Unleash American Energy Independence

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, the recent Supreme Court term has come to an end and the Court's decision has sent Washington Democrats into a tailspin.

Members of this body have called to abolish the Supreme Court--and by the way, some of those very same Members have also called to expand the Supreme Court, so we are not really sure which one they are committed to.

Just yesterday, Members of this body were pretending to be handcuffed over their support for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand until birth. Washington Democrats are making excuses for the outright harassment of the Supreme Court Justices, their families, their children, and even the assassination attempt on the life of Justice Kavanaugh.

Washington Democrats are silent on attacks against pro-life pregnancy care centers across this country. Some have even called for these centers to be shut down all across the Nation. It is appalling. It is unhinged. Why would anyone want to shut down pregnancy centers that are designed to help struggling mothers in their time of need? But that is where we are.

Why all the hysterics though? My constituents are really curious about this. Why are they so animated right now? Why do they want to tear this institution to the ground?

Well, here is the simple reason, because the Supreme Court has made some very thoughtful constitutionally based decisions in this term.

They correctly said, for example, that a football coach was exercising his First Amendment rights when he privately prayed on the 50-yard line.

The Supreme Court correctly said that citizens don't have to ask the government for permission to exercise their fundamental rights to keep and bear arms.

The Supreme Court correctly said that if Congress wants to address climate change, then Congress has to legislate on that issue instead of just outsourcing that work to unelected bureaucrats.

Because the Supreme Court correctly said that elected Representatives of the people may again be allowed to place restrictions on the killing of innocent unborn children.

That is why they are motivated. That is why they are so unhinged. That is why they want to tear the institution to the ground.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised by all of this. We are, after all, only a couple of months removed from Senator Schumer's infamous, dangerous, unhinged rant on the steps of the Supreme Court itself. He called out Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh by name, and he said, Hey, we are going to release the whirlwind on you.

Well, it happened. And it is clear what is happening here. Democrats are doing anything and everything they can to try to use these obvious and straightforward Supreme Court decisions to stoke fear and change the subject before the November election.

But we are here today to say that this election will be about three things. It is going to be primarily about soaring inflation, uninhibited illegal immigration, and the general staggering incompetence that we see by the Democrats in charge of Washington.

The three I's. I call it: Inflation. Immigration. Incompetence.

I think that summarizes it very well.

There was a very interesting story on CNN this week that caught my eye. It was entitled, ``Vulnerable Democrats Sound the Alarm Over Inflation Crisis.'' Well, welcome to the party. It is a little late for that.

I would humbly suggest that those vulnerable Democrats should have thought about that before they voted to pass $5.4 trillion--with a ``T''--in new partisan spending last year.

We warned them. This was so completely foreseeable. Government spending is what is causing the current inflation crisis, plain and simple. And now that this bill is coming due, these vulnerable Democrats are hoping the American people would simply forget their vote. We don't intend to let that happen, the stakes are too high, and the issues are too important.

I thank my colleagues for joining us today to discuss the harm that the Democrat agenda has caused our country and our alternative, conservative vision for how to fix all this.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), first among my many colleagues that will be joining me here in the hour, who knows a whole lot about the economy.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Immigration.

Mr. MEUSER: Immigration. And instead of taking any action to correct this devastating problem, and the effect it is having on American families and small businesses, large businesses, you name it--dogs and cats, probably--the Biden administration has doubled down on the backwards policies and undertaken a massive blame-game campaign.

Not exactly a profile in courage taking place here, Mr. Speaker.

First, they branded the inflation brought on by their reckless spending the ``Putin price hike.'' Then, despite inflation beginning long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, by the way, then the administration laid the blame for their policies at the feet of greedy corporations--yeah--and then local gas station owners.

Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of the gas stations throughout our country, and certainly in my district, are owned by small independent businesspeople. They are to blame for the gasoline prices that we are paying?

I would like to reiterate, when faced with the highest gas prices in history caused by atrocious energy policies, the President of the United States and many Democrat Members of this House point their fingers and blame small business owners.

The American people are not fooled by the Biden administration's finger-pointing, though they are paying a steep price for it. Despite the administration's best efforts to deceive the American people, we have learned that inflation was not temporary and has continued to skyrocket, largely because of the Biden House Democrats' out-of-control spending.

Instead of addressing America's inflation crisis, House Democrats have continued to push for billions more in government spending, which will increase inflation, it will not decrease it. Continued excessive spending will increase inflation. It is a mathematical and physical certainty.

We must correct course. Stop the reckless spending and unleash domestic American energy production, which will strengthen both our economy and our national security. We must also stop overregulating and overtaxing small businesses, and enough with the blame games and these go woke and broke policies. They have failed the American people.

Mr. Speaker, the free nations of the world need a strong United States, both militarily and economically to lead. We face serious threats. Free nations worldwide know that the world is a far more peaceful and stable place with strong American leadership. The weakness shown both at our southern border and the Ukraine border, initially, have had devastating effects on humanity and on the stability of the United States, Europe, and the free world.

Only with a clear vision, realistic plan, and earnest execution will this be corrected.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. That is so well said, my friend. And it is so true that a strong and vibrant America is good not only for the people in this country but for people all around the world. We maintain peace through strength, and if we don't show that strength, then we are in real jeopardy.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), my good friend from right over the border.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend. It is a very stark reality that we face, but we are optimists. We know we can turn this around, and the American people are going to give us a chance this fall, aren't they? I thank the gentleman for that good word and stark reminder.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, wow, there are so many important facts there. I will tell you what, it is hard to count all the crises. I thank my friend, that was so well said, as usual.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, there are so many great points there. I appreciate the gentleman for coming here and explaining that because we can't say it too much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for standing up for those wheat farmers. I know they appreciate that representation. For all of those in the ag community, this is just a critical issue.

The gentleman is exactly right. The inflation crisis has real-world consequences, and that is just some of them.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to go across the country to California again to hear, once more, from our dear, faithful friend.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend. There are so many important things he highlighted there.

Mr. Speaker, we will go from California over to the great State of Texas next.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for my friend's voice. He was a guest on my podcast last week, and we have gotten a lot of attention on that. People are grateful for his passion on these issues. I hope my friend will keep speaking loudly here on the floor and everywhere. I am grateful he has a national platform to talk, particularly about this immigration crisis, which is a whole different subject, and he has great insight on that.

Mr. Speaker, I will wrap this up. I thank my colleagues for joining me today in this Special Order hour to discuss the harm that the Democrat agenda has caused our country and our alternative visions on all these issues.

By way of recap, just quickly, I was taking notes as my colleague spoke from across the country, from Texas. Dr. Babin reminded us that a staggering 77 percent of Americans believe our country is on the wrong track--obviously, because of all this.

Mr. LaMalfa from California just reminded us of the excesses and abuses of the Federal agencies, which are overregulating our farmers and food producers and wasting our time and precious resources on these superfluous projects.

Mr. Meuser of Pennsylvania reminded us that this inflation is going to cost the average hardworking American family this year an extra $6,000 in the cost of living.

Mr. Rose from Tennessee reminded us about that skyrocketing inflation rate. It is obviously the result of the Biden policies and the administration's backward approach to all this. But they even now want to remove and eliminate the Hyde amendment so that taxpayers have to fund abortions.

Mr. Good of Virginia reminded us about that border catastrophe and the numbers, which are staggering--Mr. Roy knows, as well--3 million encounters at the border, 800,000 got-aways that we can't even account for, and that is just the numbers the DHS admits to, so we know it is higher. He talked about the energy policy disaster causing pain to every hardworking American family, as well.

Finally, Mr. Mann of Kansas talked about how the inflation crisis has real-world consequences for our farmers in the wheat State and everywhere else.

Mr. Speaker, we could go on and on all night. I will conclude our Special Order hour. This is just a sampling of all the many crises that have been created by the Biden administration and the Washington Democrats in charge of this institution. We cannot wait to begin to turn this around after the November election.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source