Scott Perry

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, I don't want to leave anybody out. We are getting to the end here. This amendment would be to have the funding for the Southwest Border Regional Commission. Now, this Commission, which only had its first chairman confirmed in 2022 and only was funded starting in fiscal year 2021, funds projects in the southern border regions of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Incidentally, the first chairman was previously the Director of Economic Development and Special Initiatives for Senator Martin Heinrich, who continues a theme of politically connected chairman of these regional commissions, just to let you know. I know that folks on both sides of the aisle care about the border. I believe that. However, the answer to solving border problems is to actually enforce our Nation's immigration laws, not to give $5 million to a commission that has not published a strategic plan and does not even appear to have a website. I would think they could afford to have a website with $5 million. The Commission received $250,000 in FY21 but is now being funded at $5 million in this bill for FY24 for literally no results. Now $250,000 is a lot of money where I come from, and $5 million is even more. I can see inflation; I could see the cost of living going up. The people that I represent, their grocery costs are 20 percent up; fuel costs, electricity costs, everything they pay for is up, but not $250,000 to $5 million. That is a little bit more of a jump than everybody is used to. Again, this amendment simply strikes this figure in half to a still exorbitant $2.5 million. Mr. Chair, I urge support of this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, it just so happens that I had a hearing about a week ago on the Appalachian Regional Commission and all the other commissions. It is interesting that this has been around since the 1960s. There was a map of the Appalachian region, of which the home that I reside in looks on the south mountain of the Appalachian mountain range. I live right in the center of this thing. What was interesting to me of the map that I looked at provided by the Commission since the 1960s, showed counties that had reached attainment. Well, none of them had reached attainment. It has been around since the 1960s. All the ones that hadn't reached attainment in the 1960s still haven't reached attainment in 2023. We are spending all this money, and we are not getting anything for it. Well, we are getting some things for it. You might be able to get a theater in your community, reconstructed with the help of the Federal Government, or a trail, which is awesome. These are great programs, and I am not here to argue that they are not. What I am arguing is two things. It is not the job of the Federal Government, number one. These are things done by local communities and States. Two, this is above the authorization. This commission was authorized funding. I don't dispute that. However, we are spending money above the authorization, and I do dispute that because we are $30-some trillion in debt with nothing in sight except more debt. People say that we can't cut anything, that there is nowhere to cut. Well, we authorized this. This body authorized this at a lower level, and then we appropriated at a higher level. When you don't have any more money, when you are borrowing money to pay your bills, it seems to me that it would be easy to say that we will just pull back a little here, just a little, and we will go to what is authorized, which is still a lot, hundreds of millions of dollars. I guess that is going to be a problem here, though. This has no Federal nexus whatsoever. I will tell you, there are nice people working here. They want to do great things for their community. However, this is a boondoggle. This is spending money where other money can be spent and is being spent. This is a duplication of services. Sooner or later, this town is going to have to realize the taxpayer doesn't have any more money to be bled out of their pockets to spend on things that are spent elsewhere for the same projects, local, State, et cetera. Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, as the designee of Mr. Norman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, this amendment cuts $35 million from this bill for the Appalachian Regional Commission, lowering the funding level in this bill to $165 million. The IIJA provided the Appalachian Regional Commission with an advanced appropriation of $200 million a year--the entirety of its authorization level for fiscal year 2022 through 2026, meaning every dollar provided under this bill is more than the authorization level. We authorize things here and then we pay for them. It is authorized at a lower level, and we are paying much more. In other words, under this amendment the ARC would receive $365 million for the fiscal year rather than $400 million provided by this underlying bill. Even with this minimal cut under this amendment, the program funding is still extremely bloated, and its effectiveness remains unclear, as do all the regional commissions. Moreover, this Commission's programs are duplicative of other Federal economic development programs and better addressed by State and local levels. In fact, the fiscal year 2018 budget justification identified that the Appalachian Regional Commission failed to show a strong link between grants and a positive impact on the communities they serve. Worse, this year, the Commission's inspector general identified the massive increase in the Commission's funding over recent years as a threat to its variability to evaluate grant proposals, measure program performance, and conduct appropriate oversight. When we were talking about the last one, we needed the money for oversight. This one, we have got so much money that they can't oversee it. This is your Federal Government at work here. The spike in funding threatens to worsen an already tenuous link between funding and success. We simply must bring the funding level for the ARC, the Appalachian Regional Commission, down to ensure that it has the capacity to ensure it meets its mission. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I, again, say this commission includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. I have been to every one of them. Many of the residents of Pennsylvania are moving to those States because they are doing pretty well. We lose population compared to these States every 10 years, which is why we lose a seat in Congress every 10 years. We are spending money in Pennsylvania on these States. We are not spending in Pennsylvania; we are spending in these States, so our residents then move to these States for all the great things. When I asked the regional commissioner how much money has been spent in the counties surrounding Washington, D.C.--because, as you recall, Virginia is included--how much money is spent on the counties right around Washington, D.C., some of the most wealthy counties in the country? I couldn't get the answer to that either. I don't know if they don't have the answer or they don't want to give me the answer, but that is unacceptable. That is unacceptable. The counties around Washington, D.C., can afford the amenities they have and they don't have to ask all these other States to pay for them. Mr. Chair, I urge adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, I would say I dispute the claim that they work in collaboration. The Delaware River Basin Commission itself, in contravention of the Pennsylvania legislature, has banned the practice all over northern Pennsylvania. Hydraulic fracturing; banned it in contravention of the will and the wishes of the elected members of the Pennsylvania legislature. I would say this as well: The Corps of Engineers can do this work whether there is a commission or not, or whether this money is here or not. The Corps of Engineers has wide latitude to do that work all across the country. They don't need our involvement. Finally, the individual States involved in this compact, that is why they got into the compact. They charge people in the individual States all kinds of permit fees and regulatory fees to pay for this Commission. Yet, somehow the Commission can't survive without more money from the Federal Government. It is ridiculous, it is duplicative, it is costly, it is unaffordable, it is unnecessary, and it needs to end. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, this amendment eliminates the funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission, the funding that is from the Federal Government. Unfortunately, this bill provides nearly three quarters of a million dollars to the Delaware River Basin Commission, meaning that since 1998, the Federal Government has provided funding of some sort to this commission full of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats that have unilaterally, in this case, instituted a hydraulic fracturing ban for a portion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, literally stripping away the property and mineral rights from Pennsylvanians in direct contravention of the will of the legislature. These people aren't elected by anybody. They are not accountable to anybody. Most people have no idea who the people on this commission even are. The result is a prohibition on the development of critical shale plays in eastern Pennsylvania that can bring desperately needed natural gas to the market and the unconstitutional taking of mineral rights of the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Americans are having unelected bureaucrats take their rights away. It is an attack on Pennsylvania energy and American energy. At a time when residential natural gas prices are near record highs, it creates significant inflation, cost-of-living increases for our constituents, and empowers our enemies abroad. Now, instead of taking action to stop this unconstitutional seizure of State authority, as my other amendment that was not made in order would have done, or better yet, dissolving the compact altogether, this bill, as it currently exists, rewards the radical commissioners with money from the very taxpayers the Delaware River Basin Commission is attacking. Providing funds to such an out-of-control, radical commission is a step in the wrong direction that incentivizes others like it to follow. This amendment that I am offering would rescind this money and move it to the spending reduction account, ensuring that we do not further incentivize this commission to attack American energy and the rights of Pennsylvania while trying to pay off some of our $33 trillion of debt. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to do the right thing and send a message to these unelected bureaucrats by supporting this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, my colleague says that it costs mere pennies. These mere pennies add up to mere dollars. These mere dollars add up to thousands, eventually millions and eventually billions, which is where we are right now. It talks about return on investments. It talks about it but it doesn't say what the return on investment is, because there isn't any return on investment. It provides immense value, it is claimed. Yet, the value cannot be described. It cannot be quantified. No one knows what the value is. Will the Delaware River Basin go away if the Commission were not there? Are you saying without the Commission there would be no safe drinking water? The actions that this commission has taken are unfounded, unjustified, and are happening nowhere else. Yet, there is clean drinking water across the rest of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without this commission banning public and private activity. My colleague says it is necessary funding. Necessary for what? What are we getting for this? Somebody is getting something, but the people of Pennsylvania, they are getting the shaft. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I certainly respect the good gentleman from Tennessee, and I thank him for the time. I don't know. It seems like a lot of money still remaining for project management oversight. That doesn't seem to be billions of dollars' worth of spending to me; maybe millions, but not billions. As far as advanced reactor research, I am proud to say that in the district that I represent, some of the fusion reactor research that is being done in France is being produced in the district I represent, which is awesome, but we don't need to be paying for it. France is paying for it, and we are providing some expertise and some material. Oh, by the way, the good gentleman from Tennessee, much of the home of nuclear fission and nuclear energy is in the United States of America. God bless America. I think it is awesome. When have we built a nuclear reactor in the United States of America? I know the district that I represent just shut one down. We are paying for all this research. Tell me where it is. What does it provide? What does it produce? It doesn't produce anything. If it was building nuclear reactors, maybe I could see it, but it seems to me we are paying for it and putting the research on the shelf, or worse yet, giving it to France. Mr. Chairman, I don't care what it costs. It ought to end. I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, I'm honored to recognize Living Spring Harrisburg Church, a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, as it celebrates 20 years of Christian ministry on November 4, 2023. The Living Spring congregation was founded on November 2, 2003, under the distinguished leadership of Senior Pastor Tunde Oyelowo and his wife, Pastor Yinka Oyelowo. The Church, over the past two decades, has inspired faith, community service, and spiritual enlightenment. Its incredible growth from 8 to 500 members now represents 33 nations and a unique array of lingual and ethnic communities throughout South Central Pennsylvania. The Church's vision of transforming lives, empowering people, and impacting communities is carried out through its 60,000 square foot, state-of-the-art International Center, accompanied by 8 flourishing local churches that extend to Lancaster, Lebanon, York, and Carlisle. The Church's reach, impact, and inspiration of unity and communal growth is yet another sign of God's enduring faithfulness and blessings. Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, on behalf of the 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, I'm honored and humbled to recognize Living Spring Harrisburg Church and 2 decades of success. Living Spring's cultivation of moral values, charitable activity, and community faith is truly the epitome of God's work, and I wish its community continued great health, happiness, prosperity, and success for many years to come.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I agree with the gentlewoman from the other side of the aisle. We should be countering China. If we are going to use USAID to do that, well, that is all well and good, too, but let's enumerate how we are actually going to use this money to counter China. What we are expected to believe is that they need this money, and we are going to counter China somewhere in Eastern Europe. Maybe we are, but let's make the case. What you are asking is the American people to borrow money from China to then somehow counter China and just give all these folks that are smarter than all the rest of us all the money, and I am sure they will figure it out. I don't know if you are keeping up with current events, but China is eating our lunch right now while we are spending all this money that we are borrowing from China. I think the case makes itself. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I am glad that the gentlewoman mentioned people of faith and their care for people, not only in their community but around the globe. It is awesome. In the church that I attend, that is exactly what we do, and that is exactly what we should do--be our brother's keeper, be our brother's and sister's keeper--but the good Lord never said force your brother to be someone else's keeper. That is between them. And that is exactly what we are doing here is forcing people that can ill afford their own bills and their own tragedies that they are suffering in the United States to pay for the tragedies in other places. That is immoral. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment, which eliminates $230,599,000--a lot of money whether you are in Arizona, Pennsylvania, or Washington, D.C.--in funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development, funds appropriated to the President capital investment fund. I once again bring up the amendment to address the massive spending that is appropriated to USAID. The capital investment fund is for expenses for overseas construction and related costs and for the procurement and enhancement of information technology and related capital investments. We all want a new office. We all want a new computer. We all want a new phone. We have massive debt right now. We are going to run $2.2 trillion behind this year alone. I don't know who at home when they can't pay their bills, when they are literally borrowing money from their enemy, goes out and spends more. We are not even talking about spending more on our own home or our own phone or our own computer. We are talking about spending more on somebody else's and, quite honestly, in many cases in places where they don't even like America. Mr. Chairman, our country is now $33 trillion in debt. How in good conscience can we continue with this spending? This is the time to invest in the United States of America and our constituents who are struggling to pay for their groceries, to pay for gasoline, to pay for their ever-rising electricity bill, and it is going to keep on rising. Your gas prices are going to keep going up, and so are your food prices because of the policies of this administration. Mr. Chairman, we don't have any more money to spend on things that might be great to have, might be nice to have, might make us feel good. We don't have the money. When you don't have the money, you don't spend it. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, this amendment cuts migration and refugee assistance funding from $2.5 billion to $0. This money, the $2.5 billion, goes toward refugee programs around the world, including for shelter, healthcare, and sanitation. Again, we all want to do what we can. We all want to help. Nobody is trying to be cruel or punitive here, but we don't have enough money to deal with the refugee crisis in our own country, which is self-imposed. Our constituents here at home can't afford their own shelter, can't afford their own healthcare, their own food because of the policies of the administration, yet we are forcing them to pay for it around the globe, oftentimes with companies that have encouraged and inspired people to migrate to their countries and become refugees in their countries, and yet we are paying for that. Furthermore, during the debate on the Homeland Security funding bill this week, many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle rightfully pointed out the disaster occurring at our southern border to the tune of thousands of people every single day coming in. Oh, by the way, what other countries around the world are helping with our refugee crisis, with our refugee and migration assistance? So our taxpayers are paying for the one that we are encouraging and allowing in our country, and they are being forced under penalty of law in their taxes to pay for the ones in other countries, too. All of our districts have been affected by the influx of drugs, including fentanyl. In my district just in the last week, half a dozen people died from fentanyl that came across the southern border into my town thousands of miles away from the border. One of the refrains of the Biden administration and border czar Harris seems to be that the only way to solve this is to address the root causes instead of simply enforcing our own border. Mr. Chair, we are not going to solve any of this under the current policies that we are seeing, and we are certainly not going to solve it around the globe by forcing our taxpayers to pay for it, encouraging more of it all around the globe. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, again, we all want to do what we can, but we shouldn't be borrowing money from China, our number one adversary. We are borrowing it from them allegedly to counter them, and, oh, by the way, while we are borrowing it from them to counter them, we are allowing them to operate in our financial markets without the same controls and restrictions we place on American companies. That is ridiculous. It is so ridiculous that it probably costs us more to counter them. We could do much more by just not allowing that, but, instead, we are going to allow that and take taxpayers' money and spend it to do this. It would cost so much less to do this if we would just do the right thing in the first place. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.