Termination of National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019--Veto Message From the President of the United States
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the President's veto of H.J. Res. 46. Keeping our Nation secure should be this President's very highest priority, and it is this President's very highest priority.
With President Trump, there is no question that he has, and he will continue to carry out, this priority. I support his efforts to build a wall on the southern border to protect our country.
He has very clearly laid out the case for a declaration for a national emergency. There is a crisis at the border, a crisis that could have been addressed much sooner or even prevented, for that matter. The open border policies in the last administration compounded this growing problem.
We are seeing the highest rates of illegal immigration since 2007. In February, there were more than double the number of illegal migrants coming into this country, as compared to last year.
Border Patrol has apprehended over 268,000 individuals since the beginning of this fiscal year. That is a 97 percent increase from the previous year.
Schools, hospitals, and other services have become overcrowded. The American workers have been hurt by reduced job opportunities and lower wages. At the same time, human and drug traffickers are thriving.
In many of our communities, the notorious MS-13 gang has grown, and we have seen tragic cases of crime committed by illegal aliens who have been deported multiple times.
In my own home State of Missouri, an individual who was previously deported returned here illegally and was charged in several violent incidents. He is now suspected of murdering five individuals--or five Americans.
That should never have happened, but these kinds of tragic--and preventable--events are happening across the country. That is the very definition of a crisis.
Last Congress, we enacted legislation to deal with the devastating opioid crisis because that is, in fact, also a crisis. We can and we must slow the flow of illegal drugs into this country. The men and women who put their lives on the line every single day to secure our borders deserve all the tools they need to do the job--including a border wall.
Through President Trump's proclamation and his veto of H.J. Res. 46, he is acting decisively to finally address this crisis under the authority provided him by Congress. The National Emergencies Act is crystal clear. The provisions the President will use under title 10 explicitly provide the President with that authority. The President is well within his legal authority that Congress has provided him. That is the bottom line.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with the President and to stand with law-abiding Americans and law-abiding immigrants to sustain this veto.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, the President made it very clear that the wall is critical to address both national security and the humanitarian crisis.
DOD issued a fact sheet of the universe of projects that have not been awarded, and they totaled more than what is needed. They total a little over $12 billion.
Just because a project is listed doesn't mean that the funding will be used. They only need $3.6 billion.
I might add, too, that if the fiscal year 2020 budget is enacted on time and as requested, there is going to be no military construction project that is going to be delayed or canceled.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Abraham).
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I just need to point out that, according to Customs and Border Protection, there were more illegal drugs that were captured in between those ports of entry than there were at the ports of entry.
In 2012, there were 11 million pounds of illegal drugs that were seized in between--again, in between--those ports of entry, as opposed to 4 million pounds at those ports of entry.
This is exactly why the wall is needed, so that we funnel that illegal drug trafficking to those ports rather than in between those ports of entry.
It is time that Congress gave those individuals that are on the border, risking their lives to protect the United States, the tools that they need, and that is a border wall.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), who is also the lead Republican on the Committee on Homeland Security.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Despite the majority's blind objection to anything this President does, the facts are clearly there to show that this is a real crisis. President Obama agreed when he requested emergency funding in 2014 to deal with the crisis on the border and when he declared a national emergency because of the transnational drug traffickers.
Since fiscal year 2012, Customs and Border Patrol has seized 4 million pounds, as I pointed out earlier, seized 4 million pounds of drugs at ports of entry but more than 11 million pounds of drugs between those ports of entry. Nearly three times as many drugs are seized in between those ports.
Many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize the need for a border wall. They voted to authorize a wall in 2006 and again they voted to authorize, under President Obama, in 2013.
Last year, we passed bipartisan legislation to address the growing impacts of opioids on our communities, drugs that continue to flow into our country through our southern border. Make no mistake, the opioid crisis is real.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control issued a report noting that deaths from fentanyl have increased from 1,663 in 2011 to 18,335 deaths in 2016. This is an increase of over 1,100 percent.
There was bipartisan agreement that there was a drug-related crisis, but now, suddenly, some are calling this a ``manufactured crisis.''
The National Emergencies Act has been on the books since 1976 and has been used dozens of times, but now, suddenly, some are calling it ``unconstitutional.''
The National Emergencies Act is clear; it is absolutely clear: The President has the authority to act. The President is using the authority Congress has given him, and the President stood firm, understanding the gravity of this crisis, and issued his first Presidential veto.
I stand with him, and I urge my colleagues to sustain the President's veto on H.J. Res. 46.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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