Lauren Boebert

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Clerk, I rise to nominate Kevin Hern for Speaker of the House. It is as simple as that. Let's start getting somewhere with this; realize the fact that Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes. Let's elect a Republican who can unify our Conference, who is a true leader. I am casting my vote for Kevin Hern, and I hope you will, as well.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Clerk, I rise to nominate the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern) as Speaker of the House. Madam Clerk, we have been accused of not having a plan. Well, we have presented many plans and are even presenting two plans simultaneously right now for Speaker of the people's House. I sat in my chair anticipating to vote for Byron Donalds, whom I respect, whom I see as a leader, and there was a gut check that said we need someone that is going to convince my colleagues on this side of the aisle that it is time to get going. It is time to build momentum. Many of you have said it. You see that Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes. You are understanding that he is not going to get there. We had the votes for him. I cannot produce those anymore. The colleagues that I brought with me to offer those 218 votes on the first ballot aren't there anymore. It is not happening. As it has been said, we need to get to a point where we start evaluating what life after Kevin McCarthy looks like. America doesn't want more talk, and I am going to keep my speech a little short. They want action. I will take that. I want to get to work, too. America is tired of rhetoric, and they want results. This isn't chaos. This is a constitutional republic at work. I am a mom of four boys. I know what chaos and dysfunction look like. This is actually a really beautiful thing, to be here with all of my colleagues debating. Just as the gentleman from Montana said, we have not experienced this in the 2 years that we have served here in Washington, D.C. This is the most debate that has taken place, and I love it. I love the conversations that are going on, on the floor, in the Cloakroom, and in the Halls. There is nothing extreme. There is nothing unreasonable. We are trying to get this right. As my conservative colleagues and I have stated time and time again, Congress is broken and fundamentally needs change. I am here to get this right. We need a leader that is not of the broken system, someone who is not beholden to the lobbyists but to the people who sent us here, someone who can unite our party, and, most importantly, someone who can deliver on the promises that we have all made to the American people. I believe that there are many people on the floor today that can do just that. I voted for my friend Jim Jordan. I voted for my friend Byron Donalds. I am voting for Kevin Hern, the gentleman from Oklahoma. Mr. Hern went from rags to riches. Like myself and many other Members, he is a small business owner. He has lived the American Dream. He is a father, a family man, and as Kevin likes to say, he is a conservative, but he is not mad about it. We can have a happy warrior leading us. I understand that threats have been made about committee assignments, that you won't receive committee assignments if you do not vote for Kevin McCarthy. That is true; it happened in Conference. That is exactly what we were told, but we don't govern in fear. We govern for the people on principle. Don't be afraid to do the right thing. I believe that Kevin Hern is a unifier. He just received the chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee by unanimous consent. This is the largest caucus in our Conference. Look how many people have already put their trust in Kevin Hern to lead them. I get asked by my constituents: Where does this go? Who can unify the party? Who can deliver results? Representative Kevin Hern can do just that, and I am proud to enter his name into nomination, and I hope that some of you join me.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, the American people have spoken. They have fired you and have chosen to end the Democrats' one-party rule throughout our government. The days of this Chamber being treated as Pelosi's house instead of the people's House are over. The American people will once again be allowed into this Chamber to see their Representatives at work. Republicans made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. It is time we make good on those promises. We must defund the 87,000 IRS agents that the Democrats hired; increase domestic energy production; get to the bottom of Hunter Biden's corruption and, of course, the big guy, who is at least compromised by 10 percent; reinstate the service men and women who were shamefully discharged because they refused to take the COVID vaccine; reduce government spending and curb inflation; secure the southern border, at which there is a complete invasion; and reduce the flow of China's fentanyl into our communities. Republicans across America ran on these policies. God help us if we fail to deliver on them.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the work of a group of veterans from Pueblo, Colorado for their act of service restoring the grave of a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient, Warren C. Dockum. Pueblo is the ``Home of Heroes,'' and it is only proper that it should honor Warren C. Dockum, the only known Medal of Honor recipient buried in this great American city. Warren C. Dockum earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War at the Battle of Sayler's Creek where he showed exemplary bravery in service of the Union. After two other soldiers were killed, Dockum charged forward and captured a key position. Dockum was recognized for his heroism and received the Medal of Honor from President Andrew Johnson who assumed office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The Medal of Honor is the United States' highest award for military valor in action. While over 150 years have passed since the Medal of Honor's inception, the meaning behind the Medal has never been tarnished or diminished. A distinguished award presented only to the most deserving, the Medal of Honor tells a story of its own. Etched into the history of the Medal of Honor are the values that each recipient has displayed: bravery, courage, sacrifice, integrity, a deep love of country, and a desire to always do what is right. The Medal of Honor reminds us that freedom isn't free. It's bought by patriots who pay the ultimate price. It reminds us to love our country and to remember that united we stand but divided we fall. After the Civil War, Dockum eventually moved to Colorado and lived near Pueblo for the rest of his life. To honor this American hero's place of rest in Pueblo, local veterans volunteered to restore his gravesite. I thank the veterans in Pueblo for their magnificent work honoring Warren C. Dockum and highlighting yet another hometown hero who is associated with Pueblo's long and storied history of patriotism.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the life of a great rancher, public servant, family man, and friend--Tim Lanier. Tim was a staple of the Southwest Colorado agricultural community, a third- generation farmer descending from a proud family of homesteaders. Tim was a legend in the agricultural community, and he was the honored recipient of the 2021 Stockman of the Year award. Tim was a rancher who worked tirelessly to serve his land and his family. Tim's agricultural legacy will live on through his son, who is now a fourth-generation rancher. Tim's life was one of service. Tim believed in people and went out of his way to support his friends and colleagues. His dedication to Montezuma County and the rest of Southwestern Colorado will not be forgotten. He served for years as a firefighter and EMT for the Pleasant View Fire Department, and he served for over a decade on the Cortez School Board. Through his public service, he was a champion for the conservative values Southwest Colorado holds dear. His strong voice will be dearly missed, but I take comfort in knowing that his memory and contributions will live on in the community, and most importantly, with his family: his wife Merlene, his children Joseph, Stephanie, Emilie, Courtnie, and Ashlie, and his 21 grandchildren.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, this bill hires 87,000 new IRS agents, and they are armed. The job description tells them that they need to be required to carry a firearm and expect to use deadly force if necessary. Excessive taxation is theft. The chairman said that we are using the power of the Federal Government in this bill. You are darn right you are. You are using the power of the Federal Government for armed robbery on the taxpayers. I can see why this was rushed through committee and put on the floor.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. That makes the supporters of this legislation, by definition, insane. Reckless spending in this town is what causes inflation. We cannot continue to increase taxes on the American people and put a target on American energy production while spending a historic $370 billion on Green New Deal initiatives and expect to lower inflation and improve our economy. Remember that so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill? We spent $200 billion on Green New Deal initiatives. I guess that was just a downpayment on this never-ending theft of American tax dollars. You are sacrificing American families at the altar of climate change. Mr. Speaker, isn't it so? Joe Biden himself said the inflation rate is at zero percent. What the heck are we doing here? Why are we passing this so-called Inflation Reduction Act if it is at zero percent? In fact, it is the inflation enhancement act, and it does the exact opposite of what Americans need right now. This is just another con game by the Democrats calling something one thing and saying another.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, fake handcuffs won't close the southern border. Fake handcuffs won't lower gas prices, curb inflation, harden the supply chain, put baby formula on our shelves, deter Russia, or fix our broken and weak reputation across the globe. Mr. Speaker, fake handcuffs won't fix our education system, protect our students from CRT and grooming, or create opportunities to lift communities out of poverty. Fake handcuffs won't increase domestic energy, increase recruitment for our military--go woke, go broke--or solve a single problem that the American people actually care about. Mr. Speaker, fake handcuffs make for a good photo op, but they don't benefit the American people. Fake handcuffs only benefit those who pretend to wear them. Mr. Speaker, this body should be delivering solutions for the American people not with fake handcuffs but without restraint.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 345. Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress Allred (Neguse) Barragan (Correa) Bentz (Obernolte) Bowman (Neguse) Brown (MD) (Trone) Cardenas (Correa) Castro (TX) (Neguse) Cohen (Beyer) Comer (Fleischmann) Connolly (Beyer) Crist (Stevens) DeFazio (Pallone) Deutch (Stevens) Doggett (Beyer) Dunn (Cammack) Evans (Neguse) Fallon (Carl) Gonzalez (OH) (Armstrong) Hartzler (Bacon) Herrera Beutler (Moore (UT)) Jacobs (CA) (Correa) Jayapal (Pallone) Johnson (TX) (Jeffries) Kahele (Correa) Katko (Meijer) Kelly (IL) (Kuster) Kirkpatrick (Pallone) Lawrence (Stevens) Leger Fernandez (Kuster) Lieu (Beyer) Moore (WI) (Beyer) Moulton (Stevens) Newman (Beyer) Panetta (Beyer) Pappas (Kuster) Pascrell (Pallone) Payne (Pallone) Pingree (Kuster) Porter (Neguse) Pressley (Neguse) Reschenthaler (Keller) Rice (NY) (Murphy (FL)) Ryan (Beyer) Salazar (Cammack) Sires (Pallone) Stewart (Curtis) Suozzi (Correa) Taylor (Armstrong) Timmons (Armstrong) Trahan (Stevens) Upton (Meijer) Walorski (Baird) Wasserman Schultz (Stevens) Wilson (SC) (Lamborn) Amendment No. 456 Offered by Ms. DeGette

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, good morning. I rise in opposition to amendment No. 455. It is currently almost 2 a.m. here on the House floor and most Americans are asleep. In China, they are finishing up with lunch, and after the videos we have seen this week, it is possible that Hunter Biden is on to his second fix for the night. Sadly, we are here on the floor trying to sneak in land grabs to the NDAA. This Federal land grab would lock up 400,000 acres in Colorado with no regard to the terrible consequences this would have on the constituents of Colorado's Third District. The bill also seeks to permanently prevent responsible oil and gas production on nearly 200,000 acres. While Americans are paying record- high gas prices, while Biden is shipping our oil reserves to the Communists in China, Democrats here in the House want to lock up more of our oil and gas underground never to be seen or utilized. Mr. Speaker, 65 percent of the lands impacted by this amendment are in my district. Numerous stakeholders from the American Colorado Farm Bureau to the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce all oppose the CORE Act. It is stuff like this that ticks the American people off, and it is why the GOP will have the majority in November. There are reasons why the Senate rejected this bill outright. It is because the American people don't want it. I am proud to have worked with them last time we passed the NDAA to remove this from the final passage. There are good reasons why it is so unpopular. The CORE Act threatened to accelerate wildfires due to its numerous wildfire designations and other provisions that restrict Federal agencies' ability to actively manage their lands. Are Coloradans supposed to simply stand by and watch more and more of our State get swallowed up in wildfires? That is what this legislation would do. Nothing good happens after midnight, and this bill is no exception. I do believe that my colleague from Colorado wants cleaner air and cleaner water. I would ask him to help me in managing our public lands rather than locking them down. We all want to be good stewards of the land that we have been given.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to amendment No. 456, an amendment that would add the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act into this year's NDAA. This bill would add nearly 1.5 million acres of new wilderness and permanently withdraw 1.2 million acres from mineral production. Democrats already locked down our businesses, they locked down our churches, and they locked down our schools. But that wasn't disastrous enough. Now they want to lock down our public lands. Approximately 550,000 of those 1.5 million acres that will be locked up by these new wilderness designations are in my district. Over 55 percent of Colorado's Third Congressional District is already Federal land. The last thing that communities in my district need is further restrictions imposed by government limiting what they can do on public lands. People back home impacted by this lands package have raised significant concerns ranging from the loss of recreation, the elimination of multiple use of the land, and the overall threats to local rural economies. However, one of the biggest concerns in the Western States is the increased threat of disastrous wildfires that will result from the new wilderness designation and other land grabs in this bill. Wilderness is the most restrictive land use designation possible. It prevents active management in our forests which is critical to preventing catastrophic wildfires. Placing my district under lock and key will prevent all Americans from being able to access the lands and experience our majestic purple mountains firsthand. I have also visited the HAT facility in Eagle County. I have talked to our military pilots who would actually lose some of their land that they currently train over. This is a national security threat. They need that land to be able to train as they protect our country and then, of course, the 1,200 miles of river that would be designated wild and scenic, well, that is not fair. That is in my district. I am not going to the gentlewoman's district and designating the 16th Street Mall wild and scenic, but I do believe we can all agree that it is pretty wilderness down there.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Rosendale for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I love what Mr. Biggs was saying, how these are our God- given rights. That right there is fundamental, and that is why we have a government, to secure our God-given rights. None of our rights come from politicians. Our rights are not granted to us by the executive, by the legislative, or by the judicial branch. They are granted to us by God. These are our natural rights. They are unalienable. For anyone to say: ``I am from the Federal Government, and I am here to help,'' well, those are very dangerous words. Another thing that is dangerous is gun-free zones. I am a cosponsor of Congressman Massie's bill that would remove the law that makes our schools gun-free zones. That makes them soft targets. Our children are our Nation's most valuable assets. The more value an asset has, the more protection it should have. We secure our banks. We secure our airports. We secure the White House. We have even seen the Capitol surrounded by fences, miles of razor wire on top of that fence, 26,000 armed National Guardsmen, because even my colleagues on the other side of the aisle understand that borders that are secure and armed security work. We need to harden our schools. We need to secure our schools. I believe this starts at a very local level. Maybe there is something there that can be boosted by the Federal Government, some of this unspent COVID money to go toward boosting security in our schools. We don't need to be inching away the rights and liberties of American citizens. Liberty lost never comes back. We don't get that liberty back that we give away. We certainly were not elected to legislate away liberty from our constituents. We are here to keep the American people free. That is the proper role of government. A lot of people would like to say that the Second Amendment, well, it is great because we know you want to hunt. The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Our Founding Fathers did not just return from a hunting expedition when they created the Bill of Rights, when they drafted that. No, they had just got done liberating a nation from a tyrannical, oppressive King, and they wanted a government that was so strong and powerful that it would be able to fight off that tyranny and oppression that anyone from around the world might seek to reimpose on this people. But they also wanted a government so limited that it would never impose that same tyranny and oppression on its own people. Isn't it interesting that we heard for weeks how American taxpayers need to send money to Ukraine to make sure that those citizens are armed? Now the same people who are saying that we were bought by Putin because we didn't want to send billions and billions of dollars to Ukraine while our southern border is unsecure, while we have an invasion taking place at our southern border, when we have our own supply chain crisis, we have inflation that is skyrocketing, and we said maybe let's just put America first for a minute. But the same people who made these accusations against those of us who would vote against that spending are now seeking to take the rights away from American citizens. And these same people who had no problem arming Ukraine and wanting to disarm American citizens also call to defund the police. We even saw 24 of our colleagues from the other side of the aisle just today vote to not provide added security to our Supreme Court Justices who have had mob violence at their homes, murder attempts against a Supreme Court Justice. And 24 of these radical leftists said: No, they are fine. We are not going to send police to protect you. You won't be able to protect yourself. It is all rogue. This is a lawless administration that we are serving under, and I would implore the Senate to not compromise on the American citizens' rights. And I would like to just note that the 10 that we have heard of who are considering siding with these people who would limit the liberties and freedoms of American citizens are either not coming back to the Senate, they are retiring, or they are not up for reelection. I think that that is very telling, and I will not give an inch on the Second Amendment, of the rights of the people to keep and bear arms to protect themselves, especially when cries from this Chamber are calling to defund law enforcement and our southern border is wide open, allowing the cartel to send whatever they want through those borders without any added security. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Rosendale for leading this special order tonight, and I make reference that it is the House Freedom Caucus that is really setting the standard and protecting American liberties.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider H.R. 7690. Madam Speaker, the Biden regime wants to talk disinformation? Okay, let's give them something to talk about. Let's talk about how the White House said that it was Republicans that want to defund the police. Let's talk about how Secretary Mayorkas said the southern border is closed. Let's talk about how Joe Biden said his Build Back Better agenda cost zero American tax dollars. Let's talk about how Biden's new press secretary falsely claimed Trump stole the 2016 Presidential election. And remember Afghanistan? Let's talk about how Joe Biden said any American who wants to come home, we will get you home. Well, that sounds like the words of a lying, dog-faced pony soldier to me. The American people will not have their speech monitored by corrupt, career professional politicians who lie day in and day out. And now the DHS, a militarized department, has established a new Disinformation Governance Board, or more accurately known as the department of propaganda. DHS was created to stop terrorism. Now it is being used to terrorize the American people. And who did Mayorkas hire to run this Orwellian ministry of truth? This lady, Nina Jankowicz. Mayorkas calls her an expert on disinformation, probably because she tells lies all the dang time. Nina said that President Trump would embolden ISIS. Well, he defeated it. Nina said the Hunter Biden laptop from hell was a Trump campaign product. Nina said that concerned parents who wanted a say in their children's education were pushing disinformation; and Nina said Big Tech should censor the Wuhan lab leak theory because it was, you guessed it, disinformation. Nina doesn't seem to have a good relationship with truth and will surely use this board to silence Americans. Nina is no public servant. How is that, you say? Don't take it from me. Here are her words. Are these the words of a public servant? What do I need to do to--well, Madam Speaker, I will let you read the rest of that. This doesn't sound like someone who should be monitoring Americans' speech. The Democratic Party has truly lost their minds, from intimidating judges at their homes, burning down pregnancy centers, and vandalizing churches, to calling moms and dads domestic terrorists, and now creating this department to censor free speech because extremists are scared of, what, Elon Musk?

Mrs. BOEBERT. They say social media censoring doesn't go far enough. And this needs to be defunded.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, so many times we are accused of being callous and heartless toward the people who are coming across our border. But I attended a naturalization ceremony in my district, and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. I saw 41 true new Americans. They held in their hand the American flag. Tears streamed down their faces. They invested their heart, their soul, their resources, and their minds because they know they have what it takes to do this the right way and make this a more perfect Union. I saw the conviction that that flag right there, to them, is the one universal symbol for liberty and justice for all. There is a right way to do this, and we have to keep America free and secure so people can come and live the American Dream. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding to me tonight.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for leading us on this topic, once again, because this is such an important topic to get out to the American people. Just listening to the gentleman from Georgia speak about this being a national security crisis, that is exactly what this is. We are not a secure nation without secure borders. I live in Colorado, and my State is a border State right now with all of the illegal aliens. We are up to 2.5 million who have been apprehended at the southern border, not including the 700,000 gotaways that went past CBP and were not apprehended, probably because they did not want to come into contact with CBP. Who knows what kind of history they have? Just like Congressman Good spoke on, we don't know who is coming across our southern border. It is estimated that if this pace keeps up under Biden's tenure, we will have 8 to 10 million illegal aliens in our country by the time he leaves office. This is absolutely absurd. And now what? I serve on the Budget Committee; and everyone is wanting more money right now, more money from the American taxpayer. We can't say where the money went in Afghanistan. We can't talk about the $86 billion in weaponry and equipment that was left behind. The southern border has millions of dollars being spent each and every day on a border wall that is not being built. Secretary Mayorkas was here today testifying in front of this body, and he says that there are millions of dollars being spent on this wall that is not being built, and they want more money--not to secure the southern border though, but to process and release more quickly. This is not what we need to be spending the American taxpayer dollars on. Customs and Border Patrol agents are not travel agents. Secretary Mayorkas needs to be held accountable for what is going on. I just want to say one thing, he did mention that it is Congress' responsibility to fix what is happening at the southern border. Well, we want to do that. We want to be a part of the solution. We want to secure our border, stop the human trafficking, and stop the flow of fentanyl that is coming into our country killing record amounts of Americans. We want this to end. We want our Nation secure. That is why we have the title 42 discharge petition, to force a vote on the House floor under Speaker Pelosi's House of Representatives where she won't voluntarily bring that up. We want to be a part of the solution. I am proud to be serving with Members here speaking about this and informing the American citizens back home, and I thank the chairman for doing this tonight.

Mrs. BOEBERT

Mrs. BOEBERT. We have more Members joining us here from the House Freedom Caucus to talk about title 42. Thank you so much, Congressman Biggs, for your insight on this. I know that you work really hard in studying what is going on at the southern border. I have the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman) here now. Do you believe that this regime is responsible for signaling to poor and desperate people that now is the time to take this dangerous journey, to break our laws, to come into our country, and live under the freedoms and protections our country provides but not as a citizen?

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues from the House Freedom Caucus for joining me here on the House floor tonight to discuss this issue. I would encourage all Members of Congress--both bodies, the House and Senate--to talk to a Border Patrol agent. Ask them about the policies that they need to secure our southern border. I guarantee you, they won't be telling you they need funding or personnel or even infrastructure. They just need the policy to do their jobs so they can go home feeling like they have accomplished something and have protected American citizens. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, we talk about this issue regularly in our meetings with the House Freedom Caucus, and one question that comes up regularly is, where is Kamala Harris? Where is the border czar in this? Are there any plans for her to visit the southern border? Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I agree that that absolutely needs to be brought up in the next Congress. Now, these appointed Secretaries, they really have turned our Border Patrol agents into travel agents. They are being shipped all throughout our country, these illegal immigrants, and every State is now a border State. Congressman Good is from Virginia. We have Congressman Ralph Norman here from South Carolina. I am from Colorado. But someone who has a front seat view here, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), this has been a really hot topic for him, and rightfully so. Republicans and Democrats from both Houses of Congress have said that they don't support ending title 42, yet no legislation or action has been taken to reinstate it. What are your thoughts on that?

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, absolutely not. The city of Rifle just hit 10,000 for our population. I mean, 18,000 people a day, that right there exceeds the little city of Rifle, Colorado. But this is something that we absolutely cannot endure, so I am glad that we have this time tonight to discuss this. Representative Good, you have been to the southern border. You have talked to Border Patrol agents. Can you tell me what you have seen, what you have heard from Border Patrol agents?

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, we are wrapping up here. We have 30 seconds. Mr. Speaker, I ask the chairman for his final thoughts.

Mrs. BOEBERT. Thank you. Now, one final question for you here. You are a businessman. We may have 7 million undocumented workers in our country by November. What does that mean for our economy?