Chip Roy

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Mr. Chair, in closing, a recent story indicated: Servicemembers forced to pay back signing bonuses after being removed after COVID vaccine. They see it as a kick in the face. The Air Force delays bonuses. Higher-than-projected personnel costs are driving a shortfall in FY 2023 military personnel appropriation. Meanwhile, we have jobs and notices under the chief diversity officer and myriad other positions at $183,500. Why? Why can't we get it right? Why can't we do the right thing and use the dollars that we have appropriated to fund the men and women in uniform to do their job? That is the question. The fact is what we are doing is we are funding things like a professor at the Air Force Academy posting about her desire to make students learn how to ``identify the structural racism and inequality that has been endemic in American history.'' A West Point slide obtained by FOIA stated that: ``White people and people of color live radically different structured lives, and that in order to understand racial inequality, it is first necessary to address Whiteness.'' That is what we are paying for rather than paying for men and women to defend this country. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Mr. Chairman, earlier today the ranking member of the House Rules Committee accused me of offering a racist amendment. It was racist and that was because it said that we shouldn't have policies under DEI encouraging that any race is inherently superior or inferior to any other race, color, or national origin; the United States being a fundamentally racist country, the Declaration of Independence or Constitution of the United States are fundamentally racist documents; an individual's moral character or worth is determined by the individual's race, color, or national origin; an individual, by virtue of the individual's race is inherently racist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; or that an individual, because of the individual's race, bears responsibility for the actions committed by other members of the individual's race, color, or national origin. The fact is we have DEI positions like that held by Kelisa Wing where she talked about ``CAUdacity'' to say that Black people can be racist too. That is what is happening. We are inculcating racist positions at the Department of Defense. I support my friend's amendment to strike these racist positions. The Department of Defense should be colorblind so we can defend the United States of America instead of having social engineering experiments that are wrapped in a uniform.

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I just note that this morning Texas DPS troopers arrested a Gulf cartel operative in the Rio Grande Valley smuggling people across the river. After having been paid thousands of dollars, they were moving five illegal immigrants into the United States. This is somebody that had been affiliated with a dangerous cartel. It is happening every day in the State of Texas because this administration refuses to do its job. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert).

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mills), my friend and an Army veteran.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles), my good friend.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman), my good friend.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my good friend.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good), my good friend.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds).

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I am moved by the references to solemnity after the chanting on the floor of the House yesterday for 5 minutes disrupting the Speaker of the House from carrying out his duties. I find it extremely moving. I am also moved by the references to how we have not passed legislation, despite the fact that we passed H.R. 2, the most impactful border security legislation that has been moved off the floor of the House, without a single Democrat vote because they are ignoring what the administration is doing to the State of Texas, to migrants, and to the security of our country. I am moved by the concerns for climate change which I am sure will assuage the angel moms and the fentanyl moms who have lost loved ones and the 72,000 Americans dead from fentanyl because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the President of the United States refuse to secure the border. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Crane).

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 529 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, last night, the Rules Committee reported a rule to refer H. Res. 503 to the Committees on Homeland Security and the Judiciary. H. Res. 503 lays out articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden for his failure to secure the southern border of the United States. We do a lot of things in this body, and we say a lot of things--I certainly do--about our beliefs and about what we think is happening to our country. What we are talking about here is, indeed, solemn. We are, in fact, talking about the mechanism provided by the Founders in the Constitution of the United States to check and hold the executive branch responsible. The border crisis that we are experiencing today is extremely significant for the people in my home State of Texas. It is significant not just for Texas, of course, but for the entire country--but, in particular, for the people in my home State of Texas. Since President Biden took office, there have been well over 5 million illegal migrant encounters along the southwest border. More than 204,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the border in May alone. Those numbers are changing post-relaxing enforcement of title 42. Mr. Speaker, 2 million aliens have been released into the interior of the United States, and 1.5 million, probably 1.7 million, maybe 2 million now, got-aways have successfully evaded border agents, by relatively conservative accounting. Most concerning right now is the data we have shows that 125 individuals from the terrorist watch list have been encountered this fiscal year alone, and that compares to about 98 in all of last fiscal year and about 10 in the last year of the Trump administration. The fact is, the people I represent are sick and tired of a Federal Government that is abdicating its fundamental duty to defend the border of the United States. That is what is happening. The Federal Government exists primarily, borderline entirely, but certainly primarily, to defend the United States. That is why it exists. It is failing to do so not through maladministration, not through incompetence, but through dereliction of duty and a refusal to actually follow the laws of the United States. The laws of the United States are there, expressly and specifically laid out, to ensure that our border will be protected, that our Nation will be secure. That is the fundamental question before us. When the executive branch fails to follow the law, when the executive branch fails to adhere to its duty to defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States, then what is it that the Congress, the people's House, is supposed to do in response? The Founders gave us a mechanism. Here today, we are talking about putting forward and referring these articles to the Homeland Security Committee for determination of the extent to which the homeland is, in fact, not secure as a direct consequence of the refusal of the administration, well beyond maladministration but very specifically the refusal to follow the laws of the United States that is resulting in the direct consequence of the death and damage to the American people. That is the truth. That is what we are experiencing. That is what we are experiencing in real time in Texas. My colleagues in Arizona, my colleagues throughout this entire country, are experiencing that in real time. Just a few weeks ago, a Federal judge in the Northern District of Texas, Judge Reed O'Connor, issued an opinion, an order, and in it, he lays out: ``Defendants, illegal aliens, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens. The sentencing information shows that on behalf of the Juarez cartel, defendants participated in an alien smuggling conspiracy. . . . The smuggling organization charged $10,000 to smuggle an adult illegal alien into the United States and between $12,000 to $14,000 to smuggle a child illegal alien.'' It goes on to lay out how they discovered that there was an illegal alien in Baltimore who was being held for ransom so that his family wouldn't be abused by the Juarez cartel in a stash house in Fort Worth. The members told the husband that they would do things to his daughter he would not like if he did not make this payment of $23,000, which he had not bargained for. This is the state of affairs in our country. This is the consequence to those migrants who are seeking to come here, when my colleagues in the false name of compassion state that open borders are somehow good for them. This is causing crime to extend into our communities. This is causing us to experience the dangerous hand of cartels. Just this morning, we had more news about cartels and their reach into Texas, into the United States. It is an everyday occurrence: bailouts, damage to ranches, harm to Texans, death to Texans, fentanyl. How many more fentanyl moms, how many more angel moms, how many more Americans need suffer because this President refuses to follow the laws of the United States that he raised his hand and swore an oath to defend? That is why we are here, and that is why I support the resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. We are here today not actually talking about the botched exit from Afghanistan that my friend from Florida rightly raises as a massive criticism of this administration, nor the Biden crime family syndicate that we are now dealing with with the son of the President of the United States. Nor are we dealing with the weaponization of government against the American people, including Scott Smith in Loudoun County for daring to stand up in defense of his daughter. Nor are we talking about energy production getting killed, leaving people stranded with high inflation and the inability to afford energy and unable to carry out their lives and prosper. We are here talking about the border. We are here talking about a dereliction of duty. We are here talking about the violation of the fundamental first principle of the executive branch of the Federal Government of the United States led by the President to actually secure and defend the United States of America. ``All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency.''--Washington's Farewell Address. ``Energy in the executive is . . . essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice.''--Hamilton, Federalist No. 70. ``Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.''--Lincoln, Lyceum Address, 1838. We are here precisely because the Constitution contemplated separation of powers, which is being violated every single day by an executive branch undeterred. Our job in the House of Representatives is, in fact, to deter the overreach and abuse of authority by the President of the United States refusing to carry out the laws of the United States in detriment to the well-being, security, and lives of the people of this country. That is our job in the House of Representatives. That is why we are here. That is why I support this rule. That is why I support this resolution. That is why I support this inquiry. We are just beginning.

Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, do you know who should decide what an essential health benefit is? The consumer, the American, not a government bureaucrat or a corporate bureaucrat. I will stand up for the 5,000 babies that have been born in Texas greater than last year's number of babies in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Let me just say this. According to the CBO, Federal subsidies for health insurance coverage for Americans under the age of 65 will hit $1 trillion this year. The average American family spends more than $22,000 a year on premiums for themselves through their employees. Again, coverage is not care. There are other healthcare models that work. The Wall Street Journal showed what cutting out the middleman in healthcare can do for costs: $150 a month to cover a family of five on a direct primary care model. A DPC practice in my district charges only $50 to $80 for an X-ray compared to the national average of $125. MRIs are $300 to $450 compared to the national average of $1,325. It is not just primary care. For example, at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, a direct care model, a knee replacement costs $18,000 compared to the average cost of $50,000 in the United States. Healthcare sharing ministries are driving down costs for the American people, giving them coverage and giving them options. The fact is we should imagine an America where, through a health savings account, your employer can give you real dollars, rather than a faceless insurance company, to pursue real care of your choice, so for a flat monthly fee, you and your children have unlimited access to the physician of your choice. You could still get insurance for the big stuff, walking into a doctor's office and knowing how much things are going to cost. Right now, the American people do not have options. I support this bill, but this amendment is important because we need a trajectory change in this country in favor of healthcare freedom, in favor of personalized care, in favor of patients and doctors over bureaucrats and corporations that are getting rich because the government is subsidizing their corporate cronyism. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, I notice that my friend and colleague from Texas talks about the current system discriminating. Well, the current system discriminates against small businesses and people who can't afford the massive cost of insurance or care. That is the truth. My colleague refers to an icky kind of coverage. The fact of the matter is that we have a large segment of the American people who are trapped in so-called coverage, but they are not able to get care. That is why we are here. We are trying to increase options for the American people. My only concern about what we are doing with this legislation, which I wholeheartedly support, and trying to encourage small businesses and give them options to be able to provide better options for their employees, is I don't believe that, in America, you should only be able to get insurance through government or your employer. We should be freeing up the system. We should be embracing healthcare freedom. We should be creating an environment where the American people control their healthcare rather than employers and government. That is the truth. I offered an amendment to simply spell that out in the form of a sense of Congress, a sense of Congress that the future of healthcare lies in healthcare freedom, not in socialized medicine; that Congress should take steps to address the broken healthcare system by restoring free market practices to lower costs; that coverage is not care and expanding direct access to healthcare should be prioritized over expanding access to coverage; and that patients and doctors, not government bureaucrats or insurance bureaucrats, should make healthcare decisions. Why do I think that? Well, the deals that are struck with the government by big corporations are the problem. For example, most recently, ObamaCare guaranteed their actual growth and profit. For example, Anthem had a 344 percent increase in government revenue from 2010 to 2020. UnitedHealthcare had a 198 percent increase. Cigna, Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, and Humana have seen an average increase of 562 percent in their stock prices from January 2011 to January 2021. Here is the kicker. In 2018, for at least three of these companies, the majority of their revenue came from the government: UnitedHealthcare, 53.4 percent; Anthem, 58.7 percent; and Humana, a whopping 86.9 percent. It is that corporate cronyism that is reducing options. They are making it more difficult for the American people. The fact is, for Americans who are trapped in coverage through ObamaCare--for example, when I came to Congress as a Member of Congress, I was put on ObamaCare, not some gold-plated plan that flies around on the internet that we supposedly have, but on ObamaCare. The place I went to cure the cancer that I had a decade ago, MD Anderson, I wouldn't be allowed to use. What kind of coverage is that? That is what we are telling the American people. That is the best we can do in the freest, greatest country in the history of the world. Bow down to the altar of government and corporate America to be able to figure out how you should get care. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. ROY

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. ROY. Madam Chair, if my Democratic colleagues support these executive orders so much, if they believe that these are the best things since sliced bread, that we need to have all of these orders that are turning our entire society upside down, that are redefining traditional roles in society that we understand the difference between men and women; if they are so excited about those policies, then why are they worried about voting on them? What is the problem? Why must they just be executed by a faceless bureaucrat at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue or in the alphabet soup of agencies in this town? Why shouldn't this body, the people's House, and the Senate, speak? That is all we are talking about in the REINS Act and these amendments. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.