Failed Policies
Floor Speech
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Texas for yielding.
I had the honor of visiting the Alamo just about a month ago when I went to the border. Again, I went to the border and I wondered about William Barret Travis. And I have got to tell you, when you are standing there and you are reading that, and you know that you are standing on the ground where giants stood, where things in the world meant something and were worth fighting for, it is invigorating, and it is inspiring to you to do your part.
I wonder, would William Barret Travis and the folks that lost their lives, the guys that lost their lives defending America at the Alamo and Davey Crockett, would they do it for $20 million for a State route in Alabama? How about $4.1 million for a bike path in San Diego or $6.4 million for a greenway trail in Chattanooga or $1 million for an electric vehicle car share for public housing residents or $5 million for a Newport, Rhode Island, walking path?
I am sure that all of those are very important things to the people that live in those communities. I believe that. The question is: Why is the Federal Government paying for them when the Federal Government doesn't have any money?
From December to January, we went over $34 trillion in debt and by May we will be at $35 trillion. Did the folks at the Alamo, including William Barret Travis, risk his life and ultimately give his life to watch his country be swallowed up in debt?
To that end, the invasion coming from south of the border, we didn't stop in this bill that was just passed, using taxpayer dollars to represent illegal aliens, to get their attorneys for them. They have come illegally, and the people that gave their lives at the Alamo, I guess we would ask them: Hey, you don't mind paying with your life so that we can represent the people who are attacking you right now? You wouldn't mind that, would you?
I bet they would mind. I have got to tell you, my good friend from Texas talked about the folks at Bastogne. I served in the 28th Infantry Division who held Bastogne underequipped, undermanned, surrounded by the Germans, taking the losses, taking the unbelievable losses, being told to hold the line, stay here, and hold the Germans off until Patton gets here. Everybody remembers Patton came and saved the Bulge and all that stuff. Nobody cares about all of those guys in the 28th Division who lost their lives fighting for the idea of the greatest country on the planet, the greatest country on the planet where we just agreed to fund firearm registries so that we can take rights away from Americans, where we agreed to fund vaccine mandates at the Veterans Administration.
I don't think they fought for that. I don't think they fought so that we could have another report about China buying up farmland and sensitive land around military installations. We didn't stop them from doing it, but we are sure going to have a report, so that is awesome.
How about this: They fought and lost their lives so that we can continue to fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and we also continue to fund sanctuary cities.
It is breathtaking to me what is happening in this Chamber. The individuals that founded this Nation, that pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, they meant it. They knew how serious it was. They pledged their lives, Mr. Speaker, and we can't even honor their sacrifice by saying we are going to hold the line here and do what we said we were going to do last May.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, we will have colleagues starting today-- starting just moments ago, on both sides of the aisle, that will tell you we can't afford this government; it is spending too much. Our citizens can't afford their groceries. They can't afford housing. They can't afford their credit card bills. How did it happen?
It happened in here a couple hours ago.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, did Davy Crockett and William Barret Travis-- not that they had them back then--but if they had, did they lose their lives so that a Federal Government could tell them you must buy this car; you cannot buy this gas stove; you will power your home this way or maybe you won't power it at all because we are going to shut off the generation that America invented? Is that what they died for?
These people and the battered bastards of Bastogne died because they wanted us to be free. They wanted the privilege and the honor to run their own lives, to make decisions for themselves. They didn't want a government that decided everything for them. They wanted a government that laid out the framework where each one of them could determine their destiny.
Now, we just voted for the government to determine the destiny right here and in so many other places. It is our duty, Mr. Speaker, and the duty of every Representative who takes the oath, to fight to ensure that the rights to determine your destiny reside with the individual and not an overbearing, out-of-control Federal Government. Today, we failed at that mission.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, free from the bondage of economic slavery. Slavery is in many forms, but when you can't make the choices that you should be able to make as a free person because you can't afford to make the choices because your government is taking from you that which you have earned, that is tyranny, Mr. Speaker. That is tyranny.
With all due respect to many colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we have one set of Members that are seeking the fundamental transformation of America, which used to look like a free country, and we have another side that is doing nothing to stop it.
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