[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 184 (Wednesday, December 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H6812-H6813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Mann) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, for 4 years, the Biden administration's weak 
foreign policies allowed Communist China, Russia, Iran, and other 
adversaries to take full advantage of America. This weakness has put 
Americans in danger, made America less secure, and hurt America's 
reputation with our longstanding allies and friends.
  When President Biden campaigned for President, he promised Americans 
that he would be a unifying figure. Rather than sticking to his word, 
he spent much of his tenure undoing President Trump's popular policies, 
foreign and domestic, regardless of their effectiveness.
  This stubbornness and pure partisanship have backfired and made 
America less secure than it was just 4 years ago. For example, 
President Biden orchestrated the largest botched withdrawal of American 
troops of our generation when he abandoned vulnerable Americans in 
Afghanistan and allowed the Taliban to regain control and diminish the 
freedoms our country worked so hard to preserve.
  When President Trump worked on the Doha agreement, he required the 
Taliban to curb terrorist activity in Afghanistan and the region. 
President Biden, on the other hand, never required the Taliban to agree 
to those same conditions, withdrew without a long-term strategy, and 
allowed terrorists to make themselves at home in Afghanistan once 
again.
  President Biden's weakness on the world stage continues to be on full 
display in the Middle East in his appeasement strategy with the Iranian 
regime.

[[Page H6813]]

Iran is not America's friend. We all know that, yet President Biden 
ignores Iran's bad intentions and Iran's possession of resources that 
pose a great threat to our allies, including Israel.
  While President Trump applied a maximum-pressure strategy that 
constrained Tehran financially, President Biden was at the helm as 
Iranian-backed militias attacked our troops more than 170 times without 
consequence. President Biden's so-called strategy only emboldened Hamas 
and other Iran-backed proxies to attack our ally Israel, launching the 
deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
  Other adversaries are closely watching. China continues planning its 
invasion of Taiwan and increases its influence in America's absence. 
Just this week, several of my colleagues joined me in expressing 
concerns to President Biden about Communist China's growing influence 
at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. A recent 
proposal from the current FAO director-general and former Chinese Vice 
Minister would extend the director-general's tenure from 8 years to a 
decade, increase his already $300,000 salary, and give Communist China 
more control of the U.S.-led World Food Program.

  America cannot afford to sit by idly, even during our time of 
political transition, while China positions itself to expand its 
influence.
  I have been blessed to grow up in a world where the United States has 
led the free world. I want my children, their children, and future 
generations to grow up in a similar world, but I understand that 
leadership didn't come from being passive or trying to tap dance around 
communism.
  President Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of Kansas' favorite sons, 
military hero, and our 34th United States President, dedicated his 
entire career to promoting freedom and waging peace. He helped shape 
the global U.S. leadership many of us know today. In his inaugural 
address, he said: ``History does not long entrust the care of freedom 
to the weak or the timid.''
  Unfortunately, the Biden administration has chosen timidness and 
tiptoed approaches to foreign policy to placate far-left activists. 
Luckily, Mr. Speaker, this will soon be over. I would say to America 
that we got it right. President Trump is committed to securing American 
peace through strength and making it clear to our enemies that we will 
not tolerate any nonsense.
  It is a new day in America, and the days of American weakness are 
gone. I look forward to working with President Trump and the incoming 
House and Senate Republican majorities to restore America's leadership 
and make the country safe again. Our brightest days are yet to come.

                          ____________________