this 
point.
  We will talk about the impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro 
Mayorkas, China's poor treatment of the Uyghurs, and President Biden 
being unfit for office.
  Mr. Speaker, as we talk about these important topics and House 
Republicans' legislative efforts this week, I want to take a moment to 
share this story and honor the memory of Tamir Adar.
  Tamir was a 38-year-old father of two who was killed defending his 
home and loved ones from Hamas on the morning of October 7. His body 
was mercilessly abducted to Gaza by terrorists and remains there today.

                              {time}  1845

  Tamir was part of the kibbutz's emergency response squad on the 
morning of October 7. He bravely left his home at 6:30 in the morning, 
while warning his wife and two children to shelter in place. He died 
protecting a neighborhood where he had lived his entire life, ensuring 
that his family would survive.
  I stand here today to demand that Hamas return Tamir's body to Israel 
immediately, along with every single one of the 133 remaining hostages. 
Hamas continues to violate every norm and international humanitarian 
law, subjecting its hostages to horrific conditions without access to 
medical care from the International Red Cross.
  This cannot continue. Israel has proven its willingness to pause the 
fighting for hostages to be returned home. Unsurprisingly, it was Hamas 
who broke the first hostage deal just as it broke a cease-fire that was 
in place before October 7.
  Now it is time for the United States to stand with Israel as it seeks 
to destroy Hamas, free its citizens, and return the bodies of the 
fallen back to where they belong.
  The U.S. must also put pressure on Qatar and other regional partners 
with

[[Page H627]]

ties to Hamas to increase their own leverage on this terrorist group to 
immediately free all those it is holding captive. It is time to bring 
Tamir's body home. My sincerest thoughts and prayers are with his 
family as they mourn his loss.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from the great 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) for the first remarks of the 
evening.
  Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro 
Mayorkas followed a yearlong investigation into his failure to enforce 
the law and keep Americans safe.
  Even as the border crisis has grown worse each month, with more than 
300,000 illegal immigrants entering our Nation in December alone, 
Secretary Mayorkas has done nothing to secure our points of entry.
  These crossings represent a failure of President Biden's catch and 
release program that has allowed illegal immigrants to live in the 
United States for up to a year before even receiving an immigration 
hearing.
  Instead of utilizing the remain in Mexico policies that have proven 
effective, the Biden administration has opened our doors and opened our 
border, effectively making every State a border State and every city a 
border city.
  We cannot afford to wait any longer. It is time to resume 
construction of a border wall. It is time to give Border Patrol agents 
the tools they need. It is time to, once again, secure our southern 
border. This impeachment was a vote for law and order in our 
communities and a vote to restore the rule of law at our southern 
border.
  This vote was the constitutional duty of every Member of Congress to 
impeach a member of the cabinet who has failed to uphold his 
constitutional obligation.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for holding this Special Order 
tonight.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, and I appreciate his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Tennessee (Mr. Burchett).
  Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my brother for allowing me to 
speak tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are not as blind and they are not as 
stupid as this administration and the mainstream media makes them out 
to be.
  Everyone in this world can see that this President is not well. The 
Justice Department recently released the report by Special Counsel 
Robert Hur, and in that report was some very damning notes that were 
made, facts, I guess I should say, that were stated. The President 
wasn't charged in the case of mishandled documents, but they couldn't 
rush to judgment fast enough against President Trump in a similar 
situation, but the report said: ``It would be difficult to convince a 
jury that they should convict him--by then a former President well into 
his 80s--of a serious felony that requires a mental state of 
willfulness.''
  That was the quote. Let me read that again: ``It would be difficult 
to convince a jury that they should convict him--by then a former 
President well into his 80s--of a serious felony that requires a mental 
state of willfulness.''
  This wasn't my friends on Newsmax or OAN or FOX; this was the 
prosecutor, the Special Counsel Robert Hur.
  President Biden's own Justice Department knows that he is not in any 
condition to run this country as do our enemies and our friends abroad. 
The whole world knows that he is not in a condition to run this 
country. I have said for a long time that this would happen.
  I said when everything goes down the drain for him and he is having 
to take the stand, they will use his mental condition as an excuse and 
they will kick this can not down the road, but off a cliff. If he is 
not fit to be prosecuted, Mr. Speaker, he definitely is not fit to be 
the Commander in Chief.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from that same wonderful State 
of Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Vice Chairman Moore for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been 279 days since House Republicans passed H.R. 
2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. Since then, there have been more 
than 1.4 million additional illegal immigrant encounters at our 
southern border. That number doesn't include encounters from January 1 
through today, but we have every reason to believe those numbers will 
be more of the same, more of what we have come to expect month after 
month.
  In fact, December marked 33 straight months in which the total number 
of illegal immigrant encounters surpassed even the highest month under 
President Trump.
  And just a few days ago, we learned encounters for fiscal year 2024 
have already surpassed 1 million which, as everyone in this Chamber 
knows, began on October 1 of last year. That is about 100,000 more than 
Border Patrol experienced during the same period last year.

  House Republicans continue to believe that the White House could act 
today to curb the unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants crossing our 
Nation's borders. President Biden knows there are multiple executive 
actions at his disposal to tackle this issue. He knows because he 
signed more than 90 executive orders in his first 100 days in office 
just on immigration.
  President Biden created the crisis intentionally at the southern 
border. It is the policy of his administration to allow these illegals 
to come into our country.
  We have laws on the books right now that the administration continues 
to usurp or refuse to enforce. The House-passed Secure the Border Act 
of 2023 would put a stop to that. It would force the administration to 
end its unconstitutional, large-scale, catch and release operation. It 
would require construction of the border wall to restart and increase 
the number of Border Patrol agents, and also provide bonus pay.
  H.R. 2 would also strengthen and streamline our existing asylum 
process. And--this one is critical--it would finally put a stop to the 
flagrant abuse of executive immigration authority taking place under 
the Biden administration.
  There have been more than 8.3 million illegal crossings nationwide 
and more than 7 million crossings of our southern border alone since 
President Biden took office. We know also of at least 1.7 million got-
aways, and we know there are tens of thousands of people we don't know 
who are on parole. We don't know where they are, and we have no way of 
tracking their locations.
  The Secure the Border Act of 2023, the House-passed, commonsense 
measure is the strongest border security bill we have seen in a long 
while, and yet it has been sitting on Leader Schumer's desk in the 
Senate for almost 9 months. It deserves serious consideration so that 
we may begin to slow the flow of illegal immigration by forcing 
President Biden and his administration to follow the law and gain 
control of our southern border.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee 
for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin) to 
hopefully talk about what is going on at the border. I think that part 
of the confusion--and I get a lot of this from constituents--is the 
difference between immigration reform and border security. It is 
something that is being lost right now in the dialogue in our country 
about the acute nature of the issue. We have absolute immigration 
reform that both parties need to come together on and figure out a path 
forward. There are many things associated with that. However, 
addressing border security is the acute issue that is allowing fentanyl 
to become ubiquitous in every one of our communities.
  So if you are not talking about the border, I apologize for leading 
you in that direction, but you have been an incredibly sound voice on 
that. I appreciate the guidance that I have had as a Member from Utah 
not dealing with it as closely as you, but that is affecting all of us.
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Utah for yielding. I 
appreciate it.
  Tonight, I am going to talk about the fitness of our President.

[[Page H628]]

  Mr. Speaker, ``a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor 
memory,'' these were the words used by Special Counsel Robert Hur to 
describe Joe Biden, the President of the world's greatest and most 
powerful Nation.
  They are also the justification for why no criminal charges are being 
pursued for Joe Biden's willful mishandling of classified documents.
  Just so that we are clear: The Justice Department is going to let 
Biden off the hook because he is old and now has a bad memory, and yet 
continue its aggressive persecution of Donald J. Trump because he is, 
what, 2 years younger and still mentally with it?
  Most of those in this country will agree with me when I say, as we 
say in Texas: that dog won't hunt. The left screams that no one is 
above the law. I guess they mean no one but Democrat families like the 
Bidens and the Clintons.
  Americans are fed up with the double standard of justice repeatedly 
displayed by our Nation's top law enforcement authority at the 
Department of Justice. We are witnessing blatant, government 
weaponization. It is despicable and must not be tolerated.
  If Joe Biden's mental capacity is too diminished to stand before a 
jury as the opposition has made Donald Trump do numerous times, then he 
is clearly unfit to serve as our Commander in Chief.
  America is a global superpower--the strongest, most capable country 
in world history. Nearly 250 years' worth of blood, sweat, and tears 
were the cost of this historic status, but today, our adversaries are 
watching our leader fail miserably at home and abroad.
  While our enemies are hard at work exploiting this President's 
numerous weaknesses, the entire world is taking note as Biden turns the 
United States into an international laughingstock.
  Mr. Speaker, leadership is everything. As Alexander the Great once 
said: It is not an army of lions led by a sheep that I fear; it is an 
army of sheep led by a lion.
  The American people deserve better from our highest office, and for 
the sake of our Nation's survival, we need a mentally sound President 
that we can rely on.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
his remarks. I appreciate it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), 
my good friend and colleague.

                              {time}  1900

  Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the vice chair of 
our Conference, for his leadership on these important issues.
  Mr. Speaker, Mark Twain once said: Loyalty to the country always. 
Loyalty to the government when it is deserved.
  From Joe Biden's self-induced crisis at our southern border to the 
repeated assault on American energy to foreign policy blunders, this 
administration's policies have been a disaster for our country.
  It seems every decision coming from this White House from a national 
security standpoint and an economic standpoint makes the United States 
weaker and more vulnerable both here and abroad.
  Even the latest LNG export pause is of great concern to our European 
Union allies, who stopped purchasing natural gas from Russia because 
they invaded Ukraine and are now counting on the United States. They 
are rattled by this White House's so-called pause.
  The whole country now knows that we, the United States of America, 
are allowing a record number of potential threats into our country at 
our southern border, including deadly drugs, terrorists, human 
trafficking, and crime.
  On top of the nearly 10 million persons here illegally who have 
crossed the border under Joe Biden's watch, 361 individuals were on the 
terrorist watch list. How many were there under the previous 
administration, under the Trump administration, over a 4-year period? 
Just 11.
  Why has there been a 3,000 percent increase in terrorists crossing 
our border? Is it because our enemies know that this is a good time to 
take advantage of the United States of America? The threats aren't just 
coming from Central or South America or the Middle East for that 
matter. The threats are coming from all over the world.
  Customs and Border Protection says they have encountered illegal 
immigrants from 120 different countries, which is deeply troubling 
given the geopolitical conflicts created around the world in the last 3 
years. Even ``60 Minutes'' expressed concern that 37,000 Chinese 
nationals crossed our border illegally last year, 50 times more than 
the previous 2 years.
  What does the Biden White House propose to solve the crisis? 
Symbolism of a policy, well over substance, really a do-nothing, 
politically motivated bill that fails to include reimplementation of 
the Trump administration's remain in Mexico policy. Per Customs and 
Border Patrol, this is the most crucial piece to solving the border 
catastrophe.
  If we don't require illegal migrants to claim asylum in the first 
safe country they enter, we will simply never solve this crisis. This 
is why we are not favorable to the Senate bill, because they will just 
keep on coming illegally.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to say, the Biden administration really 
doesn't seem to care about protecting the interests of the United 
States. They made that clear by failing to enforce the laws that exist, 
which the Trump White House used to secure the border.
  From an economic standpoint, the Biden White House made a surprising 
and inexplicable decision to pause American LNG exports. This misguided 
policy failure will only drive our allies, as stated, into the arms of 
our adversaries, supporting Russia's economy.
  This White House can be counted on for one thing, and that is to 
blame others for the crises they create. Harry Truman was known for his 
saying, which sat atop his desk: The buck stops here. The name placard 
sitting in this Oval Office should be: Pass the buck. That is why 
Republicans have taken decisive action to hold the Biden administration 
accountable.
  We impeached Secretary Mayorkas just yesterday for his failure to 
enforce our border laws and for the blatant dereliction of duty and 
violation of his oath of office that has created grave dangers for our 
country. Tomorrow, we will pass the Unlocking our Domestic LNG 
Potential Act to repeal the ill-conceived, ideologically guided 
restrictions on the export and import of natural gas.
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans will continue to fight for American energy, 
American national security, the American economy, and the American 
people because this administration simply will not.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for his remarks. I saw an interview this 
weekend with Secretary Mayorkas. He basically made an admission that 
the remain in Mexico policy is effective.
  Many on the left will say it is an effective way to control our 
border. It doesn't feel like there is debate on that. What Secretary 
Mayorkas said was, well, it could be challenged in the courts. However, 
every single executive action can be challenged in the courts. That is, 
unfortunately, where we are in our Nation right now, in this ping-
ponging situation from one administration to the other.
  Yes, the remain in Mexico policy may be challenged in a court 
situation. Somebody could run a lawsuit against this. It could find its 
way to various levels within our judicial system. The policy works, 
though. We saw that. We have evidence of that from the Trump and Pence 
administration on working with Mexico in a partnership to limit the 
amount of cartel activity that exists, that is killing people, 
trafficking people, and creating a fentanyl crisis in every single 
community in this country. Yes, it might actually be challenged in the 
courts, but implement it. We know that it works, and we will work 
through it.
  If there were leadership, Democrats would admit that it has been 
effective. Well, take the leadership to tell Congress we should pass 
this into law. If you don't like every aspect of H.R. 2, there is one 
really important aspect of H.R. 2 that, if we could agree on, we could 
pass legislatively, which you keep calling for.
  Even Secretary Mayorkas says Congress needs to fix the problem. Well, 
encourage Democrats to vote in favor of the remain in Mexico policy. We 
have data to show that it works.

  This is what is the frustration. What we can do to fix most of the 
acute

[[Page H629]]

issues at our border is right in front of us. It is beyond me that we 
can't look at a good policy, take data, and be able to reimplement it.
  We will continue to sound the alarm on this and call out the nature 
of why the Biden administration is so inept at doing this.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy), 
my good friend. I assume that he will highlight some of this as he 
gives his remarks.
  Mr. LANGWORTHY. Mr. Speaker, President Biden is the first President 
in history to flat-out refuse to take a cognitive health test. Given 
all of his memory issues frequently and clearly displayed in his public 
remarks, the least that he could do is prove to the American people 
that he is fit to serve as the leader of the free world and take a 
cognitive health and acuity test as part of his annual physical.
  Let me give you a few examples of the President's recent memory 
issues.
  On February 8, President Biden publicly confused the President of 
Egypt with the President of Mexico when he was discussing Israel aid in 
a press conference in a very embarrassing moment.
  At a recent public event, he recalled talking to the President of 
France, Francois Mitterrand, at a G7 meeting in 2021. The only problem, 
Mitterrand died in 1996.
  A week ago, as President Biden was urging Congress to pass foreign 
aid, he appeared to forget the name of the terror group Hamas. They 
were responsible for the egregious murders and terrorist rampage of the 
October 7 attack on one of our greatest allies in the world, Israel.
  Similarly, in June 2023, President Biden said that President Putin 
was ``clearly losing the war in Iraq'' instead of Ukraine. Clearly, the 
President was stuck in his time in the Senate.
  These are scary mixed signals that you send around the world when 
those clips go viral.
  In one of the most painful examples, while giving remarks at the 
White House, he publicly asked if the late Congresswoman Jackie 
Walorski was in attendance only a month after she was tragically killed 
in a car wreck.
  The DOJ has issued a damning report based on their interview with 
President Biden, saying that he presented a ``sympathetic, well-
meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,'' who did not remember when he 
was Vice President or when his son Beau died.
  I could sit here all night and list example after example of the 
President's mental decline that has been on display for the American 
people, but I am not going to do that to my colleagues.
  It is simple. The President of the United States must be able to 
portray strength on the world stage. He must be able to lead our Nation 
through whatever challenges the future holds.
  I am discouraged by what I have seen from the President recently and, 
honestly, sad that his handlers have convinced him that he should run 
for another 4-year term. We know that President Biden is not the one 
steering the ship in the White House right now.
  This is not about personal attacks or political agendas. It is about 
the integrity of our democracy and the stability and strength of our 
Nation. We owe it to the American people to ensure that their leader is 
capable of fulfilling the duties of the office with competence and the 
utmost clarity.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of the 
gentleman from New York. I have seen the passion he has demonstrated 
for his constituents in numerous ways.
  I now yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self). I appreciate his 
willingness to share his remarks.
  Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on a very heavy subject. 
I have images of a very disturbing and graphic nature here with me 
showing the violent, horrific reality of abortion. This should shock 
every American.
  What would you do if you found the dead bodies of five babies inside 
a cardboard box? Would you call the police? Would you throw the box 
out? Would you let it be taken away to a medical waste incinerator and 
forget you ever found it?
  This is not a hypothetical. This is exactly what happened right here 
in this city just 3 miles from this House Chamber. On March 25, 2022, 
Laurel Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac found these children in a box 
labeled ``medical waste'' outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion 
facility.
  They suspected it contained human remains, and the medical waste 
services truck driver agreed to give it to them for a proper burial. 
What they found inside scarred them: the bodies of five late-term 
aborted children. Experts attest that these babies were between 26 and 
32 weeks of development when they were aborted. They had lungs, beating 
hearts, fully formed fingers and toes, eyelids that would open and 
close. These children could feel pain.
  As these images show, their bodies were disfigured, crushed, 
chemically burned. One baby girl bore wounds, a deep laceration to the 
back of her neck that likely indicates an illegal partial birth 
abortion.
  Another baby girl had the marks of a D&E abortion, dilation and 
evacuation in which the abortionist dismembers the baby limb by limb 
and crushes its skull to remove it from the womb.
  This occurred nearly 2 years ago. Yet, shamefully, neither the 
Department of Justice nor the D.C. Metropolitan Police nor the D.C. 
Medical Examiner did anything. No autopsies were done. No 
investigations were opened. The entire case of the D.C. five was swept 
under the rug.
  Something is very sick in our society. When a baby at 30 weeks in 
utero is wanted, a doctor will do anything to save its life. However, 
when a baby is unwanted, the abortionist takes its life.
  When a mother miscarries, we mourn with her for the loss of her 
unborn child, but when she gets an abortion, we are told there is 
nothing to mourn, nothing to see. These aren't human beings. These 
aren't real babies. They are only medical waste. Move along. Don't be 
bothered. Don't open the cardboard box.
  Lauren and Terrisa opened the box. They recognized the dignity and 
inherent value of all human life, even babies still in the womb.
  Five days after discovering the box, Lauren was arrested on charges 
of protesting outside an abortion clinic. Today, she is still detained 
and could face 11 years in prison.

                              {time}  1915

  What has gone wrong in our country, that a woman who found these 
babies is imprisoned while the man who killed them, the notorious late-
term abortionist, Dr. Santangelo, goes free?
  The District of Columbia allows abortion up to and including the 
moment of birth. In other words, in this city, a baby's right to life 
depends on which side of the birth canal it is on.
  Location, mere geography, is the difference between legal abortion 
and murder. One pro-abortion surgeon became pro-life the instant he 
witnessed the abortion of a 19-week-old baby. He wrote: ``And it has 
happened that you cannot reason with me now. For what can language do 
against the truth of what I saw?''
  These are second- and third-trimester babies. What can any pro-
abortion argument say against these images?
  The D.C. 5 were children, human beings with distinct DNA, weeks from 
birth, before their lives were brutally and barbarically snuffed out.
  The DOJ must immediately investigate the likely violation of the 
partial birth abortion ban. I demand the D.C. medical examiner allow an 
autopsy, and I stand with my House colleagues in calling for Congress 
to investigate. Justice for the D.C. 5 demands no less.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
his remarks.
  I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman). I thank him 
for his willingness to share his thoughts. I appreciate it.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to address something that 
happened in this Chamber earlier this week, something that we haven't 
done or seen in over a century in this country, and that is the 
impeachment of a Cabinet member.
  Impeached was Secretary Mayorkas, Homeland Security, for ignoring his 
duties, and by ignoring his duties, creating a situation which I think 
is the biggest crisis in this country in my lifetime.
  That, of course, concerns his inability to address the huge problems 
at the

[[Page H630]]

border. I will remind the American public that only 4 years ago during 
the final year of the prior administration, the number of people being 
let in this country at the southern border bounced back and forth 
between about 6,000 and 25,000.
  A good estimate of the number of people who came here in the last 
month is 37,000, so it has gone up by a factor of about 18 to 1.
  Not only have this many people crossed the border--think about that. 
I guessed 37,000. In addition to this many people crossing the border--
because around the world, it is known the United States is not 
enforcing our border--we have people dying in the Pacific Ocean trying 
to get around the wall over there. We have people dehydrating in the 
Arizona desert. We have people drowning in the Rio Grande, all horrific 
instances in and of themselves, because of the inability to address 
people coming across our border.
  I have been told by law enforcement that the price of fentanyl in 
this country is as low as it has ever been--it is a matter of the law 
of supply and demand.
  We have 108,000 Americans dying of illegal drug overdoses every year, 
twice as many people as died in 12 years in Vietnam.
  We have, through our negligence, created wildly wealthy drug cartels, 
wealthier than ever. I have been at the border at least eight times, 
and every time I hear the Border Patrol is under the impression that 
the Mexican cartels--which are currently corrupting the Mexican 
Government--are making more money allowing people across the border 
than they even are selling drugs. A complete disaster.
  Along with this 300,000-plus people who are let in every month are 
8,000 to 10,000 unaccompanied minors. There was a time when people in 
this body used to care a little bit about breaking up families, but 
that is 8,000 to 10,000 unaccompanied minors.
  There was a time where we checked DNA tests to see whether these 
minors were related in any way to perhaps aunts or uncles who claim 
they were related. We stopped that policy.
  The New York Times said that at one time--I think this number is a 
little bit high, but they had lost 83,000 unaccompanied minors in this 
country.
  I personally think it is more like 50,000 or 60,000, but in any 
event, can you imagine losing track of 50,000 or 60,000 unaccompanied 
minors?
  As a result of the negligence taking place at the border, we have all 
of these disasters, and I would argue it is creating a situation in 
which I think in the final year, well over 2 million new people were 
let in the United States, some of which are suspected terrorists from 
all over the world.
  It will take the United States perhaps decades to recover. Again, 
there are so many of them, we are incapable of doing a background 
check.
  We are capable of doing a background check on crimes committed in the 
United States and crimes committed in Canada, but that is about it.
  You hear anecdotal evidence of crimes, including sexual assault being 
committed by people, when you talk to local district attorneys.
  Again, the Biden administration doesn't care. I think the reason the 
Biden administration doesn't care and the reason Secretary Mayorkas 
doesn't care--when they could so easily go back to a stay in Mexico 
policy or wait in Mexico policy pending an asylum hearing--is because 
they want to change America.
  President Obama said he wanted to fundamentally change America, and 
that is what you are going to get when you have people from all around 
the globe coming here.
  We want to point out that this is hardly the time in which it is 
necessary or cruel to turn people around. In the last 4 years, we have 
had more people sworn in as legal new citizens than any 4-year period 
in the last 100 years, at least, so it is not like we are being mean or 
overly strident.
  People are coming here all the time and finding ways to become 
citizens completely legally. The only reason for allowing this deluge 
of people in here is if you do want to fundamentally change America, 
invite people who do not understand the background of freedom and of 
limited government that is necessary of our new citizens to keep the 
Republic which our forefathers gave us.

  In any event, I thank this body for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas. I 
urge the Senate to take up that impeachment because it is mandatory 
that the people of this body--and by this body, I mean both the House 
and Senate--do whatever we can to send the message that ignoring the 
crisis at our border can no longer be tolerated.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin 
for his comments. I appreciate his focus on this very, very important 
issue.
  I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), my good 
friend and colleague.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Moore of Utah for leading us 
once again at this important time to get the message out in front of 
the American people that wish to pay attention.
  Just following up a little bit on what Mr. Grothman was talking about 
on the border and the horrific illegal immigration and how many are 
coming into this country is just overwhelming.
  I had an experience last week in Tucson, myself and Mr. Tom Tiffany 
from Wisconsin. We both, after a border tour, attempted to stop in at 
an illegal--well, they call them migrants. That is a euphemism. They 
say we are migrants. It drives me crazy listening to that--an intake 
area that had been a Ramada Hotel there run under the guise of a group 
called Casa Alitas.
  It is run not with a whole lot of daylight on how they operate there. 
Again, we have many NGOs, nongovernment organizations, that are making 
a lot of money that are incentivized to move a lot of illegal 
immigrants into this country and place them where have you.
  They have busloads going here and there and everywhere and plane 
rides. My understanding is there have been approximately 5,000 plane 
rides, with planes full, since the start of the Biden administration, 
moving people around the country.
  We attempted to meet with people there and see. It was quiet. They 
weren't intaking anybody at the time, and they would not see us. They 
would not see us, even though we had our IDs.
  Two Members of the U.S. House of Representatives wanted to sit down 
with somebody and see what they are doing and have them at least give 
us a few minutes, an overview.
  They refused to do that. They basically kept us outside in the 
parking lot and called the sheriff's office in case we decided to try 
and go knock on the door and talk to somebody in charge.
  It was amazing that the people that are in charge of the U.S. House, 
those that are elected to make taxpayer expenditures, taxpayer 
appropriations, were shut out of being able to ask questions about how 
the tax dollars are being used on the intake of these illegal 
immigrants in Tucson. Folks, obviously we have a giant problem. The 
numbers are horrendous.
  Mr. Grothman was talking about the fentanyl. What is interesting 
about that, there is so much fentanyl coming into this country and it 
is so negatively affecting and taking lives so much is coming in.
  He talked about the market price; the price is so low. The price of 
actually buying it is really low now because there is so much of it.
  Price and demand. When a high volume comes in, they have to cut their 
prices. It is such a high volume now, the price of it is getting dirt 
cheap, they are saying.
  It is just another example of the Biden administration working 
against the people and working against American values.
  There is no reason it needs to be this way. They say: Oh, you guys, 
the Republicans, aren't passing a law in Congress. No bills.
  Biden has the tools. He could do eight executive orders that are 
perfectly legal, perfectly constitutional.
  There is the remain in Mexico policy and several others he could do 
without us even passing a bill. There are plenty of laws to already 
enforce that that they are not doing.
  Yes, we added H.R. 2 to that to help define better asylum because 
asylum is being abused and other good aspects, beefing up the personnel 
at the border, finishing the fence.
  They don't want to do any of that. That is all double talk. That is a 
bit of my experience at the border just the other day.

[[Page H631]]

  Another thing that President Biden has done that has caused 
unnecessary harm to our country is our energy policy or lack of.
  The core of so many of our problems with the cost of inflation and 
hiked prices of everything starts with the cost of energy.

  Whether it is electricity that is generated--and they are tearing out 
hydroelectric dams in my district--as green renewable power, 
electricity generated by nuclear power. We need to do a lot more on 
that.
  For years and years, that has been held down by permitting and the 
inability for government to move on that.
  Also, natural gas is a very important component for heating homes as 
well as operating electricity generation.
  Biden has stepped forward to make it almost impossible to explore for 
oil and gas in this country, and there was also a recent decision to 
slash all pending and future liquefied natural gas export permits.
  This is important because we were exporting this to Europe, for 
example, to Germany or others. Instead of them relying on Russian gas 
coming in in that big pipeline, we could be helping because we have 
such an abundance.
  The Biden administration has another wrongheaded approach on energy, 
harming Americans and harming our allies around the world.
  He systematically destroyed key energy initiatives, canceling the 
Keystone pipeline, shutting down already authorized oil and gas 
programs in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a really tiny part of 
a 1.3 million acre refuge in Alaska. It has been approved. They are 
shutting it down.
  The high prices of everything start with the cost of energy. 
Americans suffer from the high price of food, transportation, and 
everything else because energy costs way more than it needs to.
  We lay that at President Biden's feet. We have the ability to be 
energy independent like we were under President Trump, an energy 
exporter helping our allies. Yet, what we have is a ban on being an 
exporter and a ban on new exploration to make us energy independent.

                              {time}  1930

  The Biden administration is way out of whack on this, and we need to 
do something. The American people need to let them hear about it. The 
American people need to make themselves heard on that as we try here in 
this time here in Congress with speeches like this tonight to do so.
  I appreciate the time, and I appreciate Mr. Moore leading us on this 
Special Order to talk about these important topics of energy 
independence and controlling our border--two of the most important 
components to a more orderly society in this country.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman from 
California. Horrible energy policy, horrible immigration and border 
policy, mental incompetency--these are all great Valentine's messages 
today.
  Thank you to many of my colleagues for their willingness to come and 
share their thoughts and talk about these important issues.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), a 
distinguished gentleman and very good friend and colleague. It is hard 
to pick your favorite member of the Arkansas delegation, so I won't do 
that now, but he would be in my top four.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding. 
Just for those two people that are listening at home, there are only 
four members of the Arkansas delegation, so that was an easy comment 
from my good friend.
  I thank my friend from Utah, who is doing an outstanding job helping 
lead our Conference and lead our Conference's messaging on this House 
floor and in our home districts as we draw a distinction between what 
House Republicans would be doing if we were able to be guiding the 
executive branch or have both Houses here in Congress, and the failures 
of the Biden administration.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to address a couple of issues I think that are 
key that are confronting the American people and that we are touching 
on this week in the House.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States went from importing liquefied natural 
gas just 15 years ago to now being the world's largest exporter. That 
is a powerful testament to America's technological advances and our 
ability to harness this clean, abundant, affordable source of baseload 
power for our own use and for the ability to export it.
  President Biden's recent decision to halt the export of American 
liquefied natural gas is not in the interest of the American worker, 
the American economy, our allies' national security, or the globe's 
goal of a clean energy transition.
  This is just another one of President Joe Biden's poor decisions in a 
long line of other failed energy policies since he took office in 
January 2021: As noted by my good friend from California shutting down 
on day one the Keystone XL pipeline, denying new permits, discouraging 
new drilling, discouraging new pipelines, and coercing banks and 
securities firms across this country to discourage badly needed loans 
and capital investments in the energy industry by way of environmental 
social governance, so-called ESG policies.
  These reckless decisions have weakened our global leadership and 
weakened America's energy independence. While President Biden's nanny 
state regulators consider going full California on the whole Nation by 
banning your gas stove, Republicans support an all-of-the-above 
approach to our energy needs and our long-term energy transition.
  Republicans believe that we need to tap into American's abundance of 
natural resources that are crucial to enhancing our own energy security 
and our own energy independence.
  The United States stands ready to export more LNG to Europe, but 
pipelines and other needed infrastructure are not adequate in this 
country in order to advance more assistance in the short term. In my 
view, Mr. Speaker, upstream and downstream infrastructure investments 
in natural gas are not stranded assets, which is typically the argument 
made by the opposition.
  According to a recent U.S. Energy Information Administration, 
International Energy Outlook, by 2050, global energy use will increase 
nearly 50 percent compared to today. Now, let that sink in--50 percent 
greater than today in just 25 years.
  Although the primary energy consumption sources for renewables is 
expected to grow from 15 percent today to 27 percent by 2050, still 83 
percent of consumption will need to come from coal, oil, natural gas, 
and nuclear.
  Clearly, based on global power demands and despite new renewable 
sources, this globe, this Nation, needs decades of liquefied natural 
gas access and natural gas in our reserves.
  We need to invest and create that infrastructure leading to our own 
development and crucial export development, which will, if we export, 
add $73 billion it is estimated to our U.S. economy over the next 15 
years, bolstering energy trade, stimulating domestic production while 
assisting friends and allies abroad.
  Increasing U.S. liquefied natural gas exports will benefit our 
allies, as I note, in Europe and in Asia by adding the U.S. as a 
reliable source of energy on the global market and offsetting the risk 
that is being dominated by one supplier--like in the case of Germany 
being completely dependent on natural gas from Russia at the time of 
Russia's invasion to Ukraine--or countries being caught in a supply 
crisis due to war in the Persian Gulf or a war or shipping challenges 
in the Red Sea.
  Just last year, Mr. Speaker, about 13 percent of Europe's natural gas 
went through the Red Sea. That has now been impacted by the Houthis in 
Yemen attacking shipping of all flag vessels trying to go up the Red 
Sea through the Suez Canal to service Europe.
  We have natural gas fields across our Nation in Pennsylvania and New 
York that rival and may even be more abundant than those in the Middle 
East.
  Yet, we will never see, in my view, Mr. Speaker, a pipeline--a new 
pipeline--built from Pennsylvania over to the East Coast ports under 
this administration or under future Democratic leadership. I don't 
think we will see new jobs or development of New York's massive, 
abundant natural gas in the Marcellus shale under Democratic Governors.

[[Page H632]]

  Again, these kinds of policy officials and Biden officials have 
doubled down, tripled down, on policies that not only raise costs for 
everyday American families but do nothing in the long run to impact the 
climate.
  Likewise, to aid American technology exports, the Biden 
administration should work to ensure that international financial 
institutions like the World Bank or the European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development will finance natural gas projects and 
nuclear power as a part of the energy transition.
  Right now they are very reluctant to do that. In the case of the 
EBRD, they will not finance nuclear.
  Now, think about that. They certainly won't finance natural gas.
  The EBRD has been insisting on financing renewable green energy 
projects only to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, yet 
ignores an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
  International financial institutions like the EBRD should finance 
beyond nuclear and include sources of energy like liquefied natural gas 
to improve access and diversification, particularly in Europe, their 
energy backbone, their energy sources. It is in their best interest to 
do that.
  Energy policy is a long-term investment in the needs of the globe's 
future both at home and abroad, and as more and more countries grow and 
develop and their people become wealthier and their incomes rise, their 
energy consumption will increase, as well.
  We cannot wait and have nothing to offer and certainly cannot impose 
the Biden administration's energy policies on the world and expect a 
good outcome or rising wages or incomes.
  We should be investing in all of our energy options like oil, 
nuclear, renewables, and natural gas--not hurting our ability to export 
and remain energy dominant worldwide but to benefit the entire economy 
of the globe.
  President Biden's mistakes and failed policies today will lead us to 
not having the energy capacity that we need for tomorrow, and he will 
be making the transition to a clean energy future even harder and more 
costly for our families.
  Mr. Speaker, this week the Senate completed work on funding for 
military assistance for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, all critical 
partner countries to the United States, each a Nation where we have a 
national security interest in seeing their security needs met, 
benefiting our economy, benefiting our jobs, benefiting our global 
reach across the globe. As Americans, it should feel very natural to us 
that we partner with other nations to help a nation fight for freedom.
  Why? Well, Mr. Speaker, as Americans, we are all versed in our own 
founding, our own struggles with the American Revolution. We recall the 
lack of food, the lack of pay, the lack of socks and shoes, the misery 
of the winter at Valley Forge. Every school child in this Nation knows 
about Washington on his knees at Valley Forge.
  What we must remember is that we did not win our independence alone.
  From 1775 to 1781, the United States would not have seen victory at 
Yorktown ending the American Revolution in victory were it not for 
allied nations making a bet on the grit and the tenacity of colonial 
Americans taking on the world's largest Navy and the world's largest 
Army.
  France, the bankers in Amsterdam, the Spanish, all opposed Great 
Britain's empire and backed General Washington's struggling rag-tag 
Army.
  Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of the muskets and uniforms worn by the 
colonial Army were supplied by France. The French and the Dutch 
supplied loans and cash, the Spanish supplied gunpowder, and the French 
Navy were critical to our victory.
  Without this help of the other nations, we would not have had the 
resources to win the American Revolution or become an independent, 
democratic, dynamic country 250 years later.
  As Americans, we understand that sense of partnership that it takes 
when you are fighting for freedom. This week, once again, I traveled 
across the Atlantic to meet with President Zelenskyy in Ukraine joining 
a codel led by  Mike Turner, the chairman of our Intelligence 
Committee, to assess what is Europe doing? What is Ukraine's strategy? 
How are American investments audited and protected and transparent? 
What are our options there to make sure that Putin is not successful in 
Ukraine?
  Instead of reading something on the internet, Mr. Speaker, let's go 
investigate it for ourselves. Let's look Zelenskyy and his generals in 
the eye. Let's look at American advisers in Germany and in Poland in 
the eye and ask them: Should Putin be allowed to win in Ukraine? The 
answer, Mr. Speaker, is clearly no.
  Along with dozens of allied nations, the United States should 
continue to back the freedom fighting, freedom loving Ukrainians to 
ensure that Vladimir Putin knows he is not going to stay in Ukraine. 
Let me be clear, he will be denied that opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, in polling, the American people are clear. They do not 
want Putin victorious in Ukraine. It is bad for Europe, the sovereignty 
of Ukraine, and for the world.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Utah has 20 seconds 
remaining.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill).
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: We need to complete our work 
effectively on this House and find that sense of partnership that we 
find the right funding, the right balance of auditing and talent 
necessary to back the Ukrainians' success in defeating Putin.
  Mr. Speaker, the innocent people of Ukraine have been under 
unprovoked attack for over two years, their lives upended by the 
vengeance of a megalomaniac illegally invading and attempting to 
overthrow a sovereign neighbor.
  This war commenced in 2014 in the Donbas and Crimea and exploded into 
a full invasion on February 24, 2022.
  American military aid to Ukraine is running out and Ukrainians 
battling on the frontlines to defend their homeland are running out of 
ammunition and other crucial military supplies.
  They are losing the ability to defend themselves and win this war 
that they have so valiantly fought for 24 months--and politically and 
emotionally for a painful decade.
  To my colleagues in Congress, it is essential that we pass further 
aid to Ukraine.
  Time is running out.
  And when the war ends, and Ukraine hails victory, Putin must bear the 
responsibility for the death and destruction he has caused in their 
sovereign nation.
  He must bear responsibility of paying for Ukraine's reconstruction.
  Alongside my friend and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike 
McCaul, we passed our REPO bill out of committee, which would seize 
Russian sovereign assets for the sole purpose of Ukraine's eventual 
reconstruction.
  Similar legislation has successfully been passed by the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee.
  Considering most Russian sovereign assets are located outside of the 
United States, it is critical that our allies around the world draft 
and pass companion legislation.
  In January, European Union (EU) members unanimously agreed to set 
aside frozen Russian central bank assets in Europe, taking the first 
step to benefit Ukraine and its reconstruction from Russia's 
destruction.
  This is a strong signal from our European allies that we are one step 
closer to seeing crucial draft legislation.
  Although the EU has taken a step in the right direction, their action 
needs to go further. In my view, the ideal proposed draft legislation 
needs to encompass all Russian assets, not just liquid central bank 
accounts.
  In the meantime, the United States and our allies need to continue to 
press Putin with further sanctions to deter his aggression.
  We also need to ensure Ukraine remains an open economy.
  Despite the damages caused by the war, over the past two years, 
Ukraine's economy is hanging in there.
  Ukraine's battlefield victories in 2023 include pushing the Russian 
Navy to rear, freeing the western Black Sea, reopening it to Ukrainian 
exports of grain, iron, and fertilizer.
  Although Russia's invasion drove Ukraine's GDP down in 2022, their 
economy is reported to have grown by roughly 3 to 4 percent, in 2023.
  More economic recovery and more exports mean Ukraine is generating 
revenue to support itself and its needs.
  Given the nation's current state in the face of devastation and in 
the wake of Putin's madness, this is remarkable.
  As Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain producers, it's key 
that they continue to maintain an open, thriving economy.

[[Page H633]]

  In sum, it's simple: the U.S., Europe and global partners need to 
continue to support Ukraine with financial, military, and humanitarian 
assistance; hold Putin responsible for paying for the damages he has 
caused in this sovereign nation; and discourage him with further and 
more aggressive sanctions, including secondary sanctions on all nations 
that help fuel his terror.
  For if Russia wins, it opens the door for other foreign adversaries 
like China to follow in their pursuit of taking over Taiwan, 
jumpstarting a global war.
  If Russia wins, it threatens the 75 years of peace and prosperity in 
Europe, and risks dragging the United States into a war like we have 
never witnessed.
  We can defeat Russia in Ukraine, if we see their struggle for freedom 
in the same way we fought for ours nearly 250 years ago.
  Failure in Ukraine is not an option.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________