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[Page H1279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PUT A BORDER SECURITY PLAN ON THE FLOOR
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Gaetz) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, here we are, 2\1/2\ weeks away from a
potential government shutdown. It is not 5 yet, and I am on the floor
of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and
there is functionally nobody here. I choose to address the body from
the podium, rather than the well, to illustrate this point.
Now, anywhere else in America, if you were facing some cataclysmic
event like a shutdown or a shutoff or a business losing a major client,
you would have the whole team here working, getting together,
workshopping solutions, offering amendments, ripening proposals and
actually doing the work that we are supposed to be doing for the
country.
With this 2\1/2\ weeks to the shutdown, it is notable to me that
Congress got into town last night and we are leaving tomorrow. It is
like we have got the French workweek around here. And the Democrats are
in control. They are driving, Madam Speaker.
So my call is to Speaker Pelosi:
If you have got a border security package, put it on the floor.
If you have got an idea on how to make sure that our country is
safer, respecting the rule of law, creating a climate of rising wages
for our workers, making sure that people in their neighborhoods are
safe and not having to face the gangs and the cartels and the criminals
and MS-13, let's see it.
Democrats often were right to criticize Republicans during the 115th
Congress that we had constrained rules, limited debates. We had
diminished opportunity for Members to offer amendments. But we don't
even have a bill. It kind of makes me wonder why.
It may be the Democrats can come to no consensus on border security.
I mean, heck, we have got a group of them who probably are from Rust
Belt States, from the Midwest, where a lot of their constituents voted
for President Trump and believe that we ought to have physical
barriers, believe that we ought to be a nation of laws and borders--
pretty rational stuff. And then you have got this other wing of the
Democratic Party, Madam Speaker, that thinks that walls and borders are
racist and immoral.
How is it that the country is expecting us to lead--you to lead, in
the majority--if we aren't able to at least come to this floor and
offer concrete solutions?
You know what we voted on these last couple of days? We have been
voting on whether or not we are going to establish studies on the
potential harms of cryptocurrency. Now, that may be a virtuous
objective, but it seems less poignant and less timely than the
impending shutdown we potentially have in 2\1/2\ weeks.
We took votes on whether or not the Department of Homeland Security
should offer more mentorship and training to law enforcement on Tribal
lands--also virtuous, but certainly not what we ought to be doing here.
Madam Speaker, each and every day, when we walk these Halls, we stand
under the busts and statues and murals of some of the greatest
Americans to have ever lived. There are times when I feel we are
unworthy to cast our gaze upon them and upon their likeness because
here we are, trusted to fulfill the promise of the country, and it is
not even 5 yet on a workday, and I am the only one here and everybody
is packing their bags getting ready to go home.
It is a travesty and it is a shame brought upon this House. I
certainly hope in the coming weeks we can do better.
Madam Speaker, I thank your indulgence, and I yield back the balance
of my time.
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