Relating to the Consideration of House Report and An Accompanying Resolution

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAMMACK. 471, the PAUSE Act, to protect all Americans from Biden's border crisis.

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Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to rise in support of ordering the previous question on Congresswoman Herrell's bill, the SHIELD Act, that would stop the Biden administration from ending title 42, the very necessary public health order used by CBP officials at the southwest border.

Since President Biden took office in January of last year, Customs and Border Protection have encountered over 2 million illegal immigrants at the southern border. This number is more than at any other time during the Trump administration and still continues to astonish those of us who have actually visited the border to see what is happening there.

Unlike the trafficker in chief, who would rather retreat to his beach house in Delaware than face the American people, or the so-called border czar, who visited El Paso once and figured that that was good enough, I myself have been to the border three times to see this crisis for myself. In fact, over 70 percent of my Republican colleagues have been to see the tragic crisis unfolding there.

As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I have followed this issue from the very beginning and have feared the very day when title 42 would be rescinded for political purposes.

Speaking of political purposes, I find it exceptionally hypocritical that this very Chamber is still utilizing proxy voting under the guise of a public health concern. In fact, on March 29, the Speaker extended proxy voting through May 14 of this year because of ``the ongoing public health crisis.''

It is curious that the Speaker doesn't seem to think that our own border being overrun by 2 million undocumented people has no bearing on the safety of the general American public, but a Congress of 435 Members with an 80 percent vaccination rate seems to qualify for an ``ongoing public health crisis.'' That, to me, screams hypocrisy.

Furthermore, there are Members of this Chamber who have been voting ``present'' via proxy. The hypocrisy and the irony are not lost on me nor the American people, Mr. Speaker.

Additionally, every single one of my colleagues who decided to show up here today had to wear a mask to get on a plane. That mandate is still in place due to the ongoing public health crisis.

Mr. Speaker, we have two very clear instances here in this Chamber where the ``ongoing public health crisis'' is used as a justification for policy decisions. Why not the safety, then, for all Americans and our communities across this country by securing the border? Why not uphold and keep title 42 in place?

If you have ever spoken to a CBP officer or a Border Patrol agent, they will tell you that title 42 is necessary, that ending it will send even more people to the southern border. It is a magnet.

Ending it will prolong the crisis. It will grow the crisis. It will once and for all put an end to national security as we know it.

Take it from the wife of a first responder who deals with this crisis every single day. I have had dozens of Border Patrol agents text and call me the last few days, begging for help to hold the line on title 42. They have said: Please, Congress, hold the line on title 42. It must be protected because it is the only policy in place currently that, in the slightest, will slow this surge that we have watched grow before our eyes.

If you stand with our Border Patrol agents, if you stand with the American people, if you give a damn about our communities, then you will support the SHIELD Act.

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