Gregory Meeks

Mr. MEEKS

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

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Neguse for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is Groundhog Day again in Washington, D.C. You know, this week is an opportunity to drive down electricity costs, create jobs at home by bolstering our exports of goods made in America. It is an opportunity to lower the cost of groceries and healthcare for families around our great country. But this Republican majority never misses an opportunity to do the opposite of addressing affordability for the American people. After all of the majority's procedural shenanigans last year, my resolutions ending President Trump's harmful tariffs on Canada and Mexico are due for a vote this week. But the Republicans couldn't let that stand. They are trying to change the rules again and again and again and again to do what? They are trying to change the rules again to avoid voting on ending Trump's tariffs. Just this week, new research from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation showed that the President's tariffs cost the average American well over $1,000. It will cost them even more now. That is what it cost them last year. It will be even more this year. President Trump brags about the money generated from tariffs, but it is money ripped right out of the wallets of working families. Will this body listen to the affordability concerns of our constituents and retake our responsibility over Congress' Article I powers to tax and trade? No, they won't. Will they lower the cost of utilities and groceries or medical devices around the United States that Americans need? No, they won't. What we are witnessing is one of the most astounding displays of cowardice in the modern history of Congress. It is truly a spectacle. In all my years, I have never seen a group of Members so deeply afraid of just doing their job. The American people sent us here to address their affordability concerns. I had to say to one member of the administration just last week: Do not continue to be a flunky of the President. Don't be a flunky of the President. Don't block for the President if he is not doing the right thing. Work for the American people. Don't be flunkies for the President when you know he is wrong. Work for the American people. Let's vote on this. Let's have the bravery to vote on this.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Crystal Bonds, an extraordinary educator and leader retiring after more than 27 years of distinguished service to the New York City Department of Education and to the students and families of Southeast Queens. Dr. Bonds began her remarkable career in education as a teacher and mathematics coach in District 29, where she quickly established herself as a passionate advocate for student achievement and instructional excellence. As her career progressed, she assumed a number of critical leadership roles within the New York Department of Education, including Assistant Principal, Principal, and Master Ambassador Principal. Her success led to her appointment to Superintendent of District 29. As Superintendent, Dr. Bonds provided visionary leadership to 36 K-8 schools, serving approximately 17,000 students. Her work was shaped by a profound personal connection to District 29, due to her own children attending schools within the district. This connection manifested loyalty to the community that supported her family and inspired her to drive positive change, growth, and equity across the district. Throughout her career, Dr. Bonds advocated for public education locally, nationally, and internationally for more than two decades. Her leadership as a K-12 educator consistently focused on promoting equitable education, experiences, and outcomes for all students, making her not only respected beyond New York, but revered. Under her leadership, the High School for Math, Science, and Engineering became the highest achieving public high school in New York City and New York State. Her devotion and dedication manifested numerically in the high school's rank rising from 30th to 1st during her tenure. From the classroom to the Superintendent's office, Dr. Bonds' championship of targeted support for educators directly closed the opportunity gaps students faced, leading to improvements in student achievement and expanded programs in the district. In addition to her dedicated public service, Dr. Bonds founded Changing Norms, Inc., extending her lifelong commitment to uplifting underserved communities. Her experience across elementary, middle, and high school levels bolsters her track record of excellence and lasting impact on education. Dr. Crystal Bonds' outstanding dedication, leadership, and years of exemplary service will continue to inspire those who follow in her footsteps. I proudly honor her lifetime of service and wish her continued success and fulfillment in all that lies ahead.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the service and enduring legacy of Mr. Rick Cotton, one of the most impactful transportation leaders New York has ever known. His profound career reflects an unwavering commitment to public service, visionary leadership, and the belief that infrastructure can, and should, improve the lives of millions. Mr. Cotton earned an Artium Baccalaureus from Harvard College and a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan Jr., on the Supreme Court of the United States. He brings a distinguished record of leadership across the private sector, public service, and international affairs. Mr. Cotton spent 25 years at NBC Universal, including 20 years as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, and later served four years as President and Managing Director of CNBC Europe. Earlier in his career, he served the federal government as Executive Secretary at the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and as Special Assistant for Renewable Energy at the United States Department of Energy. Across every role, he demonstrated a rare ability to navigate complexity while keeping the public interest at the forefront. Mr. Cotton later served as New York State's Special Counselor to the Governor for Interagency Initiatives, where he helped advance some of the state's most transformative infrastructure projects. These efforts included the redevelopment of LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Airports, Moynihan Train Hall and the Penn Farley Complex, the new Tappan Zee Bridge, the expansion of the Javits Center, and the Second Avenue Subway. These projects not only modernized critical assets, but reshaped how New Yorkers move, work, and connect across the region. In 2017, Mr. Cotton was appointed Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Under his leadership, the agency confronted some of the region's most complex infrastructure challenges and undertook one of the most ambitious capital programs in its history. This included a $30 billion transformation of the region's major airports and the full reconstruction of the Midtown Bus Terminal, laying the foundation for world class transportation facilities built for the 21st Century. More than the projects completed or milestones reached, Mr. Rick Cotton's legacy is reflected in the people he supported, the teams he strengthened, and the standard of professionalism he brought to work. His tenure will be remembered for its scale, its vision, and its lasting impact on generations to come.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, we should vote today to end these tariffs and lower costs for everyday Americans. Instead, this House majority is paralyzed by fear, making it one of the least effective in modern American history. The American people sent us to Washington to address affordability and to lower the cost of healthcare, housing, and groceries. Yet, this Congress has taken fewer votes in 2025 than in any nonpandemic year this century. Apparently, the majority doesn't think affordability is important enough to vote on. Instead of focusing on prices, the White House has spent the past week talking about invading Greenland or using our taxpayer dollars to buy an island that isn't for sale. To advance this fantasy, President Trump threatened yet another round of tariffs that would raise prices even further, only to walk back the threats after the stock market tanked yesterday. Regardless of what the President does, we are a coequal branch of government. We should be addressing affordability right now by passing the resolutions I have offered and resolutions that have already passed the Senate to terminate these tariffs. When asked to explain why we are not doing everything we can to lower costs for American families, the Speaker responded that the President is exercising Article II powers to impose tariffs. There is only one problem. The President has no Article II powers to tax or tariff. Those powers are explicitly assigned to the United States Congress under Article I of the Constitution. The Republican majority is more interested in providing cover for Donald Trump than honoring their oath to the Constitution of the United States and deliberately avoiding doing its job to lower costs for Americans. Mr. Speaker, the American people are watching. The camera of history is recording. I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and demand a vote on terminating the tariffs.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it was only last month that we stood on this floor debating this same resolution. My colleagues across the aisle defended the administration's claim that unauthorized U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and threats against Venezuela were about what? Stopping drugs. At that time, I asked a simple question. I asked--and never received an answer--if this was about drugs, why did the President pardon the former leader of Honduras, a convicted drug trafficker who bragged about shoving drugs up the noses of the gringos. The administration's own actions have since made the truth absolutely clear: This was never about drugs. The unauthorized January 3 operation was not conducted to address an imminent threat to the United States, nor to advance democracy in Venezuela. Donald Trump has abandoned even the pretense of national security. He has been very explicit about what his intent is: We are there to take Venezuela's oil. That is what this was about. He propped up Maduro's regime, praised Maduro's Vice President as a terrific person, and sidelined the democratic opposition, forcing Maria Corina Machado through the back door of the White House. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller posture as viceroys of America's newest colony, while American taxpayers are on the hook to ensure Trump's oil baron friends are fed the spoils. Guess what. There is no plan for what comes next. There is no plan to deal with the entrenched military and paramilitary forces spread across a country twice the size of Iraq. There is no plan if the so-called acting President refuses to serve as Trump's puppet, and no explanation of what the President means when he says he is ``not afraid of putting boots on the ground.'' Mr. Speaker, this administration is winging it and driving the United States headfirst into another open-ended foreign conflict that, as history has shown, is destined to backfire in years to come. For those of my colleagues who deny this is warmongering, there is still a U.S. aircraft carrier parked in the Caribbean. Tens of thousands of young American men and women remain on standby. If the President wants to drag the United States into a war that the American people don't want--they don't want this--he must come to Congress first. The debate belongs on this floor. We have all asked for what the cost has been and what the cost will be to the American people. There have been no answers to that either. Let's be equally clear. Venezuela is not the end of this recklessness. In exchange for a rules-based system the United States built to extend our influence around the globe, Donald Trump is reducing the United States to a regional bully with fewer allies and more enemies. This isn't making America great again. It is making us isolated and weak. Donald Trump's new world order is not new. It is the old logic of empires. Might makes right. The strong take from the weak. It is the same backwards worldview that Vladimir Putin uses in Ukraine and the same logic China will cite when it looks at Taiwan. We have seen where that road leads. It leads to endless conflict. To my Republican colleagues, the American people want us to lower their cost of living, not enable war. Now is the time for my colleagues to stand by their oath of office and end this dangerous game before it is too late. It is time for Congress to reclaim our Article I authority that the Constitution gave us and say that enough is enough. A President is not a king. He is not an emperor. Without an act of Congress, he cannot invade a nation and set us down the road of war. Let us stand up and do our responsibilities. Let's see where Congress stands. Let's have a vote on this floor and see where the majority of the Members of the United States House of Representatives is. The people deserve to know. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, do you know what happened in the Senate? They had a vote. First, five Republicans joined Democrats, but in his general style, two of them were very threatened by the President and had to reverse their vote the next week. We need to have the vote here and see if the courage that the five first showed and the three that continued to show, whether my colleagues on the other side are going to have the courage to stand up and do their jobs and make sure that the power that we have in the House of Representatives to oversee the executive branch and not just be a patsy to this executive branch exists. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The last time we were here, the chairman was talking all about drugs. Yet, today, I have not heard anything about drugs. The President said it was about drugs. That was the imminent threat to the United States, allegedly. We don't hear anything about drugs. We don't hear anything about democracy. All we hear about is oil and taking those resources. The fact of the matter is, they talk about ``we are not at war.'' I know that an aircraft carrier is still sitting right there where we led the attack before, where the attack took place. I know there is a blockade taking place right now, so our military is still right off the shore of Venezuela. I know that we want to make sure that we take care of our responsibility as Members of the House of Representatives and have the oversight and safety of the President, should he decide to strike again, come to the Congress first. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Deluzio).

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), an individual who has truly been fighting for democracy for the Venezuelan people, who wants them to have the right to vote, an individual who has stood and is trying to keep their TPS status so they are not forced back into the regime of Maduro.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I just wonder what kind of man, when a woman earned the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corina Machado, said that he wanted it, and she, trying to fight for democracy, came in, and he took it. He didn't earn it. What kind of man does that? Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. The last time I was on this floor, I had a question, and I still have that same question. I heard Members on the other side talk about the President trying to protect the American people. In fact, I heard someone--and I understand why Nicolas Maduro was indicted. I am going to ask the chairman again. I don't know whether he wants to answer this question, but if that is true, why did the President of the United States pardon a former leader of Honduras, the former President, who was convicted of drug trafficking, who bragged about shoving drugs up the noses of the gringos? Why did the President of the United States pardon him? I yield to the gentleman from Florida to respond to my question.

Mr. MEEKS. Reclaiming my time, yeah, okay, that is funny. It is because he does not care. It never was about drugs. It was always about oil. That is why. He doesn't care. That is why he took the Nobel Peace Prize from someone else who earned it. He doesn't care. He cares about one person--himself--and enriching his family and his friends. Mr. Speaker, this War Powers Resolution introduced by Representative McGovern would put an immediate end to this administration's reckless military interventions in Venezuela. We cannot allow the Constitution to be usurped by one President who believes he can unilaterally declare war, invade a sovereign nation, and buck the rules-based international system we helped build. If the House fails to check President Trump's aggression today, it will not end in Venezuela. I know the White House is paying close attention to this vote, and if we don't stand now and reassert our Article I power over matters of war and peace, we will have abdicated one of our most solemn responsibilities and reduced ourselves to a rubberstamp and become no better than the Duma in Russia. Our constituents sent us here to lower their costs, not to sit on our hands while the President keeps doing what he pleases. Let us make sure we pass this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, as a longtime proponent of the African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act, I rise today in support of this bipartisan bill, H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act. Let me first thank Ways and Means Committee Chairman Smith, Chairman Smith of the Trade Subcommittee, Ranking Member Neal, and Ranking Member Linda Sanchez for working on this in a bipartisan way and getting it over the hurdle. Madam Speaker, I also have to think about an individual who mentored me. I cannot think about AGOA without thinking about the former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the Honorable late Charles B. Rangel. He always spoke and thought of doing what he could for the continent of Africa. The African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act delivers significant economic benefit to the United States. In removing barriers to trade between the United States and Africa, AGOA has enabled approximately $1.8 billion in salaries for American workers each year. AGOA also provides approximately $1 billion in annual benefits to American consumers. The program has resulted in millions of American households enjoying lower prices for cocoa, coffee, and other goods that the United States cannot produce at home. American businesses understand the value of supporting robust U.S.- Africa trade, which supports more than 450,000 jobs across the United States. For this reason, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Apparel & Footwear Association, and countless other business associations are calling for AGOA's reauthorization by Congress. Put simply, this bill offers clear advantages for millions of American workers. AGOA is essential to also protecting U.S. foreign policy interests in Africa. As we speak, China and other U.S. adversaries are trying to undermine the African Continent to do this kind of work. In fact, Chinese officials seek to deepen China's commercial ties with African countries, prevent American businesses from competing in local markets, and redirect trade away from the United States. Africa is the continent with the world's fastest growing population. China recognizes the critical role that Africa will play in the future and its economy and wants to exploit that, particularly as global demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements increases. China understands its own economy will benefit by making trade with Africa easier, not harder, and that is why China is rooting for AGOA's demise while offering zero-trade deals that mimic this vital U.S. program.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, there are certainly improvements we can make in terms of encouraging countries to better utilize the trade preferences offered under AGOA and to maximize their government strategies to take full advantage of those benefits. I look forward to working with my colleagues to improve AGOA over the next 3 years, but extending the legislation is a first critical step. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for this program.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6504, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act. First, as all have done, I thank the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, Dr. Murphy, for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor and for his partnership because we worked closely together to try to make sure that Haiti is given an opportunity to alleviate the suffering of the people of Haiti. I also, again, can't help but celebrate the legacy of the former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Charlie Rangel, who championed meeting our moral responsibility to support stability and dignity for Haitians. That is precisely what this bill does today. The Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act provides an economic lifeline to tens of thousands of Haitian families facing a gang-fueled humanitarian crisis that gets worse by the day. The dire conditions on the ground in Haiti, driven by brutal, armed gangs, cannot be understated, and 1.4 million Haitians, over 10 percent of the country's population, are internally displaced. One-half of the country's population experiences life-threatening levels of hunger. Diseases such as cholera have spread as an increasing number of Haitians lack adequate access to drinking water, food, and healthcare. Every family that is employed through the HOPE/HELP trade preference before us today for extension is a family less vulnerable to gang coercion, extortion, or recruitment. There is no path to stability in Haiti without creating a foundation for economic opportunity. The HOPE/HELP program does exactly that. We simply cannot afford to abandon the thousands of Haitian families who depend on this program, nor the economic lift to our region that it will provide. As the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett), knows best, because of her commitment to the Caribbean, this is a very important bill. Lastly, let me say to Chairman Smith, who goes to the gym in the morning and for months said to me time and time again he will continue to work tirelessly until he gets this bill done: I thank him for doing this and doing it in a bipartisan way with Ranking Member Neal and others. This is the way we can do good in the United States House of Representatives and good for people who are in need.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of speaking in favor of H. Con. Res. 61. Mr. Speaker, I will get to the chairman's remarks later about his incorrect statements. What I want to point out is, since September 2, the administration has carried out 25 known strikes, killing 95 people. Among these was a so-called double-tap strike where U.S. Forces killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed vessel in open sea. The administration now refuses to release the video of this strike, denying the American people the ability to see for themselves what is being done in their names. In fact, they are denying Members of this House, including me and I believe the chairman himself, from seeing that video. Many believe this strike may constitute a war crime. Following another strike, on October 16, the Department of Defense repatriated two survivors to their home countries rather than prosecute them in the United States courts, as we would expect if these individuals were, in fact, dangerous drug traffickers bound for the United States. The fact of the matter is a number of the individuals that he talked about, if they were in the United States, they would have been tried in our courts. That decision raises serious questions about the administration's own assessment of threat, necessity, and purpose. These strikes have not been authorized by Congress, and the administration has not sought congressional authorization to use lethal military force to address alleged criminal activity that under the United States law--and we are a country of laws--does not carry the death penalty. That is a profound escalation, and one Congress has neither debated nor proved. They openly covet Venezuelan oil. That is what this is about. The President is coveting Venezuelan oil. Despite promises to end wars, this President is threatening military invasions not just in Venezuela but across the Western Hemisphere. Just last night, President Trump declared: ``Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,'' and that ``the shock . . . will be like nothing they have ever seen. . . .'' This is not a strategy. This is a game, and the President is playing it with the lives of American servicemembers, threatening a regime- change war with no plan for what would happen next. This President wants to be the judge, the jury, and the executioner. However, this Congress--Congress is not a part of the executive branch. We are a coequal branch of government. The Constitution vests this body with authority over matters of war and peace. That power has too often been ceded to the executive branch. Earlier this month, on a bipartisan and bicameral basis, we repealed outdated authorizations for use of military force to prevent Presidents of either party from abusing it. We cannot now abandon our constitutional duty over these strikes in the Western Hemisphere. Even if you happen to disagree with me when I say these strikes--and they are--not about making Americans safer, that these strikes are about oil, that they are about another reckless foreign war or stretching Presidential power toward that of a would-be king--all of those things happen to be true, by the way--this vote is ultimately not about whether you agree with the administration's policy. It is not about whether any President can take these actions. It is about, and what it should be about, is whether this President can take these actions without congressional approval. Every Member of Congress should want to do their job. Congress must make clear--all of us--that no President can unilaterally draw the United States into a conflict that the American people do not want. Democrats and Republicans, those of us who were elected by the people, are the closest to the people. We should not shirk our responsibility. We should make sure that, right here, we do what the Constitution tells us to do and have debate and vote on the House floor so that all of America knows where we stand on matters of going to war or not. That is what they elected us to do. For us to just give away that power to the executive branch is not doing our job. We should have a vote because it is the rule of law. We are the United States of America. We are not part of the Duma or have a Putin who just does what they want with getting around and not dealing with the people's Representatives. We should stand for the power that was vested in us. That is what this is really all about. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I just say that the President said yesterday that that oil was the United States' oil, not the Venezuelan people. I thank the gentlewoman for her passion, though. I only wish she had the same passion to speak out against the Trump administration's mass deportation of Venezuelans legally in the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, if this truly was about addressing drugs, then tell me why the administration pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who ran one of the largest online drug marketplaces in history and was serving a double life sentence. Why did the President pardon the former President of Honduras, whom a U.S. court convicted and sentenced for flooding the U.S. with 400 tons of cocaine and bragged? He said: `` . . . shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,'' and he was pardoned by the President of the United States into our districts. I am a former special narcotics prosecutor, and I know this to be a fact. You don't run a serious counternarcotics strategy by carrying out the death penalty for those who are at the bottom of the drug trade while freeing those who are the very top and ordering them to come. At the same time, the administration asks us to believe that deploying fighter jets, an aircraft carrier, and more than 15,000 troops to the Caribbean is merely a counterdrug mission. This is the largest U.S. military buildup in the region since the Cuban Missile Crisis. If this were really about drugs, why are the United States forces seizing oil tankers? The stated mission, the scale of buildup, and the actions taken simply do not align. The administration can't keep its story straight, and it is no longer trying to hide its real motivations. Senior officials, including the President himself, have made it clear that the real objective is provoking a conflict with Venezuela to oust Maduro. Trump's chief of staff said to Vanity Fair: ``He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.'' Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am still waiting for the chairman to tell me why the President of the United States decided to let convicted drug pushers, convicted in United States courts and in jail, be pardoned if this is about drugs. I am waiting for an answer. I haven't heard that yet. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security and an original cosponsor of this bill.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I am still waiting to hear why major drug dealers, two major drug dealers, were pardoned by the President of the United States. I will wait. Nothing? Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, maybe the gentleman from the National Security Subcommittee can tell me, since the chairman can't, why the President of the United States pardoned a narcoterrorist and the former President of Honduras. Maybe he can tell me why. I am trying to get an answer. Nothing? Walking out? Does he have an answer for me? Why would the President of the United States pardon a convicted drug dealer, over 400 million tons, killing Americans? I got nothing. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal), an esteemed member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again, I offer the chairman, Mr. Rogers, the opportunity to tell me why the President pardoned these drug dealers. I am proud of this institution and who we are. I am a Member of the House of Representatives, a former chairman of the committee. I would also ask the chairman: Why don't we do hearings? Why can't we bring the administration into the Foreign Affairs Committee and have them answer questions of Members of Congress on what they are doing and why they are doing it? That is our job. That is our responsibility. Have we had one hearing on Venezuela on drugs coming in? Not a one. Have we brought anybody in from the administration? That is our job. Why don't we do our job? That is why we were elected. I would hope that the chairman would have some hearings so that we can discuss this as Members of Congress. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar), who is an original cosponsor of this important resolution.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Minnesota.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman can use my time if he can answer why the President of the United States pardoned major drug dealers who were convicted and doing time. It was the little guys. I will wait. Also, if this is about drugs, the fact is, the drugs come from China, the fentanyl. The mainstay of fentanyl is from China. I haven't heard China in this debate at all. In fact, the President runs around and says some of those--we are back selling chips or whatever he wants to do with China, which is a danger to our national security, killing our people. The number one drug that is killing Americans is fentanyl. There are no ships there. My main focus is, as I said earlier, even if you disagree with me, why don't we do our work as Members of Congress? Why aren't we having hearings, open, public hearings with members of the administration coming to testify before us and the American people so that they can hear for themselves? In prior Congresses, when I was the chair, even when Mr. McCaul was the chair, and there was a Democrat in the office, they were bringing in the Secretary of State on a consistent basis, subpoenaing them, having them come in to address certain things, and they came in. I make judgments now to go to hearings when I see someone from the administration is going to be there, and, boy, that is very rare. Generally, it is just somebody on the other side, from the private sector or something of that nature on foreign affairs. The diplomats and representatives from the State Department and people directly from the administration don't come before our committee. No matter what your position is, this is about the United States House of Representatives doing its duty and responsibility. Let me tell you, when it comes to drugs, I had a career in fighting drugs as a prosecutor. No one, to this day, fights harder and wants to make sure that we lock up and bring to justice those who bring in and those who sell narcotics in our communities. We still have laws because when we did, we didn't execute them. We tried them in a court of law. That is who we are. That is not who Vladimir Putin is and who some of these other authoritarian governments are. That is what they do. That is not what we do here. We have values, and we have a job to do, as Members of the United States House of Representatives, for the people. I am saying to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Let's do our jobs. Let's bring in the administration and members of the administration. Let them testify and talk to us, where we can question them, and talk to the American people because, ultimately, this is about them. The American people should be able to see what took place in those waters when those two individuals were hanging on the boat. There was no problem showing all the others. What are we hiding from the American people? We, as Members of Congress, should be demanding that the administration be accountable to the American people, and the best way to do that is for them to come to Congress because that is our job. Ultimately, I am saying we should do our jobs as Members of Congress and not give away our power to someone who would like to just be an authoritarian. We don't have that kind of government. That is why the United States of America was created in the first place, to make sure that one man or woman couldn't make unilateral decisions around the United States Congress. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.