Providing for Consideration of H.R. Continuing Appropriations and Border Security Enhancement Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. LAWLER. Madam Speaker, 75 percent of Americans believe we are headed in the wrong direction, according to nearly every single national poll.

NBC News recently had a poll that showed Republicans outperform Democrats by 21 points on the question of who is better equipped to handle the economy. Why? Because Bidenomics has been an absolute disaster.

There is record inflation, skyrocketing energy prices, higher grocery bills. People are struggling. This administration has increased spending by over $5 trillion in new spending in just 2 years.

The American people elected a House Republican majority to serve as a check and balance on this administration and on the Senate, but also to govern.

There are real challenges in this country, starting with our economy: our reckless out-of-control spending; the cost of living; our long-term debt crossing $33 trillion; the fact that if we do nothing, Social Security and Medicare will both go broke within the next decade; and then, of course, immigration and the crisis at our southern border.

Since Joe Biden took office, 6 million migrants have crossed our southern border, many of them illegally. Asylum cases are taking 2 to 3 years at a minimum to be heard. This administration has failed to combat the malign influence of the cartels trafficking women and children, trafficking drugs, and fentanyl pouring into our communities, killing 70,000 Americans just last year.

It is shameful, yet what do the American people see? They see a government on the precipice of a shutdown.

My colleagues across the aisle will pin it squarely on the Republicans, but let's be clear: Through this appropriations process, we have now passed four appropriations bills through the House. Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats have passed exactly zero appropriations bills through the Senate.

Our fiscal year ends tomorrow, so Congress has not done its work to pass these appropriations bills, either through the House or the Senate, by the September 30 deadline.

I agree with my colleagues in the House Republican majority that we need to pass single-subject appropriations bills. The committee has been doing that work. It is important work, but it takes time. It takes time to go line by line and break the way this place has operated for three decades, and we need time to complete that work.

Shutting down the government will serve no purpose whatsoever, and in fact, it will tank an already fragile economy because of the Biden administration's policies.

Our veterans, our seniors, our Active-Duty military, all the employees within the Federal Government will be hurt by a shutdown. Our stock market and our 401(k)'s will be impacted.

There is absolutely no reason for a shutdown, and it is imperative that we, in the House, lead, govern, and pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded short-term while we finish our work.

People can blame leadership. People can say that we should have done this back in July. I would remind some of those very people that they refused to move rules. They refused to move some of these bills because they wanted more cuts, and that is fine. That is democracy.

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Mr. LAWLER. Madam Speaker, unlike the previous Speaker, this Speaker has allowed this place to actually function as a democracy. He is not ruling it with an iron fist. So many people complained about the way that it was previously run, and now they kind of want it run like that again. It is not the way we should operate.

We need to pass a CR. Any CR in a divided government ultimately will be bipartisan. We all know that. There is no partisan CR that is going to become law in a divided government, but we have to negotiate and have to get to that point.

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Mr. LAWLER. Madam Speaker, it is always great to listen to DCCC talking points. At a very time when Leader Jeffries said that he would not politicize this potential shutdown in a meeting of the Problem Solvers Caucus, that very day the DCCC and House Majority Forward announced million-dollar ad campaigns--mail, TV--attacking individuals like me on the issue of a shutdown, despite me saying very clearly that I oppose a shutdown.

So we know that on the other side they actually want a shutdown. They relish it because they think it will benefit them politically.

Here is what you never hear from them: They don't want to deal with the border, they don't want to shut down the border. They don't want to deal with spending cuts. They want to increase spending. They don't want to deal with our long-term debt. They want to blow it through the roof.

We have real challenges in this country, and, yes, we need to work in a bipartisan manner.

When Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, is saying the migrant crisis is destroying New York City, that it is going to cost them more than $12 billion; when Kathy Hochul, the Governor of New York says there is no more room at the inn, despite sanctuary city policies, right to shelter, the use of taxpayer money to give free housing, healthcare, education, clothing, and food to illegal immigrants, and a refusal to cooperate with ICE and law enforcement, spare me your righteous indignation.

None of you are willing to actually tackle the challenges. You are looking to use this as a vehicle to win back the majority. That is it.

I am actually willing to work across the aisle. I signed on to the Problem Solvers CR. Join us in that. Not a single one of you have.

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