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Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise today to again speak on the multifaceted crisis that has defined our southern border and how the inaction and misleading rhetoric from President Biden and his administration has only exacerbated the continued fallout our country is experiencing.

Since the beginning of his tenure in the White House, President Biden's trademark has been border chaos with over 6.3 million illegal border crossings under his watch. Actions do speak louder than words, and President Biden continues to prove that his priorities are miles and miles away from the southern border. He has only visited the southern border once since becoming President. He has supported funding cuts to the Department of Homeland Security in his recent budget proposal; and that Department is charged with securing the border.

Our Border Patrol agents deserve needed support from the administration who has laid the crisis they face squarely at their feet. In this past week, according to the U.S. Border Patrol, there have been 67,759 apprehensions, 15,780 approximate ``get-aways,'' 179 pounds of meth, 56 pounds of fentanyl, and 34 pounds of cocaine--all seized at our southern border in just 168 hours.

With our Border Patrol stretched inconceivably thin with little support from the administration, it is hard to fathom the true amount of illegal crossings, human trafficking, and illegal drugs that are currently entering our country through the southern border.

On top of all this, on Sunday, a person on the U.S. terror watchlist was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in San Diego. This further proves the national security implications regarding this border crisis and the message displayed to the world about the State of our ports of entry.

The impact of the unprecedented amount of drugs entering through our southern border is certainly not lost on me either, nor anyone in this body. My State of West Virginia has seen the impact of this crisis directly, and it has created irreversible scars on our communities.

I just mentioned 56 pounds of fentanyl has been seized just last week alone. That is enough fentanyl to kill 12 million Americans. Recent data from the CDC shows that between 2016 and 2021, fentanyl overdoses have risen 279 percent in this country. Those between the ages of 24 through 44 have the highest overdose rates, and those involved fentanyl.

Through conversations I have had on this topic with the Biden administration officials, I have found their answers to be highly insufficient. This is a crisis that is killing a generation, and we know that these drugs are flowing across our southern border. The administration needs a better answer, and they must swiftly act to stop this killer.

Now as the title 42 authority has expired, it has added to the confusion on the southern border. The Biden administration is trying to reset a new normal based on failed policies as an attempt to redefine and hide their border failures. Trust me, the American people are not fooled by the recent victory lap taken by the Biden administration or their effort to claim success or progress. To the Biden administration, what they consider low numbers still far exceed the daily average of the prior administration. In fact, if illegal crossings continue at the levels that the administration is tallying, this White House is on track to break the previous record they set last year for the number of illegal immigrants caught at the border. This is not lost on the American people.

Unfortunately, this is a habit we have kind of seen from this President. We saw similar messaging antics from the administration regarding gas prices when they touted decreases that still put us above the average before President Biden even took office. The same goes for inflation, which saw record increases only after Democrats' supercharged spending. Yes, it came down, but it is still way, way too high.

Mitigating the border crisis is an ongoing effort and one we have to monitor closely. For example, will the administration's actions of the past week create a massive backlog of asylum claims? What does that do to our system? It only adds to the issue of interior enforcement, something the Biden administration has clearly never prioritized.

Despite the President's too-little, too-late action, our border remains open. I know with certainty that once someone enters our country, the chances of them being expelled are very, very low. As we move forward, the situation of the border needs to be tightly watched, and it needs to be tracked over time if it deviates based on many different factors and changes to policies that we are currently experiencing. But above all else, we have to remain committed to policies that do secure the border, policies that protect our communities.

I don't know how these border communities are doing it. I really don't. Policies that support our Border Patrol officers and policies that prevent the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy that has become the custom over the past several years--whether it is the drug influx, the human trafficking, and just the human sorrow that we see that this has generated.

My Republican colleagues and I remain committed to this mission, and I encourage the Biden administration to do the same.

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