Providing for Consideration of H.R. Repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Esg Disclosure Simplification Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I note that the gentleman from Massachusetts just referred to the possibility of the Vice President of the United States going to the border for a photo op.

Well, if she can find the border on a map and actually use her taxpayer-funded airplane, go to Andrews Air Force Base, fly to the great State of Texas, fly directly to the border at the Rio Grande and actually find the time in her duty as the Vice President of the United States to give a whit about the people of Texas, then maybe she could actually have a photo op.

Perhaps the people of this country and the State of Texas, which I represent, would like more than a photo op. Perhaps we would like a Vice President who actually cared about the people of Texas, who actually cared about the ranchers.

As I see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle muttering under their breath right now, how dare I speak up about the people of Texas who want to be protected? How dare I stand up about the ranchers whose fences are being torn down?

The narcotics flying up I-35, running through Boerne, Texas, running through San Antonio. The nine immigrants found in a car being driven by an American citizen, being paid by the Cartel Del Noreste of Los Zetas out of Nuevo Laredo; the two that were bound in a trunk. The boy that paid $4,000 to pick grapes but was being sent to a stash house in Houston, Texas, to be put into the slave trade; and little girls to be put into the sex trade.

The 7-year-old girl who I talked to on the border at the Rio Grande at 1 o'clock in the morning, when I don't know where my colleagues were, but I can tell you that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were not with me. They were not down on the Rio Grande River. They were not talking to that 7-year-old girl who had a phone number written on her arm, or talking to any of the others who were being potentially abused, as many NGOs and nonprofits estimate up to 25 to 30 percent of the women on this journey are abused by dangerous cartels.

It is not the Mexican Government that operates Tamaulipas or the state across the Rio Grande. It is the dangerous cartels making tens of millions of dollars moving human beings for profit.

That is what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle sell as compassion?

Then I watch the Vice President of the United States go down to another country to say, well, what could we possibly do to stem the tide?

How about actually secure the border of the United States?

How about actually use Title 42 in the middle of a global pandemic to make sure that we control the flow at the border?

How about actually have the infrastructure in place that we know works?

How about a return to Mexico policy where we can work with our friends in Mexico to stop the flow?

How about not putting a big neon sign on the border saying: ``Come on in. Don't mind if the cartels abuse you on the way.''

Meanwhile, Texas takes the brunt of it: an 800 percent increase over the last 4 years total in fentanyl; 800 percent more this year alone.

Do you know how dangerous fentanyl is, Madam Speaker?

We have had 7,500 pounds of fentanyl. 7,500 pounds that have been acquired by border patrol. Imagine what they might acquire if they weren't limited in resources. Imagine what they might acquire if they weren't undertaking processing in McAllen instead of having wide open spaces between our ports of entry. 7,500 pounds, an 800 percent increase in Texas. My State is under siege. My State is taking it on the chin because Democrats refuse to secure the border of the United States.

It is the fundamental duty of a nation to secure its border. The fundamental duty. I come back here after 3 weeks talking to ranchers and people in my State who are getting abused, losing their ranches, losing their homes, watching their kids die in overdoses, all while migrants get put in stash houses and get abused running up through my neighborhood and my communities.

Well, forgive me if I am not all that bothered by a resolution on this floor by my colleague from Iowa. And I think it is a good idea to try to call into question what the Vice President of the United States is actually spending her time doing.

What on Earth is more important than securing the border of the United States? And how hard is it to get on your taxpayer-funded plane and fly to south Texas and go meet with the border patrol and meet with the ranchers and meet with the migrants and meet with the business owners who are getting killed?

It is happening every single day in our State. It is our duty in the people's House to secure the border of this Nation. And I have constituents and people back home in Texas asking: What are we getting out of this deal? What are we getting out of our deal as being a part of the Union when the country won't even secure the border of our State and our communities? They are asking me that question.

We have a job to come together here on this floor in this body and do our job to secure the border of the United States.

I commend the gentlewoman from Iowa for offering this resolution.

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