[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 15, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H3266-H3270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          DEMOCRATS ARE DESTROYING AMERICAN DREAM, RULE OF LAW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I notice it must be campaign season. My 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trotting out the age-old 
push-granny-off-the-cliff campaign talking points. It never fails.
  If my colleagues want to have a conversation about how to save Social 
Security, the trustees just put a report out this week or last week 
pointing out that it is going to be underwater by 2033. The minority 
wants to ignore that reality. Instead of figuring out how we are 
actually going to deal with the problem, Democrats trot out the same 
old story about taxes.
  By any objective measure, by any analysis by left, right, center, 
Libertarian, conservative, or liberal, you can tax literally the 
entirety of the top 1 percent of earners, but it can't possibly balance 
the budget. Literally, the math doesn't work.
  We can throw all this around in election-year rhetoric, but the truth 
is our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not just watching 
Social Security go bankrupt, but they are bankrupt in ideas on what to 
do about it.
  The fact is you have to actually constrain spending, discretionary 
spending, deal with the issues we ought to deal with on mandatory 
spending, and recognize the fact that we are $34.5 trillion in debt. We 
are racking up $1 trillion every 3 months. We are now going to crack 
$1.1 trillion of interest this year alone--$1.1 trillion of interest, 
which is far more than our entire defense budget.
  The fact is our retirees are going to have a problem in 2033. In 
fact, this trustee's report pointed out that they will be getting 79 
cents on the dollar in 2033. We can have a conversation about what you 
want to do about taxes, but my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle are all too happy to regulate and crush the entire American 
economy to death and drive up inflation, making all those Social 
Security recipients have less value in their Social Security dollars. 
That is the truth.
  The average American can't afford to live, whether they are earning 
money in the prime of their earning potential, in their earning years, 
or whether they are a retiree because the dollar value is decreasing 
because we are printing money because, frankly, my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle have no interest in actually being fiscally 
responsible--I am an equal opportunity basher of fiscal 
responsibility--nor do my colleagues on this side of the aisle, to be 
honest.
  It is a repeating problem that never ends, but it is my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle, my radical progressive Democratic 
colleagues--and there is no other way to characterize them--who want to 
use scare tactics in a campaign year rather than addressing any of the 
actual fiscal issues that affect our Nation.
  The fact is that Democrats are destroying the American Dream, killing 
the ability of the average American family to prosper. Hardworking 
American families right now are struggling to pay bills, struggling to 
be able to buy a car. Why? Because we have regulated them to death. 
Why? Because, chasing climate fantasy, we are killing the ability of an 
American to go buy a car with an internal combustion engine.
  We are piling up EVs on the lots of dealerships around the country. 
We are now embracing, because the Biden administration unilaterally 
embraced, a tailpipe rule that will mandate EV production, two-thirds 
of the fleet being produced by 2030.

  My colleagues are crushing the American Dream before our very eyes.
  That is what has happened. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act, 
mandating massive subsidies of so-called green programs, is actually 
subsidizing China and the massive corporations that my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle decry.
  Democrats want to increase the corporate tax rate, which will punish 
hardworking Americans who are trying to create wealth relative to 
corporations around the world, but my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle don't want to undo the massive corporate subsidies they gave 
to Green New Deal recipients.
  That is the truth, and it is destroying the average American's 
ability to live. Let's be very clear. Right now, Americans are hurting 
because of Democratic policies. Right now, Americans can't buy a car, 
can't go out and afford groceries, can't pay their power bills. Why? 
Because of my radical progressive Democratic colleagues and their 
policies regulating our entire economy to death and destroying the 
average American family.
  Let's not talk about the price of homes, the price of real estate. 
All these things are things that are increasingly highly and heavily 
regulated. That is problem number one.
  Let's talk about what our radical progressive Democratic colleagues 
are doing to destroy the rule of law. The rule of law is the single 
greatest thing that attracts people to come to the United States, the 
single greatest thing that attracts capital to create wealth and to 
create opportunity. It is the single greatest thing that has 
distinguished the United States of America and Western civilization 
from the rest of the world for now centuries, particularly since the 
founding of this Nation.

                              {time}  2000

  The fact is, the rule of law is being destroyed by my radical, 
progressive Democratic colleagues, it is purposefully being destroyed. 
This week, we have bills on the floor, and we are talking a lot about 
our police, our law enforcement officers, but it is not about a week. 
Weeks are stupid.
  We come down here and we do all these things. We do ribbons and we do 
all these things that say, Oh, we are going to have a week. The fact is 
every week is police week. Every week our cops are in danger. Every 
week our cops are being undermined by radical progressives in cities 
around this country, endangering the people in communities while 
endangering the law enforcement who are supposed to protect them every 
single week--not just this one--every week.
  Last year, November 2023, in Austin--a city which defunded our police 
by $150 million, driving down the number of cops. We are now at least 
350, if not 500, below the level that we were supposed to be at, the 
level we were at before COVID because we don't have the ability to 
recruit law enforcement after decimating the budget. That was the 
radical city council, led by radical, progressive Democrats in Austin, 
which are reflected and mirrored by the radical, progressive Democrats 
sitting right here in this Chamber like Cori Bush who said we should 
defund the police, like the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, 
Mr. Nadler,

[[Page H3267]]

who signed a letter along with our colleague, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, saying 
we should defund the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York. They 
signed that letter.
  I asked the ranking member in the Rules Committee last night: How is 
that working out? How safe does New York feel? How safe is the subway 
system in New York City? Because right now I think there is a whole 
hell of a lot of people in New York and around this country who are 
looking at New York and they are saying: What happened? There is a 
whole hell of a lot of people who are looking at the Nation's Capital 
saying: How can I come see my Representatives and come to the Nation's 
Capital and feel like I am going to be safe?
  Last year in Austin, where the radical, progressive Democrats on the 
city council defunded the police, we saw the unfortunate tragic 
shooting of police officer Jorge Pastore, who is a hero, who was shot 
and killed in the line of duty last November.
  In San Antonio, we had three San Antonio police officers who were 
shot during a standoff with an armed career criminal who had absconded 
after getting bond and was wanted on multiple charges. Why? Because the 
radical, progressive Democrat DAs and the radical, progressive Democrat 
judges all funded by Soros, all-purposeful, all in a network around 
this country, they let these guys out and then they shot cops. 378 
officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, 138 peace officers died 
in the line of duty in 2023, 48 by gunfire, 10 by vehicular assault, 7 
from a heart attack.
  There were 150 ambush-style attacks against police in 2023, which 
claimed the lives of 20 officers. This year, 58 police officers have 
died in the line of duty. They are under attack every single day and my 
radical, progressive Democrat colleagues don't care because they are 
totally fine defunding them. They want to come to the floor of this 
body and say it is not true, when there are mountains of evidence 
saying it is. In fact, 113 of my colleagues voted against the 
resolution which decried the defunding of cops just last year.
  In Austin, crime is skyrocketing. Seventy-three homicides in 2023 up 
from 71 in 2022. The highest level since going back some 40-odd years, 
all as a result of defunding the police to the tune of $150 million. 
The fallout, as I said, 350 vacancies. The Austin Police Department 
stopped responding to nonthreatening 911 calls in the fall of 2021.
  Let's think about that. Austin's crime has increased, and overdoses 
are skyrocketing, in part, due to the lawlessness of our wide-open 
borders. You see, the rule of law doesn't matter to my radical, 
progressive Democratic colleagues. The rule of law is being undermined, 
the safety and security of the people that I represent is being 
undermined, and it is being made worse.
  The fact is, now, we have a fentanyl crisis all across this country 
and, particularly, in places like Austin, Texas, where just 2 weeks 
ago, we had--I don't even know the exact number--but there were 75 
reported cases of individuals overdosing in a matter of a 72-hour 
stretch, killing at least nine people. I can't remember the number of 
people they had to resuscitate by Narcan. It is the largest fentanyl 
poisoning in Austin for over a decade, and it is happening because this 
stuff is pouring across our southern border, which brings me to a 
point: the rule of law.
  The rule of law, being undermined by our radical Democratic 
colleagues, who are undermining cops, defunding cops, the same radical, 
progressive Democratic colleagues who are leaving our border wide open 
and exposed, blatantly disregarding the law, undermining the rule of 
law, the very rule of law that attracts immigrants to come to our 
country and we have police officers killed by illegal aliens.
  In March 2024, an illegal alien from Mexico was charged with crashing 
his car that killed a 27-year-old Washington State Trooper.
  New York police officers were assaulted by a mob of illegal aliens. 
Five illegal aliens savagely assaulted two officers. The suspects were 
back on the streets without bail. I think they have been recently given 
some very minor sentences.
  Let's never forget DUI fatalities as a result of those who are here 
illegally, including in Kerr County, which I represent in Texas, where 
you had a drunk, illegal alien crashing into members of the Thin Blue 
Line Motorcycle Club, made up of Active-Duty servicemembers, law 
enforcement officers, and retired officers, killing retired Officer 
Joseph Paglia of Chicago, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Jerry 
Wayne Harbour of Houston, and retired U.S. Army Officer Michael White 
of Chicago.
  Right here in our Nation's Capital, it has become a region of 
lawlessness and disorder. Crime in D.C. is up 30 percent. Violent crime 
up 37 percent from 2022 to 2023. We had one of our own Members of 
Congress who was carjacked just 10 blocks from here, another Member of 
Congress who was assaulted. We have had staff members, such as the 
staff member of Senator Rand Paul who was stabbed. We had a teenage 
gunman just a few weeks ago spraying AR-15 rounds and then pretty much 
was just let go.

  This is the state of things in our Nation's Capital. It is the state 
of things in New York City. It is the state of things across our 
country. It is a return to lawlessness. If you don't have the rule of 
law, what do you have?
  When you let violent criminals out of jail, what do you think is 
going to happen? By the way, there are people on my side of the aisle 
who are guilty of that. In the false name of compassion, we are letting 
people out on the streets who are endangering our own people.
  The rule of law matters and you can't have the rule of law if cops 
can't enforce the rule of law and then be abandoned by the very people 
that are supposed to support them, and that is what is happening. You 
can't have the rule of law if the borders are wide open.
  If you are ignoring the law, parole--which is supposed to be on a 
case-by-case basis--to pump thousands of people into our country, 
including, by the way, the individual who killed Laken Riley. He was 
unlawfully paroled into the United States by this administration. But 
guess what? There wasn't any consequence, except for Laken Riley, who 
is no longer with us.
  That is what happened. That is the truth. It is lawlessness. Ignoring 
the rule of law, endangering the American people, and now you have the 
rank lawlessness of a sham trial against the former President in New 
York.
  A bootstrap charge that relies on an unreliable witness being 
presided over by a biased judge. That is the truth, and anybody with 
eyes knows it. It is not the rule of law; it is the use of the law for 
political purposes and gain. It is, as some refer to it, ``lawfare'' 
against the former President of the United States.
  I don't care what you think of President Trump, President Biden, 
anybody else, when you weaponize our system of justice for political 
purposes, you are nothing more than a third-rate banana republic. That 
is precisely what is happening in the State of New York right now by a 
lawless judge, a biased judge--who, frankly, should be investigated 
himself--who is targeting the former President for political purposes.
  It is clearly obvious. No citizen, no citizen would be treated to the 
same attack as what is happening right now to former President Trump.
  I am not afraid to call out Members on both sides of the aisle. I am 
not afraid to call about President Biden. I am not afraid to call out 
former President Trump. I am not paid to be a loyalist. I am not paid 
to be biased. I am not paid to wear a red shirt versus a blue shirt.
  I am paid to represent 750,000 Texans, to follow the Constitution, to 
honor my duty to the Lord, and to do my job. That is what I am paid to 
do. But to watch the former President of the United States being hauled 
into court day after day with a sham trial, and you cannot describe it 
as anything but a sham trial.
  The DA's office previously determined that its theory of criminal 
liability under New York law would not hold up. That is the truth. So 
they bootstrapped it into a felony because, frankly, it would have been 
time-barred if they hadn't done that. You have got to have the felony 
charge proving that Trump was concealing another crime. That is why 
they are now trying to pull in a Federal campaign charge, but the 
campaign laws in question are Federal and when New York's penal code 
speaks of concealing another crime, it must refer to a crime

[[Page H3268]]

under New York law, but they are trying to bootstrap it into Federal 
law. That is the truth.
  It is hard to see how the government could meet the burden of proof. 
According to my good friend, Andy McCarthy, a former Federal 
prosecutor, he wrote that: `` . . . not unless there is as-yet-
undisclosed evidence that Trump actually paused to consider the 
possibility that these payments were in-kind campaign expenditures, 
believed they might well be, yet went through with them anyway.'' All 
bootstrapped Federal law into State crime charges.
  Neither the Justice Department nor the Federal Election Commission 
bureaucrats, whose expertise lies in the operation of the relevant 
laws, alleged wrongdoing by Trump. Yet here we are.
  By the way, the whole theory hinges on Michael Cohen, who is widely 
viewed to have committed perjury in multiple locations, including 
before this very body in the House Oversight Committee as Chairman 
Comer has laid out for the public to see.
  By the way, a convicted felon he is. By the way, disbarred he is, 
previously pleading guilty to perjury, financial crimes, and campaign 
finance violations.
  The Southern District of New York decided it was best not to give him 
a cooperation agreement because they would have to rely on his 
testimony. Yet here we are. We have got this case proceeding with Bragg 
doing it for political purposes all in front of a biased judge.
  Judge Merchan refused Trump's legal team's request that he recuse 
himself over bias because his daughter, Lauren, worked as a Democratic 
political consultant.
  One of our own colleagues, Mr. Goldman--formerly a lawyer for Schiff, 
Representative Schiff, during Trump's first impeachment--is her client, 
and has also been working to prep Cohen for testimony this week.
  By the way, the daughter of the judge has worked for prominent 
Democrats--Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Congressman Adam Schiff, and 
has made multiple contributions to Democratic campaigns. Meanwhile, 
Bragg continues.
  This whole sham of a trial undermines the rule of law and the faith 
of the American people in it. You do not have to love the political 
target, in this case, former President Trump to recognize the 
extraordinary damage that this is doing to the rule of law and our 
institutions. By the way, the purposeful damage that is attempting to 
be done is to President Trump himself. That is the purpose.

                              {time}  2015

  Not allowing this kangaroo court in New York to undermine his ability 
to continue to campaign to try to garner the votes necessary to win in 
November, come in here and clean up the mess that is being created by 
the lawless Biden administration.
  The Biden administration is engaging in lawless behavior on a daily 
basis, whether it is student loans, ignoring the courts, wide-open 
borders, fentanyl pouring into our communities, perpetuating this 
undermining of cops, that is all happening in real time. It is hard to 
keep up with the rampant level of lawlessness coming out of the current 
administration and the abject failure of my radical, progressive 
Democratic colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do a thing 
about it.
  I might note, as an equal opportunity basher of all Members of 
Congress, that nor has the Republican side of the aisle really done 
much to check the current President.
  Wide-open borders? Funded.
  FBI lawlessness, political witch hunts, weaponized against the people 
and the former President? $200 million new headquarters. If you fund 
it, you own it.
  I can tell you that this lawlessness is demonstrably undermining the 
faith of the American people in the institution of Congress and of our 
institutions upon which our entire society rests.
  Right now, people do not believe that our political system is 
working. They do not have faith in elections. They do not have faith 
that our borders are being protected. They do not have faith that our 
police are being supported, that our streets are safe. They do not have 
faith in a system of justice that will target a former President for 
political purposes and a Department of Justice that will be weaponized 
against the people.
  A woman just yesterday or two days ago was sentenced to 57 months in 
jail, almost 5 years, because she protested at an abortion clinic in 
Washington, D.C. By the way, a progressive activist. A progressive 
activist in jail for 57 months. It is extraordinary.
  What are we doing about it? We are Congress. It is right here in D.C. 
Does anybody care about this woman's life? Maybe it is a misdemeanor. 
Maybe she should pay a fine. I don't know, maybe a misdemeanor like 30 
days in jail if she did something that was blocking people's access or 
something--I don't know--but 5 years in jail under a FACE Act, Federal 
prosecution? That is extraordinary. Does anybody care about what is 
happening to the weaponization of government against the people?
  Again, do you believe that your Nation is sovereign and secure when 
our borders are wide open and terrorists and criminals come in? The 
answer is no.
  The county attorney of Kinney County, Texas, was just testifying this 
week in the Budget Committee, and he said in 2021 they had about 150 
prosecutions. Last year, they had 6,700.
  My Democratic colleagues shrug that off like it is no big deal. They 
shrug off the $13 billion that Texas has to pay to deal with the wide-
open borders. They shrug off the death of Laken Riley like it is just 
some happenstance because the President is violently disregarding our 
laws and pumping people into the United States in violation of parole 
laws.
  Our cops are being targeted. They are not being prosecuted. Soros DAs 
are letting criminals out on the street. We are funding the 
lawlessness, letting people out on the streets. All of that is 
continuing while a judge goes after a former President of the United 
States, while a radical DA in New York, another Soros DA, is going 
after the former President for clearly political purposes with a sham 
trial.
  All of that is happening. Why would the American people believe in 
the institutions of this country? You would think we would be doing 
something to try to restore that. Here we are. There is one thing we 
can do. One thing we should do to restore some semblance of confidence 
in our system this year.
  House Republicans must pass the SAVE Act. House Republicans have the 
opportunity to make clear what 87 percent of Americans believe, that 
only citizens of the United States should vote in elections; and in 
this case in the SAVE Act, if they vote in Federal elections, they must 
be a citizen. They must produce documentary evidence of being a citizen 
of the United States to vote in a Federal election. There is vast 
bipartisan support across this country--87 percent of Americans--to 
ensure that you can believe in our system of elections, that only 
citizens will be voting.
  Just last week, my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues 
unanimously opposed the bill to exclude non-United States citizens from 
the Census used to allocate congressional seats. Also last week, in a 
very clearly Freudian slip, President Biden described the millions of 
illegal aliens he has allowed into the United States as ``voters.'' 
Washington, D.C., fairly notoriously, just had a training program in 
April, training people to be able to make it possible for illegal 
aliens in D.C. to vote.
  Now, they will all say, Chip, it is already unlawful for people to 
vote in Federal elections if they are not a citizen. Do you believe it? 
Do you believe that the jurisdictions across this country, including 
the Nation's Capital, including San Francisco, Oakland, and multiple 
places around this country that have embraced allowing illegal aliens 
to vote in local and State elections, do you believe that they are 
being checked to ensure that they are not voting in Federal elections?
  Let me tell you this: Current law, in all of our infinite wisdom as 
Congress--because we get so many things right here--current law put 
forward by the Congress restricts the ability of States, restricts the 
ability of States to check to make sure that you are a citizen. True. 
True story. The brilliance of your United States Congress, they say by 
law you must be a citizen to vote, but then they say: You, State, can't 
check to make sure that the voter is a citizen.

[[Page H3269]]

  Arizona has two systems for voting: State-based. Why? Because they 
passed a law saying only citizens can vote. They have a system to 
check. State elections, State races, local races, they are required to 
check for citizenship for that. For Federal elections, they don't. Now, 
how messed up is that?

  The Constitution gives authority to the Congress to be able to ensure 
the integrity of our elections. Yes, the States can set the time, 
place, and manner of how the elections are carried out, but Congress 
has the power to step in to ensure that our elections are carried out 
appropriately.
  We have a simple bill, the SAVE Act. It has 50-odd cosponsors in the 
House and growing. My colleague, Senator Mike Lee, in the Senate 
introduced it over there. It has multiple cosponsors and growing. This 
bill is simple--every single Republican should support it, and if they 
don't support it, they should answer why--should voters in the United 
States who are voting in Federal elections be citizens of the United 
States? 87 percent of Americans say yes. Anybody sensible says yes. 
Should anyone who is going to vote in those Federal elections in 
Congress, Senate, and for the Presidency, have to demonstrate that they 
are, in fact, citizens, by presenting a passport, by presenting a voter 
ID, a real ID from a State-issued driver's license, combined with a 
birth certificate, other forms that we lay out, like anything else you 
have to do. If you want to fly in this country, all the things that you 
have to do to prove you are who you say you are.
  To my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues who protest, saying 
this is crazy, it is already a requirement that you be a citizen to 
vote. Then what are you afraid of? What are you worried about?
  I will tell you what they are worried about. They are worried about 
making sure it is true. They worry about the fact that the vast 
majority of my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues would be 
perfectly fine getting rid of that law requiring citizenship to vote.
  We need to call the question. We have a piece of legislation that is 
supported by vast numbers of election law experts and groups, supported 
by the Speaker of the House, supported by 50-odd Republicans and 
growing. This bill needs to be brought forward. It needs to be brought 
to the House Admin Committee. It needs to be brought to the Rules 
Committee and to the floor of the House. It needs to be voted out by my 
Republican colleagues or they need to explain why.
  It is a simple question. If you want people to believe in their 
country, if you want them to believe in the rule of law, if you want 
them to believe in their system of government, if you want them to 
believe in the elections of their Representatives and of the President 
of the United States, so that we can avoid what happened in 2016 when 
my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues questioned the election 
of President Trump over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and did so 
vocally and loudly and repeatedly questioning. Again, in 2020, 
questions about the election; all the way right up and through January.
  If you want to get rid of those problems, then make sure our 
elections are believable. Make sure that you know who is voting and, 
importantly, make sure that only citizens of the United States of 
America are voting in Federal elections. This is not a hard question. 
You either believe it or you don't.
  To my Republican colleagues who want to hide behind federalism, 
don't. The Constitution of the United States is clear: Both in terms of 
our ability to deal with the election of Members of Congress and the 
President, as well as issues like naturalization, our power in this 
area is clear. Our ability to make sure that we can do it without 
unduly burdening the ability of a citizen to vote is clear. Get busy 
fixing it if you have got a concern, but don't hide because there is 
going to be nowhere to hide.
  The future of our country depends on the faith the people of the 
United States have in our institutions. We should support our police. 
We should support the rule of law. We should put criminals behind bars. 
We should have a sovereign nation and a secure border. We should know 
who is here. We should remove illegal aliens. We should secure the 
border of the United States. We should make sure that only citizens 
vote in our elections. We should end the dangerous flow of fentanyl 
into our communities. We should stop countenancing the sham trials and 
the politicization of our judiciary system against the former President 
of the United States or the politicization of the Department of Justice 
against the American people.
  If you want to restore the greatness of this country, if you want to 
create prosperity, if you want to be able to believe in a country, if 
you want to be able to restore the American Dream and pass it down to 
our kids and grandkids, the birthright of being an American, it all 
begins and ends with the rule of law.
  The rule of law is why people have come to our country to achieve 
greatness. They don't come here for free lunches, not historically. 
Maybe more recently. As the great economist Milton Friedman said, he is 
all for open borders if you get rid of the social welfare state.

  Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a social welfare state. We need 
to limit the flow of people coming into the country and taking 
advantage of the social welfare state. We need to restore sovereignty. 
We need to make sure that criminals and terrorists aren't coming here. 
We need to secure the border, end the flow of fentanyl, make sure only 
citizens vote, support our law enforcement, keep criminals in jail, and 
keep the American people safe.
  If you do that, there is a small chance that if combined with any 
kind of ounce of fiscal restraint by this body--I will not hold my 
breath on that one right now--we might be able to save this country for 
our kids and grandkids.
  I want to be very clear, in particular to my Republican colleagues, 
if you think you are going to hide behind election season, if you think 
you are going to hide behind talking about what rules go down, what 
don't go down, if you think you are going to hide behind the 
Presidential election and the first 100 days of an agenda, if you think 
you are going to be able to hide behind that to avoid answering to the 
American people on what we said we would do--cutting spending, 
balancing the budget, securing the border of the United States, 
ensuring our military is strong, has the tools to carry out its job 
with a clear mission and care when they get home, but is sparingly used 
and not in endless wars, if you want to make sure that you can go to 
the doctor of your choice, get the healthcare of your choosing and not 
an insurance bureaucrat, if you want to make sure you can have a car 
that you can afford and electricity in your home, and if you want to be 
able to be free from the bureaucracy of a Federal Government strangling 
the American family, if you want to be able to send your kid to the 
school of your choice and be able to make sure that they are being 
taught that America is great and that God is real and that we can do 
great things, if you want those things, then you have to actually fight 
for them.

                              {time}  2030

  You can't just pass empty bills with empty titles because that is all 
we do in this damn place every day. We did it today.
  We passed multiple bills that won't do a damn thing, all with fancy 
titles that make it hard for people to vote against whatever that 
additional spending or additional bureaucracy is.
  That is what we did. We did it today. We will do it tomorrow. We will 
then try to campaign on those empty, nonsense bills.
  Why don't we do something that matters? Why don't we actually do one 
thing we said we would do? Yes, I said it again to my Republican 
colleagues who excoriate me because of a speech I gave before 
Thanksgiving saying: Name one thing.
  Well, we passed the TikTok bill on a bipartisan basis. We will 
require China to divest TikTok. I support that, all right.
  We have this great SAVE Act we are moving. I hope we can actually 
pass it off the floor. We haven't done that yet. When are we going to 
step up to the plate and do the things we said we would do?
  Have we cut spending? No. Did we honor the caps to even hold 
spending? No. Have we secured the border? No.

[[Page H3270]]

Have we reined in what I might refer to as endless wars and endless 
conflict for the last 25 years? We have had a perpetual war, funding 
other people's wars. No. Have we restored energy freedom? No. Have we 
restored healthcare freedom, go to the doctor of your choice? No.
  When are we going to do one of those things? That is why we are here. 
That is why the voters sent us here.
  We should get busy doing the things that we said we would do, and it 
all begins and ends with restoring the rule of law in this country: 
Stand by cops, bad guys in jail, sovereign Nation, stop letting people 
coming in, stop letting fentanyl come in, require that only citizens 
vote, and pass the SAVE Act to ensure that we can believe in our 
elections and that only citizens are voting in them.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks 
to the chair and not to a perceived viewing office.

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