Scott Perry

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, this amendment reauthorizes the Delaware River Basin Conservation Program for 10 years and increases the Federal cost-share for the projects. Now, it is the same kind of theme here at the end of the evening. I guess it is late. Looks like it is about quarter after 2. Nobody is supposed to notice that we are talking about the National Defense Authorization Act, but this is about the Delaware River Basin Conservation Program. I am sure it is important to my good friend and colleague. We served together in the statehouse. But he knows and I know the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee shares jurisdiction over this legislation with our colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee, not on the House Armed Services Committee. This doesn't belong here. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I can tell you that this bill has not been considered. This amendment hasn't been considered in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Neither side has taken a look at it, so we don't know the pros and cons. But we know this: This has nothing to do with protecting the residents of Pennsylvania or the Delaware Bay or the Delaware River from invasion from the Chinese or from the Russians or some kind of amphibious force. My good friend even talked about the trails, the environment, and the conservation around the area, which is all a great discussion. But we are here to talk about the National Defense Authorization Act. This is not to pass nondefense-related amendments, and it is completely inappropriate, completely unrelated to national defense. It actually undermines our national security by providing resources to the Delaware River Basin Commission that should go to the Pentagon. As long as we are talking about it, let's be clear here. Unelected bureaucrats at the DRBC have usurped the authority of the Pennsylvania legislature, which my colleague on the other side of the aisle and I served in, and have deprived Pennsylvanians of their property rights by instituting a ban on hydraulic fracturing. Maybe there is a national security nexus because preventing the responsible development of Pennsylvania's wealth of natural gas has enriched the Putin regime. It has funded its aggression in Ukraine and continued European dependence on Russian gas. That is what it has done. This bill absolutely has no place in the National Defense Authorization Act. While most of America might be sleeping at 2:15 in the morning, I am not. I am here in opposition to this because it doesn't belong here. It belongs in another committee, in another discussion where we can get into the details of what this would do, what this reauthorization would do. We are not going to be duped by adding this to the National Defense Authorization Act and continuing the egregious overreach of the unelected activists at the DRBC. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, no one on that side of the aisle cares more about the lives lost than the people on this side of the aisle. We are as heartbroken as anyone is. We are trying to find a balance between the thing that we have all agreed and swore an oath to uphold and defend, the rights granted by God enshrined in our Constitution and weigh that--and weigh that--with keeping our community safe. Ladies and gentlemen, our society has a sickness. That is for sure. The laws passed in this House to restrict people from their constitutional, God-given rights that criminals disobey is not going to change that. It is not going to change that. We can do something great here today. We could. We could do something great in this body, Mr. Speaker, but we are not going to. We are going to infringe on the rights of the law-abiding who want to defend themselves for the sake of the criminals who refuse to follow the law.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, Supreme Court Justices are already protected. Really? Really? They are already protected? The Speaker said no one is in danger, no one is in danger after an assassination attempt. I don't know if I would feel very protected. On the very day of the assassination attempt, in violation of the law, protesters are at the very house of the Supreme Court Justice being intimidated by protesters. The Speaker says that no one is in danger. I don't want to engage in personalities, so I might say a high-ranking official on the other side of the Capitol here said: You have released the whirlwind; you don't know what will hit you. And then down the street, Pennsylvania Avenue, a high-ranking official said there might be a mini-revolution. Does that not sound like intimidation to you? It sure sounds like it to me. I don't know what my friends on the other side of the aisle want to happen. I don't know. I am not in their heads, and I am not in their hearts. But I listen to what they say, and I watch what they do. We should have passed this much longer ago when it was available to us, and the fact that we didn't might be the cause for people to come to assassinate a United States Supreme Court Justice. This is not a third-world country. If you don't get your way, you don't blow up the Court and kill the Justices. But, apparently, that is what some people in America think is appropriate. It is not appropriate. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. I am sure we will hear about Ray Epps this evening.

Mr. PERRY. Are we going to find out if they got ordered to do that by the Speaker or by the leader in the Senate? Are we going to find that out tonight?

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. In the remaining 40 seconds I have, I will close by saying every day Americans wake up and they think it can't get any worse, yet somehow every day there is something new that actually makes it worse. Tonight is going to be no different. We are going to push the envelope to places we have never gone, a show trial right here in the Halls of Congress as a Supreme Court Justice is under threat. This is literally like a Third World country, and we have leaders in this government calling for Justice Kavanaugh--``You have released the whirlwind.'' That is what was said. Do not let this stand. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. Like I said, if you have ever seen reality TV, you know in just a couple episodes it is not really reality. Now, I don't know how many of these you will go through this evening, and we just have a couple of minutes remaining, but I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my good friend, to conclude with some of his thoughts before we wrap up here this afternoon.

Mr. PERRY. No, I have not.

Mr. PERRY. Employed by?

Mr. PERRY. If I could interject for just a moment, who is in charge of security here in the House of Representatives?

Mr. PERRY. So you had been here three days.

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, reality TV. I think most of us are familiar with reality TV. You are going to see some of that tonight. Now, when reality TV first started, people watched that, they were enthusiastic about it, maybe a little intoxicated at times. I don't know how many shows you had to watch. I don't know how many iterations you had to watch, Madam Speaker, before you figured out, well, this really isn't reality. This isn't even real, right? The drama was contrived, the relationships made up. I suppose it was all to make you feel better about your own life, watching the crazy, unhinged existence of these aberrant things on TV. Ladies and gentlemen, you are going to see some more reality TV tonight, on this January 6th alleged committee. I call it an alleged committee because it is not really a committee. There is no minority. There is no minority on the committee. I know because I am in the minority. When you have a committee basis, you have the majority, they pick their members, and the minority picks their members. But when the majority picks members for the minority, they are the majority. It is all one side. What you are going to hear is a one-sided tale. Madam Speaker, this is not a court of law, but it is kind of like trying to be one in front of the public, trying to act like it is a court of law for the public to decide. It is a show trial. This is a Soviet-style show trial. Unfortunately, there are huge things happening in people's lives right now. They are paying the highest prices they have ever paid to drive back and forth to work or to daycare or to get their kids to school or if they can even afford a vacation. If you have got a small child, you are worrying every day, am I going to be able to get formula to feed my child? Of course, we have got this border crisis, cost of living, supply chain, all that stuff, and we are spending millions of dollars. This should actually be a campaign contribution to my friends on the left. The FEC should make them file a report. Millions and millions of taxpayer dollars for a show trial, a Soviet-style charade. How do we know? We know so many ways. We know in so many ways. Like I said, we are going to get one side of a story. The outcome has already been determined, Madam Speaker, by the people on this so-called committee. They issued subpoenas. But they didn't tell the people they issued the subpoenas to; they told the press. Does that sound like how things normally go in a court of law where due process is happening? But this isn't a court of law. You are just supposed to believe it is one. You are also supposed to believe there is due process. But there isn't. You are supposed to believe that this is seeking the truth, that this is seeking some kind of justice, that this is a fact-finding mission for which the legislature will then promulgate laws to make sure that mistakes made in the past never happen again. Ladies and gentlemen, it couldn't be further from the truth. How do I know? How do you know? Because these folks have hired the producer from ABC for this prime time show. We could be having this alleged hearing right now. I am here right now. My colleagues are here right now. Madam Speaker, you are in the chair right now, but this is being delayed until prime time with a TV producer, because it is a show. That is all it is. These are the same folks that if you want to call it evidence, they took somebody's text message, and they changed it to say what they wanted it to say. If it is evidence, they just tampered with evidence. Madam Speaker, this is an abomination. This is an outrage. This is an affront to our American Republic and to the order and the rule of law and to justice. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my good friend, for some comments about what is going to happen, what you are going to see tonight.

Mr. PERRY. Absolutely.

Mr. PERRY. How many days had you been here, Representative Greene?

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas. He is absolutely right. Look, I don't think it is a mystery that many of us on this side of the aisle have no love for the FBI Director. It would be my choice to remove him immediately and get somebody effective that would do the job and restore the dignity of the FBI. But that having been said, he said there was no insurrection. He said there was no collusion. And as you already probably know--or maybe you don't--you won't find out tonight--the President of the United States at that time ordered 20,000 troops to be authorized to come to protect the Capitol days in advance. And as I said the day after, on January 7, I asked: What did the Speaker know and when did she know it? But we are not going to find that out, Madam Speaker. We are never going to know watching this show trial. This is something from a Third World country, where we use the instruments of Federal power to prevail upon and against our political adversary. That is what is happening right now. What did the Speaker know and when did she know it? And what about the 20,000 troops that were authorized by the President of the United States in advance but never asked for by the Speaker of the House--and as a matter of fact, declined by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. Madam Speaker, this is not the Mayor's city. This is not the Mayor's capital of the United States. This is the American people's capital. She has a duty and she failed in that duty. And now this sham organization called a committee here, where the Vice President is also the ranking member--not chosen by the minority. They just made it up. They could have chosen anybody off the street and said, that is who the ranking member is. And that is what they did because the verdict is already in for them. They already know. They already know what the outcome is for them. There is no due process here. There is no fairness here. There is no other side of the story here. There is just a prosecution where you stand there with your mouth taped shut. You can't call any witnesses. You can't have your attorney. Then they would like to convict people and send them away forever and never be heard from again. And that is what this is; the silencing of the American people. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs). Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Nehls).

Mr. PERRY. Right. The Speaker.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, on Roll Call No. 252, I mistakenly voted ``no'' when I intended to vote ``yes''. Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress Barragan (Beyer) Bass (Blunt Rochester) Boebert (Gaetz) Brooks (Fleischmann) Brown (OH) (Beatty) Bucshon (Gibbs) Cardenas (Correa) Crist (Wasserman Schultz) DeFazio (Stanton) Evans (Beyer) Frankel, Lois (Wasserman Schultz) Gomez (Garcia (TX)) Guest (Fleischmann) Johnson (SD) (LaHood) Johnson (TX) (Jeffries) Kirkpatrick (Pallone) Krishnamoorthi (Garcia (IL)) Lamb (Blunt Rochester) Leger Fernandez (Neguse) Loudermilk (Fleischmann) Lowenthal (Beyer) Mace (Donalds) McEachin (Beyer) Moore (WI) (Beyer) Moulton (Neguse) Neal (Beyer) Payne (Pallone) Price (NC) (Manning) Ruiz (Correa) Rush (Jeffries) Ryan (Beyer) Sanchez (Garcia (TX)) Sewell (Beatty) Sherman (Beyer) Sires (Pallone) Spartz (Banks) Strickland (Takano) Suozzi (Beyer) Swalwell (Correa) Taylor (Fallon) Thompson (PA) (Keller) Torres (NY) (Blunt Rochester) Vargas (Takano) Walorski (Banks) Waters (Garcia (TX)) Welch (Pallone) Wilson (FL) (Neguse)

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 233.

Mr. PERRY

Mr. PERRY. That is exactly right. Madam Speaker, the American people see and are feeling it every single day when they go to the gas pumps, when they have got to get their kids to soccer games and multiple activities, driving back and forth, and they can't afford to fill up their gas tanks anymore. This is because we are at the beginning of implementing the Green New Deal, forcing it on Americans; not letting you make the choice, but letting policymakers in Washington, D.C., determine how your life is going to be. And while the President says, in this very body, they want to have a vote on price-gouging. Meanwhile, we are not allowing the people to produce the gas and oil that we desperately need to keep our energy economy going. Our country runs on energy, right? The President is saying no more leases. Not one pipeline is being built. No more leases. No more refining. It is not happening. They actually said that we are producing more gas and oil than ever before in history. But you just gave them the numbers, Mr. Roy. You just gave us the numbers. It is actually less. That is what happens, and you are going to pay more. For every single gallon that you buy, you are going to pay more. And this is all by design. They don't want you to have the choice. They actually want to force you to drive an electric vehicle. As long as we are talking about energy and the lack thereof, Mr. Roy, it was just reported in your State to be prepared for blackouts and brownouts because there is going to be a lack of electricity production. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 21st century. America knows how to produce energy. We know how to make electricity. We know how to transport it. Yet, it is happening in California, and now it is going to start cascading across the country because of the policy decisions of the Green New Deal and those who worship at the altar of this green agenda that forces us to take these things that we can't afford and are inefficient and ineffective.

Mr. PERRY. And opening one a week.

Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for allowing me to be part of this Special Order and speak on behalf of and fight on behalf of the American people that are struggling right now.

Mr. PERRY. I had a problem with $40 billion with 5 hours, 5 hours of consideration for $40 billion. When we took the text to the staff and asked them about this line, what is this $300 million, and they said, Well, we don't know. And we are expected to vote on that. We are expected to vote for that or somehow we are aligned with Vladimir Putin. Keep in mind, my good friend from Texas, 2 weeks prior to this we did this lend-lease without any time limit, without any funding limit, then come back, and the President asked for $33 billion, we give him $40 billion. We can't afford our diesel. Pretty soon you are not going to be able to afford your food. We won't do anything on our own border. Prices are going up for every single person. Every American wants to help Ukraine, but we are Americans, and the Representatives in this body represent America.