Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)

[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1106-H1114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 6276, UTILIZING SPACE EFFICIENTLY
AND IMPROVING TECHNOLOGIES ACT OF 2023, AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION
OF H. RES. 1065, DENOUNCING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S IMMIGRATION
POLICIES

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I
call up House Resolution 1071 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

H. Res. 1071

Resolved, That at any time after adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule
XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the bill (H.R. 6276) to direct the Administrator of General
Services and the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget to identify the utilization rate of certain public
buildings and federally-leased space, and for other purposes.
The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All
points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not
exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair
and ranking minority member of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure or their respective
designees. After general debate the bill shall be considered
for amendment under the five-minute rule. The amendment in
the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure now printed in the bill
shall be considered as adopted in the House and in the
Committee of the Whole. The bill, as amended, shall be
considered as read. All points of order against provisions in
the bill, as amended, are waived. No further amendment to the
bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in
the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this
resolution. Each such further amendment may be offered only
in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a
Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read,
shall be debatable for the time specified in the report
equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an
opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be
subject to a demand for division of the question in the House
or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against
such further amendments are waived. At the conclusion of
consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall
rise and report the bill, as amended, to the House with such
further amendments as may have been adopted. The previous
question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as
amended, and on any further amendment thereto to final
passage without intervening motion except one motion to
recommit.
Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in
order without intervention of any point of order to consider
in the House the resolution (H. Res. 1065) denouncing the
Biden administration's immigration policies. The resolution
shall be considered as read. The previous question shall be
considered as ordered on the resolution and preamble to
adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of
the question except one hour of debate equally divided and
controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Kentucky is recognized
for 1 hour.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the
purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, the committee granted by a recorded vote of
9-3 a rule providing for consideration of H.R. 6276, the Utilizing
Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023, and H. Res.
1065, Denouncing the Biden Administration's Immigration Policies.
The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 6276, the Utilizing Space
Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023, under a structured
rule.
The rule further provides for consideration of H. Res. 1065,
Denouncing the Biden Administration's Immigration Policies, under a
closed rule.
The rule provides that upon adoption of the resolution, it shall be
in order, without intervention of any point of order, to consider H.
Res. 1065.
Finally, the rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided
and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for
yielding me the customary half hour, and I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, another week, another round of trivial messaging bills.
That is all this Republican majority can do. It has been one pointless
messaging bill after another that will never, ever become law. In fact,
we haven't passed a single bill out of the Rules Committee that has
become law in 9 months--9 months.
First, let's talk about H.R. 6276, a bill that is supposed to help
measure and evaluate Federal building utilization. This bill seems to
do with the Republican belief that working from home is always bad no
matter what.
Don't get me wrong. I hate Teams meetings, and I hate Zoom calls as
much as everyone else, but can Republicans please acknowledge that it
is 2024, and people can work from home?
Basically, this bill says that if a Federal employee works from home
1 day a week, they are no longer counted as being in the office. Ignore
the 4 days a week that they are in the office. If they work from home
once, then they are not in the office. Oh, and by the way, we are going
to get rid of their desks because they worked from home once. Come on.
It is just a silly solution.
This bill fails to capture even the fundamental nature of some of our
most vital jobs in the Federal workforce. For example, Mr. Speaker, if
you are a food inspector who spends 4 days a week ensuring that our
food supply is safe and secure, this bill would not count them for
occupancy, which could eventually lead to eliminating their office
space. Or if you are a Federal firefighter protecting the lives and
property of countless Americans week after week after week but not
sitting at a desk for 40 hours, then this bill would say: No, you won't
be counted, and you won't need to have a desk.
Now, if we want our Federal workforce to be the best in the world,
then we need to compete. We need to give people the flexibility to work
from home, just like other employers do in the private sector, which is
something that this bill discourages. For those reasons, I believe it
is a bad bill, and I will be voting ``no.''
Mr. Speaker, next we have H. Res. 1065. The actual resolution calls
on the President to detain and remove specific individuals from the
United States.
I have news for you, Mr. Speaker. Republicans are in charge of this
body. They are barely in charge, but they are in charge, nonetheless.
They don't have to call on the President to do anything. This isn't a
debate club for God's sake. Pass a bill and change the damn policy if
you don't like it, Mr. Speaker.
Oh, wait. Republicans don't want to do anything about immigration or
the border. They just want to complain and talk about their feelings.
Let me talk to my friends as if I am talking to one of the sixth-
grade classes from my district that comes down and tours Washington
every year:
If you want a bill to become a law, then you have to pass a bill.
There is a difference between a bill, which starts with the
abbreviation H.R., and a resolution, which starts with the abbreviation
H. Res. I will spell it out for you. That is H, period; R-E-S, period.

[[Page H1107]]

Now, some people think H.R. stands for House resolution. It actually
stands for House of Representatives, and H. Res. stands for House
resolution. Be that as it may, let's move on because I only have 30
minutes.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to legislate, and we do
that by passing bills. Bills can change policy. Bills can change taxes,
fund programs, and regulate interstate commerce. Hell, bills can even
force the President of the United States to do something. They go to
the Senate, and then the Senate can pass it and send it to the
President. The President can either veto it and send it back to us or
sign it into law.
That is how a bill becomes a law.
My Republican friends might have forgotten this, so it is helpful to
remind them.
This resolution on the border cannot become law because it is not a
bill. It is a resolution, H. Res. 1065. See, it is right here, Mr.
Speaker.
If this resolution passes the House, then it will go nowhere. It will
just be put on a website and sent out as a press release. This
resolution just tells people how you feel about the border.

Mr. Speaker, it is a way for Republicans to talk about their
feelings, and I know Republicans have a lot of big feelings on the
border.
Now, Democrats care about the border too, but the difference is we
actually want to do something about it.
Now, don't get me wrong. There is a time and place for nonbinding
resolutions, but this isn't it. We are not going to reform our broken
immigration system with a nonbinding resolution. We are just not.
We had a bipartisan deal on border security that Republicans
initially supported until Donald Trump called, and then they changed
their minds. They killed it. Republicans killed a bipartisan border
security deal, a bill that was negotiated by the second most
conservative Republican in the United States Senate. They killed it.
So what do they bring up instead?
Not a bill, but a resolution, a meaningless resolution, this
resolution, H. Res. 1065 which changes no law, which will not go to the
Senate, and which is literally a press release talking about their
feelings.
Now, here is the kicker: This resolution, H. Res. 1065, is almost
identical to a similar resolution that we dealt with only 3 months ago.
So not only does it do nothing, but it is a repeat. They are so bad at
legislating that they are even bad at not legislating.
This is all they have to offer Mr. Speaker, half-baked, empty
resolutions that don't address any of the fundamental concerns at our
southern border.
Oh, sure, they like to pretend that they care about border security
on rightwing TV so that Trump and Republican candidates can use it as a
campaign slogan in November. They are really good at that. They go on
FOX News and say, secure the border, secure the border, but then they
kill bills that try to do anything about the border.
They killed the bipartisan border security bill that came out of the
United States Senate. It was a bill that would have provided more
funding so we could have more people at the border patrolling our
border. It was a bill that would provide more money for judges to
accelerate consideration of asylum claims. It was a bill, by the way,
that was supported by the Border Patrol union that is at the border.
Now, the only thing that they say they will agree to is their grossly
partisan H.R. 2, seemingly ignoring the fact that H.R. 2 has lost in
the Senate already. It failed bigly. It only got 32 votes.

{time} 1230

In fact, the gentleman across the aisle from Kentucky even voted
against H.R. 2, but even if it were to pass the Senate, President Biden
would never sign it into law because it is a crappy bill.
Furthermore, I got a little whiplash, Mr. Speaker, because on one
hand, I hear from my Republican friends, H.R. 2 or nothing, H.R. 2 or
nothing. Then we had a gentleman on the Republican side come and do a
1-minute speech and say, we don't need any legislation at all to do
anything. We don't have to pass anything. They need to pick one or the
other.
Any way you square it, Republicans now own the border crisis.
Democrats have given them every opportunity to work together, and we
have been turned down by a Republican Party that does not want to solve
problems or govern.
So guess what? They own the border. They own the fentanyl crisis.
They own all of it. This is their issue. They continue to pass
meaningless resolutions like this which do nothing. They continue to
scream and yell in committees and on the House floor. They continue to
use victims of crimes as props, but when push comes to shove, they
don't do a damn thing.
They vote against more funding for border security. They reject
serious proposals for border security. They don't want to solve this
problem; they want a crisis because they think it helps them in
November. What a rotten, cynical, awful way to treat the people of this
country. What a terrible way to govern.
This isn't serious legislation. It is a press release. It is
embarrassing. House Republicans have no new ideas, so they are just
going to keep passing the same meaningless resolution every week until
they lose in November.
Maybe then they will realize that this is a bad strategy; that it is
a bad idea to treat the American people like they are idiots because
the American people are smart, Mr. Speaker. They see what Republicans
are doing--obstructing, obstructing, obstructing, and then blaming
Democrats for the obstruction they created, passing silly, nonbinding
resolutions that do nothing instead of actually working with us to get
stuff done.
Democrats actually want to get something done on the border. We want
to stop the fentanyl from coming into our country. We want to fix the
broken immigration system. And Republicans own this issue now because
they rejected a bipartisan deal, and they refuse to work together. They
refuse to put people over politics and work with us to address our
problems at the border.
Let me just conclude, Mr. Speaker, by, again, reminding my friends on
the other side of the aisle--and I would say this to a sixth-grade
class if they came to visit Washington--that we now have divided
government.
We have, again, a House of Representatives barely controlled by
Republicans, a United States Senate barely controlled by Democrats, and
a Democrat in the White House.
This notion of ``my way or the highway'' for either side is a
nonstarter. If you want to get something done, you have got to work
together. For heaven's sake, I would think that you don't have to agree
on everything to agree on something. We ought to be able to agree on
something, like more support for border security along both our
southern and our northern border.
We ought to be able to agree that we need to have more judges to
evaluate asylum claims so people aren't here for months and months and
months or years; that we can resolve these claims efficiently and
effectively in a matter of weeks.
We ought to also, rather than doing nonbinding resolutions, be
addressing the situation in Ukraine. Ukraine is out of equipment. I
don't know why my friends on the other side of the aisle seem so
dedicated to giving Putin a victory; Ukraine is running out of time.
Why haven't you scheduled a vote on a bill to provide Ukraine the
military assistance that they need so that they can repel the Russians
and stop Putin? They are out of time. And if Ukraine falls, my friends
own that, too.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The first step in solving a problem is to acknowledge that it exists.
The other side of the aisle is having a problem with that because that
is what this resolution does. It describes the problem.
The second part of solving a problem is to look at what the source of
the problem is. That is what this resolution does. The other side of
the aisle is having a problem with that.
In fact, today, they opened the debate by simply complaining that
this is a House Resolution and not a House bill, but this is a House
Resolution full of facts, inconvenient facts to this administration.

[[Page H1108]]

This administration, since the beginning, has passed 94 executive
orders repealing border security measures that were in place and that
has attracted 9.3 million illegal immigrants to our borders.
This is a problem that exists. The other side of the aisle needs to
quit denying that it exists, and they need to quit trying to change the
topic to Ukraine.
The topic today is these two bills. First among them is the
resolution that draws attention to the problem at the border and lists
specifically the things that this President could do to fix it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Self), my good friend.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule to allow
consideration of H. Res. 1065, denouncing the Biden administration's
immigration policies.
Every day we see a new horror story in the news, a new headline about
some violent crime committed by an illegal alien: 22-year-old nursing
student, Laken Riley, brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal
immigrant; Travis Wolf, one day away from celebrating his 12th
birthday, killed by an illegal immigrant driving the wrong way; 16-
year-old Texas teen, Lizbeth Medina, stabbed to death by an illegal
immigrant from Mexico with a criminal background.
Laken Riley, Travis Wolf, and Lizbeth Medina should still be here
today.
Every crime committed by an illegal alien is preventable. Every
murder, every rape, every robbery is preventable.
Criminal violence is the current outcome that we are seeing every day
due to Biden's open-border policies. What about the risk of terrorism?
In my 25 years in the Army, if I learned anything, it is that evil
still stalks the world. We are importing part of that evil to the
United States today.
We have seen an escalation of the horrors inflicted on American
families by the invasion on our southern border. How many horrific
headlines must we endure before Biden closes the border and stops the
carnage against Americans?
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me just say to the gentleman from
Kentucky, we have acknowledged the problem. Maybe the gentleman wasn't
listening to my eloquent oratory here, but I acknowledged and
identified the problem at least 13 times in my speech.
I think what I and people on my side of the aisle have a problem with
is that you have been acknowledging the problem like we did 3 months
ago with a nonbinding resolution a lot of times, and we don't think
nonbinding resolutions and acknowledging the problem or expressing our
feelings is enough. We have to actually do something.
Mr. Speaker, to the other gentleman who just spoke, we are horrified
by the crimes that have been committed by undocumented immigrants who
have come to this country who have criminal records. We pray for their
families. We want to do everything we can to make sure that these
things never happen again. I have a hard time when we gather and we
hear this from my colleagues when we have shootings that are happening
in this country almost on a daily basis.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert an AP article dated
June 3, 2023, listing the names of the 19 children and two teachers
killed in Uvalde.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.

[From Associated Press, June 3, 2022]

The Names: 19 Children, 2 Teachers Killed in Uvalde School

Uvalde, TX (AP).--Nineteen children were looking forward to
a summer filled with Girl Scouts and soccer and video games.
Two teachers were closing out a school year that they started
with joy and that had held such promise. They're the 21
people who were killed Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman
barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom at Robb
Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde.
Some families have been willing to share their stories with
The Associated Press and other media. Others asked for
privacy. Here are their names.
Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10--Her aunt noted that Nevaeh's first
name is heaven spelled backward. In a Facebook posting,
Yvonne White described Nevaeh and her friend Jailah Silguero
as ``Our Angels.''
Jacklyn Cazares, 9--Javier Cazares said his daughter was
someone who would give the ``shirt off her back'' to help
someone. ``She had a voice,'' he said. ``She didn't like
bullies, she didn't like kids being picked on. All in all,
full of love. She had a big heart.'' Annabell Rodriguez, also
a victim, was Jacklyn's second cousin.
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10--Makenna's father asked on Tuesday if
he could go to the local funeral home to search for his
daughter because he feared ``she may not be alive,'' TV
station KTRK reported. Her family later asked for privacy.
Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10--Jose's parents told CNN that
the 10-year-old was helpful around the house and loved his
younger siblings. ``He was just very good with babies,'' his
mother said. His father told CNN that Jose loved baseball and
video games and ``was always full of energy.'' A photo taken
at school Tuesday shows him smiling and proudly holding a
certificate to show he made the honor roll.
Eliahna Garcia, 9--Eliahna's relatives recalled her love of
family. ``She was very happy and very outgoing,'' said her
aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores
Elementary School in the same district. ``She loved to dance
and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with
the family.''
Irma Garcia, 48--Irma Garcia was finishing up her 23rd year
as a teacher at Robb Elementary School. In a letter posted on
the school's website at the beginning of the school year,
Garcia told her students that she had been married for nearly
a quarter of a century and that she and her husband, Joe, had
four children--a Marine, a college student, a high school
student and a seventh grader. She told the students that she
loved barbeque, listening to music and taking country cruises
with her husband. On Thursday, Joe Garcia died of a heart
attack, according to a nephew.
Uziyah Garcia, 10--Uziyah's grandfather called him ``the
sweetest little boy that I've ever known.'' Manny Renfro said
he last saw Uziyah when the boy came to his home over spring
break. ``We started throwing the football together and I was
teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he
could catch a ball so good,'' Renfro said. ``There were
certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he
would do it exactly like we practiced.''
Amerie Jo Garza, 10--Amerie loved to paint, draw and work
in clay. ``She was very creative,'' said her grandmother Dora
Mendoza. ``She was my baby. Whenever she saw flowers she
would draw them.'' For her 10th birthday, Amerie was given
her first cellphone. Her stepfather, Angel Garza, recalled
that her face ``just lit up with the happiest expression.''
Garza said that Amerie's friend told him that Amerie had
tried to call the police on her phone before she was shot.
Xavier Lopez, 10--Xavier had been eagerly awaiting a summer
of swimming. ``He was just a loving . . . little boy, just
enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to
happen,'' said his cousin, Liza Garza. ``He was very bubbly,
loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just
taken a toll on all of us.''
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10--Carmelo Quiroz's grandson had
begged to be allowed to join his grandmother on Tuesday as
she accompanied her great-granddaughter's kindergarten class
to the San Antonio Zoo. But, he said, the family told Jayce
it didn't make sense to skip school so close to the end of
the year. Besides, Jayce liked school. ``That's why my wife
is hurting so much, because he wanted to go to San Antonio,''
Quiroz told USA Today. ``He was so sad he couldn't go. Maybe
if he would have gone, he'd be here.'' He died with his
cousin, Jailah Nicole Silguero.
Tess Mata, 10--Faith Mata told The Washington Post that her
sister loved TikTok dance videos, Ariana Grande, the Houston
Astros, and having her hair curled.
Maranda Mathis, 11--The mother of a close friend described
Maranda as ``very loving and very talkative.'' She told the
Austin American-Statesman that her daughter and Maranda had
been in the same classes and that Maranda would ask to have
her hair done like her daughter's.
Eva Mireles, 44--In a post on the school's website at the
start of the year, the fourth-grade teacher said she had been
teaching for 17 years. Mireles loved running and hiking. She
said she and her husband, a school district police officer,
had an adult daughter and three pets.
Alithia Ramirez, 10--Alithia Ramirez loved soccer and she
really loved to draw. Her father Ryan Ramirez's Facebook page
includes a photo, now shown around the world, of the little
girl wearing the multi-colored T-shirt that announced she was
out of ``single digits'' after turning 10 years old. The same
photo was posted again Wednesday with no words, but with
Alithia wearing angel wings.
Annabell Rodriguez, 10--Polly Flores told the New York
Times that her great-niece Annabell Rodriguez was an honor
roll student and close to her second cousin Jacklyn Cazares.
Maite Rodriguez, 10--After a rough time with Zoom classes
during the pandemic, Maite Rodriguez made the honor roll for
straight As and Bs this year and was recognized at an
assembly on Tuesday, said her mother, Ana Rodriwez. Maite
especially liked physical education, and after she died, her
teacher texted Ana Rodriguez to say she was highly
competitive at kickball and ran

[[Page H1109]]

faster than all the boys. Her mother described Make as
``focused, competitive, smart, bright, beautiful, happy.''
Maite wanted to be a marine biologist and after researching a
program at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi she told
her mother she wanted to study there.
Alexandria ``Lexi'' Rubio. 10--Lexi's mother, Kimberly
Rubio, posted on Facebook that her daughter was honored for
earning all A grades and received a good citizen award in
ceremonies at the school shortly before the shooting. The
fourth-grader was a softball and basketball player who wanted
to be a lawyer. Lexi's father, Felix Rubio, is a deputy with
the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office. The couple told CNN that
he was among the law enforcement officers who responded to
the shooting.
Layla Salazar, 11--Layla's father said she loved to run and
swim, dance to TikTok videos and play games including
Minecraft and Roblox with friends. He said she won all six of
her dashes and hurdles races at the school's past three
annual field days. He said each morning as he drove her to
school in his pickup, he would play ``Sweet Child O' Mine''
by Guns N' Roses and they would sing along.
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10--Jailah's mother tearfully told
Univision that her daughter did not want to go to school the
day of the shooting, and thought that maybe she sensed
something was going to happen. Jailah and her cousin, Jayce
Luevanos, died in the classroom.
Eliahna Torres, 10--Adolfo Torres told the Associated Press
that his granddaughter, Eliahna, died in the shooting.
Television station KIII reported that Eliahna was set to play
the last softball game of her season that day. The team
members kneeled for a moment of silence to remember Eliahna
and the other victims.
Rojelio Torres, 10--Rojelio Torres' mother, Evadulia Orta,
told ABC News her son was a very smart and loving child. ``I
lost a piece of my heart,'' she said.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the
names of all 58 Las Vegas shooting victims that were released by the
coroner.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.

Coroner Releases Names of All 58 Las Vegas Shooting Victims

Here's the complete list of fatalities:
1. Charleston Hartfield, 34, Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Brett Schwanbeck, 61, Bullhead City, Arizona
3. Austin Meyer, 24, Reno, Nevada
4. Pati Mestas, 67, Menifee, California
5. Nicol Kimura, 38, Placentia, California
6. Christopher Hazencomb, 44, Camarillo, California
7. Andrea Castilla, 28, Huntington Beach, California
8. Carly Kreibaum, 33, Sutherland, Iowa
9. Steve Berger, 44, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
l0. Brian Fraser, 39, Walnut, California
11. Derrick ``Bo'' Taylor, 56, Oxnard, California
12. Denise Cohen, 58, Carpinteria, California
13. Christiana Duarte, 22, Torrance, California
14. Candice Bowers, 40, Garden Grove, California
15. Lisa Patterson, 46, Rancho Palos Verdes, California
16. Rocio Guillen Rocha, 40, Eastvale, California
17. Jordyn Rivera, 21, San Bernardino, California
18. Austin Davis, 29, Riverside, California
19. Laura Shipp, 50, Thousand Oaks, California
20. Keri Galvan, 51, Thousand Oaks, California
21. Tara Roe Smith, 34, Okotoks, Alberta, Canada
22. Calla Medig, 28, Jasper, Alberta, Canada
23. Carrie Parsons, 31, Seattle, Washington
24. Cameron Robinson, 28, St. George, Utah
25. Michelle Vo, 32, Los Angeles, California
26. Brennan Stewart, 30, Las Vegas, Nevada
27. Erick Silva, 21, Las Vegas, Nevada
28. Dorene Anderson, 49, Anchorage, Alaska
29. Heather Alvarado, 35, Enoch, Utah
30. Hannah Ahlers, 34, Beaumont, California
31. Stacee Etcheber, 50, Novato, California
32. Christopher Roybal, 28, Denver, Colorado
33. Victor Link, 55, San Clemente, California
34. Melissa Ramirez, 26, Bakersfield, California
35. Kelsey Meadows, 28, Taft, California
36. Dana Gardner, 52, Grand Terrace, California
37. Bill Wolfe, Jr., 42, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
38. Carrie Barnette, 34, Garden Grove, California
39. Thomas Day, Jr., 54, Corona, California
40. Jennifer Parks, 36, Lancaster, California
41. Kurt Von Tillow, 55, Cameron Park, California
42. Jack Beaton, 54, Bakersfield, California
43. Denise Burditus, 50, Martinsburg, West Virginia
44. Sandy Casey, 35, Redondo Beach, California
45. Angie Gomez, 20, Riverside, California
46. Jennifer Irvine, 42, San Diego, California
47. Jessica Klymchuk, 34, Valleyview, Alberta, Canada
48. Rhonda LeRocque, 42, Tewksbury, Massachusetts
49. Jordan McIldoon, 23, Maple Ridge, British Columbia,
Canada
50. Sonny Melton, 29, Paris, Tennessee
51. Adrian Murfitt, 35, Anchorage, Alaska
52. Rachel Parker, 33, Manhattan Beach, California
53. John Phippen, 57, Valencia, California
54. Quintin Robbins, 20, Henderson, Nevada
55. Lisa Romero-Muniz, 48, Gallup, New Mexico
56. Bailey Schweitzer, 20, Bakersfield, California
57. Susan Smith, 53, Simi Valley, California
58. Neysa Tonks, 46, Las Vegas, Nevada

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on and on. We can do
something about that, but the NRA provides lots of money so my friends
don't want to deal with it. I mean, come on.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to urge that we defeat the previous question.
If we do, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 16,
the American Dream and Promise Act of 2023.
Mr. Speaker, the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act provides a
pathway to citizenship for people who only know America as their home.
They contribute to society as taxpayers, small business owners,
educators, and more. Dreamers were brought to the United States as
children through no-fault of their own. It is past time to open the
doors and empower these talented individuals by granting them access to
citizenship that they rightfully deserve.
Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: There is a lot of work that needs to be
done to fix our broken immigration system and to secure our border.
H.R. 16 won't solve every issue, but it will address a long,
outstanding one in our failing immigration system. It is the right
thing to do, and we should start doing the right thing around here.
It has the added benefit of being a bill that actually does
something. It is not an expression of our feelings. It does something.
Instead of considering the do-nothing Republican nonbinding
resolution before us today which just restates the Republican position
from a nonbinding resolution we already passed 2 months ago, let's
consider actual legislation to start fixing these issues. Let's bring
up H.R. 16.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my
amendment in the Record along with any extraneous material immediately
prior to the vote on the previous question.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman
from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez) to discuss our proposal.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, for the past year, we have endured attack
after attack after attack on immigrant communities, which, by the way,
some of us are first generation. Many people here are second, third,
and fourth, but we tend to forget that we, too, are immigrants.
We have suffered harmful legislation, an impeachment of Secretary
Mayorkas, and inflammatory rhetoric criminalizing and scapegoating
immigrant communities.
Mr. Speaker, I got here about a year and a half ago as a freshman
Member. As I look around, I understand why the American people are so
frustrated with Congress.
They are fed up that we don't have the courage, the moral clarity,
and the political will as a body to see through these theatrics for
cheap political points and actually do our job.
I stand here today as a daughter of immigrants, but also as the wife
of Boris Hernandez. I am the only Member of Congress in a mixed-status
family. My husband is a Dreamer, and he has been here since the age of
14.
I represent a district proud of immigrants who call it home. I
represent the essential workers that kept us alive during the pandemic
and the same people that you go to on Cinco de Mayo when you celebrate
a meal and drink your margaritas.
Today, I am here proudly standing as co-lead of the Dream and Promise
Act. The Dream and Promise Act is an actual immigration policy
solution, not a cheap political stunt. It gives Dreamers and immigrants
in America an

[[Page H1110]]

earned pathway to citizenship that reflects our values as a Nation, a
multicultural democracy of diversity and inclusion.
Today, I rise to denounce my colleagues' lack of meaningful action on
immigration policy, nothing since 1986. We can't treat people who have
built our communities and invested in our Nation and public
institutions without the promise of citizenship. We can't treat them as
disposable.
Their commitment to us and to our Nation have already demonstrated a
promise to address our historic labor shortage: 9 million jobs open
right now and to grow our GDP by $1.7 trillion over the next decade.
We must demonstrate our commitment to them and to the solutions that
will deliver real, effective immigration reform.
I affirm that it is this body who refuses to use its authority to
enact policy if it fails to take up any of the bipartisan immigration
policies filed in this Chamber.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentlewoman from Illinois.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, we must embrace our values as a Nation
without questioning the dignity of our neighbors lives and claims.
There are toddlers who have been here their entire life and are now 30
years old.
Let's stop acting like we are powerless and pass H.R. 16 today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Self). Members are reminded to direct
their remarks to the Chair.

{time} 1245

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. Norman), my friend and colleague on the Rules
Committee.
Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak on H. Res. 1065, denouncing the
Biden administration's immigration policies.
I woke up this morning to a picture of a policeman who was killed in
a car accident driven by an illegal alien who was drunk and on drugs.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution shouldn't be needed, but it is because
the Biden administration, for 3 years, has violated the oath that he
took to protect and defend the United States of America.
What they don't want out is anything meaningful that would curb it
because they know they have a rogue President who will not. It is
intentional.
What cannot be denied is the 9.3 million illegals now in this
country. What cannot be denied is the 94 executive actions that this
President took the day he took office. He started a relentless stream
of executive orders to open our borders up to over 160 countries.
What he can't deny is the 1.8 million known got-aways who evaded the
United States Border Patrol.
What he can't deny, for all you listeners in the balcony, is the
20,000 Communist Chinese nationals now in this country that pose a
severe threat to every American who walks every street in every city in
the United States.
They cannot deny the crime statistics. The Venezuelan, Daniel
Martinez, in New York City, on June 27, 2023, committed 14 crimes
leading to 6 arrests, including the day he grabbed a stranger by the
hair on the streets and dragged her and kicked her across the floor.
On February 24, 2024, a Venezuelan national was arrested in Virginia
for sexual offenses against a minor. He first crossed illegally in
September 2023 and was released.
In August 2023, a police officer in Virginia was struck by a Nigerian
who was driving under the influence. He had only been in the country
for 7 months. The police officer suffered a skull fracture.
Additionally, one of many, but in May 2023, a Honduran raped a
teenage girl in Alabama.
Mr. Speaker, this is going to continue until this rogue
administration determines they are going to shut the border.
In the Rules Committee, I asked about the wall, and Ms. Jayapal
mentioned the fact she didn't believe in a wall, which has been paid
for by the Trump administration during his 4 years.
I mentioned: What is the difference between the wall that has
designated points of entry and the wall that was around the Capitol to
hear the President of the United States talk?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from South Carolina.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
references to occupants of the gallery.
Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this administration has
no desire to end the immigration. They want it for two things: power
and change the Censuses of the States that are transporting them all
over this country.
It is an abomination, and support by a meaningful, new President will
close the border down.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I kind of feel like I am in an episode of ``The Twilight
Zone.'' I can't figure my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
out.
The bottom line is, I hear they want to be tough on the border, and
every time we try to pass a tough border security bill, they say no.
What we have here is a nonbinding resolution that does nothing. It
does nothing. It doesn't even go to the Senate. It can never become
law. It is nothing. It is just a press release.
What they turned down was $440 million for more judges to accelerate
the asylum claims so we are not waiting years and can do this in weeks
and months. $23 million to destruct Mexican cartels, they said no to
that. $6.7 billion for Customs and Border Protection, they said no to
that. Fifty thousand ICE detention beds, they said no to that. $4
billion for USCIS, they said no to that.
Why? Because the former President of the United States called up and
said: I want the issue.
This is the former President of the United States, by the way, who
says that immigrants poison the blood of our country.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include this article in the
Record. This is from Salon. The title is: `` `He said, Hitler did some
good things': Ex-chief of staff says Trump praised Hitler in White
House.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.

[From Salon, Mar. 11, 2024]

``He Said, Hitler Did Some Good Things'': Ex-Chief of Staff Says Trump
Praised Hitler in White House

(By Igor Derysh, Managing Editor)

Former President Donald Trump praised German dictator Adolf
Hitler while in the White House, former chief of staff John
Kelly told CNN.
Trump repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders while
serving as president, Kelly and other former senior advisers
told CNN's Jim Sciutto. Trump praised Chinese leader Xi
Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian
President Vladimir Putin, the former aides said. But his most
unnerving praise was for Hitler.
``He said, `Well, but Hitler did some good things.' I said,
`Well, what?' And he said, `Well, [Hitler] rebuilt the
economy.' But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He
turned it against his own people and against the world. And I
said, `Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy.
Nothing,' '' Kelly recalled, according to Sciutto. ``I mean,
Mussolini was a great guy in comparison.''
``It's pretty hard to believe he missed the Holocaust,
though, and pretty hard to understand how he missed the
400,000 American GIs that were killed in the European
theater,'' Kelly added. ``But I think it's more, again, the
tough guy thing.''
It wasn't just Hitler's economic policies, Kelly said.
Trump also expressed admiration for Hitler's hold on senior
Nazi officers as he lamented his own lack of staff
``loyalty.''
``He would ask about the loyalty issues and about how, when
I pointed out to him the German generals as a group were not
loyal to him, and in fact tried to assassinate him a few
times, and he didn't know that,'' Kelly recounted. ``He truly
believed, when he brought us generals in, that we would be
loyal--that we would do anything he wanted us to do,'' Kelly
added.
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton added
that Trump ``views himself as a big guy.''
``He likes dealing with other big guys, and big guys like
Erdogan in Turkey get to put people in jail and you don't
have to ask anybody's permission. He kind of likes that,''
Bolton told Sciutto.
A Trump spokeswoman in 2021 denied that he had praised
Hitler. Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung told the
outlet,

[[Page H1111]]

``John Kelly and John Bolton have completely beclowned
themselves and are suffering from a severe case of Trump
Derangement Syndrome. They need to seek professional help
because their hatred is consuming their empty lives.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let that sink in.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I note my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
said, when the majority recites the names of the victims of illegal
immigration and illegal immigrants and the criminals who are coming
across our border, that those victims are props.
I resent that. I really do because the other side of the aisle then
proceeded in the next measure of the debate to enter names of victims
who had been killed by criminals using guns.
Let's just agree today that when we honor the names of people who
have suffered at the hands of criminals, whether they be domestic or
illegal immigrants--sadly, as so many are now--we don't call them
props.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy),
a fellow member of the Rules Committee.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I know he is probably as surprised as I am to be accused
of taking orders from the former President and following whatever the
former President says.
If the gentleman from Massachusetts wants to take a flight down to
Mar-a-Lago, he is welcome to tell the former President that the
gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Kentucky take orders.
The reason that matters is because I had the President's former ICE
Director, Tom Homan, under oath in the House Judiciary Committee, and I
asked him that question.
I said: Were we articulating the massive problems in the Senate bill
prior to the former President having commented publicly?
The answer under oath, of course, from Mr. Homan was: Yes.
That is because we all knew that the bill was a failed bill. We all
knew that it was a prop.
The gentleman from Massachusetts makes crystal clear what the actual
game is. The gentleman from Massachusetts gives up the game today. The
gentleman comes to the floor of the House and says: ``Republicans own
this issue now.'' That is an important phrase: ``Republicans own this
issue now.''
What is really happening is my radical progressive Democratic
colleagues who believe in wide-open borders, allowing mass release of
immigrants into the United States that resulted in the death of
thousands of Americans through fentanyl or through the danger of what
we saw happen to Laken Riley, those radical progressive Democrats are
realizing the American people are caught up to them. They recognize the
reality that it is their policies that are resulting in the death and
destruction of the American people.
What are they doing? They are putting forward bills that have no
chance of succeeding and legislation that would not solve the problem;
would codify mass releases; would not deal with unaccompanied alien
children; would not deal with any of the issues with parole that the
President is using to violate current law, which requires case-by-case
analysis to process people in the United States; mass releases under
parole; and violation of law that resulted directly in the death of
Laken Riley.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle know this, so they are
trying to use a bill that they put forward, which won't solve the
problem and will make it worse, to deflect and push blame politically
to Republicans.
That is why the gentleman from Massachusetts on the floor of the
House today said, ``Republicans own this issue now,'' because they are
purposely trying to obfuscate the truth. The truth is Laken Riley is
dead because the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who stood
at that dais last week and lectured the American people, made the
decision, with the full support and execution by Alejandro Mayorkas, to
mass release people into the United States that they know contained
mass numbers of criminals, terrorists. People from all over the world,
including the Chinese Communist Party, have been released into the
United States.
Laken Riley is now dead. Aiden Clark is now dead. Kayla Hamilton is
now dead, beaten to death in her own home. Lizbeth Medina, a Texan, is
now dead, beaten to death and murdered in her own home, found in a
bathroom by her mom instead of seeing her perform her cheerleading in a
parade.
That is the truth. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle know
it, and they are now trying to deflect.
Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an
article from Axios titled: ``Trump, House Republicans plot to kill
border deal.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.

[From AXIOS, Jan. 29, 2024]

Trump, House Republicans Plot To Kill Border Deal

(By Stef W. Kight)

Republican and Democratic senators are taking to the
airwaves, scrambling to pass severe restrictions on migrants
flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border. There's just one
thing: Their plan is all but dead.
Why it matters: The Senate might pass the plan, which would
be one of the harshest immigration bills of the century.
President Biden is ready to sign it. But House Republicans--
egged on by former President Trump--already are planning to
shut it down.
State of play: Illegal immigration has rocketed to the top
of voters' concerns, and Biden has become increasingly
desperate for a solution. Trump and conservative Republicans
see a political opportunity to squeeze Biden and Democrats on
the issue.
Trump, whose front-runner status in the Republican
presidential race has solidified his leadership of the GOP,
has loudly vowed to kill the bipartisan border deal.
It's not going to happen, and I'll fight it all the way,''
Trump said Saturday in Nevada.
Zoom in: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has fallen in
line. He called the deal ``dead on arrival'' on Friday, then
doubled down over the weekend, claiming it wouldn't do enough
to stop illegal border crossings.
He has said he talks frequently with Trump about the
border.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned
senators last week that Trump's opposition would make it
difficult to get a border plan through Congress.
A sign of Trump's influence: Oklahoma's GOP voted Saturday
to censure Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) for being a lead
negotiator in the border policy discussions.
The details: The text of the border bill is expected to
drop soon. It will include a measure that effectively would
block illegal border crossers from asylum once the number of
migrant encounters hits a daily average of 5,000 in a week or
8,500 on a single day, as Axios has reported.
Those restrictions would remain until illegal crossings
drop and remain low for an extended period of time.
The deal also would expedite the asylum process and limit
the use of parole to release migrants into the U.S.
The big picture: The migrant crisis at the border and in
major U.S. cities is one of the most jeopardizing issues for
Biden and Democrats this November.
It's also Trump's marquee political issue. He has every
incentive to keep it front and center as he heads toward a
likely rematch against Biden.
Biden has doubled down on a tougher border image in recent
months, and has signaled his willingness to ``shut down the
border'' if he's given new authority under the Senate
agreement.
What they're saying: The White House is accusing
Republicans of flip-flopping for politics--first supporting
their own strict immigration bill and now saying Biden
already has the authority to close the border.
``If Speaker Johnson continues to believe--as President
Biden and Republicans and Democrats in Congress do--that we
have an imperative to act immediately on the border, he
should give this administration the authority and funding
we're requesting,'' White House press secretary Karine Jean-
Pierre said in a statement.
``Right now [the plan's critics] are functioning off of
internet rumors of what's in the bill, and many of them are
false,'' Lankford said on ``Face the Nation,'' defending the
plan he has been negotiating.
``I want to know how house R's square their support for
H.R. 2 with their position now that we should do nothing,''
one senior GOP Senate aide told Axios, referring to a
sweeping border bill passed by House Republicans last year.
Republicans ``are redefining the terms of any debate for
the future,'' one former Biden official told Axios. ``A very
extreme, enforcement-heavy package is now being rejected as
not tough enough.''

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman who was

[[Page H1112]]

just yelling that the proposal that we are talking about, the
bipartisan border security deal, is not something that we wrote over
here: It was written in a bipartisan way in the Senate, led by the
second most conservative Republican in the United States Senate.
He said it doesn't have a chance of passing. I will bet him anything
that if he brought the bill to the floor, actually let it be brought
before the full House, it would pass.
That is why Trump intervened to make sure that it never got a chance
to go to the floor, because he knows it would pass.
Also, to the gentleman from Kentucky, I certainly didn't call the
victims of--
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I did not refer to the victims of violence
and who were killed by undocumented immigrants as props. I said that my
Republican friends are using them as props, and I included in the
Record the names of people who were killed by gun violence because I am
tired of the selective outrage.
The bottom line is that countless people in this country are killed
every week from gun violence, and my Republican friends do not want to
do anything about it because the NRA owns the Republican Party in this
country, and they are afraid to lose the money. That is what this is
about.
Our complaint here is that we are talking about border security
issues, and our frustration is that what we are dealing with, this
tough bill--my Republican colleagues are so tough on the border. The
tough bill that they are bringing before the House of Representatives
is a nonbinding resolution that can never become law, that won't even
be sent to the Senate, that is just a press release.
That is just a colossal waste of time. Surely, there has to be common
ground where Democrats and Republicans can come together and actually
pass things to better secure our border and to protect people like
Laken Riley and others in the future.
However, I guess that is too much to ask.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Alford).
Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share my support for the Utilizing Space
Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023, otherwise known as
the USE IT Act.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for Federal employees to get back into the
office. Use it or lose it.
The Government Accountability Office, GAO, found that, on average, 17
of the 24 CFO agency headquarters were at least 25 percent or less
utilization in 2023.
There are two examples that I have direct oversight over through the
Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Agriculture. The Small
Business Administration has 270,000 square feet. Only 9 percent of the
people who work there show up for work. In the USDA's 2 million square
feet of beautiful buildings just down the street here, only 11 percent
of those buildings are occupied.
Are these agencies trying to hide the low numbers of workers actually
showing up to work for the American people? The majority of workers
aren't at their desks. They are not answering the phones. That is why
our congressional offices are having to do their job.
Mr. Speaker, I don't mind helping our constituents. That is what we
get paid to do. I have a card here. Most Members of Congress carry
their schedules around in their pockets. We have 16 appointments today.
Mr. Speaker, you show up for work every day that you are supposed to
be here. The ranking member shows up for work. He is not phoning it in.
People in these agencies should not be phoning it in, either.
We need to look at our constituents as clients, the American
taxpayer.
When I first came to D.C. 14 months ago, I wanted to visit the very
agencies over which we had oversight, the Small Business
Administration, the Pentagon, the USDA. We went to the Pentagon, but
the other agencies would not let us in the door.
Why is that? A sitting Member of Congress could not get into the door
of these agencies.
That is why we filed the Congressional Access to Bureaucratic Offices
Act, which more or less complements this resolution. Sitting Members of
Congress should be able to get into these agencies. They are not
because they have been hiding the low numbers of people who are
actually at their desks.
This bill would require the agencies to submit a report to Congress
that includes the actual utilization rate.
Mr. Speaker, as a former news anchor for 35 years in America, I have
breaking news for you. COVID is over. Get back to work for the American
people. Start doing your job. Quit putting the pressure on constituents
to have to call their Congress Member, their Congressman or
Congresswoman, to get the job done that they should be doing in the
first place.

{time} 1300

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, if I could just respond to the gentleman who just spoke,
not all jobs are the same. I mean, food inspectors, Federal food
inspectors, for example, don't sit at a desk 5 days a week. Sometimes
they have to go out and do inspections to make sure that the food that
we provide people is safe.
Federal firefighters are not behind a desk 5 days a week. It doesn't
mean they aren't working.
Our Border Patrol agents are patrolling the border. That doesn't mean
they don't need a desk at some point.
Heck, Members of Congress, I mean, we are not in Washington behind
our desks 5 days a week. Sometimes we are in our districts, sometimes
we are in other places, but because we don't show up physically to work
a day or 2 or 5 days in a particular month, somehow we should have our
desks taken away?
This is the problem: With some better bipartisan cooperation, with
more thoughtful consideration of these matters, we could have had a
bill that would have sailed out of here unanimously; but, again, my
friends can't help themselves, it is either their way or the highway.
In any event, the way the bill is currently written ignores the
realities of the workers that I just mentioned.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Langworthy), my friend and fellow colleague on the Rules
Committee.
Mr. LANGWORTHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule
which provides for consideration of H. Res. 1065, a resolution
denouncing the Biden administration's disastrous border policies.
The Biden administration's utter failure to maintain operational
control of our southern border has led to a crisis so extensive that it
has spilled across my home State of New York and our Nation's northern
border as well.
According to the latest data, since October 1, 2023, the northern
border has seen a record number of illegal immigrants and drug
seizures, most notably fentanyl, by Border Patrol. That is just what
has been caught.
According to Border Patrol, the number of apprehensions of illegal
aliens has more than doubled from this time last year, leading to a
crisis that is overwhelming our brave Border Patrol agents who are
trying, in spite of this administration, to maintain some semblance of
security at our borders.
Let me be clear. The Biden administration's self-imposed border
crisis has permeated every port of entry and nearly our entire land
border, southern and northern. This administration has refused to do
the right thing, the humane thing, and step in to stop the flow of
trafficked migrants and lethal fentanyl.
We have lost so many Americans to the crime and the drugs that the
Biden administration is allowing to come across our wide-open border.
How many American lives do we need to lose before Biden takes any
meaningful action to secure the border?
Now, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have once again
claimed that the resolution before us today is not serious and does not
address the crisis. I remind my colleagues that the House of
Representatives and House

[[Page H1113]]

Republicans passed historic funding levels to support our Nation's
Border Patrol over the robust opposition of many House Democrats.
Republicans have also passed H.R. 2, a bill that would have serious
and positive impact on the security of our Nation's borders. All of
this was done while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and
the Biden administration doggedly refused to even admit that a crisis
existed on our Nation's borders.
Make no mistake. Biden inherited an operationally secure southern
border. As soon as he was sworn in, he immediately began reversing the
policies that kept Americans safe. His administration has taken over 90
actions to undermine border security. On behalf of the American people,
House Republicans are telling President Biden to end this madness now.
If it is not already clear, I strongly support this rule before us
today, as well as the underlying legislation that denounces this
administration for allowing the crisis at our borders to unfold.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard the gentleman from New York repeatedly brag
about this Homeland Security appropriations bill that the Republicans
passed last year as a demonstration of their commitment to securing our
border, but here is what he left out: My Republican friends still--
still, still--have not sent it over to the Senate. They have not sent
it over to the Senate. I don't know why.
By the way, H.R. 2 is dead. It only got 32 votes in the Senate. That
is a pretty strong message that it is going nowhere.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time remains on
both sides?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Alford). The gentleman from Kentucky has
13\1/2\ minutes remaining.
The gentleman from Massachusetts has 7 minutes remaining.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, during his first 100 days in office, President Biden
took 94 executive actions on immigration, including halting
construction of the border wall.
In August of 2022, the Biden administration formally halted President
Trump's successful remain in Mexico program.
In May of 2023, the administration announced that it would allow for
the release of some migrants into the U.S. with no way to track them.
The Biden administration also ended title 42, the CDC order that
allowed the Department of Homeland Security to remove noncitizens who
did not have proper travel documentation, whose entry was otherwise
contrary to law, or who were apprehended at or near the border seeking
unlawful entry into the United States without regard to asylum claims
or proceedings.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden terminated the asylum
cooperative agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to
facilitate cooperation in resolving the migration crisis.
The Biden administration has also abused its authority under the
Immigration and Nationality Act to grant parole on a case-by-case basis
and has instead used this authority to grant mass parole to over 1
million migrants.
The Biden administration has also failed to detain migrants
encountered at the southern border and has failed to use its authority
to perform expedited removal of individuals illegally present in the
United States.
As a result, since President Biden took office, 9.3 million illegal
aliens from all over the world have arrived at the southern border. The
Biden administration has allowed at least 6.3 million illegal aliens to
travel from the southern border to enter American communities.
This is a tragedy. We need to call attention to it.
President Biden says there is nothing he can do. Well, I have just
listed a number of things that he has done to create this crisis, and
further in this debate I will talk about some of the things that he can
do, that we know he can do, things that are stated in the resolution
contained in this rule to end this national security, legal, and
humanitarian crisis at our border.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Fallon), my good friend.
Mr. FALLON. Mr. Speaker, we have myths and then we have facts. Let's
go over some myths for a second, particularly when you talk about the
border.
Myth one I heard was, the GOP doesn't have any solutions and doesn't
want to solve this border crisis. We are not just having a crisis
anymore. I would say it is a calamity. Then somehow Donald Trump calls,
and a bipartisan deal that would solve the border crisis is scuttled;
and that H.R. 2, which was the omnibus border security bill, was
somehow radical.
Let's talk about facts now. First of all, Donald Trump didn't call
and scuttle anything. We want to solve this crisis because we took an
oath to the Constitution. In solving the crisis, we need a bill that
will do that. The so-called bipartisan bill coming out of the Senate no
House Republican even had any input on those discussions at all. There
were major flaws in that legislation, and there were loopholes.
I do agree with the gentleman from Massachusetts--where I was born
and raised for my first 22 years--that this is a divided government,
and you do need to have some compromise if you want to get anything
done on everything. You need to strike a deal that works and gets
things done. I understand that we are not going to dictate. We are in
no position to. At the same time, you have to have workable solutions
and not just things that are political but can solve issues.
Let's talk, again, about some inconvenient truths. In the two prior
administrations--and I am talking about the Obama and Trump
administrations--at this juncture in their Presidencies, there were
about 1.7 million illegal border encounters. This administration has
seen that number explode to 8 million. There is a problem. There is
something fundamentally different now than in the past.
The last couple years of the Trump administration, there were three
people who were on the terrorist watch list that were apprehended. Last
fiscal year it was 169. Chinese nationals, mostly of military age,
under the Trump administration's final years, it was about 450 in a
given year. That ballooned to 40,000-plus. That is alarming. That is
concerning. The cartels have never made more money. They are charging
somewhere between $4,000 and $7,000 a head. The folks who are crossing
the border illegally represent 170 countries.
Fentanyl deaths have doubled. Other than a couple of outlier years
in, I think, the year 2000--so for the last 20-plus years--we had never
had a month where we had 200,000 illegal border crossings. Under this
administration, we have had 20. In December, we had 300,000 illegal
crossings. In FY 2017, there were 300,000 all year.
There are things fundamentally different and wrong. The border is
wide open. Republicans want to solve it because we took a sacred oath
to secure the safety of American citizens because if you are not safe,
then you are not free.
Here are our solutions: Wait in Mexico will reduce this flood by 70
percent. Ask anybody who deals with the border, any expert who is
honest.
Border walls and other barriers actually work. You find them around
the White House, you find them around people's beach houses and
mansions in Malibu. Around when we had the State of the Union Address,
there was a fence. For 6 months after January 6, there was a fence.
Expedited removal, punishing folks who overstay their visas, E-
Verify. Those are all workable solutions, that are not radical. The
American people are crying for them. If our friends across the aisle
don't recognize that, they are going to rue the day come November of
this year.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
To the gentleman who just spoke, let me just say, you talk about
facts. What is an undeniable fact is that the bill before us does
absolutely nothing. Nothing. It doesn't add one more Border Patrol
agent along our southern or northern border. It doesn't add any more

[[Page H1114]]

judges. It doesn't do anything to stop the Mexican cartels. It does
nothing. It is just a press release.
The other fact is, H.R. 2 is going nowhere and fast, with 32 votes in
the Senate. He also said they would like to work together. Every time
we try to work together--that is what we tried to do in the Senate--my
Republican friends here in the House, at the request of Donald Trump,
say: No, we don't want to work with you. That is a problem because we
have to work together in order to get real, meaningful solutions over
the finish line.

The gentleman also keeps on screaming, the border is open, the border
is open. That is the Republican rallying cry. It isn't, but if you say
it enough times, then people might believe you and try to come here
because you keep on saying that.
However, Mr. Speaker, the American people are smart. They know the
difference between empty promises and real action. They know that the
only way to get things done in divided government, for problems to be
solved, like the border, Members of both parties have to work together.
They know that come November the future of this country is in their
hands.
They have seen the complete and utter disaster that this Republican
majority has created in this Congress. They have witnessed the absolute
chaos House Republicans have thrown the country into.
We are on the Rules Committee. All bills of consequence go to the
Rules Committee before they come to the House floor. The last bill that
we reported on the Rules Committee to the House floor that became law
was 9 months ago. How can that happen? How can that happen without
incredible dysfunction on the Republican side?
These guys have brought the Nation to the brink of default, shying
away from fully funding the government, destabilizing this body by
throwing fits and unseating Speakers, and taking the House floor
hostage.
The American people also know that House Democrats have rescued this
failing House Republican majority at nearly every turn. House Democrats
carried the vote to ensure that the United States didn't default on its
debt. House Democrats have kept the government running despite GOP
leadership wasting time pursuing unrealistic, draconian spending cuts,
and House Democrats have used every opportunity to stand against
conservative legislation that would hurt average Americans.
This majority has been nothing but dysfunctional, Mr. Speaker. They
have no new ideas, no tangible solutions, no drive to address pressing
domestic and global challenges. The American people know that, which is
why Republicans are going to lose in November.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule, and I
yield back the balance of my time.

{time} 1315

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, the Rules Committee resolution that we are debating
today provides for the consideration of two pieces of very important
legislation.
The first is a commonsense bill that says if the government is
heating, lighting, renting, and maintaining empty buildings where
employees don't show up for work, let's do something about that. Let's
find out how bad this problem is.
We believe that there are over 17 agencies with occupancy of less
than 25 percent. This isn't green. I thought the other side of the
aisle was green. It is not green to heat empty buildings and to light
empty buildings when nobody shows up for work.
COVID is over. Either come to work or don't come to work, but let's
not keep these buildings open if nobody is in them.
That is the first bill, which was introduced by my friend from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
The second piece of legislation that is in this rule is very
critical. It stands in sharp contrast to the State of the Union Address
that we heard just last week in this Chamber where the President got up
and said there was nothing he could do.
Well, this resolution has a lot of inconvenient facts that refute the
proposition of the President that he can't do anything. Not only can he
do something, the things that he has done by executive order, over 94
of them, have been hurtful to the security of this country.
We are seeing illegal immigrants drawn like a magnet to this country
because of the things that President Biden has done.
The resolution begins with a bunch of statements of facts, such as
the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security created this
problem at the border, the worst in the Nation's history, and,
beginning on day one, systematically dismantled effective border
security measures and interior immigration enforcement.
This resolution closes by resolving that there are seven things the
President can do to end this crisis: one, end the catch and release
policy; two, reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols; three, enter
into asylum cooperative agreements; four, end abuses of parole
authority; five, detain inadmissible aliens; six, use expedited removal
authority; and seven, rein in taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal
aliens.
He could do all of these things tomorrow, and that is why it is
important to pass this resolution, to draw attention to the problem so
that it can be fixed, and to state what the solutions are.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this rule, and I urge my colleagues
to vote for it.
The text of the material previously referred to by Mr. McGovern is as
follows:

An Amendment to H. Res. 1071 Offered by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts

At the end of the resolution, add the following:
Sec. 3. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the
House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the
bill (H.R. 16) to authorize the cancellation of removal and
adjustment of status of certain aliens, and for other
purposes. All points of order against consideration of the
bill are waived. The bill shall be considered as read. All
points of order against provisions in the bill are waived.
The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the
bill and on any amendment thereto, to final passage without
intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally
divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their respective
designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 4. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the
consideration of H.R. 16.

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and move
the previous question on the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous
question.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

____________________