Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I would point out and agree with the gentleman from Georgia that in all that spending that is being bemoaned by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle by the previous administration, show me the opposition from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I will wait.
The truth is that was a bipartisan spendathon. Some of us opposed a good chunk of it, but it was bipartisan.
The reality here is we have legislation before us that is designed to constrain spending in a world in which we are $35 trillion in debt and in which we have $1.1 trillion in interest, more on interest than we are spending on the entire spending of the national defense. It is a world in which we are racking up another trillion dollars in debt every 2 or 3 months. This is an unsustainable course that we are taking, and this is what is definitively occurring with the rampant support of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
What we have also done is put forward legislation to enact policy changes, because the power of the purse, Article I, is supposed to be used by Congress in order to do what is necessary to constrain an out- of-control executive branch.
The truth is that on June 13, 2024, an illegal alien from El Salvador raped a 13-year-old girl at machete point while recording it in Queens, New York. The illegal alien was released from the border in June of 2021.
On June 14, 2024, an illegal alien from El Salvador was charged with the rape and murder of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five. He illegally crossed the southern border in February of 2023 as a got- away.
That is not the first instance in Maryland. Kayla Hamilton was raped and murdered in 2022 by an illegal alien. Her mom is begging for this Congress to stand up against the Biden administration to stop doing what is unconscionable with open borders that are endangering the American people.
On June 17, 2024, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was murdered by two illegal aliens from Venezuela in my home State in Houston, Texas.
On May 14, 2024, an illegal alien from Honduras who was released from the border in April of 2022, under this administration, pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Waterloo, Iowa.
I could go on and on. I have pages and pages. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to hide behind legislation which even the current President couldn't stand behind when he said he could.
You know how we know that? Because he went to the microphone saying that he now magically has the power for an executive order, saying that when we have 2,500, we will set in effect the stop at the border. When the bill was 5,000, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle knew it was all a sham. They know it is all a cover vote. That is the truth.
Mr. Speaker, we have legislation here that would have Congress step in front of an out-of-control executive branch to secure the border of the United States. It is not unprecedented to hold a bill at the desk. We have done it before, and we should do it because we should use the power of the purse to stop an administration that is endangering the American people and the United States.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable what this administration is doing. It is unconscionable what they are doing to the Department of Defense. It is unconscionable that they turned it into a woke social engineering experiment that is more concerned about transgender surgeries and pushing a radical agenda than ensuring that we have the military that is necessary to defend the United States of America.
There is no wonder that recruiting levels are down. There is no wonder that we have a morale problem at the Pentagon.
This legislation is designed specifically to refocus our military on doing its job, which is exactly what the American people want us to do: secure the United States, secure our border, and secure us without giving money to organizations all around the world.
I am proud that we restrict funding of the ICC, of the ICJ, and of UNRWA. UNRWA, by the way, which my Democratic colleagues want to continue to support, was, in fact, funding and putting people on the ground, literally. They were killing our friends in Israel.
This bill is a responsible effort to restrain an administration that is endangering the American people, and I am proud to support it.
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