[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 150 (Wednesday, September 25, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5758-H5759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE CHOICE BEFORE US

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Mann) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge this will be the very 
last time I speak in this Chamber before the next Presidential 
election.
  In the coming weeks, the American people will head to the polls, and 
we will have a choice before us. We can choose 4 more years of Vice 
President Harris chaos and madness, or we can choose 4 years of law and 
order and American strength.
  When I came to Congress almost 4 years ago, America was strong, our 
streets were safe, and our border was more secure than at any time in 
recent history. Prior to the pandemic, the U.S. had one of the 
strongest economies we have had in the past 20 years.
  Even in the face of adversity, President Trump led the Federal 
Government in empowering America's small businesses and families.

[[Page H5759]]

  Just a few years before, House Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act that put more money in the pockets of American families, put 
more food on their tables, and better positioned them to care for each 
other.
  Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago, America's strength was well understood on 
the world stage. The Trump administration spearheaded the historic 
Abraham Accords, and the U.S. was tough on adversaries like Communist 
China, Iran, and their terrorist proxies. We saw an era of historic 
trade deals with the passage of USMCA, President Trump's trade deal 
with Japan, and his administration's work to hold China accountable for 
the deal it agreed to. It truly was an era of American greatness.
  Unfortunately, much of that greatness has been undermined. I once 
looked at the Nation and felt optimistic about the future that awaited 
my children. I felt that when it was time for them to spread their 
wings and build their own lives, they would inherit a country that gave 
them the opportunity to pursue their American Dreams.
  I was confident that when their time came for them to purchase a 
home, choose a college or university, or start their own small 
business, they would step into an economy that would empower them to 
successfully do these things.
  On January 21, 2021, that started to change. Vice President Harris 
and President Biden have made America less safe, destroyed the American 
economy, and made America look weak on the world stage.

  Since day one, Vice President Harris and President Biden have been 
laser focused on rolling back President Trump's policies that actually 
worked.
  Their open-border policies have ushered 16 million illegal immigrants 
into the country without adequate background checks or vetting, making 
every State in this country a border State. Rather than fixing their 
open-border policies, they coddle radical activists and leave Americans 
at risk. Under their leadership, cartels and drug lords have been the 
winners, and the American people have been the losers.
  Vice President Harris and President Biden's economic policies are the 
primary reason for the skyrocketing inflation that has haunted America 
over the past 3 years.
  In the Big First District of Kansas, American families, small 
business owners, farmers, ranchers, and our agricultural producers have 
struggled to manage sky-high interest rates, higher input costs, and a 
crumbling economy. For young Americans, homeownership feels like a 
distant dream. Rather than reversing bad policies or coming up with 
solutions to these challenges, the Biden-Harris administration's 
proposal is more reckless government spending that got us here in the 
first place.
  Vice President Harris and President Biden have failed to capitalize 
on the strength of President Trump's trade deals and have formed zero 
new trade deals in the last 4 years. The country is facing the largest 
agricultural trade deficit that we have faced in years, hurting 
American farmers, ranchers, and ag producers, who desperately want 
access to new markets to help feed a hungry world.
  Vice President Harris and President Biden's weak foreign policy gave 
Russia a green light to attack Ukraine while their appeasement to the 
Iranian regime emboldened Iran-backed Hamas to attack our strongest 
ally in the Middle East, Israel. As anti-Semitism rotted our own 
Nation, college campuses, and universities, the Biden-Harris 
administration turned a blind eye and instead held up congressionally 
approved arms for Israel to protect itself.
  Mr. Speaker, is this the future that we want? Do we want to gift our 
children a nation with wide-open borders? Do we want them to grow up in 
a country with an economy that fails to work for the average family and 
fails to address our $35 trillion debt? Do we want a nation that is 
unsafe or where the American Dream is no longer attainable?
  In a few short weeks, we will head to the polls, and we have a 
choice. We can vote for a candidate who has told us what she wants to 
do to address her own failing policies, or we can vote for a candidate 
who has shown us what his policies can do to strengthen the Nation. I 
know the choice that I will make.

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