Crisis At the Southern Border
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for his service to this country. We should all be down here engaging with our colleagues more often to learn more about them. I did not know that about your father. God bless you. Godspeed. Thank you for serving in this Chamber.
Madam Speaker, much has been made in the last week over the actions of two Governors; in particular Governor Greg Abbott of the State in which I live and where I am a Congressman--Texas--as well as the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
Much is being made of the fact that these Governors transported certain individuals who had come to this country and were released into this country by this administration--I believe contrary to law, I believe in direct violation of both the text and the spirit of the law--that they were released into this country by the thousands.
Governor Abbott of Texas and Governor DeSantis of Florida transported some of these individuals to particular locations. Now, it was very clear that they did so in significant part to make a point. That point is that our States are bearing the brunt of an administration's policies that are purposefully allowing our border to be operationally controlled by cartels to the detriment of the American people. That is what is happening.
So kudos to Governor DeSantis, kudos to Governor Abbott for bringing to light a problem which is being ignored by the leftist press that refuses to bring the truth to the American people.
So 50 people get transported to Martha's Vineyard, and the entire wine-and-cheese circuit loses their collective mind. Oh, no, what have you done? Oh, the cries of politicization of using human beings as pawns. But who is it that is using these individuals as pawns? Could it be my colleagues on the other side of the aisle or the people in this administration that are leaving our border wide open, such that 53 human beings died in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, which I represent?
So which is it? Which is worse? Fifty people being sent to Martha's Vineyard to bring attention to a problem so that all of these Americans on Martha's Vineyard could put their glass of wine down and put their cheese plate down and suddenly recognize that there are literally thousands of people being distributed into our country every single day by this government and by nongovernmental organizations. Every single day.
My colleagues do nothing about it. Fifty-three human beings died in an oven that was a tractor-trailer, and my Democratic colleagues don't say a dadgum word. Nothing.
But they sure say something when suddenly 50 show up to Martha's Vineyard. Then everybody gathers around for a photo op and brings sandwiches and pats themselves on the back for their grand compassion because, oh, we are enlightened leftists in Martha's Vineyard. We love everybody. So we are going to bring sandwiches, then we are going to call the National Guard and say haul them out of here.
That is the truth.
But why isn't anybody talking about the 53 human beings that died in that tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas? One example of the thousands.
There is a cemetery that has been created in south Texas with PVC crosses for bodies of migrants pouring across the Rio Grande in south Texas. That is what is happening to these people, getting sold into the sex trafficking trade, being abused by cartels, bodies littering ranches, dying in the Rio Grande River, dying in trucks.
All while here in Washington, D.C., the Mayor of D.C. complains about, oh, we are now a border city; or the city councilwoman who said, well, we don't have the infrastructure for this. Well, welcome to the party.
Well, welcome to the party, because that city councilwoman declared D.C. a sanctuary city, and that city councilwoman called for the abolition of ICE. And prior to the individuals being delivered to D.C. by Governor Abbott to the steps of the Vice President's home--who supposedly is in charge of securing the border but can't find her way to the border if you gave her a map and a plane ticket to get there--73 human beings were found in the Nation's Capital in a stash house right here within a couple of miles of this building, 12 of whom were kids.
Where are my Democratic colleagues?
They are burying their heads in the sand because it is not politically expedient to acknowledge that open borders results in dead migrants, dead Americans, empowerment of cartels, empowerment of China, and a danger to the American people and our national security, while almost 100 individuals associated with terrorist countries or terrorist organizations have now been apprehended coming across our border not even dealing with the million people who were got-aways.
I have given this speech so many times, but I keep having to update it. I keep having to come down to the floor and talk about what is happening in Texas and what is happening to our people.
Now let's talk about what is happening to Americans. These are the faces of the individuals and the lost voices of people who have died from fentanyl. I showed these to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and he scoffed. There are 72,000 lost voices and 72,000 dead Americans in 1 year. That is more than we lost in the entirety of the Vietnam war right here.
Where are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle?
Where is the President of the United States?
These individuals are dead. Their mamas found them in their house dying and tried to resuscitate them. They left their home in a body bag because they took a pill that was laced with fentanyl that was cooked up in the backyard of a cartel. Fentanyl is coming in from China, and they are dead. That is what is happening, and my Democratic colleagues are nowhere to be found. They are nowhere to be found.
At the same time that we have got wide-open borders and our country is getting destroyed, we have vaccine mandates in place that are absolutely decimating our ability to maintain, control, and to hold our servicemembers in the military. It is an absolute abomination. We are losing hundreds and thousands of servicemembers at a time when our recruiting levels are at historic lows. The Army is having trouble recruiting. They are at 50 percent of their goals.
I have met with members of the United States Marines, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Army, and they are all coming in under their recruiting levels.
Meanwhile, we are firing people. They are losing their jobs. It is happening as we speak right now; members of the United States military are getting fired and having to leave service.
Why?
Because of a vaccine mandate, a vaccine mandate being carried out by the administration with complete and total disregard for the fact that that vaccine does nothing for transmission and which the CDC wholly recognizes is totally useless for the individuals in question.
In fact, now the President of the United States says the pandemic is over.
The pandemic is over, so why are we firing our men and women in uniform?
I will take a moment to recognize my good friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), who is a veteran himself who served his country, to see if he has any thoughts on this matter.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
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Mr. ROY. As the gentleman probably knows, and I am sure he has talked to his own constituents, I have had people coming into my office saying, I don't know what to do. I have served my whole life wearing the uniform, but I don't think it is in my best interest, I don't think it is helping the military, I am not going to do it, and I am getting fired.
They have discharged 5,000 Active Duty servicemembers for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine while the Army's recruiting levels, as I have said, are at 52 percent of the 2022 recruiting goal. Forty percent of men 18 to 24 are unvaccinated, the prime recruiting demographic. Service academy applications are down 10 to 30 percent depending on the service academy, and now DOD comes in and says, hey, we need more money for recruiting.
Well, how about you stop screwing up?
How about you not tuck tail and run from Afghanistan and leave $85 billion behind?
How about you stop pumping out woke garbage into the men and women in uniform? And how about you not fire them because they dare to say that they don't want a vaccine?
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
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Mr. ROY. It makes absolutely no sense.
One might question why would this Congress and why would this body give more money to the Department of Defense and this administration to continue to fire men and women in uniform?
Madam Speaker, why would we not attach to a continuing resolution refunding bill in 9 days a requirement that our men and women in uniform not be fired for not taking a vaccine for a pandemic the President says is over?
Madam Speaker, $6 billion, by the way, goes to Fauci's NIAID, and $9 billion goes to the CDC.
Why are we funding this?
Why are we funding an open border?
Why are we funding $60 billion to the Department of Homeland Security which is causing Americans to die from fentanyl and causing migrants to die on people's ranches, endangering the American people and allowing people known to be associated with terrorists in our country, and at the same time we are funding vaccine mandates to fire men and women in uniform when our recruiting levels are at an all-time low?
It begs the question.
But that is not the only problem. That is not the only thing we are dealing with. We are dealing with an energy crisis. We are dealing with a reality that energy prices are up.
Why would that be?
A tsunami of shutoffs the headlines say, 20 million U.S. homes are behind on energy bills, Federal oil leases slow to a trickle under Biden. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that gas prices could spike again this winter.
We are decimating the ability of the American people to be able to fund their lives, heat their homes, and drive their cars to work all in the name of choosing to pursue unicorn energy policies which are destroying our country.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle and this administration are purposely driving up the cost of gas, purposely driving up the cost of electricity, and purposely making our grid less reliable all so they can pat themselves on the back for pursuing a ``green'' agenda that is doing nothing but empowering China, making our country worse, and not doing a dang thing for CO
While China has 1,100 coal-fired plants and is building one new coal- fired plant a week, we have 250, and we are building zero. We are adding no new gas plants. We are adding no new nuclear plants to speak of.
We are adding wind and solar, making our grid less reliable. We are reducing our ability to produce liquified natural gas to the world. And we are decimating our strategic advantage and undermining the health and well-being of the American people so my Democratic colleagues can pursue a leftist, radical agenda to appease their leftist base.
The American people have had it.
Here is another point.
Why would we fund it?
Why would we continue to fund a government that is doing that to the American people?
I know my colleague here cares a lot about energy policies from his home State of Pennsylvania.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
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Mr. ROY. Electricity, one in six families are behind on their bills. Gas prices are $1.66 higher in this administration. Energy prices are six times higher than last year in Germany which just banned fracking and phased out nuclear which is a telltale warning for where we are heading. They are nationalizing their gas companies. Germans are stockpiling wood to heat their homes.
Madam Speaker, you never met a set of policies that you could possibly imagine where you could do more to undermine and damage your own country than the policies that this administration and the colleagues on the other side of aisle are adopting.
So the question is: Will my GOP colleagues, will my Republican colleagues give $14.1 billion to the Department of the Interior to continue to lease fewer Federal acres for oil and gas? Will we do that?
Will we give $9 billion to an EPA that is imposing a methane fee and taxes on the oil and gas industry that will be crippling my friend's constituents, my constituents, and every American across the country, or the EPA that is targeting the largest U.S. oil field or proposing rules to shut down half of Texas' coal-fired plants?
They want to weaken our grid even further while also giving $10 billion for Federal wind subsidies that are destroying our grid. That is the question.
How about $5 million for climate czar John Kerry to fly around in his private jet talking about how great he is advancing a Green New Deal agenda?
That is the reality.
So here is the question--and this is really what I want to engage my colleague, my friend from Pennsylvania: What do we do?
What do we do in the face of an administration and colleagues who are at war with the American people, who are endangering America with open borders while people die of fentanyl, who are at war with the American people and their ability to afford energy, have gas in their car, have a job, have electricity, and have a strong grid; and at war with the members of our military, making them lose their job if they don't take a mandatory jab because Dr. Fauci says so?
What do we do about an administration that is at war with the people, targeting them, defining them as domestic terrorists by the FBI, if you are challenging the school board, targeting them with 85,000 new IRS agents to go audit them to raise revenue?
Madam Speaker, what do you do in the face of an administration that is doing that every single day?
Madam Speaker, I will tell you what you do if you are a Republican or if you are a Democrat who actually believes in Article I of the United States Constitution.
I give you James Madison. I give you the father of the Constitution.
In Federalist No 58 it says, ``The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse. . . .
``This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.''
That, Madam Speaker, is what the Founders gave us to push back on an executive branch that is out of control and operating in direct detriment to the American people or a Senate that refuses to do its job.
The people's House has this tool, and we should use it. I think my friend from Pennsylvania agrees.
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I want to say to my friend from Pennsylvania how proud I am to serve with him and how proud I am to serve with him in the House Freedom Caucus. People like to malign the Freedom Caucus on the other side of the aisle--heck, even a little bit on our side of the aisle--for daring to want to stand up for freedom, the belief in the individual, the belief in civil society, the belief in Federalism, and the belief in free enterprise. The belief that not all answers come from this town; it doesn't come from this government.
In fact, if you empower people, empower States, and empower civil society, than human beings prosper, their lives are made better. They are able to go carry out the greatest things that you could possibly imagine to bring freedom to the rest of the world as this country has done for almost 250 years.
That is why we are here. That is why I am in the Freedom Caucus. That is why I am pushing forward, along with my colleague, my friend from Pennsylvania, and my other colleagues. Forty-two of us have signed a pledge and put out a letter, a letter that says that we are going to reject any continuing resolution that expires before the next Congress.
Then we are going to reject any appropriations package put forward by my colleagues on the other side of aisle this year, whether it is before or during any lame-duck session, because the American people should speak on November 8 about the atrocities that have been carried out against them by an administration that cares more about their political dynamics than they do about the American people every day. The American people should speak, and then we should spend taxpayers' money on the priorities that they choose.
Right now, I can tell you that those priorities are not continuing to carry out open borders, endangering them. It is not firing our men and women in uniform for daring not to take a vaccine. It is not continuing energy policies that are undermining our national security and stable grid. It is not hiring IRS agents to go after the American people.
We are just simply saying we should use the power of the purse. My message to my Republican colleagues: Use the power of the purse. Use the power of the purse to check the executive branch. Join us. Why are there only 42 people who have signed that letter? It should be all 218 who are saying no. No to an administration. No to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are at war with the American people and their well-being.
Stand up in defense of the people you represent. Don't fund the government you campaign against every day. Hold that funding and demand change. Hold that funding and demand that you stand up for the people. Stand up for America. Stand up for energy freedom. Stand up for the ability of our men and women in uniform to serve. Stand up for a secure border. Stand up for the ability to carry out your business without being targeted by armed FBI and IRS bureaucrats and agents.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I want to credit our leader, Mr. McCarthy, for yesterday saying that he also believes that it would be wrong for my Republican colleagues to support a continuing resolution that does not address the damage being done to this country by open borders. He is right to say that. He is correct to say that.
We should demand that we change how we are dealing with the border because it is an absolute abomination; endangering Americans, endangering migrants in the false name of compassion. We should change that because we can.
Madam Speaker, I thank our leader, the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy) for saying that because it is correct. We should not fund a government that is continuing to allow open borders to endanger the American people. We should fund a government that demands change. That is what the power of the purse is and that is what you use it for.
My friend, Senator Mike Lee from Utah, in the Senate, has circulated a similar letter demanding the same thing in the Senate. This is the time for the people's House and for the Senate to stand up. We should demand change. If we don't get change next week, and we get a continuing resolution into December, we should demand change in December.
If we don't get change in December, we should demand change in January or February or March, but we should demand change every day. We should be down here fighting on the floor of the House, not out at steak dinners; not out doing all the business of this town, but here doing the business of the American people who sent us here to change this place; to stand up for them, to stand up for America, to stand up for a better future.
On July 2, 2026, when we turn 250 years old, we can look proudly at our kids and grandkids and pass down a great country to them, instead of leaving it bankrupt, which is what this administration is currently doing. We can take that back. That is our calling. That is our calling today. And that is why I am proud to be in the Freedom Caucus with my friend, Mr. Perry, and I will give him the last minute.
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman. Not one more penny. Not one more penny for a government running at odds with the American people. Let's use the power of the purse. Let's stand up for America.
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