Bob Goodlatte

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. At this time, its my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the brand-new majority whip of the United States Congress.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. GOODLATTE. That is correct.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds to say that this bill does not deport anyone. This bill simply freezes a program that violates the United States Constitution. So now, Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 710, I call up the bill (H.R. 5272) to prohibit certain actions with respect to deferred action for aliens not lawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I will now yield to both the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) and the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the majority leader, for purposes of a colloquy. And I will begin by yielding to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5272 prohibits Federal funding or resources from being used to adjudicate any application for the President's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program; and it prohibits the President from issuing employment authorization documents to unlawful immigrants in the United States. This bill differs from the bill the House was set to consider yesterday in that it prohibits funds from being used for adjudication. The prior version of this bill was a simple prohibition on the President's actions. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez, the President's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has already allowed over 714,000 unlawful immigrants, who claimed to have arrived as minors, to remain in the United States and seek employment. DACA is a major reason for the unprecedented influx of minors and family units along our southern borders. This deferred action program was announced by the President and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on June 15, 2012. It is a usurpation of the plenary authority over immigration law that article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution confers on the legislative branch. And the President knows that it is a usurpation of congressional authority. In fact, in March of 2011, he stated: ``With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed. The executive branch's job is to enforce and implement those laws. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore these congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.'' Despite this admission, just over a year later, the President implemented the DACA program. And today it stands as a beacon for any unlawful immigrant to simply cross into the United States illegally because word has gotten out that they will be given permission to stay. I heard this again and again from unlawful immigrants in Border Patrol custody when I visited the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month. So let's be clear: the President's administrative policies abandoning immigration enforcement and his promises about future administrative legalizations continue to encourage unlawful immigrant parents to smuggle their children into the United States. These policies and promises put money directly into the pockets of human smuggling and drug cartels and put children at risk of perilous, illicit journeys to the United States. And they undermine the fundamental constitutional principles that Congress creates the laws and the President is bound to enforce them. H.R. 5272 sends the vitally important message that minors tempted to come here in the future will no longer be rewarded by a President who chooses to use his pen and cell phone to legislate. They will have absolutely no opportunity to receive DACA benefits. I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for introducing the bill and urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 5272.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Labrador), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5230. There is a crisis at our southern border, and it is a disaster of President Obama's own making. The Obama administration's lax immigration enforcement policies have given confidence to parents who are in the U.S. illegally that they can stay, and now they are finding ways to bring their children who are still in Central America and beyond to the United States unlawfully. Although President Obama has many tools at his disposal to stop this surge at the border, he refuses to use them and instead proposes to make the situation worse by taking more unilateral actions to stop the enforcement of our immigration laws. It is ultimately up to President Obama to end this crisis by reversing his policies that created it. However, since he refuses to do so, we have to act to the extent we can to provide narrow and targeted funding to meet the immediate needs of our law enforcement agencies at the southern border. We have to enable them to do their job to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws. And we need to tweak the 2008 law regarding the removal of unaccompanied alien minors. We need to treat apprehended minors from Central America in the same expedited but humane fashion that we treat apprehended minors from Mexico and Canada. In fact, the administration has called for such a change. On July 14, before the Senate Appropriations Committee, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 needed to be amended. He said: In terms of changing the law, we are asking for the ability to treat unaccompanied kids from a Central American country in the same way as from a contiguous country. That is what this bill does, based on language written by Representative Carter, and it makes the important clarification that all minors from any country who do not have a credible fear of persecution and have not been trafficked shall be expeditiously returned home. Because of the President's inaction, we are taking the responsible step today of passing these narrow fixes that will help the American people avoid billions of dollars in additional costs due to the President not trying to solve this problem but asking for more money to continue to resettle tens of thousands of people into the interior of our country. While the bill is not perfect, it does give law enforcement many tools they have requested. For example, while I was in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month, Border Patrol agents cited administration- created restrictions that bar them access to Federal lands as a significant stumbling block to securing the border. One of the more important provisions of this bill gives Border Patrol agents access to Federal lands so that they can stop drug traffickers, human smugglers, and unlawful immigrants from exploiting these gaps along the border. Since the President isn't taking the serious action needed to address the crisis at the border, the House is doing so today. Again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his leadership on this issue. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5230. There is a crisis at our border. It is a crisis, a disaster of the President's own making. The Obama administration's lax immigration enforcement policies have given confidence to parents who are in the U.S. illegally that they can stay, and now they are finding ways to bring their children, who are still in Central America and beyond, to the United States unlawfully. Although President Obama has many tools at his disposal to stop this surge at the border, he refuses to use them, and instead proposes to make the situation worse by taking more unilateral actions to stop the enforcement of our immigration laws. It is ultimately up to President Obama to end this crisis by reversing his policies that created it. However, since he refuses to do so, we have to act to the extent we can to provide narrow and targeted funding to meet the immediate needs of our law enforcement agencies at the southern border. We have to enable them to do their job, to secure our border, and enforce our immigration laws. And we should act to provide narrow tweaks to the 2008 law regarding the removal of unaccompanied alien minors. Because of the President's inaction, we are taking the responsible step today of passing these narrow fixes that will help the American people avoid billions of dollars in additional costs due to the President not trying to solve this problem but asking for more money to continue to resettle thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of people into the interior of our country. While the bill is not perfect, it does give law enforcement many tools they have requested. For example, while I was in the Rio Grande area earlier this month, Border Patrol agents cited administration- created restrictions that bar them access to Federal land as a significant stumbling block to securing the border. One of the most important provisions of this bill gives Border Patrol agents access to Federal lands so they can stop drug traffickers, human smugglers, and unlawful immigrants from exploiting these gaps along the border. Since the President isn't taking serious action to address the crisis at the border, the House is doing so today, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Sign one bill into law, enforce another version of it in practice. Rinse and repeat until the accumulation of power in the Presidency is complete. We should all support this resolution today, as it aims to unite two- thirds of the Federal Government in delivering a simple message: Congress writes the laws and the President enforces them. Our own constitutionally required oath to support the Constitution of the United States requires no less.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the Rules Committee, for his leadership on this issue. Without enforcement of the law, there cannot be accountability under a law, and political accountability is essential to a functioning democracy. We in the House of Representatives who face reelection every 2 years under the Constitution are perhaps reminded of that more often than others. And while there is at least one political branch willing to enforce the law, we will not fail to act through whatever means of which we can successfully avail ourselves. When the President fails to perform his constitutional duty that he take care that the laws be faithfully executed, the Congress has appropriations and other powers over the President. But none of those powers can be exercised if a Senate controlled by the President's own political party refuses to exercise them. Nor would the exercise of those powers solve the problem at hand, because they would not actually require the President to faithfully execute the laws. And, of course, the most powerful and always available means of solving the problem at hand is to vote out of office supporters of the President's abuses of power. In the meantime, however, the need to pursue the establishment of clear principles of political accountability is of the essence. Earlier this year, I joined with Representative Gowdy to introduce H.R. 4138, the ENFORCE the Law Act, to put a procedure in place for Congress to initiate litigation against the executive branch for failure to faithfully execute the laws. But while that legislation passed the House with bipartisan support, the Senate has failed to even consider it, so today we consider a resolution to authorize litigation by the House to restore political accountability and enforce the rule of law. Although the case law on standing may be murky, one thing is absolutely clear: the Supreme Court has never closed the door to the standing of the House as an institution. As President Lincoln said: ``Let reverence for the laws be . . . enforced in courts of justice.'' It is the courts' duty, too, to uphold reverence for the law, and it is the specific duty of the courts to call fouls when the lines of constitutional authority under the separation of powers established by the Constitution have been breached. A lawsuit by the House of Representatives would grant no additional powers to the judicial branch over legislation. Indeed, what a statute says or doesn't say would remain unaffected. But it would be the appropriate task of the Federal courts to determine whether or not, whatever a statute says, a President can ignore or alter it under the Constitution. The stakes of inaction are high. The lawsuit will challenge the President's failure to enforce key provisions of the law that has come to bear his name in the popular mind and was largely drafted in the White House. What provisions of ObamaCare have been enforced have not proved popular, and what provisions the President has refused to enforce have been delayed until after the next Federal elections. How convenient for the President, yet how devastating to accountability in our Republic. Imagine the future if this new unconstitutional power of the President is left to stand. Presidents today and in the future would be able to treat the entire United States Code as mere guidelines and pick and choose among its provisions which to enforce and which to ignore. The current President has even created entirely new categories of businesses to apply his unilaterally imposed exemptions. In that future, if a bill the President signed into law was later considered to be bad policy and potentially harmful to the President's political party if enforced, accountability for signing that policy into law could be avoided by simply delaying enforcement until a more politically opportune time, if at all. No longer would Presidential candidates running for reelection have to stand on their records, because their records could be edited at will.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, our Nation has lost a true public servant. Congressman Caldwell Butler, who represented the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia from 1972 to 1983, passed away last night. He will be remembered for many things, including his sharp legal mind and an integral role in the Watergate investigation and the Nixon impeachment proceedings. A genuine family man, he treasured his wife, June, and their four sons. I am especially thankful to have served as a member of his staff many years ago and to serve the same Sixth District today. My thoughts and prayers are with the Butler family during this difficult time. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me and members of the Virginia delegation in a moment of silence in honor and in the memory of M. Caldwell Butler.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, having no further requests for time, I am prepared to close.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), who has also been a leader on this issue of combating sex trafficking.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to say to all that, as the chair of the Judiciary Committee, I appreciate the bipartisan work that has been done on many of these sex trafficking bills. I appreciate especially the work of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who is the ranking member on the Crime Subcommittee, and the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Conyers, as well. I commend the chairman of that subcommittee, Mr. Sensenbrenner, as well as Congresswoman Noem for their leadership on this issue. Sex trafficking is a serious problem, and while we see it around the world, we should not overlook the fact that it is a serious problem right here in the United States. This bill joins several others that we have already passed through the House of Representatives to address this serious problem, and it deserves the same bipartisan support that the others received, and it also deserves the consideration of the other side of the Capitol, by the other body which needs to take these bills up and pass them as well, so they can go to the President's desk and be signed into law. This is truly a bipartisan effort to address a serious national problem, and we all need to join into the solution. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), the chief sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5135) to direct the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to identify strategies to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking and review trafficking prevention efforts, to protect and assist in the recovery of victims of trafficking, and for other purposes.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 5135, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2014, introduced by Representative Kristi Noem. The crisis of human trafficking is ruinous to the lives of its victims, many of whom are drawn from the ranks of the most vulnerable in our society. This crisis has touched nearly every corner of the globe, and even exists here in the United States. The Justice Department, and its many State and local partners, have made great strides to rescue children and other victims from the terrible crime of sex trafficking. Last month, the FBI announced a successful nationwide sting that led to the rescue of 168 children and the arrest of 281 pimps in more than 100 cities. Also last month, the Justice Department seized a major Web site known for promoting illegal sex trafficking and indicted its owner. Both of these cases, and the many other trafficking cases that have been brought in recent years, show that law enforcement is making progress in the fight against child exploitation. But sadly, there remains more work to be done. Studies suggest that over 290,000 youth are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States. To effectively combat human trafficking, we must cut it off at its root by trying to prevent the trafficking before it can occur. H.R. 5135 requires the existing Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to survey and catalog the methods being employed by our Federal and State governments to deter individuals from committing trafficking offenses and children from being victimized. The bill also directs the task force to identify best practices and what gaps might exist, if any, in research and data so that we can place new and valuable tools in the hands of law enforcement. One challenge that victims of sex trafficking often face is a lack of financial independence that keeps them trapped in a life of prostitution. H.R. 5135 helps to address that by clarifying that existing Federal trafficking grants may be used for programs that provide housing for victims of sex trafficking. As I have said before, sex traffickers, and the buyers who enable them to stay in business, dehumanize their victims, treating them as objects to be used for the profit and pleasure of others, instead of human beings creating in the image of God. In May of this year, the House passed a number of antitrafficking bills that originated in the House Judiciary Committee, which are all awaiting consideration by the Senate. I encourage my colleagues on the other side of the Capitol Hill to move swiftly to pass those bills. I am pleased that we can consider another set of bipartisan antitrafficking bills here today. It is important that we do everything that we can to bring an end to this illicit industry. H.R. 5135 will help us to do just that. I hope that this body will join with me and Congresswoman Noem in supporting this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.