Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Affordable Insulin Now Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Fairness for Families Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Cole for yielding me the time.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, we are seeing crises, manufactured crises. Let's just look at a few in turn.

We have a manufactured economic crisis. The inflation rate has increased by 550 percent since January of 2021. Total government spending during that time has increased over $9 trillion. This is out- of-control spending that is leading to this inflation. It is costing the average American family $6,000 a year.

Let me just put that in perspective. That would be like going up to a family and saying, can you give me 1 month's paycheck? Most cannot do that. The inflation has deprived the average American family of 1 month's pay, and this CR does absolutely nothing to address inflation. It does nothing to bring the economic crisis to an end.

It just doesn't stop there. Let's talk about the manufactured energy crisis. The day, literally, day 1 that Biden took office, he declared war on American energy. He shut down the Keystone Pipeline and, as a result, American families are paying higher and higher prices at the pump.

We are going to face record-level energy costs going into this winter, and yet, this CR does absolutely nothing to address the energy crisis.

Let's talk about crime. There is a crime wave going on all over country. Cities across the Nation are witnessing the results of the defund the police movement. Homicide rates across this country have increased roughly 50 percent, compared to this time in 2019.

In my home State of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has recorded over 400 murders so far this year. Philadelphia is on track to see the highest homicide rate in recorded history, and it is because of the defund the police movement. It is because of Democrat rule.

It is not just Philly. Los Angeles, in 2021, L.A. defunded the police by $150 million. What did they get? Homicide rates went up 23 percent, yet this CR does nothing to combat the crime wave that we are seeing. It does nothing to re-fund the police.

Let's talk about fentanyl. In my district, and across the country, communities are facing the opioid epidemic, and that is a direct result of fentanyl flooding across our porous southern border.

The devastation is because of Biden's failed policies, the open border policies that he has instituted. And just don't take my word for it. The DEA Commissioner said that the open border policies are killing Americans ``at rates never seen before.''

Yet, this CR does nothing to address the fentanyl issue. It does nothing. It is because the base of the Democratic Party, the woke yuppies who stay at home and are on Zoom classes all day view this issue as a Cracker Barrel problem, something that will never affect them because they don't shop at Walmart. They drive a hybrid, not a Chevy Silverado; so that is why we are not seeing urgency on the fentanyl crisis.

Let me just put it in perspective. Fentanyl overdose leads to about 300 deaths every single day in this country. That is the equivalent of an airliner going down every single day. If an airliner went down just once a week in this country, it would be declared an emergency within 2 to 3 weeks.

Yet, we are seeing the same death every single day, and because it is viewed as a fly-over problem, an issue that is facing people that don't live on the coast, no one cares about it, and this CR does nothing to address it.

It is just not fentanyl. Let's talk about the crisis of immigration. Since Biden took office, over 3.5 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the southern border. This CR does nothing to add additional border security; nothing for additional infrastructure; nothing for advanced technology.

For those reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and ``no'' on the continuing resolution.

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