[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 4, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H966-H973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 2039
JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS PURSUANT TO HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 11 TO
RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
The recess having expired, the House was called to order by the
Speaker at 8 o'clock and 39 minutes p.m.
The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms, Mrs. Seton Gardner, announced
the Vice President and Members of the U.S. Senate, who entered the Hall
of the House of Representatives, the Vice President taking the chair at
the right of the Speaker, and the Members of the Senate the seats
reserved for them.
The SPEAKER. The joint session will come to order.
The Chair appoints as members of the committee on the part of the
House to escort the President of the United States into the Chamber:
The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise);
The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer);
The gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain);
The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson);
The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler);
The gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore);
The gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Houchin);
The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern);
The gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries);
The gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark);
The gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar);
The gentleman from California (Mr. Lieu);
The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse);
The gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene); and
The gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Dingell).
The VICE PRESIDENT. The President of the Senate, at the direction of
that body, appoints the following Senators as members of the committee
on the part of the Senate to escort the President of the United States
into the House Chamber:
The Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Thune);
The Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso);
The Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Cotton);
The Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Lankford);
The Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito);
The Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott);
The Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer);
The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin);
The Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar);
The Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker); and
The Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin).
The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms announced the Dean of the
Diplomatic Corps, His Excellency Hersey Kyota, the Ambassador of the
Republic of Palau.
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps entered the Hall of the House of
Representatives and took the seat reserved for him.
The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms announced the Chief Justice of
the United States and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice of the United States and the Associate Justices of
the Supreme Court entered the Hall of the House of Representatives and
took the seats reserved for them in front of the Speaker's rostrum.
The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms announced the Cabinet of the
President of the United States.
The members of the Cabinet of the President of the United States
entered the Hall of the House of Representatives and took the seats
reserved for them in front of the Speaker's rostrum.
At 9 o'clock and 13 minutes p.m., the Sergeant at Arms, the Honorable
William P. McFarland, announced the President of the United States.
The President of the United States, escorted by the committee of
Senators and Representatives, entered the Hall of the House of
Representatives and stood at the Clerk's desk.
(Applause, the Members rising.)
The PRESIDENT. Speaker Johnson, Vice President Vance, the First Lady
of the United States, Members of the United States Congress, thank you
very much.
And to my fellow citizens, America is back. Six weeks ago, I stood
beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden
age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and
unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in
the history of our country.
We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations
accomplished in 4 years or 8 years, and we are just getting started.
I return to this Chamber tonight to report that America's momentum is
back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back.
And the American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.
The American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of
a comeback, the likes of which the world has never witnessed and
perhaps will never witness again. There's never been anything like it.
The Presidential election of November 5th was a mandate like has not
been seen in many decades. We won all seven swing States, giving us an
electoral college victory of 312 votes. We won the popular vote by big
numbers and won counties in our country--and won counties in our
country 2,700 to 525 on a map that reads almost completely red for
Republican.
Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe
that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong
direction. In fact, it is an astonishing record 27-point swing, the
most ever.
Likewise, small business optimism saw its single largest 1-month gain
ever recorded, a 41-point jump.
The SPEAKER. Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in
the
[[Page H967]]
House and to cease any further disruptions. That's your warning.
Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and
the Chair is prepared to direct the Sergeant at Arms to restore order
to the joint session.
Mr. Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir. Take your seat.
Finding that Members continue to engage in willful and concerted
disruption of proper decorum, the Chair now directs the Sergeant at
Arms to restore order.
Remove this gentleman from the Chamber.
Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House.
Mr. President, you can continue.
The PRESIDENT. Thank you.
Over the past 6 weeks, I have signed nearly 100 executive orders and
taken more than 400 executive actions, a record, to restore common
sense, safety, optimism, and wealth all across our wonderful land. The
people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it.
In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our
Presidency--it's our Presidency--is the most successful in the history
of our Nation, by many. And what makes it even more impressive is that
you know who number two is? George Washington. How about that? How
about that? I don't know about that list, but we'll take it.
Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national
emergency on our southern border, and I deployed the U.S. military and
Border Patrol to repel the invasion of our country. And what a job they
have done.
As a result, illegal border crossings last month were by far the
lowest ever recorded, ever. They heard my words, and they chose not to
come. Much easier that way.
In comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst President in American
history, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month,
and virtually all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang
members, and people from mental institutions and insane asylums, were
released into our country. Who would want to do that?
This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at
the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing
I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud,
nothing I can do. I could find a cure to the most devastating disease,
a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers
to the greatest economy in history or the stoppage of crime to the
lowest levels ever recorded, and these people, sitting right here, will
not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these
astronomical achievements. They won't do it, no matter what. Five--five
times I have been up here. It's very sad, and it just shouldn't be this
way.
So, Democrats sitting before me, for just this one night, why not
join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America? For the
good of our Nation, let's work together, and let's truly make America
great again.
Every day, my administration is fighting to deliver the change
America needs to bring a future that America deserves, and we are doing
it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action.
Upon taking office, I imposed an immediate freeze on all Federal
hiring, a freeze on all new Federal regulations, and a freeze on all
foreign aid.
I terminated the ridiculous green new scam. I withdrew from the
unfair Paris climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars
that other countries were not paying. I withdrew from the corrupt World
Health Organization, and I also withdrew from the anti-American U.N.
Human Rights Council.
We ended all of Biden's environmental restrictions that were making
our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And, importantly,
we ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate
saving our autoworkers and companies from economic destruction.
To unshackle our economy, I have directed that for every 1 new
regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated just like I did in my
very successful first term.
And in that first term, we set records on ending unnecessary rules
and regulations, like no other President had done before. We ordered
all Federal workers to return to the office. They will either show up
for work in person or be removed from their job.
And we have ended weaponized government where, as an example, a
sitting President is allowed to viciously prosecute his political
opponent, like me.
How did that work out? Not too good. Not too good.
And I've stopped all government censorship and brought back free
speech in America. It's back.
And 2 days ago I signed an order making English the official language
of the United States of America.
I renamed the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America, and, likewise, I
renamed for a great President, William McKinley, Mount McKinley again.
Beautiful Alaska. We love Alaska.
We've ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion
policies all across the entire Federal Government and, indeed, the
private sector, and our military. And our country will be woke no
longer.
We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, or
an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on
skill and competence, not race or gender. Very important. You should be
hired based on merit, and the Supreme Court in a brave and very
powerful decision has allowed us to do so.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
We have removed the poison of critical race theory from our public
schools. And I signed an order making it the official policy of the
United States Government that there are only two genders, male and
female.
I also signed an executive order to ban men from playing in women's
sports.
Three years ago, Payton McNabb was an all-star high school athlete,
one of the best, preparing for a future in college sports. But when her
girls volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so
hard in Payton's face, causing traumatic brain injury, partially
paralyzing her right side and ending her athletic career. It was a shot
like she's never seen before. She's never seen anything like it. Payton
is here tonight in the gallery.
And, Payton, from now on schools will kick the men off the girls'
team or they will lose all Federal funding.
And if you really want to see numbers, just take a look at what
happened in the women's boxing, weightlifting, track and field,
swimming, or cycling, where a male recently finished a long-distance
race 5 hours and 14 minutes ahead of a woman for a new record by 5
hours. Broke the record by 5 hours. It's demeaning for women, and it's
very bad for our country. We're not going to put up with it any longer.
What I have just described is only a small fraction of the
commonsense revolution that is now, because of us, sweeping the entire
world. Common sense has become a common theme, and we will never go
back, never. Never going to let that happen.
Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get
dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we
inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an
inflation nightmare. Their policies drove up energy prices, pushed up
grocery costs, and drove the necessities of life out of reach for
millions and millions of Americans. They've never had anything like it.
We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the
history of our country. They're not sure. As President, I'm fighting
every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again.
Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The
egg price is out of control, and we're working hard to get it back
down.
Secretary, do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the
previous administration. Do a good job.
A major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing
the cost of energy. The previous administration cut the number of new
oil and gas leases by 95 percent, slowed pipeline construction to a
halt, and closed more than 100 power plants. We are opening up many of
those power plants right now; and, frankly, we have never seen anything
like it. That is why, on my first day in office, I declared a national
energy emergency.
As you've heard me say many times, we have more liquid gold under our
feet
[[Page H968]]
than any nation on Earth, and by far, and now, I fully authorize the
most talented team ever assembled to go and get it. It's called drill,
baby, drill.
My administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline
in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea,
and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions
of dollars each. There has never been anything like that one. It will
be truly spectacular. It's all set to go. The permitting is gotten.
And, later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically
expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.
To further combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of
energy, but we'll be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars.
And, to that end, I have created the brand-new Department of Government
Efficiency, DOGE. Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps, which is headed
by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight.
Thank you, Elon.
He's working very hard. He didn't need this. He didn't need this.
Thank you very much. We appreciate it, everybody here. Even this side
appreciates it, I believe. They just don't want to admit that.
Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already
identified:
$22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal
aliens;
$45 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in
Burma;
$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary
migrants--nobody knows what that is;
$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which
nobody has ever heard of;
$60 million for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in
Central America, $60 million;
$8 million for making mice transgender. This is real;
$32 million for a leftwing propaganda operation in Moldova;
$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique;
$20 million for the Arab ``Sesame Street'' in the Middle East--it's a
program--$20 million for a program;
$1.9 billion to a recently created decarbonization of homes committee
headed up--and we know she's involved--just at the last moment, the
money was passed over--by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever
heard of her?
A $3.5 million consulting contract for lavish fish monitoring;
$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia;
$14 million for social cohesion in Mali;
$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City--he's a
real estate developer. He's done very well;
$250,000 to increase vegan local climate action innovation in Zambia;
$42 million for social and behavior change in Uganda;
$14 million for improving public procurement in Serbia;
$47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia. Asia is doing
very well with learning. I don't know what we are doing. We should use
it ourself;
And $101 million for DEI contracts at the Department of Education,
the most ever paid, nothing even like it.
Under the Trump administration, all of these scams, and there are far
worse, but I didn't think it was appropriate to talk about them, they
are so bad. Many more have been found out and exposed and swiftly
terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people, headed
up by Elon, and we appreciate it. We found hundreds of billions of
dollars of fraud.
And we've taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight
inflation and other things--taken back a lot of that money. We got it
just in time. This is just the beginning.
The Government Accountability Office, a Federal Government office,
has estimated annual fraud of over $500 billion in our Nation, and we
are working very hard to stop it. We're going to.
We're also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable
fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors and that our
seniors and people that we love rely on.
Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social
Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old.
It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119. I don't know any of
them. I know some people that are rather elderly, but not quite that
elderly;
3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129;
3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139;
3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149, and money is being paid to
many of them, and we're searching right now.
In fact, Pam, good luck. Good luck. You are going to find it. But a
lot of money is paid out to people because it just keeps getting paid
and paid, and nobody does--and it really hurts Social Security and
hurts our country.
1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159; and over 130,000 people,
according to the Social Security databases, are aged over 160 years
old--we have a healthier country than I thought, Bobby--including, to
finish, 1,039 people between the ages of 220 and 229;
1 person between the age of 240 and 249;
And 1 person is listed at 360 years of age, more than 100 years--more
than 100 years older than our country.
But we're going to find out where that money is going, and it's not
going to be pretty. By slashing all of the fraud, waste, and theft we
can find, we will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower
car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors, and put more
money in the pockets of American families.
And today, interest rates took a beautiful drop, a big, beautiful
drop. It's about time.
And in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24
years, balance the Federal budget. We are going to balance it.
With that goal in mind, we have developed in great detail what we are
calling the gold card, which goes on sale very, very soon. For $5
million, we will allow the most successful, job-creating people from
all over the world to buy a path to U.S. citizenship. It's like the
green card but better and more sophisticated.
And these people will have to pay tax in our country. They won't have
to pay tax from where they came. The money that they've made, you
wouldn't want to do that, but they have to pay tax, create jobs.
They'll also be taking people out of colleges and paying for them so
that we can keep them in our country instead of having them being
forced out, number one, at the top school, as an example, being forced
out and not being allowed to stay and create tremendous numbers of jobs
and great success for a company out there.
So while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers, and child
predators who were allowed to enter our country under the open-border
policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration, the
open border, insane policies that you've allowed to destroy our
country, we will now bring in brilliant, hardworking, job-creating
people. They are going to pay a lot of money, and we're going to reduce
our debt with that money.
Americans have given us a mandate for bold and profound change. For
nearly 100 years, the Federal bureaucracy has grown until it has
crushed our freedoms, ballooned our deficits, and held back America's
potential in every possible way.
The Nation, founded by pioneers and risk takers, now drowns under
millions and millions of pages of regulations and debt. Approvals that
should take 10 days to get instead take 10 years, 15 years, and even 20
years before you're rejected.
Meanwhile, we have hundreds of thousands of Federal workers who have
not been showing up to work. My administration will reclaim power from
this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to
America again.
And any Federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed
from office immediately because we are draining the swamp. It's very
simple. And the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over.
And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in
history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody. They're in
there. They're waiting for you to vote, and I'm sure that the people on
my right--I don't mean the Republican right, but my right, right here,
I'm sure you're going to vote for those tax cuts because otherwise I
don't believe the people will ever vote you into office, so I'm doing
you a big favor by telling you that. But I know this group is going to
be voting for the tax cut.
[[Page H969]]
Thank you. It's a very, very big part of our plan. We had tremendous
success at our first term with it. A very big part of our plan, we're
seeking permanent income tax cuts all across the board. And to get
urgently needed relief to Americans hit especially hard by inflation,
I'm calling for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on
Social Security benefits for our great seniors.
And I also want to make interest payments on car loans tax
deductible, but only if the car is made in America.
And, by the way, we're going to have growth in the auto industry like
nobody's ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are
being made. Never seen--that's a combination of the election win and
tariffs. It's a beautiful word, isn't it?
That, along with our other policies, will allow our auto industry to
absolutely boom. It's going to boom. Spoke to the majors today, all
three, the top people, and they're so excited.
In fact, already numerous car companies have announced that they will
be building massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just
announcing a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the
world.
And this has taken place since our great victory on November 5th, a
date which will hopefully go down as one of the most important in the
history of our country.
In addition, as part of our tax cuts, we want to cut taxes on
domestic production and all manufacturing. And just as we did before,
we will provide 100 percent expensing. It will be retroactive to
January 20th, 2025, and it was one of the main reasons why our tax cuts
were so successful in our first term, giving us the most successful
economy in the history of our country, first term. We had a great first
term.
If you don't make your product in America, however, under the Trump
administration, you will pay a tariff and, in some cases, a rather
large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades,
and now it's our turn to start using them against those other
countries.
On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico, and
Canada--have you heard of them?--and countless other nations charge us
tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair.
India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100 percent. China's
average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them. And South
Korea's average tariff is four times higher--think of that, four times
higher--and we give so much help militarily and so many other ways to
South Korea, but that's what happens.
This is happening by friend and foe. The system is not fair to the
United States and never was. And so, on April 2nd--I wanted to make it
April 1st, but I didn't want to be accused of April Fools' Day. That's
not--just one day will cost us a lot of money, but we're going to do it
on April--I'm a very superstitious person--April 2nd reciprocal tariffs
kick in and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff
them. That's reciprocal, back and forth. Whatever they tax us, we will
tax them.
If they do nonmonetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then
we will do nonmonetary barriers to keep them out of our market. There's
a lot of that, too. They don't even allow us in their market.
We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars that create jobs
like we have never seen before. I did it with China and I did it with
others, and the Biden administration couldn't do anything about it
because there was so much money. They couldn't do anything about it.
We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth,
and we will not let that happen any longer.
Much has been said over the last 3 months about Mexico and Canada,
but we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more
importantly, they have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at
levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our
citizens, and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families.
Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
They are, in effect, receiving subsidies of hundreds of billions of
dollars. We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of
billions of dollars. And the United States will not be doing that any
longer. We're not going to do it any longer.
Thanks to our America First policies we're putting into place, we
have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past
few weeks. The combination of the election and our economic policies
that people at SoftBank, one of the most brilliant anywhere in the
world, announced a $200 billion investment. OpenAI and Oracle, Larry
Ellison, announced $500 billion investment, which they wouldn't have
done if Kamala had won. Apple announced $500 billion investment. Tim
Cook called me. He said, I cannot spend it fast enough. It's going to
be much higher than that, I believe. They'll be building their plants
here instead of in China.
And just yesterday, Taiwan Semiconductor, the biggest in the world,
most powerful in the world--has a tremendous amount, 97 percent of the
market--announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful
chips on Earth right here in the USA. And we're not giving them any
money.
Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of
billions of dollars, and it doesn't mean a thing. They take our money,
and they don't spend it.
All that meant to them--we're giving them no money. All that was
important to them was they didn't want to pay the tariffs. So they came
and they're building, and many other companies are coming. We don't
have to give them money. We just want to protect our businesses and our
people. And they will come because they won't have to pay tariffs if
they build in America. So it's very amazing.
You should get rid of the chip act, and whatever is left over, Mr.
Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want
to.
Our new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer--I
love the farmer--who will now be selling into our home market, the USA.
Because nobody is going to be able to compete with you because there's
goods that come in from other countries and companies, they're really,
really in a bad position in so many different ways. They're
uninspected. They may be very dirty and disgusting, and they come in,
and they pour in, and they hurt our American farmers. The tariffs will
go on agricultural product coming into America, and our--our farmers--
starting on April 2nd--it may be a little bit of an adjustment period.
We had that before when I made the deal with China, $50 billion of
purchases, and I said, just bear with me, and they did. They did.
Probably have to bear with me again, and this will be even better. That
was great. The problem with it was that Biden didn't enforce it. He
didn't enforce it. Fifty billion dollars of purchases, and we were
doing great, but Biden did not enforce it, and it hurt our farmers.
But our farmers are going to have a field day right now. So to our
farmers, have a lot of fun. I love you, too. I love you, too. It's all
going to happen.
And I have also imposed a 25 percent tariff on foreign aluminum,
copper, lumber, and steel because if we don't have, as an example,
steel, and lots of other things, we don't have a military and, frankly,
won't have--we just won't have a country very long.
Here today is a proud American steelworker, fantastic person from
Decatur, Alabama. Jeff Denard has been working at the same steel plant
for 27 years at a job that has allowed him to serve as the captain of
his local volunteer fire department, raise 7 children with his
beautiful wife, Nicole, and over the years provide a loving home for
more than 40 foster children. So great, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff. Thank
you, Jeff.
Stories like Jeff's remind us that tariffs are not just about
protecting American jobs, they're about protecting the soul of our
country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America
great again, and it's happening, and it will happen rather quickly.
There will be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't
be much.
No, you're not. Oh, and look--and look where Biden took us. Very low,
the lowest we've ever been.
Jeff, I want to thank you very much.
And I also want to recognize another person who has devoted herself
to foster care community. She works so hard on it, a very loving
person, our magnificent First Lady of the United
[[Page H970]]
States. Melania's work has yielded incredible results, helping prepare
our Nation's future leaders as they enter the workforce.
Our First Lady is joined by two impressive young women, very
impressive: Haley Ferguson, who benefited from the First Lady's
Fostering the Future initiative and is poised to complete her education
and become a teacher and Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an
illicit deepfake image produced by a peer. With Elliston's help the
Senate just passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, and this is so important.
Thank you very much, John. John Thune. Thank you. Stand up, John.
Thank you, John. Thank you all very much. Thank you. And thank you to
John Thune and the Senate. Great job to criminalize. The publication of
such images online is terrible. Terrible thing. And once it passes the
House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. Thank you. And I'm
going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don't mind. Because
nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody. That's great. Thank
you very much to the Senate. Thank you.
But if we truly care about protecting Americans' children, no step is
more crucial than securing America's borders. Over the past 4 years, 21
million people poured into the United States. Many of them were
murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals from
the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world. Because of
Joe Biden's insane and very dangerous open-border policies, they are
now strongly embedded in our country. But we are getting them out and
getting them out fast.
And I want to thank Tom Homan. And Kristi, I want to thank you and
Paul of Border Patrol. I want to thank you. What a job they've all
done. Everybody. Border Patrol, ICE. Law enforcement in general is
incredible. We have to take care of our law enforcement. Have to.
Last year, a brilliant 22-year-old nursing student named Laken Riley,
the best in her class, admired by everybody, went out for a jog on the
campus of the University of Georgia. That morning, Laken was viciously
attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and horrifically murdered.
Laken was stolen from us by a savage, illegal alien gang member who was
arrested while trespassing across Biden's open southern border and then
set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that
failed administration. It was, indeed, a failed administration.
He had then been arrested and released in a Democrat-run sanctuary
city, a disaster, before ending the life of this beautiful, young
angel.
With us this evening are Laken's beloved mother, Allyson, and her
sister, Lauren. Last year, I told Laken's grieving parents that we
would ensure their daughter would not have died in vain. That's why the
very first bill I signed into law as your 47th President mandates the
detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety.
It is a very strong, powerful act. It's called the Laken Riley Act.
So Allyson and Lauren, America will never ever forget our beautiful
Laken Hope Riley.
Thank you very much.
Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping
border and immigration crackdown in American history, and we quickly
achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded.
Thank you.
The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed
new legislation. We must have legislation to secure the border. But it
turned out that all we really needed was a new President.
Thank you.
Joe Biden didn't just open our borders, he flew illegal aliens over
them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals, and communities throughout
the country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio,
buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like
nobody's ever seen before, beautiful towns destroyed.
Now just as I promised in my inaugural address, we are achieving the
great liberation of America. But there still is much work to be done.
Here tonight is a woman I have gotten to know, Alexis Nungaray from
Houston, a wonderful woman. Last June, Alexis' 12-year-old daughter,
her precious Jocelyn, walked to a nearby convenience store. She was
kidnapped, tied up, assaulted for 2 hours under a bridge, and
horrifically murdered.
Arrested and charged with this heinous crime are two illegal alien
monsters from Venezuela, released into America by the last
administration through their ridiculous open border. The death of this
beautiful 12-year-old girl and the agony of her mother and family
touched our entire Nation greatly.
Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter, your
magnificent daughter. And earlier tonight I signed an order, keeping my
word to you.
One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so
much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived
in Houston, you'll find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a
pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God's creatures on
the edge of the Gulf of America.
Alexis, moments ago I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory
of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn.
So, Mr. Vice President, if you would, may I have the order.
Thank you very much.
All three savages charged with Jocelyn and Laken's murders were
members of the Venezuelan prison gang, the toughest gang, they say, in
the world, known as Tren de Aragua. Two weeks ago, I officially
designated this gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican
drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations. They are now
officially in the same category as ISIS, and that's not good for them.
Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S.
by the Biden administration. But now every last one will be rounded up
and forcibly removed from our country or, if they are too dangerous,
put in jails, standing trial in this country because we don't want them
to come back ever.
With us this evening is a warrior on the front lines of that battle,
Border Patrol Agent Roberto Ortiz, a great guy. In January, Roberto and
another agent were patrolling by the Rio Grande near an area known as
cartel island--doesn't sound too nice to me--when heavily armed gunmen
started shooting at them.
Roberto saw that his partner was totally exposed, in great danger,
and he leapt into action, returning fire, and providing crucial seconds
for his fellow agent to seek safety and just barely. I have some of the
prints of that event, and it was not good.
Agent Ortiz, we salute you for your great courage and for your line
of fire that you took and for the bravery that you showed. We honor
you, and we will always honor you. Thank you, Roberto, very much. Thank
you, Roberto.
And I actually got to know him on my many calls to the border. He is
a great, great gentleman.
The territory to the immediate south of our border is now dominated
entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture, and exercise
total control. They have total control over a whole nation, posing a
grave threat to our national security.
The cartels are waging war on America, and it is time for America to
wage war on the cartels, which we are doing.
Five nights ago, Mexican authorities, because of our tariff policies
being imposed on them--think of this--handed over to us 29 of the
biggest cartel leaders in their country. That has never happened
before. They want to make us happy. First time ever.
But we need Mexico and Canada to do much more than they have done,
and they have to stop the fentanyl and drugs pouring into the USA.
They're going to stop it.
I have sent Congress a detailed funding request, laying out exactly
how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and
complete the largest deportation operation in American history, larger
even than current record holder, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a
moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders.
Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I
can sign it into law.
So, Mr. Speaker, John Thune, both of you, I hope you are going to be
able to do that.
Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Mr. Leader, thank you. Thank you very much.
[[Page H971]]
And let's get it to me. I'll sign it so fast, you won't even believe
it.
And as we reclaim our sovereignty, we must also bring back law and
order to our cities and towns.
In recent years, our justice system has been turned upside down by
radical left lunatics. Many jurisdictions virtually ceased enforcing
the law against dangerous repeat offenders while weaponizing law
enforcement against political opponents, like me.
My administration has acted swiftly and decisively to restore fair,
equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law,
starting at the FBI and the DOJ.
Pam, good luck.
Kash, wherever you may be, good luck. Good luck.
Pam Bondi, good luck.
So important. Going to do a great job.
Kash, thank you. Thank you, Kash.
They have already started very strong. They are going to do a
fantastic job. You are going to be very proud of them.
We are also once again giving our police officers the support,
protection, and respect they so dearly deserve. They have to get it.
They have such a hard, dangerous job, but we're going to make it less
dangerous. The problem is, the bad guys don't respect the law, but
they're starting to respect it, and they soon will respect it.
This also includes our great fire departments throughout the country,
our firemen and -women are unbelievable people, and I will never forget
them. And besides that, they voted for me in record numbers, so I have
no choice.
One year ago this month, 31-year-old New York Police Officer Jonathan
Diller, unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer, was gunned
down at a traffic stop on Long Island. I went to his funeral.
The vicious criminal charged with his murder had 21 prior arrests,
and they were rough arrests, too. He was a real bad one. The thug in
the seat next to him had 14 prior arrests and went by the name of
``Killer.'' He was a killer. He killed other people, they say, a lot of
them.
I attended Officer Diller's service, and when I met his wife and 1-
year-old son, Ryan, it was very inspirational actually. His widow's
name is Stephanie, and she is here tonight, Stephanie.
Thank you very much, Stephanie. Thank you very much.
Stephanie, we're going to make sure that Ryan knows his dad was a
true hero, New York's finest, and we're going to get these cold-blooded
killers and repeat offenders off our streets, and we're going to do it
fast. Got to stop it.
They get out with 28 arrests. They push people into subway trains.
They hit people over the head, back of the head, with baseball bats. We
got to get them out of here.
I have already signed an executive order requiring a mandatory death
penalty for anyone who murders a police officer, and tonight, I'm
asking Congress to pass that policy into permanent law.
I'm also asking for a new crime bill getting tough on repeat
offenders while enhancing protections for America's police officers so
they can do their jobs without fear of their lives being totally
destroyed. They don't want to be killed. We're not going to let them be
killed.
Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our
police. His name is DJ Daniel. He's 13 years old, and he has always
dreamed of becoming a police officer. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed
with brain cancer. The doctors gave him 5 months at most to live. That
was more than 6 years ago.
Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his
dream come true, and DJ has been sworn in as an honorary law
enforcement officer actually a number of times. The police love him,
and the police departments love him.
And tonight, DJ, we are going to do you the biggest honor of them
all. I am asking our new Secret Service Director, Sean Curran, to
officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.
Thank you, DJ.
DJ's doctors believe his cancer likely came from a chemical he was
exposed to when he was younger.
Since 1975, rates of child cancer have increased by more than 40
percent. Reversing this trend is one of the top priorities for our new
Presidential Commission to Make America Healthy Again, chaired by our
new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
With the name ``Kennedy,'' you would have thought everybody over here
would have been cheering. How quickly they forget.
Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our
food supply, and keep our children healthy and strong.
As an example, not long ago--and you can't even believe these
numbers--1 in 10,000 children had autism, 1 in 10,000, and now it is 1
in 36. There's something wrong, 1 in 36. Think of that. So we're going
to find out what it is, and there's nobody better than Bobby and all of
the people that are working with you. You have the best to figure out
what is going on. Okay, Bobby? Good luck. It's a very important job.
Thank you.
My administration is also working to protect our children from toxic
ideologies in our schools. A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her
husband discovered that their daughter's school had secretly socially
transitioned their 13-year-old little girl. Teachers and administrators
conspired to deceive January and her husband while encouraging her
daughter to use a new name and pronouns, they/them pronoun actually,
all without telling January who is here tonight and is now a courageous
advocate against this form of child abuse.
January, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Stories like this are why shortly after taking office I signed an
executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children
with transgender ideology. I also signed an order to cut off all
taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual
mutilation of our youth.
And now I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and
criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that
any child is trapped in the wrong body. This is a big lie.
And our message to every child in America is that you are perfect
exactly the way God made you, because we're getting wokeness out of our
schools and out of our military. And it's already out, and it's out of
our society. We don't want it. Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad.
It's gone. It's gone. And we feel so much better for it, don't we?
Don't we feel better?
Our servicemembers won't be activists and ideologues. They will be
fighters and warriors. They will fight for our country.
And, Pete, congratulations. Secretary of Defense, congratulations.
And he is not big into the woke movement, I can tell you. I know him
well.
I am pleased to report that in January, the U.S. Army had its single
best recruiting month in 15 years and that all armed services are
having among the best recruiting results ever in the history of our
services. What a difference.
And, you know, it was just a few months ago where the results were
exactly the opposite. We couldn't recruit anywhere. We couldn't
recruit. Now, we're having the best results, just about, that we've
ever had. What a tremendous turnaround. It's really a beautiful thing
to see. People love our country again. It's very simple. They love our
country, and they love being in our military again. So it's a great
thing, and thank you very much. Great job. Thank you.
We're joined tonight by a young man, Jason Hartley, who knows the
weight of that call of duty. Jason's father, grandfather, and great-
grandfather all wore the uniform. Jason tragically lost his dad, who
was also a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy, when he was just a boy,
and now he wants to carry on the family legacy of service. Jason is a
senior in high school, a six-letter varsity athlete, a really good
athlete they say, a brilliant student with a 4.46--that's good--GPA,
and his greatest dream is to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point.
And, Jason, that's a very big deal getting in. That's a hard one to
get into, but I'm pleased to inform you that your application has been
accepted. You will soon be joining the Corps of Cadets.
[[Page H972]]
Thank you. Jason, you're going to be on the long, gray line, Jason.
As Commander in Chief, my focus is on building the most powerful
military of the future. As a first step, I'm asking Congress to fund a
state-of-the-art golden dome missile defense shield to protect our
homeland, all made in the USA. And Ronald Reagan wanted to do it long
ago, but the technology just wasn't there, not even close, but now we
have the technology. It's incredible, actually. And other place they
have it--Israel has it. Other places have it. And the United States
should have it, too. Right, Tim, right? They should have it, too. So I
want to thank you. But it's very important. This is a very dangerous
world. We should have it. We want to be protected, and we're going to
protect our citizens like never before.
To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect
the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding
and military shipbuilding.
And for that purpose, I am announcing tonight that we will create a
new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House and offer special tax
incentives to bring this industry home to America where it belongs. We
used to make so many ships. We don't make them anymore very much, but
we're going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge
impact.
To further enhance our national security, my administration will be
reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it. Just
today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports
around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the
Panama Canal and a couple of other canals.
The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for
others, but others could use it. But it was built at tremendous cost of
American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama
Canal. They died of malaria. They died of snakebites and mosquitoes,
not a nice place to work. They paid them very highly to go there,
knowing there was a 25 percent chance that they would die. The most
expensive project also that was ever built in our country's history if
you bring it up to modern day costs.
It was given away by the Carter administration for $1, but that
agreement has been violated very severely. We didn't give it to China.
We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back.
And we have Marco Rubio in charge. Good luck, Marco. Now we know who
to blame if anything goes wrong.
No. Marco's been amazing, and he's going to do a great job. Think of
it. He got 100 votes. You know, he was approved with actually 99, but
the 100th was this gentleman, and I feel very certain, so let's assume
he got 100 votes. And I am either very, very happy about that, or I am
very concerned about it, but he's already proven--I mean, he's a great
gentleman.
He's respected by everybody, and we appreciate you voting for Marco.
He's going to do a fantastic job. Thank you.
Thank you. He's doing a great job. Great job.
And I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of
Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future,
and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.
We need Greenland for national security and even international
security, and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it.
But we need it really for international world security, and I think
we're going to get it. One way or the other, we're going to get it.
We will keep you safe. We will make you rich, and, together, we will
take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.
It's a very small population, but very, very large piece of land and
very, very important for military security. America is once again
standing strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism.
Three and a half years ago, ISIS terrorists killed 13 American
servicemembers and countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing during
the disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that
they were withdrawing. It was the way they withdrew, perhaps the most
embarrassing moment in the history of our country.
Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the
top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his
way here to face the swift sword of American justice.
And I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping
arrest this monster. This was a very momentous day for those 13
families, who I actually got to know very well, most of them, whose
children were murdered and the many people that were so badly--over 42
people so badly injured on that fateful day in Afghanistan. What a
horrible day.
Such incompetence was shown that, when Putin saw what happened, I
guess he said: Wow, maybe this is my chance. That's how bad it was. It
should have never happened. Grossly incompetent people.
I spoke to many of the parents and loved ones, and they're all in our
hearts tonight. I just spoke to them on the phone. We had a big call.
Every one of them called, and everybody was on the line, and they did
nothing but cry with happiness. They were very happy, as happy as you
can be under those circumstances. Their child, brother, sister, son,
daughter was killed for no reason whatsoever.
In the Middle East, we are bringing back our hostages from Gaza. In
my first term, we achieved one of the most groundbreaking peace
agreements in generations, the Abraham Accords, and now we're going to
build on that foundation to create a more peaceful and prosperous
future for the entire region.
A lot of things are happening in the Middle East. People haven't been
talking about that so much lately with everything going on with Ukraine
and Russia, but a lot of things are happening in the Middle East. It's
a rough neighborhood, actually.
I am also working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine.
Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or
wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight. The
United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support
Ukraine's defense, with no security, with no anything.
Do you want to keep it going for another 5 years? Yeah? Yeah. You
would say. Pocahontas says: Yes.
Two thousand people are being killed every single week. More than
that. They're Russian young people. They're Ukrainian young people.
They're not Americans, but I want it to stop.
Meanwhile, Europe has, sadly, spent more money buying Russian oil and
gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far. Think of that.
They've spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending,
and we've spent perhaps $350 billion, like taking candy from a baby.
That's what happened, and they've spent $100 billion.
What a difference that is. And we have an ocean separating us, and
they don't. But we're getting along very well with them, and lots of
good things are happening.
Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent
by billions and billions of dollars. It's hard to believe that they
wouldn't have stopped it and said at some point: Come on, let's
equalize. You've got to be equal to us.
But that didn't happen.
Earlier today, I received an important letter from President
Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
The letter reads: Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table
as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace
more than the Ukrainians, he said. My team and I stand ready to work
under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We
do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its
sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and
security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient
for you.
I appreciate that he sent this letter. Just got it a little while
ago.
Simultaneously, we've had serious discussions with Russia and have
received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn't that be
beautiful? Wouldn't that be beautiful? Wouldn't that be beautiful?
It's time to stop this madness. It's time to halt the killing. It's
time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to
talk to both sides.
Nearly 4 years ago, amid rising tensions, a history teacher named
Marc Fogel was detained in Russia and sentenced to 14 years in a penal
colony--
[[Page H973]]
rough stuff. The previous administration barely lifted a finger to help
him. They knew he was innocent, but they had no idea where to begin.
But, last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, that we
would bring her boy safely back home.
After 22 days in office, I did just that, and they are here tonight.
To Marc and his great mom, we are delighted to have you safe and
sound and with us.
As fate would have it, Marc Fogel was born in a small, rural town, in
Butler, Pennsylvania--have you heard of it?--where his mother has lived
for the past 78 years.
I just happened to go there last July 13th for a rally. That was not
pleasant. And that is where I met his beautiful mom right before I
walked onto that stage, and I told her I would not forget what she said
about her son. And I never did, did I? I never forgot.
Less than 10 minutes later, at that same rally, gunfire rang out, and
a sick and deranged assassin unloaded eight bullets from his sniper's
perch into a crowd of many thousands of people. My life was saved by a
fraction of an inch, but some were not so lucky.
Corey Comperatore was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a
husband, a devoted father, and, above all, a protector. When the sound
of gunshots pierced the air--it was a horrible sound--Corey knew
instantly what it was and what to do. He threw himself on top of his
wife and daughters and shielded them from the bullets with his own
body. Corey was hit really hard. You know the story from there. He
sacrificed his life to save theirs.
Two others, very fine people, were also seriously hit, but
thankfully, with the help of two great country doctors--we thought they
were gone, and they were saved. So, those doctors had great talent.
We're joined by Corey's wife, Helen, who was his high school
sweetheart, and their two beloved daughters, Allyson and Kaylee. Thank
you.
To Helen, Allyson, and Kaylee, Corey is looking down on his three
beautiful ladies right now, and he's cheering you on. He loves you. He
is cheering you on.
Corey was taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave
us all with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true
American patriot. It was love like Corey's that built our country, and
it's love like Corey's that is going to make our country more majestic
than ever before.
I believe that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good
reason. I was saved by God to make america great again. I believe that.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
From the patriots of Lexington and Concord to the heroes of
Gettysburg and Normandy, from the warriors who crossed the Delaware to
the trailblazers who climbed the Rockies, and from the legends who
soared at Kitty Hawk to the astronauts who touched the Moon, Americans
have always been the people who defied all odds, transcended all
dangers, made the most extraordinary sacrifices, and did whatever it
took to defend our children, our country, and our freedom.
And as we have seen in this Chamber tonight, that same strength,
faith, love, and spirit is still alive and thriving in the hearts of
the American people.
Despite the best efforts of those who would try to censor us, silence
us, break us, destroy us, Americans are today a proud, free, sovereign,
and independent Nation that will always be free, and we will fight for
it till death. We will never let anything happen to our beloved country
because we are a country of doers, dreamers, fighters, and survivors.
Our ancestors crossed a vast ocean, strode into the unknown
wilderness, and carved their fortunes from the rock and soil of a
perilous and very dangerous frontier. They chased our destiny across a
boundless continent. They built the railroads, laid the highways, and
graced the world with American marvels like the Empire State Building,
the mighty Hoover Dam, and the towering Golden Gate Bridge.
They lit the world with electricity; broke free of the force of
gravity; fired up the engines of American industry; vanquished the
Communists, Fascists, and Marxists all over the world; and gave us
countless modern wonders sculpted out of iron, glass, and steel.
We stand on the soldiers of these pioneers who won and built the
modern age, these workers who poured their sweat into the skylines of
our cities, these warriors who shed their blood on fields of battle and
gave everything they had for our rights and for our freedom.
Now, it is our time to take up the righteous cause of American
liberty, and it is our turn to take America's destiny into our own
hands and begin the most thrilling days in the history of our country.
This will be our greatest era. With God's help, over the next 4
years, we are going to lead this Nation even higher, and we are going
to forge the freest, most advanced, most dynamic, and most dominant
civilization ever to exist on the face of this Earth. We are going to
create the highest quality of life, build the safest and wealthiest and
healthiest and most vital communities anywhere in the world.
We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are
going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the
planet Mars and even far beyond.
And through it all, we are going to rediscover the unstoppable power
of the American spirit, and we are going to renew unlimited promise of
the American Dream.
Every single day, we will stand up and we will fight, fight, fight
for the country our citizens believe in and for the country our people
deserve.
My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future because the
golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that
has ever been seen before.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.
(Applause, the Members rising.)
At 11 o'clock and 4 minutes p.m., the President of the United States,
accompanied by the committee of escort, retired from the Hall of the
House of Representatives.
The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms escorted the invited guests
from the Chamber in the following order:
The members of the President's Cabinet;
The Chief Justice of the United States and the Associate Justices of
the Supreme Court;
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.
____________________