House Republicans' Legislative Efforts This Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, tonight, Members will cover a variety of topics, as will I. We will cover particularly the Biden administration's war on American energy.

I am going to make a very, very clear point on what is going on with the Biden administration's foreign policy. While he limits and restricts what American exports can do with respect to liquefied natural gas, it makes it harder for our allies to have their energy needs met. It forces them to turn to Russia, where Russia can make revenue to wage war in Ukraine.

If every American could actually understand what is going on, the U.S. is not allowed to export LNG to our allies overseas, at which point Russia can then continue to sell to desperate nations with these energy needs. They take that revenue and wage war on Ukraine. We are now constantly pushing to be able to spend more U.S. tax dollars to go to Ukraine.

Wouldn't it be more productive to make strong energy policy to limit what Russia can do overseas? We would be in a better position to help Ukraine, which I am very supportive of. We are going to make this point.

We will talk about the impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, China's poor treatment of the Uyghurs, and President Biden being unfit for office.

Mr. Speaker, as we talk about these important topics and House Republicans' legislative efforts this week, I want to take a moment to share this story and honor the memory of Tamir Adar.

Tamir was a 38-year-old father of two who was killed defending his home and loved ones from Hamas on the morning of October 7. His body was mercilessly abducted to Gaza by terrorists and remains there today.

Tamir was part of the kibbutz's emergency response squad on the morning of October 7. He bravely left his home at 6:30 in the morning, while warning his wife and two children to shelter in place. He died protecting a neighborhood where he had lived his entire life, ensuring that his family would survive.

I stand here today to demand that Hamas return Tamir's body to Israel immediately, along with every single one of the 133 remaining hostages. Hamas continues to violate every norm and international humanitarian law, subjecting its hostages to horrific conditions without access to medical care from the International Red Cross.

This cannot continue. Israel has proven its willingness to pause the fighting for hostages to be returned home. Unsurprisingly, it was Hamas who broke the first hostage deal just as it broke a cease-fire that was in place before October 7.

Now it is time for the United States to stand with Israel as it seeks to destroy Hamas, free its citizens, and return the bodies of the fallen back to where they belong.

The U.S. must also put pressure on Qatar and other regional partners with ties to Hamas to increase their own leverage on this terrorist group to immediately free all those it is holding captive. It is time to bring Tamir's body home. My sincerest thoughts and prayers are with his family as they mourn his loss.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and I appreciate his remarks.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his remarks.

I think that part of the confusion--and I get a lot of this from constituents--is the difference between immigration reform and border security. It is something that is being lost right now in the dialogue in our country about the acute nature of the issue. We have absolute immigration reform that both parties need to come together on and figure out a path forward. There are many things associated with that. However, addressing border security is the acute issue that is allowing fentanyl to become ubiquitous in every one of our communities.

So if you are not talking about the border, I apologize for leading you in that direction, but you have been an incredibly sound voice on that. I appreciate the guidance that I have had as a Member from Utah not dealing with it as closely as you, but that is affecting all of us.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his remarks. I appreciate it.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for his remarks. I saw an interview this weekend with Secretary Mayorkas. He basically made an admission that the remain in Mexico policy is effective.

Many on the left will say it is an effective way to control our border. It doesn't feel like there is debate on that. What Secretary Mayorkas said was, well, it could be challenged in the courts. However, every single executive action can be challenged in the courts. That is, unfortunately, where we are in our Nation right now, in this ping- ponging situation from one administration to the other.

Yes, the remain in Mexico policy may be challenged in a court situation. Somebody could run a lawsuit against this. It could find its way to various levels within our judicial system. The policy works, though. We saw that. We have evidence of that from the Trump and Pence administration on working with Mexico in a partnership to limit the amount of cartel activity that exists, that is killing people, trafficking people, and creating a fentanyl crisis in every single community in this country. Yes, it might actually be challenged in the courts, but implement it. We know that it works, and we will work through it.

If there were leadership, Democrats would admit that it has been effective. Well, take the leadership to tell Congress we should pass this into law. If you don't like every aspect of H.R. 2, there is one really important aspect of H.R. 2 that, if we could agree on, we could pass legislatively, which you keep calling for.

Even Secretary Mayorkas says Congress needs to fix the problem. Well, encourage Democrats to vote in favor of the remain in Mexico policy. We have data to show that it works.

This is what is the frustration. What we can do to fix most of the acute issues at our border is right in front of us. It is beyond me that we can't look at a good policy, take data, and be able to reimplement it.

We will continue to sound the alarm on this and call out the nature of why the Biden administration is so inept at doing this.

I assume that he will highlight some of this as he gives his remarks.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of the gentleman from New York. I have seen the passion he has demonstrated for his constituents in numerous ways.

I now yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self). I appreciate his willingness to share his remarks.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his remarks.

I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman). I thank him for his willingness to share his thoughts. I appreciate it.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his comments. I appreciate his focus on this very, very important issue.

I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), my good friend and colleague.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman from California. Horrible energy policy, horrible immigration and border policy, mental incompetency--these are all great Valentine's messages today.

Thank you to many of my colleagues for their willingness to come and share their thoughts and talk about these important issues.

It is hard to pick your favorite member of the Arkansas delegation, so I won't do that now, but he would be in my top four.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
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Mr. MOORE of Utah.

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