June 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 97 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 97
(House of Representatives - June 11, 2019)
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[Pages H4395-H4396] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Marshall) for 5 minutes. Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, while the Judiciary Committee should be focused on securing the borders and overhauling a very broken immigration system, they, instead, bring a clown and circus show to town. When I looked up yesterday and saw John Dean, it took me back to the hot summer of 1974, when we saw John Dean and his cohorts on our television screens for days at a time. In an era with only three television stations--that is right, Mr. Speaker, we only had three stations growing up--Mr. Dean was on all three of them for hours at a time, for days on end. Bringing another convicted felon, and a biased one at that, a person who has tweeted 970 times anti-Trump propaganda, to bring this criminal to these Chambers was yet another embarrassment to the majority party. All of America realizes the Democratic leadership has dug a deep, deep hole for itself and, for all practical purposes, has started this impeachment process and hearings. Nevertheless, in contradiction to public wishes, it appears the Judiciary chairman will continue to dig a deeper hole by calling such a slanderous, offensive witness and move forward with impeachment. After doing over 38 townhalls across the State of Kansas since January, everywhere I go, folks tell me the same thing: It is time to move on. Mr. Speaker, we have real problems that need to be addressed. My folks back home are dealing with floods and tornadoes. The farmers can't get their crops in the field, and China and the European Union are blocking us from exporting our commodities. All these things are things we cannot control. We have enough problems without the Washington swamp adding to our misery. Folks back home want our border secured. They want a fair, streamlined immigration system, which helps fill the 70,000 open jobs we have across the State. From agriculture, to the aircraft industry, to high-tech jobs, Mr. Speaker, we need more people who are able and willing to work. And we all know this immigration reform is exactly what the Judiciary Committee should be taking up as we speak. Instead of fixing real problems, the Democrat-controlled House just keeps digging deeper down this false impeachment hole they have initiated. Mr. Speaker, I want to stop and applaud the President for his most recent efforts to secure our borders. As we all know, over the course of less than 2 weeks--record time for diplomacy in this age--the President was able to leverage potential tariffs into real action by the Mexican government. That is right, real action with real results. Thanks to these efforts, Mexico is going to place 6,000 new troops to control their southern border. Additionally, Mexico has agreed to shelter, feed, and help those who apply for asylum in this country. This all matters to Kansans, and we thank the President for his efforts. This is huge. How huge is it? Well, I have been to the border, almost a year ago now, and I know a crisis when I see it. It was a crisis then and, by all measures, this crisis has literally doubled. [[Page H4396]] Every day, on average, we are now apprehending almost 5,000 people crossing the border illegally. We are housing, feeding, and providing healthcare to over 40,000 people daily. We literally have run out of bed space. We now have over 900,000 people waiting for asylum hearings, of which only 10 percent have a legitimate claim. Even in the words of the most liberal of newspapers, the New York Times agrees this is a crisis: ``While lawmakers wring their hands and drag their feet, tens of thousands of migrant children are suffering. ``Congress needs to get serious about dealing with that suffering.'' Mr. Speaker, it is a shame that Congress won't do its job, that we won't secure the border, and that we won't overhaul a broken immigration system. Instead, the Democrats drive the agenda that started, for all practical purposes, an agenda that brings in the ghost of Christmas past, a convicted liar and felon, as their star witness for impeachment hearings. Mr. Speaker, I continue to learn lessons about leadership. Leaders must at times endure criticism and attacks and stay the course. Leaders keep their word, they demand results, and they hold people accountable. Leaders keep the ship moving into high headwinds. Leaders think outside the box. They use the tools given them. They don't make excuses. They never, never give up. Somehow, they always bring the light back to the objective, the goal at hand. When others won't lift, they lift the entire weight. They show the path, they shine the light, and they go first when others are afraid. Leaders don't repeat the mistakes of those who went before them over and over again. Mr. Speaker, great leaders all have their own unique style. One of my heroes was President General Dwight David Eisenhower, who was a visionary, able to move pieces around for the D-day invasion, but also had the vision to see the need for an interstate highway system, a space program, and civil rights. Another hero of mine is John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn, the mythical marshal from the movie ``True Grit,'' who often, when he couldn't get people to follow, well, I guess I would say, he just ran over them. Mr. Speaker, I thank our President for showing us what true leadership looks like, and what true grit looks like in real time, in real life. Mr. Speaker, we need the President to keep leading. ____________________
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