Wokeness

Floor Speech

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Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Roy for not only standing in tonight to speak forthrightly to the American people, but also including other Members of the Texas delegation to have conversations with the American people not just about the topic of being woke, but actually the things that are actually happening to the United States of America.

The Congressman is exactly right, there is a crisis in America today. There is a crisis that takes place because of such a rapid and swift transition to the ultraleft. The transition that has taken place began immediately upon President Biden accepting the oath of office and walking, driving, going back to the White House after he had taken an oath of office, where he raised his hand and he repeated, among the other words, to ``well and faithfully execute the laws of the United States.''

Well, there is a little bit more than just ``well and faithfully execute the laws of the United States.'' I believe the American people want and need a stable person who will recognize that they need someone to work in their best interest, in the best interest of their community, in the best interest of their job, in the best interest of safety, in the best interest of trying to give every single person in this country a better opportunity to have a better life. That is what I believe is behind the ``well and faithfully execute the laws of the United States.''

In fact, what has happened is there is a sweeping revolution that is going on in the United States of America by the elected officials. Elected officials who have turned a blind eye to the things in the past that were seen as stable, as reasonable, and something that was in the best interest to protect the people that they represent.

Day after day we have watched what happened down at the southern border of this country. I, too, went down. I am no stranger to the border. I previously lived in El Paso, Texas, for a number of years. My father served as the chief judge of the Western District of Texas and had to deal with not just the crime, but some of the circumstances that happened along the border. They came home to roost, so to speak, within the United States of America.

And as a Federal district judge, he tried his best to deal favorably, fairly, with people who violated the law. But where there were people who were criminals, who were not here to serve in the best interest of the United States of America, those who would become enemies of the State because what they did is they would import drugs, drugs which would kill Americans.

We have just been through a terrible epidemic in this country of opioid abuse. Opioid abuse that we all recognize, much of it was inherently begun and started here in the United States, but that has taken hold with other drugs now, fentanyl, methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine.

And in that process, we look to where this comes from. This comes from other countries, by and large, other countries who have people who want to kill and make money off the demise of the American people.

Yet the President of the United States, at the time he served as Vice President--because I know because the Drug Enforcement Administration senior officials have repeatedly said that the intelligence that was given to the then-Vice President, now President of the United States, they understood firsthand the danger that came from an open border.

The dangers that came when we did not have active law enforcement and intelligence would cause the deaths of thousands of Americans because of the illicit drugs. Illicit drugs that not only are addicting, but many times mixed in a way that a user never knew they were taking them. The availability of fentanyl, as an example.

Yet the President of the United States, with this vast knowledge of understanding from his service to the country as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, as Vice President of the United States, he already knew the story.

The story that he wanted to project was that he is a kid from Pennsylvania, who knew what real America is. But what has happened is that he personally, and the radical left, have created a circumstance in this country that, we, as Republicans, are talking about tonight. That we are supposed to be woke to understanding the social implications. The enormous implications to people that we represent.

Yet, seemingly, it is the police that are the problem. Seemingly, it is the border that is the problem by enforcing the law. Seemingly, it is the ability that they want for criminals to run rampant throughout not just our neighborhoods, but across this country.

Madam Speaker, I would say to the young Congressman from Texas that we need his voice, his voice of compassion, his voice of common sense that says we need to move this country back to where it was simply a few months ago. Where we respect members of law enforcement, men and women of law enforcement who make house calls because they are asked to come and make dispute resolution many times, and then to take care of the law as it applies to a circumstance.

We need to get back to where we understand that the men and women of not just the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol are back on their job instead of being moved over to take care of 1 million people who, in the first 6 months, have come through illegally.

We need to go back to elected officials who actually understand that the people who elected them aren't for woke. What they are for is this body to come together to where we understand that we have an obligation to protect the men and women and children and seniors and disabled people of this country. We have an obligation to stand behind our law enforcement and to provide them with better training and the things that they need, equipment, to properly do their job.

Instead, we are watching our country, whether it is Chicago or Los Angles or New York City where criminals run rampant because of woke, that says we are supposed to defund the police department. We are supposed to defund those activities that would offer safety and security and opportunity for the most vulnerable of our society, and then blame others when people of color or of different races are harmed by criminals and thugs.

I watched this morning on TV of the murder that took place in Chicago of the young couple that came to a stoplight and were accosted and killed by thugs, criminal thugs.

I watched about a young man walking down the street in broad daylight in New York City and was stabbed repeatedly by a criminal this weekend.

No wonder this happens. We have already run the police out of town. We have already run people out of town who legitimately can stand up and have that obligation.

Madam Speaker, I come here tonight to join my two Texas colleagues to say, woke may be a term that we are supposed to get about enlightenment that we need to be good and better to each other, that we need to understand that there are people who might not agree with me, and I might not agree with them.

But ``woke'' has taken on a different theme. It has taken on a theme of taking on responsibility and respect. It has taken away the ability that we have in this body to effectively even be heard by each other. It has taken away the ability of millions of Americans to where they no longer feel the safety and security of their own home, of their own city street, or even their ability to stand up to those who have a different opinion.

Madam Speaker, I think what Congressman Roy is doing tonight is more than just standing up and expressing an opinion. It actually is an opinion that I believe millions of Americans support and respect by this gentleman doing this Special Order tonight.

I would call on this House of Representatives and all of its Members to understand that this phase we are going through will have a very difficult, difficult conclusion for many people who cannot effectively get through what is happening to them, to people who live in cities where police will no longer be, to small businesses that are burned to the ground, and to judges who are no longer judging based upon the rule of law but rather fear.

Madam Speaker, we as the Republican Party are not standing up and yelling and screaming. We have much resolve to us. But we ask tonight that the American people hear us that we condemned what happened on January the 6th. We condemn what is happening when people take advantage of law enforcement, take advantage of people, and take advantage of this great country.

Let us hope that tonight in our resolve of speaking forthrightly and honestly that we want to be that great country with shining cities on the hill where people work together, where people have a common interest and goals for their communities, and generations of people can work together whether you be a retired senior citizen, Madam Speaker, or whether you be a young child who knows not except that you live in a great country.

We need to speak plainly, but we are not yelling and screaming. We are not blaming someone else for the problems. But we will say this: The Republican Party of this House of Representatives stands for people to be safe in their own homes, for women who are in their own homes with their own children who will not be taken advantage of because they do know they have a backup and that is the police departments, that they know that the rule of law will effectively provide them with the needs that they have to live in the greatest country in the world, that our law enforcement agencies will know that they can continue to evolve into professionalism, that they will be able to effectively heal themselves and make the changes.

I call on law enforcement to continue to make these changes. My Republican Party has these conversations with law enforcement every day. But I call on the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, just as when my father, Judge William Sessions, was Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to stand up for law enforcement and expect them and want them to become professional.

Madam Speaker, we must heal what has happened.

Sunday, at church, I heard no less than 50 times the word redemption, the words that we are sinners, that we make mistakes, that we need to look at each other with the faithfulness of a great nation. I heard words of love and respect for those even that we disagree with.

But, Madam Speaker, we are not down pounding on tables tonight. We are simply trying to say what we believe is true, and that is that I believe that there are tens of millions of Americans who want and need this country to be safe. They want and need our elected officials, whether they be Republican or Democrat, that they need their elected officials to understand that their life and their family are important, and that until we get back to the standards of performance of expectations where law enforcement is allowed to effectively and professionally be there as the backup, where our military knows that we are there to support them and that our elected officials will stand on the side of righteousness, we are going to continue to wander through this terrible time that I call chaos.

It is my hope, as we drop to our knees this evening, that we do offer a prayer for our President, President Biden. I know him, and I know he has been through difficult times in his life. But, Madam Speaker, I would ask tonight that we give respect and prayer and ask that the President please understand that the most vulnerable who are there still need others to be of assistance, and we need to make sure that this country heals itself with love, respect, and admiration for each other.

I want to thank the young Congressman for tonight, for his bringing forth this opportunity to speak about where our country is. I want him to know that I personally admire him, respect him, and appreciate his sound call for a voice of reason and opportunity for America's future.

May God bless our country.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to speak.

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