Extension of Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition.
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I am.
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, here we are again, kicking the can down the road and for other purposes, buying more time so that we can spend more money that we don't have at a time when we are going to eclipse more interest and more spending on interest than our national defense this year, and by 2026 we are going to be spending $1 trillion on interest. We are going to continue to spend moneys at the Nancy Pelosi-spending level of an omnibus bill that Republicans roundly oppose.
That is what is happening on the floor of the United States House right now.
We are going to continue funding this government at Nancy Pelosi's omnibus spending level. That is a level that will continue, by the way, to fund all of the priorities we oppose.
We are going to continue to fund the open borders that led to the death of Americans.
We are going to continue to fund the United Nations at $12.5 billion that is undermining our freedom and working against us to move people illegally into the United States. We are going to fund UNRWA which is funding Hamas, an enemy of Israel.
We are going to fund the IRS that is targeting Americans.
We are going to fund the Department of Justice that is targeting former President Trump.
We are going to do that today here on the floor of the House of Representatives rather than exercising the power of the purse that James Madison articulated in Federalist 58 that this body--this body-- is supposed to check an out-of-control executive branch.
That is what is happening today, and we should oppose it.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gaetz).
Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman, it is important to note, voted against the FRA last year because, specifically noted in the gentlewoman's press release, the side deals that are being put in place in this exercise that we are going to be putting forward next week in appropriations bills, those side deals were not in the law that the gentlewoman just referred to.
To be very clear, everyone is going to go around talking about following the deal that was cut last year under the FRA, that we are spending at a certain level. The fact is another $70 billion was added in side deals, and that is why the gentlewoman opposed the FRA last year. However, those side deals are a part of this agreement that is plussing up and funding the bureaucracy that is at war with the American people.
That is the truth. That is the truth no matter how much people want to gloss over it on either side of the aisle, particularly this side of the aisle, because this side of the aisle wants to be able to campaign on border security. Do you know what? The border is not secure, and we are going to be passing a continuing resolution that continues to fund a DHS that refuses to secure the border.
These Americans are dead. These Americans are dead because illegal immigrants, illegal aliens, were released into the United States by this administration.
Laken Riley, 1 week ago today, was alive and well, and now she is gone because somebody from Venezuela was released on mass parole in El Paso, went into the United States, went to New York, was released after assaulting somebody, moved to Athens, Georgia, and killed this young woman because of the policies of the radical progressive Democrats that my colleagues on this side of the aisle want to campaign against but refuse to use the power of the purse to stop.
James Madison gave us the power of the purse, and we should darn well use it.
Mr. Speaker, I note that the gentleman, for whom I have a great deal of respect, was just using a lot of the arguments that I have heard over and over again. It is something that we have come to understand in this town as what we call the glossary.
When you run out of the, sort of, what are we actually going to fight over substantively, we should bring out all the terms, right? We talk about, oh, we only have a slim majority.
Well, I will remind my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Democrats had a slim majority when they jammed through numerous massive bills, whether it is ObamaCare, whether we are talking about the Inflation Reduction Act. Yet, here we sit, and we are walking away from the majority that we were given, to use that majority, to use the power of the purse to stop an executive branch that is out of control.
A continuing resolution will continue to fund Biden's war on our border, and it is not just Biden. It is the radical progressive Democrats as a whole. It is a war on our well-being, a war on our security and safety.
That young lady who was killed in Georgia last week, that is happening over and over again in Texas: a young cheerleader was found in a bathtub, killed by somebody here illegally; a 2-year-old right here in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside of D.C., was killed by someone here illegally and released; a young person was raped last week in Louisiana by somebody here illegally from Honduras and released.
When are we going to stop it? When is this side of the aisle going to use the power of the purse to stop it? I can promise you the radical progressive Democrats want it. They want open borders.
We are continuing to fund a weaponized IRS, continuing to fund a weaponized Department of Justice, like the DOJ that went after Mark Houck, went after Scott Smith. We are funding an EV, electric vehicle, mandate.
I heard my colleague talk about energy and water. What are we going to do to preserve American energy while the American people suffer? Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are pursuing unicorn energy policy--EPA rules killing coal and natural gas plants, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, UNRWA, the ATF that is banning pistol braces and our Second Amendment rights, the Department of Education student loan scam that the President of the United States went to the microphone and applauded, ignoring the United States Supreme Court.
What are we going to do? Fund it. We are going to keep funding it.
What about the NIH and the FDA and COVID tyranny? What about the Department of Veterans Affairs, the chief diversity officers, the abortion travel fund, taxpayer-funded sex changes, transgender surgeries?
Your tax dollars are funding all of that, and we are going to continue it with a continuing resolution. To do what? To buy time to cut a deal that will do what? Spend even more money, rack up even more debt, continue these policies at war with the American people.
Boebert).
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, respecting my friend from Texas, I would say, where were my Democratic colleagues when we were passing H.R. 2, which would actually do the job of securing the border?
It is hard for me to take seriously the claims of my Democratic colleagues, all radical progressives, that want to actually secure the border and don't have complete ownership of the fact that Laken Riley was killed by a Venezuelan let out by this administration under abuse of parole, which H.R. 2 would fix.
It would have fixed it, and my Democratic colleagues were nowhere to be found.
This body, this side of the aisle, did their job in passing a strong border security measure. We have legislation on the floor that did the job, but we had no support from our Democratic colleagues because it would have worked.
Then my colleagues on the other side of the building, in the Senate, passed legislation that would not do the job and now want to hide behind that. That is the actual truth.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on either side of the aisle, we have a fundamental responsibility under the Constitution of the United States to use the power of the purse to check an executive branch that is not following the law.
It is not enough to impeach, send to the Senate, sit back, grab the popcorn, and watch. We have a duty to actually defund tyranny and lawlessness. That is precisely what the Founders said. It is what the Founders wrote into the Federalist Papers. It is what they contemplated in Article I in the Constitution.
Do not go out and have talking points about dead Americans because of what this administration is doing by letting people into this country to kill Americans like Laken Riley last week and then write the check that funds their broken policies.
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