Mike Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman so much for that. Madam Speaker, I am delighted to go back across the country again to the great State of California's Eighth District. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend. It is so sad that broadband needs are not being met because politics are in the way. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman. And he has indeed been in Washington too long. Madam Speaker, there is a common denominator tonight. The crisis at the border and the problems with the infrastructure package were both entirely created by the Biden administration. They were both thus completely avoidable, completely predictable, and they have done and are doing an extraordinary disservice and real damage to the American people. We ask, again, of all of our Democrat colleagues and President Biden and his administration, please, please, for the sake of our country, put the partisanship aside. Let's govern with common sense, let's fix these problems before they become so great that we are unable to do so. Madam Speaker, we end the Special Order, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan's First District (Mr. Bergman), who is the highest ranked military officer ever elected to the United States Congress and also my dear friend and classmate.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for mentioning just one of the many Republican ideas we have. And as he said, we are not there at the table. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee's Sixth District (Mr. Rose).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I thank the gentleman for that compelling testimony from a first-generation American. That is meaningful. We prize immigration, the legal kind. We believe in the rule of law, and that is what maintains order. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Cawthorn), the youngest Member of Congress, but he is wise beyond his years.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I thank my friend for that compelling eyewitness account. Anyone who is looking at the evidence cannot deny this is a problem. I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko). Being from a border State, she knows a whole lot about this.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for that dire warning. I guess if you subscribe to modern monetary theory, none of this is a concern, but it is for those of us who live in the real world. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Fallon), who represents the Fourth Congressional District of Texas.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, during my Special Order tonight, my colleagues and I will address the inaction by the Biden administration and House Democrats to address this major crisis that we see on our southern border, this humanitarian crisis. And, yes, that is the right word. It is a crisis by any objective measure. We are also going to address tonight the President's so-called infrastructure plan. That is a lot for us to talk about. So we will squeeze it into this hour. When President Biden was inaugurated, the American people will remember, Madam Speaker, that he called for unity. He promised to work across the aisle, to work with Republicans in Congress. But so far those words have been completely empty promises. Everyone can acknowledge and everyone can see on television that there is a real crisis at the southern border, and it is a crisis of the administration's creation. President Biden has stopped construction of the border wall. He reimplemented the catch-and-release policy of the Obama administration. He reversed the remain in Mexico policy of the Trump administration. And he selectively is enforcing immigration laws. The results are not surprising. Our Border Patrol is now completely overwhelmed, and the southwest border encounters have reached a 15-year high. I want you to look at these numbers, Madam Speaker. This is the border crisis. The first column here is January of this year. We had 78,323 southwest border encounters. The next month, in February, it goes up to 100,441. Last month, in March, it was 171,700. This is a crisis. We all know the numbers for April are going to be staggering. I know that there are Members on both sides of the aisle here--I know there are Members, our Democrat colleagues, who want to join us to take action to fix this. But we can't do it without the administration. Look, here are five simple steps that we can take that would help end the border crisis: Number one, finish the wall; Number two, reinstate the remain in Mexico policy; Number three, turn away high-risk individuals at our border. These are dangerous folks, some of them, coming across, and we know that. Number four, require negative COVID tests before releasing migrants, illegal immigrants, into the U.S.; Number five, let's send a clear message to the whole world to discourage illegal immigration. What a concept. These aren't difficult things. The Trump administration had it all figured out, but now politics has gotten in the way of good policy. In addition to finally solving the border crisis, there is another item in the news that Americans desperately want us to address, and that is the need for an infrastructure package. That could be a bipartisan solution that we could all work on together. It should be nonpartisan, but because it impacts every single congressional district in every State, all of us, every American, wants this to happen. But the plan that the White House introduced isn't really about infrastructure at all. In fact, only 6 percent of the $2.5 trillion proposal would go towards bridges, highways, and roads. The rest goes to fund Democrat Big Government priorities, like the Green New Deal, and payoffs to liberal special interest groups. What an outrage. The facts are that the House majority is the slimmest of any House majority since World War II, and the Senate is divided 50/50. Given these facts, we just want our Democratic colleagues and President Biden to end this partisan agenda for the sake of the American people. I look forward, Madam Speaker, to hearing from my Republican colleagues tonight about both of these issues. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), who represents the Sixth Congressional District of Wisconsin.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the general. I appreciate that so much. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird), Fourth District, another American hero, another hero of mine, a gentleman who sacrificially served his country and deserves to speak here tonight and has great insight for us.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for speaking with such authority. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania's Ninth District (Mr. Meuser).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for those bold words, and he is right. I think that expresses the sentiment of a lot of Americans. I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gimenez), who knows a lot about immigration as well as infrastructure because he is a former fire chief and mayor and now a Member of Congress.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for her remarks, and we do call out the administration. That is what this Special Order is all about. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee's Second District (Mr. Burchett).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Cawthorn for that perspective. Madam Speaker, I will move briskly because we have a lot of Members, as you can see, who are passionate about these issues and want to weigh in tonight. I yield to the gentleman from the First District of the great State of Alabama (Mr. Carl), who will take the podium here.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I thank the gentleman for that perspective from Texas again. So we've got Texas and Arizona. Madam Speaker, we are going to move a little further west, all the way west to California. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia), who represents the 25th District there.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I am so grateful for those comments and for the gentleman's expertise. This passion that you see, Madam Speaker, is deserved. We are so concerned that the President doesn't share it, and that is what you are hearing echoed over and over tonight. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Taylor), who represents the Third District.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I thank the gentlewoman for that passion. She is right, she has been there, and she sees it herself. I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Nehls), who represents the 22nd Congressional District and will bring another border State perspective. He also knows a lot about law enforcement.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I thank the gentleman from Texas. We came here to drain the swamp, but it is really difficult during the current administration. We will get back to it soon, though, I am confident of that. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta), who represents the Fifth District.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman. That went so well, I think we will stay in the State of Pennsylvania, going to the 12th District. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that California perspective. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), the Republican leader of the House Agriculture Committee.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to get our kids out from behind screens and back in the classroom.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the legacy of our dear friend, Reverend Kevin Cox, as a longtime servant in the ministry. Reverend Cox started out his journey as a CPA, but the Lord brought him quickly into the blessings of pastoral ministry. From his very first pastorate at First Pentecostal Church in a small town in Florida in 1980, to now retiring after 16 years as Louisiana's district superintendent for the United Pentecostal Church International, Reverend Cox has diligently answered the call of God. He and his late wife, Delisa, and their two sons, who now have beautiful families of their own, were never afraid to move where the Lord led. Psalm 37:23 states that ``the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way.'' Mr. Speaker, well done to Brother Cox. The Lord surely delights in his way. We are thankful for his years of service to the kingdom, and the blessings he has been to countless many people, including Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District. God bless him in his endeavors throughout retirement.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5, which many have already labeled the inequality act because of the deep flaws contained in this bill. H.R. 5 will undermine women's rights. It will strip parental rights. It will gut religious freedom, and it will open a Pandora's box of a universal right to abortion. And that is just to name a few of the legislation's outrageous provisions. In addition to the well-founded, substantive concerns that you will hear a lot about in the next 45 minutes, the majority has decided to throw process out the window. They brought this bill directly to the floor. We sit on the Judiciary Committee. We should have had a robust discussion on the impacts of the legislation. We didn't. There has been no committee action. There has been no hearing, no deliberation at all by the committee of appropriate jurisdiction. And I think, many of us think, that the reason for that is because the proponents didn't want the bill to be exposed. Listen, let's make one thing clear. There are people on both sides of the aisle--all of us, everybody in this Chamber believes that all people are entitled to dignity and respect. We believe that every single person is made in the image of God and, because of that, every single person has inestimable dignity and value. We believe, as our founding document said, that God is the one that endows us with the inalienable rights that we have. They ought to be protected and respected. But unfortunately, the Democrats' misguided effort here tramples all over many of those fundamental rights that God gives us, the right to life, the right to religious freedom. While it is true that H.R. 5 does not include the word ``abortion''-- our colleagues keep reminding us of that--it does reference pregnancy and ``related medical conditions'' as areas of protection against discrimination. Everybody knows that this historically has led to the inclusion of abortion. We are opening a door here for the rampant taxpayer funding of abortions on demand; in addition to the myriad number of conscience protections that exist for businesses and medical professionals. You will hear a lot about that today as well. It is telling that the text of the bill also directly undermines the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Let's remember, RFRA was widely supported on both sides of the aisle and signed into law by President Clinton in 1993. RFRA's lead Democrat sponsor was our colleague, Representative Nadler. It passed the House by unanimous consent and the Senate by a vote of 97-3. But now, the Equality Act, or the inequality act, explicitly undercuts RFRA by negating its application to the underlying legislation. In other words, those protections won't apply anymore. This is unprecedented. It is dangerous. It is an attack on our first freedom, the first freedom listed in the Bill of Rights, religious liberty. This is something that our faith communities are deeply concerned about and all of us are as individuals. Look, I have to save time for my colleagues, and I will just conclude by saying this bill is a severe blow to women's rights, to people of faith, to every parent, every student, every medical professional and so many more. Because we believe in the dignity and value of every person, we have to oppose this dangerous, un-American legislation. I pray that we will.