The People's Night

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for hosting this People's Night for this Special Order. I appreciate all that you do, and I appreciate your leadership and your friendship. It is good to have another minister on the grounds. I am honored to serve with you.

Like has already been discussed by so many tonight, I likewise experience a great deal of frustration. I have had conversations, as have others here, with individuals in the Senate frustrated over that 60-vote threshold to even debate an issue over there.

Like others, I have been told that they have protected our country from so many other horrible pieces of legislation or that, ultimately, it is irrelevant because the bill would probably be vetoed anyway. There are excuses after excuses.

The fact of the matter is that the American people sent us here to do a job, to represent them to the best of our ability. I am honored to be here with my colleagues here tonight.

I am proud of the fact that, over the 10 months or so that I have been here, we have passed probably hundreds of bills, meaningful legislation, legislation that would protect the American people, legislation that would strengthen our national security, that would care for veterans and provide the kind of care that they deserve, legislation that would empower American businesses and small businesses, legislation that would increase transparency and accountability within government agencies.

For example, in order to protect the American citizens, as we all are so concerned about these days, we passed H.R. 3009, the Sanctuary Cities Act, that would not allow any State or local government to continue to receive funding if they harbor illegal alien criminals. Cities like San Francisco and many others would no longer be able to have a government-bankrolled sanctuary to provide such a thing for illegal alien lawbreakers.

In addition, as the Representative from South Carolina just referred to moments ago, the threat of ISIS and the authentic threat against the West from terror attacks is real. We are living with that reality today.

So we passed in this body H.R. 237, which would provide the Secretary of State with the authority to revoke or deny passports to individuals who are aligned with foreign terrorist groups.

It would also provide critical assistance to law enforcement and intelligence service personnel to make it easier for them to flag suspects when they are traveling internationally.

Perhaps most importantly, that bill would help prevent turned Americans who are now fighting alongside of ISIS from coming back to the United States undetected. Again, these bills and many others like these have not even received a hearing on the other side of the Capitol.

This body has passed the VA Accountability Act, which would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary new authority to fire bad employees in order to assure that our veterans are receiving the care that they deserve.

Additionally, this body has passed the Death Tax Repeal Act, which would eliminate a tax which is unfairly imposed on family estates after a loved one has passed. That bill would ensure that farmers and small-business owners would not be taxed for the success of their loved one who has passed away. It would help keep small businesses and farm doors open.

This body has passed multiple pieces of legislation that would increase government transparency and accountability, which our constituents deserve. To that end, we have passed the IRS Email Transparency Act. We also passed the Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act. The list goes on and on and on, is my point.

I am proud to stand here tonight. I am proud to state that we, this entire body, have successfully passed real and meaningful legislation that would vastly improve the lives of our constituents and our Nation.

However, the reality is that, without a fully engaged and willing partner on the other side of the Capitol, all this work that we have done equates to nothing more than a vacant parking lot. It amounts to a wicked limbo of immobility or lethargic stasis. Quite frankly, the American people deserve more than this.

I urge our friends on the other side of the Capitol to start taking up some of the legislation that this body has passed and to do so with a sense of urgency.

I realize that they are described as the most deliberative body in the world, but, frankly, it feels as though they are helping create an environment of absolute dysfunction.

I encourage them to take up bills and to move them forward so that, working together, we can become the most decisive body in the world.

The clock is ticking. The American people are excellent timekeepers.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source