Inflation and Our Economy
Floor Speech
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, Democrats have enjoyed unilateral control of Washington for the last 17 months, and we all know the results: record inflation, soaring gas prices, unhinged crime in our cities, and uninhibited illegal immigration.
In the midst of all this, what issue gets their prime-time billing? Very simple. They are displaying their seething hatred for Donald Trump and anybody who ever supported him.
For nearly a year now, they have invested thousands of hours, millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars. They have interviewed hundreds and hundreds of witnesses. They compiled 100,000 pages of documents. They hired lawyers, consultants, and even big network TV producers. And all for what?
They are doing this production, this rehash, this replay of a moment- by-moment dissection of a terrible event that took place here a year and a half ago. They thought the American people would be riveted by their production, but the ratings have proven what everybody already knew. The American people have lived through all this, and they have moved on.
In fact, we thought it was interesting, according to one report, CBS' decision to bump a ``Young Sheldon'' rerun from its prime-time slot in favor of Thursday's January 6 hearing resulted in fewer viewers than the identical time slot the prior week. Reruns of ``Young Sheldon'' played better than the January 6 drama.
The American people have moved on. They have moved on to caring about things that actually affect their daily lives.
Look, the criminals involved in January 6 are being prosecuted. Lessons about Capitol security were learned here. We will never know the true facts about all that, of course, because Speaker Pelosi's partisan committee will not look into why we didn't have adequate security here.
But the Senate produced a bipartisan report on all these events a year ago. The truth is the Democrats could hire an army of broadcast media executives and specialists to try to boost their ratings, but it will not change the simple facts.
The election this fall is going to be about three things. It is going to be about inflation, immigration, and incompetence, the staggering levels of incompetence that the Democrats in charge of Washington put on display here every single day.
If the Democrats want to reverse their political fortunes, they need to reverse their policies. But we all know, of course, they refuse to do that. So hardworking American families will continue, very sadly, to struggle as our country becomes less safe, less secure, and less stable by the hour.
I am grateful to my colleagues for joining me tonight to discuss the myriad crises facing our country. They are all taking a back seat to the Democrats' reality show, but we think it is important to point out to the American people the realities here, the true realities of what is happening and what we are facing as a country, these unprecedented challenges.
Madam Speaker, I yield first to the fine gentleman from the State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend. That is so well said. Just get out of the way. Let the American people do it.
Madam Speaker, I yield next to another great gentleman from the State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you for that expertise. You sound like a former Secretary of Revenue or something from the State of Pennsylvania.
As you pointed out, my friend, you don't have to be an economist to figure this out. Every freshman economics student knows if you keep printing money and dropping it into the economy, you are going to cause inflation. This is not rocket science, but you know what? The President of the United States apparently doesn't get it.
Madam Speaker, I am delighted next to yield to the good doctor from Texas (Mr. Babin).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, that was so well said.
Dr. Babin, that woke socialist policy has brought some real pain to the American people. I think they have had enough.
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. November can't get here soon enough.
Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield next to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you, my friend. That border crisis continues to grow by the hour. Right now as we speak, there is the largest caravan we think that has ever been spotted currently headed to our southern border.
It was incentivized, of course, by the Biden administration's open border agenda. The caravan has as many as maybe 15,000 people, most from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
Here is the key point. One of the migrants is reported to have told FOX News that he hopes President Biden will keep his amnesty promise to the caravan. You know, that is exactly why people from more than 160 countries have been flooding over that border since right after Joe Biden took office.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. And you have got to know when to fold.
Madam Speaker, Tennessee is going so well, I may as well yield to another good friend, another gentleman from the State of Tennessee (Mr. Rose), one that is even more reputable than the last speaker.
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, my friend is correct. That energy crisis haunts every American. We see no end in sight because the White House will not reverse its policies.
Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, my friend said it well. He is right, time is of the essence. Every day that we belabor and continue these radical leftist policies, the American people feel more and more pain.
Madam Speaker, I yield next to my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, my friend from Georgia made a great summary of the crisis that we are in. I thank him for bringing that.
Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger), my dear friend, and the third speaker from the good State of Tennessee, can't have enough of those Vols.
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I have another colleague or two on the way.
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you so much, Madam Speaker. I will read a quote here that is very familiar to everyone now because it has been repeated over and over in the last several days. It is from Chuck Schumer. Of course, he is the Democrat leader on the Senate side. He stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court, and he exclaimed to a crowd, to their applause, and to all the television cameras, what is now a quote that lives in infamy, ``I want to tell you, Gorsuch; I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.''
The leader of the Democrats in the Senate stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court and threatened the Justices by name.
Now, what is happening? What is happening now? Well, people are heeding that advice. There was a leaked opinion, an unprecedented, terribly tragic event there that will harm the institution permanently, the Supreme Court. Some clerk, we suspect--I think it is one of the liberal law clerks for one of the liberal Justices, the three Justices on that Court committed to that ideology. Somebody leaked the draft opinion, and it has caused a whirlwind.
All of these protesters are criminals. They are not really protesters. They are criminals because this is blatantly against the black letter of the Federal law. 18 U.S.C. 1507 openly makes this a crime. You can't protest at the home of a judge to try to influence their opinion. Yet, that is exactly what is happening.
As we speak right now, there are liberal activists on the lawns of the Justices of the Supreme Court, the conservative Justices.
Do you know what? Their lives are in danger because we now know, just a few days ago, a would-be assassin was apprehended on the lawn of Justice Kavanaugh. He was home with his wife and his two young daughters.
This is a dangerous thing, and this is what is wrought when so-called leaders tell the American people to get in the faces of their political opponents, to release the whirlwind, you won't know what hit you, and all the rest. That is what is happening right now.
What are Republicans doing about it? What is Congress doing about it? Nothing at all. The Democrat majority won't even acknowledge that this is a problem. In fact, on this floor last night, we had 27 progressives, 27 of the Democrats in this House, vote against a simple bill, a measure that would provide security and protection for the innocent children of these Justices. They voted against that. It is unbelievable.
People back home ask me, my constituents, say: What are they thinking? What in the world is going on? Do they want people to be harmed?
Look, I think the motive is that they want to send a message to the radical left that we like you violating the law. We want you on the lawns of conservative judges. We want you to try to intimidate them into changing their opinions because they may overturn Roe, or they may interpret the Constitution in a way that the radical left disagrees with.
This is a tinderbox. This is a dangerous time in the country. The so- called leaders here are encouraging and inflaming this. Heaven forbid if someone actually gets hurt.
We filed a resolution here within a few days of that leak last month. Forty-five Members joined me in that resolution. We called upon the Department of Justice to enforce 18 U.S.C. 1507, to enforce the law that makes it a crime to picket or parade to influence a judge. Do you know what? Crickets. The Department of Justice hasn't done anything.
Can you imagine if a threat was made to one of the liberal Justices? Can you imagine the outcry? The mainstream media and the Democrats here, the radical left, they would be demanding action. But if it is a conservative judge, hey, fair game, apparently. It is open season on conservative judges. That is what we have now.
We also filed, last month, the Leaker Accountability Act that would make it a crime to knowingly share confidential information from the Supreme Court. I authored that legislation. I think it ought to be punishable by a fine or up to 5 years imprisonment.
We have to send a message. This behavior, the leak, the violence that has ensued because of it, is unacceptable. The idea, again, that our colleagues would vote against protection for the children of these judges is, to me, unconscionable and an unforgivable vote.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), my good friend.
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for faithfully coming to this floor and speaking to his constituents and the American people about these very serious issues that face us as a country. His voice is an important one.
I am grateful to him and our many colleagues for joining us tonight to discuss all of these crises facing our country that are taking a back seat to the Democrat reality show and the most radical set of domestic and foreign policies that America has ever seen.
As we close, I remind everybody--we heard it last night--the President exclaimed in his now infamous speech, he said: ``We are changing people's lives.'' You saw that?
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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. There is zero doubt about that, Mr. President. Lives are being devastated under your policies.
I will just say this, as we conclude: November cannot get here soon enough.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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