June 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 97 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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CHAOS ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER AND CROWDSOURCING ENVIRONMENTAL DATA; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 97
(House of Representatives - June 11, 2019)
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[Pages H4425-H4426] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] CHAOS ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER AND CROWDSOURCING ENVIRONMENTAL DATA The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Porter). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, just so staff knows, this will probably be a bit abbreviated because of all the chaos we have going on around us. There is something I wanted to start with. Typically, we come to the floor to spend time talking about what is happening in the country economically and demographically and what we must do to keep our promises. I sit on the Ways and Means Committee, and I do trade and tax policy. Before we put that up, I need to touch on something that is incredibly frustrating. Being from Arizona, obviously, we have a border issue. We talk about it; we do nothing. [[Page H4426]] How many have seen the news in the last couple of days that we have gun battles going on just south of Douglas, Arizona? We may have 9 or 10 people who have lost their lives. We had a teenager get hit by a stray bullet. We have had a couple of folks--apparently, one crawled to the border and is now in an Arizona hospital. A couple are in Arizona hospitals. Where is the press? Where is the discussion of what is going on? Apparently, we have a war going on in Agua Prieta, just south of Douglas, between these cartels that not only move drugs, but they also exploit human beings. These are the very cartels that are taking humans, smuggling them and trafficking them up to the border. They are using assault weapons and killing each other. Of course, we would care about that, wouldn't we? Except it doesn't get any news here because it doesn't fit the narrative. If you love and care for people, could we at least have an honest discussion of what the President has asked for, with some money for humanitarian aid to take care of those who have presented themselves at the border for refugee status? Understand the violence that is spilling over into my State of Arizona and what is going on. I guess I come to this microphone just frustrated that this story broke yesterday in Arizona. Where is the national outcry? Where is the national understanding of the chaos that is happening along our southern border and the lives that are being lost? Do we or do we not care about people? There were two things I wanted to do, and I know we are up against a very tight time, so I am just going to do one of them. We have this theory that basically says, if you look at U.S. demographics, in 8.5 years, it is two workers, one retiree. In 8.5 years, 50 percent of the budget from this body, less interest, will be to those 65 and older. Demographics aren't Republican. They are not Democratic. They are math. We must do a number of things to keep the economic vitality of this society going if we are going to keep our promises. One of those things in our five points is the way we deal with regulations. We have this one area we talk about, whether it be tax policy, trade policy, or regulatory policy. Just in a couple of minutes here, I wanted to explain what smart regulation is. So often when hearing the rhetoric, we will have: Well, we need to deregulate. We need to reregulate. That is wrong. We all walk around with these supercomputers in our pockets. It turns out, technology is the rational place where regulation should go. Here is my thought experiment. Let's use our own neighborhoods. We are the businesses in those neighborhoods. We need to get air quality permits for manufacturing. Does filling out a bunch of paper and shoving it in file cabinets make air quality cleaner in our neighborhoods? Do file cabinets full of paperwork at the local, county, State, wherever our regulators are, does that make the air quality in our communities better? Of course not. It just creates a lot of documents so that we have someone to sue for the trial lawyers and those things. I want to propose the concept of crowdsourcing environmental information, particularly for air quality. It turns out, we are living in a time where there are now sensors we can attach to our phones that are highly accurate that will do PM10, hydrocarbons, and volatile organics. What would happen in our communities if we were willing to take this tradeoff? We are not going to make everyone fill out lots of paperwork. We are going to promote businesses, let them grow. But here is the trick: If they screw up, we catch them instantly. Also, the clowns painting cars behind everyone's houses in their backyards, we are going to catch them, too. This thought is very simple. We have a YouTube cartoon that is about 1.5 minutes that walks through this concept of crowdsourcing environmental data. It shows that it is time to use this type of technology. Think of the economic growth tradeoff. We are not going to fill up file cabinets full of paperwork. Because we are going to be crowdsourcing environmental data, when there is a bad actor, or someone's scrubbers are out of compliance, or there are clowns painting cars in backyards, we will catch them instantly. Wouldn't that be a lot more powerful, where environmental regulators of communities, States, and counties are now a quick reaction force that goes to where the bad acts are happening instead of basically being paperwork domiciles? That is an example of smart regulation. It makes communities healthier. It makes air quality better. It still has businesses growing because they are not buried under consultants and mounds of paper. That is an example of smart regulation. How do we drag this institution into understanding the incredible opportunities that technology is bringing in crashing the price of healthcare and making the environment healthier? In the coming weeks, I am going to come back to dive into this much deeper, but let me salt the mine a little bit for a thought experiment. What would happen if we had technology that could protect houses of worship, schools, this body, and public buildings? It turns out that it exists today. I want to propose that this body put together an XPRIZE for nonlethal protection of our buildings and our houses of worship. We already know there are experiments out there with pods that go on the wall, so if someone comes in and is engaged in a bad act or discharges a firearm, instantly, just like the Taser darts, it lays them down. Yes, innocent people will get hit with them, but they don't die. It turns out that there are technology solutions that will make us safer. {time} 1700 How do we drag the conversations around this place to understand there are really great, exciting opportunities for all of us out there, whether it be in smart regulation, whether it be the end of killing using technology, whether it be the fact we are about to get dramatically healthier, and that the cures that are about to come on the market for diseases that have been with us for so long, we are in a time of amazing disruption? How do we future-proof our policies, and how do we get this body to stop thinking everything is either Democrat or Republican, but understand there are actual solutions, you just have to be forward- thinking with technology? With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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