Inflation and Our Economy

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Madam Speaker, I had a lot of problems to choose from tonight, but I rise today to talk about the border crisis.

I remind the American people that our national security is still in jeopardy as our southern border remains wide open. Since Joe Biden took office, over 2.6 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the southern border.

Because of President Biden's failed open border policies, more drugs have been smuggled into our neighborhoods than ever before. CBP estimates that nearly 5,300 pounds of deadly fentanyl analogues have been apprehended, and that is enough to kill 2.4 billion people. I don't know of a person that I talk to or that I see that hasn't been touched by the loss of somebody concerning overdoses.

As a pharmacist, I know this all too well, that the illegal fentanyl analogues flowing through Joe's open border have caused unthinkable harm by poisoning our communities.

According to the Metro Public Health Department in Nashville last year, 74 percent of overdose-related toxicology reports detected fatal fentanyl analogues.

Wondering how all that fentanyl is getting into a State like mine? I am not even a border State.

It is no coincidence that Border Patrol agents reported a 1,066 percent increase in fentanyl seizures at just one stretch of the U.S.- Mexico border last year.

The influx of dangerous, illegal drugs is making its way through all our neighborhoods, and this is no longer a geographically tied tragedy. As I said before, Tennessee isn't a border State, but we are all border States. The Biden administration's failure has had deadly consequences, and my home State has not been immune.

As I stand here today, the largest caravan of people intending to illegally reside in the United States is heading to our southern border. Word has gotten around that Joe Biden is soft on crime and that he has opened his arms and our border to anyone and everyone.

This caravan could total up to 15,000 people, and that far outnumbers our Border Patrol agents who are already struggling to protect our borders. These thousands are just crumbs compared to the millions who have entered our country illegally in the last year.

I have been to the border more times now in my first term in the House of Representatives than Joe Biden has in nearly half a century in public service. What I saw there at both Eagle Pass and the Rio Grande Valley Sector was heartbreaking and infuriating.

I had the opportunity to speak with our Border Patrol agents who just want to do their job and keep our Nation safe, but they are struggling under the conditions this administration has boxed them into. They don't have enough resources, manpower, or support to turn away the hordes of invaders that come through the border every single day, and the illicit and illegal criminals that are coming, the got-aways, we don't know who they are, where they came from, or where they are going. That is of even more concern.

In fact, they have been encouraged to help transport these individuals to every corner of the Nation without a way of knowing who they are or where they are going. What we do know is who is paying for all this, and that is a simple answer. It is the American taxpayer.

This year, Secretary Mayorkas admitted that Americans are out $72 million just from President Biden's order to halt the border wall construction. We are paying not to build the border wall. Plainly speaking, the American people are being charged to ensure they are less safe. This crisis greatly benefits the cartels and gravely threatens Americans.

Every State is a border State as Joe Biden's border crisis damages our national security. This crisis has gone on long enough. Americans deserve better, and they deserve a closed border.

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