Issues of the Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, for the remainder of this Special Order we will have a number of Republican Members from around the country who will come up and address the big issues of the day, the continued crises, not the least of which is our economic crisis here on the eve of the latest GDP numbers that we all anticipate will confirm that we have a recession, even though the administration apparently can't even define what ``recession'' is. Instead of trying to fix the problems, they are trying to work on the definition of words.

Madam Speaker, I yield first to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend; that was so well said. As we told Secretary Mayorkas in a Judiciary Committee hearing just a few months ago, clearly what he is doing is intentional, and I believe that he needs to dust off his resume because we are going to have the majority soon, and there will be a reckoning for that.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, the news is so staggering, and it is an incalculable amount of loss that Americans are experiencing. I love what the gentleman said: It is not overdoses now, it is poisoning. That is exactly right. It is the leading cause of death of Americans aged 18 to 49.

Overdoses, these poisonings, are killing more people than cancer, car wrecks, and COVID, all of it. What are we going to do about it?

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Absolutely. I cannot wait for us to get control of the gavel again.

Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, that was so well said. The gentleman is right; every single State is a border State, and I know the good people of Tennessee are just as concerned as my friends in Louisiana and also in the State of Georgia.

Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and he is right. The energy crisis is a direct result of policy choices. It could be reversed if Democrats would simply acknowledge their error, but I am afraid they won't.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I have never seen my friend so animated.

It is time for that because it is an existential crisis to the country. Truly, when we asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff what the greatest threat to America is, they don't say China first. They say the national debt. It is just out of control.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Great words, my friend. I am so thankful that you summarized again how ideas have consequences.

Madam Speaker, that is our concern. These are policy choices that have led to all this pain for families and individuals in all of our communities, and it just seems like madness to us. But our message is hopeful because we are going to turn the corner. We are going to lead this country in a new direction, and we are excited to relay that to people.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, this is a great reminder that this is real pain for real people. This is not a game here. What we do affects the lives of all of our constituents, all Americans, and we have a responsibility to fix it.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you for highlighting that.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of California (Mr. LaMalfa), a good friend of mine.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his faithful efforts and being such a clarion call and a voice of reason.

One of the things that is necessary to maintain a constitutional Republic as the Founders warned us is that you have to have an informed and engaged electorate. I think people are paying attention now. I think they are feeling the pain, and it is drawing awareness to our situation. I think they are going to evaluate.

I am hopeful and optimistic, so we can turn some of this around. I thank my friend for his efforts.

Madam Speaker, you heard a recurring theme here tonight, whether we focus tonight on the economic crisis, the border crisis, the energy crisis--all the many crises--the common theme is this: If you review the facts objectively, Madam Speaker, then the evidence shows that all of these are intentional. They are intentional. These are the foreseeable and obvious results of the Democrats' policy choices of the Biden administration and the Democrats that run both Houses of Congress.

House Republicans, on the other hand--as all my colleagues tonight have pointed out--are optimistic. We are so looking forward to the upcoming August district work period so that we can take our vision for a new direction for this country directly to the American people.

I believe that message is going to be well-received. I think people are desperate for the answers, and we have solutions to all the great challenges facing this country.

Madam Speaker, I thank all my colleagues, once again, for being faithful and being here tonight for this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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