Democrats Are Destroying American Dream, Rule of Law

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I notice it must be campaign season. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trotting out the age-old push-granny-off-the-cliff campaign talking points. It never fails.

If my colleagues want to have a conversation about how to save Social Security, the trustees just put a report out this week or last week pointing out that it is going to be underwater by 2033. The minority wants to ignore that reality. Instead of figuring out how we are actually going to deal with the problem, Democrats trot out the same old story about taxes.

By any objective measure, by any analysis by left, right, center, Libertarian, conservative, or liberal, you can tax literally the entirety of the top 1 percent of earners, but it can't possibly balance the budget. Literally, the math doesn't work.

We can throw all this around in election-year rhetoric, but the truth is our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not just watching Social Security go bankrupt, but they are bankrupt in ideas on what to do about it.

The fact is you have to actually constrain spending, discretionary spending, deal with the issues we ought to deal with on mandatory spending, and recognize the fact that we are $34.5 trillion in debt. We are racking up $1 trillion every 3 months. We are now going to crack $1.1 trillion of interest this year alone--$1.1 trillion of interest, which is far more than our entire defense budget.

The fact is our retirees are going to have a problem in 2033. In fact, this trustee's report pointed out that they will be getting 79 cents on the dollar in 2033. We can have a conversation about what you want to do about taxes, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are all too happy to regulate and crush the entire American economy to death and drive up inflation, making all those Social Security recipients have less value in their Social Security dollars. That is the truth.

The average American can't afford to live, whether they are earning money in the prime of their earning potential, in their earning years, or whether they are a retiree because the dollar value is decreasing because we are printing money because, frankly, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no interest in actually being fiscally responsible--I am an equal opportunity basher of fiscal responsibility--nor do my colleagues on this side of the aisle, to be honest.

It is a repeating problem that never ends, but it is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, my radical progressive Democratic colleagues--and there is no other way to characterize them--who want to use scare tactics in a campaign year rather than addressing any of the actual fiscal issues that affect our Nation.

The fact is that Democrats are destroying the American Dream, killing the ability of the average American family to prosper. Hardworking American families right now are struggling to pay bills, struggling to be able to buy a car. Why? Because we have regulated them to death. Why? Because, chasing climate fantasy, we are killing the ability of an American to go buy a car with an internal combustion engine.

We are piling up EVs on the lots of dealerships around the country. We are now embracing, because the Biden administration unilaterally embraced, a tailpipe rule that will mandate EV production, two-thirds of the fleet being produced by 2030.

My colleagues are crushing the American Dream before our very eyes.

That is what has happened. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act, mandating massive subsidies of so-called green programs, is actually subsidizing China and the massive corporations that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decry.

Democrats want to increase the corporate tax rate, which will punish hardworking Americans who are trying to create wealth relative to corporations around the world, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't want to undo the massive corporate subsidies they gave to Green New Deal recipients.

That is the truth, and it is destroying the average American's ability to live. Let's be very clear. Right now, Americans are hurting because of Democratic policies. Right now, Americans can't buy a car, can't go out and afford groceries, can't pay their power bills. Why? Because of my radical progressive Democratic colleagues and their policies regulating our entire economy to death and destroying the average American family.

Let's not talk about the price of homes, the price of real estate. All these things are things that are increasingly highly and heavily regulated. That is problem number one.

Let's talk about what our radical progressive Democratic colleagues are doing to destroy the rule of law. The rule of law is the single greatest thing that attracts people to come to the United States, the single greatest thing that attracts capital to create wealth and to create opportunity. It is the single greatest thing that has distinguished the United States of America and Western civilization from the rest of the world for now centuries, particularly since the founding of this Nation.

The fact is, the rule of law is being destroyed by my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues, it is purposefully being destroyed. This week, we have bills on the floor, and we are talking a lot about our police, our law enforcement officers, but it is not about a week. Weeks are stupid.

We come down here and we do all these things. We do ribbons and we do all these things that say, Oh, we are going to have a week. The fact is every week is police week. Every week our cops are in danger. Every week our cops are being undermined by radical progressives in cities around this country, endangering the people in communities while endangering the law enforcement who are supposed to protect them every single week--not just this one--every week.

Last year, November 2023, in Austin--a city which defunded our police by $150 million, driving down the number of cops. We are now at least 350, if not 500, below the level that we were supposed to be at, the level we were at before COVID because we don't have the ability to recruit law enforcement after decimating the budget. That was the radical city council, led by radical, progressive Democrats in Austin, which are reflected and mirrored by the radical, progressive Democrats sitting right here in this Chamber like Cori Bush who said we should defund the police, like the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Nadler, who signed a letter along with our colleague, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, saying we should defund the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York. They signed that letter.

I asked the ranking member in the Rules Committee last night: How is that working out? How safe does New York feel? How safe is the subway system in New York City? Because right now I think there is a whole hell of a lot of people in New York and around this country who are looking at New York and they are saying: What happened? There is a whole hell of a lot of people who are looking at the Nation's Capital saying: How can I come see my Representatives and come to the Nation's Capital and feel like I am going to be safe?

Last year in Austin, where the radical, progressive Democrats on the city council defunded the police, we saw the unfortunate tragic shooting of police officer Jorge Pastore, who is a hero, who was shot and killed in the line of duty last November.

In San Antonio, we had three San Antonio police officers who were shot during a standoff with an armed career criminal who had absconded after getting bond and was wanted on multiple charges. Why? Because the radical, progressive Democrat DAs and the radical, progressive Democrat judges all funded by Soros, all-purposeful, all in a network around this country, they let these guys out and then they shot cops. 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, 138 peace officers died in the line of duty in 2023, 48 by gunfire, 10 by vehicular assault, 7 from a heart attack.

There were 150 ambush-style attacks against police in 2023, which claimed the lives of 20 officers. This year, 58 police officers have died in the line of duty. They are under attack every single day and my radical, progressive Democrat colleagues don't care because they are totally fine defunding them. They want to come to the floor of this body and say it is not true, when there are mountains of evidence saying it is. In fact, 113 of my colleagues voted against the resolution which decried the defunding of cops just last year.

In Austin, crime is skyrocketing. Seventy-three homicides in 2023 up from 71 in 2022. The highest level since going back some 40-odd years, all as a result of defunding the police to the tune of $150 million. The fallout, as I said, 350 vacancies. The Austin Police Department stopped responding to nonthreatening 911 calls in the fall of 2021.

Let's think about that. Austin's crime has increased, and overdoses are skyrocketing, in part, due to the lawlessness of our wide-open borders. You see, the rule of law doesn't matter to my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues. The rule of law is being undermined, the safety and security of the people that I represent is being undermined, and it is being made worse.

The fact is, now, we have a fentanyl crisis all across this country and, particularly, in places like Austin, Texas, where just 2 weeks ago, we had--I don't even know the exact number--but there were 75 reported cases of individuals overdosing in a matter of a 72-hour stretch, killing at least nine people. I can't remember the number of people they had to resuscitate by Narcan. It is the largest fentanyl poisoning in Austin for over a decade, and it is happening because this stuff is pouring across our southern border, which brings me to a point: the rule of law.

The rule of law, being undermined by our radical Democratic colleagues, who are undermining cops, defunding cops, the same radical, progressive Democratic colleagues who are leaving our border wide open and exposed, blatantly disregarding the law, undermining the rule of law, the very rule of law that attracts immigrants to come to our country and we have police officers killed by illegal aliens.

In March 2024, an illegal alien from Mexico was charged with crashing his car that killed a 27-year-old Washington State Trooper.

New York police officers were assaulted by a mob of illegal aliens. Five illegal aliens savagely assaulted two officers. The suspects were back on the streets without bail. I think they have been recently given some very minor sentences.

Let's never forget DUI fatalities as a result of those who are here illegally, including in Kerr County, which I represent in Texas, where you had a drunk, illegal alien crashing into members of the Thin Blue Line Motorcycle Club, made up of Active-Duty servicemembers, law enforcement officers, and retired officers, killing retired Officer Joseph Paglia of Chicago, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Wayne Harbour of Houston, and retired U.S. Army Officer Michael White of Chicago.

Right here in our Nation's Capital, it has become a region of lawlessness and disorder. Crime in D.C. is up 30 percent. Violent crime up 37 percent from 2022 to 2023. We had one of our own Members of Congress who was carjacked just 10 blocks from here, another Member of Congress who was assaulted. We have had staff members, such as the staff member of Senator Rand Paul who was stabbed. We had a teenage gunman just a few weeks ago spraying AR-15 rounds and then pretty much was just let go.

This is the state of things in our Nation's Capital. It is the state of things in New York City. It is the state of things across our country. It is a return to lawlessness. If you don't have the rule of law, what do you have?

When you let violent criminals out of jail, what do you think is going to happen? By the way, there are people on my side of the aisle who are guilty of that. In the false name of compassion, we are letting people out on the streets who are endangering our own people.

The rule of law matters and you can't have the rule of law if cops can't enforce the rule of law and then be abandoned by the very people that are supposed to support them, and that is what is happening. You can't have the rule of law if the borders are wide open.

If you are ignoring the law, parole--which is supposed to be on a case-by-case basis--to pump thousands of people into our country, including, by the way, the individual who killed Laken Riley. He was unlawfully paroled into the United States by this administration. But guess what? There wasn't any consequence, except for Laken Riley, who is no longer with us.

That is what happened. That is the truth. It is lawlessness. Ignoring the rule of law, endangering the American people, and now you have the rank lawlessness of a sham trial against the former President in New York.

A bootstrap charge that relies on an unreliable witness being presided over by a biased judge. That is the truth, and anybody with eyes knows it. It is not the rule of law; it is the use of the law for political purposes and gain. It is, as some refer to it, ``lawfare'' against the former President of the United States.

I don't care what you think of President Trump, President Biden, anybody else, when you weaponize our system of justice for political purposes, you are nothing more than a third-rate banana republic. That is precisely what is happening in the State of New York right now by a lawless judge, a biased judge--who, frankly, should be investigated himself--who is targeting the former President for political purposes.

It is clearly obvious. No citizen, no citizen would be treated to the same attack as what is happening right now to former President Trump.

I am not afraid to call out Members on both sides of the aisle. I am not afraid to call about President Biden. I am not afraid to call out former President Trump. I am not paid to be a loyalist. I am not paid to be biased. I am not paid to wear a red shirt versus a blue shirt.

I am paid to represent 750,000 Texans, to follow the Constitution, to honor my duty to the Lord, and to do my job. That is what I am paid to do. But to watch the former President of the United States being hauled into court day after day with a sham trial, and you cannot describe it as anything but a sham trial.

The DA's office previously determined that its theory of criminal liability under New York law would not hold up. That is the truth. So they bootstrapped it into a felony because, frankly, it would have been time-barred if they hadn't done that. You have got to have the felony charge proving that Trump was concealing another crime. That is why they are now trying to pull in a Federal campaign charge, but the campaign laws in question are Federal and when New York's penal code speaks of concealing another crime, it must refer to a crime under New York law, but they are trying to bootstrap it into Federal law. That is the truth.

It is hard to see how the government could meet the burden of proof. According to my good friend, Andy McCarthy, a former Federal prosecutor, he wrote that: `` . . . not unless there is as-yet- undisclosed evidence that Trump actually paused to consider the possibility that these payments were in-kind campaign expenditures, believed they might well be, yet went through with them anyway.'' All bootstrapped Federal law into State crime charges.

Neither the Justice Department nor the Federal Election Commission bureaucrats, whose expertise lies in the operation of the relevant laws, alleged wrongdoing by Trump. Yet here we are.

By the way, the whole theory hinges on Michael Cohen, who is widely viewed to have committed perjury in multiple locations, including before this very body in the House Oversight Committee as Chairman Comer has laid out for the public to see.

By the way, a convicted felon he is. By the way, disbarred he is, previously pleading guilty to perjury, financial crimes, and campaign finance violations.

The Southern District of New York decided it was best not to give him a cooperation agreement because they would have to rely on his testimony. Yet here we are. We have got this case proceeding with Bragg doing it for political purposes all in front of a biased judge.

Judge Merchan refused Trump's legal team's request that he recuse himself over bias because his daughter, Lauren, worked as a Democratic political consultant.

One of our own colleagues, Mr. Goldman--formerly a lawyer for Schiff, Representative Schiff, during Trump's first impeachment--is her client, and has also been working to prep Cohen for testimony this week.

By the way, the daughter of the judge has worked for prominent Democrats--Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Congressman Adam Schiff, and has made multiple contributions to Democratic campaigns. Meanwhile, Bragg continues.

This whole sham of a trial undermines the rule of law and the faith of the American people in it. You do not have to love the political target, in this case, former President Trump to recognize the extraordinary damage that this is doing to the rule of law and our institutions. By the way, the purposeful damage that is attempting to be done is to President Trump himself. That is the purpose.

Not allowing this kangaroo court in New York to undermine his ability to continue to campaign to try to garner the votes necessary to win in November, come in here and clean up the mess that is being created by the lawless Biden administration.

The Biden administration is engaging in lawless behavior on a daily basis, whether it is student loans, ignoring the courts, wide-open borders, fentanyl pouring into our communities, perpetuating this undermining of cops, that is all happening in real time. It is hard to keep up with the rampant level of lawlessness coming out of the current administration and the abject failure of my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do a thing about it.

I might note, as an equal opportunity basher of all Members of Congress, that nor has the Republican side of the aisle really done much to check the current President.

Wide-open borders? Funded.

FBI lawlessness, political witch hunts, weaponized against the people and the former President? $200 million new headquarters. If you fund it, you own it.

I can tell you that this lawlessness is demonstrably undermining the faith of the American people in the institution of Congress and of our institutions upon which our entire society rests.

Right now, people do not believe that our political system is working. They do not have faith in elections. They do not have faith that our borders are being protected. They do not have faith that our police are being supported, that our streets are safe. They do not have faith in a system of justice that will target a former President for political purposes and a Department of Justice that will be weaponized against the people.

A woman just yesterday or two days ago was sentenced to 57 months in jail, almost 5 years, because she protested at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. By the way, a progressive activist. A progressive activist in jail for 57 months. It is extraordinary.

What are we doing about it? We are Congress. It is right here in D.C. Does anybody care about this woman's life? Maybe it is a misdemeanor. Maybe she should pay a fine. I don't know, maybe a misdemeanor like 30 days in jail if she did something that was blocking people's access or something--I don't know--but 5 years in jail under a FACE Act, Federal prosecution? That is extraordinary. Does anybody care about what is happening to the weaponization of government against the people?

Again, do you believe that your Nation is sovereign and secure when our borders are wide open and terrorists and criminals come in? The answer is no.

The county attorney of Kinney County, Texas, was just testifying this week in the Budget Committee, and he said in 2021 they had about 150 prosecutions. Last year, they had 6,700.

My Democratic colleagues shrug that off like it is no big deal. They shrug off the $13 billion that Texas has to pay to deal with the wide- open borders. They shrug off the death of Laken Riley like it is just some happenstance because the President is violently disregarding our laws and pumping people into the United States in violation of parole laws.

Our cops are being targeted. They are not being prosecuted. Soros DAs are letting criminals out on the street. We are funding the lawlessness, letting people out on the streets. All of that is continuing while a judge goes after a former President of the United States, while a radical DA in New York, another Soros DA, is going after the former President for clearly political purposes with a sham trial.

All of that is happening. Why would the American people believe in the institutions of this country? You would think we would be doing something to try to restore that. Here we are. There is one thing we can do. One thing we should do to restore some semblance of confidence in our system this year.

House Republicans must pass the SAVE Act. House Republicans have the opportunity to make clear what 87 percent of Americans believe, that only citizens of the United States should vote in elections; and in this case in the SAVE Act, if they vote in Federal elections, they must be a citizen. They must produce documentary evidence of being a citizen of the United States to vote in a Federal election. There is vast bipartisan support across this country--87 percent of Americans--to ensure that you can believe in our system of elections, that only citizens will be voting.

Just last week, my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues unanimously opposed the bill to exclude non-United States citizens from the Census used to allocate congressional seats. Also last week, in a very clearly Freudian slip, President Biden described the millions of illegal aliens he has allowed into the United States as ``voters.'' Washington, D.C., fairly notoriously, just had a training program in April, training people to be able to make it possible for illegal aliens in D.C. to vote.

Now, they will all say, Chip, it is already unlawful for people to vote in Federal elections if they are not a citizen. Do you believe it? Do you believe that the jurisdictions across this country, including the Nation's Capital, including San Francisco, Oakland, and multiple places around this country that have embraced allowing illegal aliens to vote in local and State elections, do you believe that they are being checked to ensure that they are not voting in Federal elections?

Let me tell you this: Current law, in all of our infinite wisdom as Congress--because we get so many things right here--current law put forward by the Congress restricts the ability of States, restricts the ability of States to check to make sure that you are a citizen. True. True story. The brilliance of your United States Congress, they say by law you must be a citizen to vote, but then they say: You, State, can't check to make sure that the voter is a citizen.

Arizona has two systems for voting: State-based. Why? Because they passed a law saying only citizens can vote. They have a system to check. State elections, State races, local races, they are required to check for citizenship for that. For Federal elections, they don't. Now, how messed up is that?

The Constitution gives authority to the Congress to be able to ensure the integrity of our elections. Yes, the States can set the time, place, and manner of how the elections are carried out, but Congress has the power to step in to ensure that our elections are carried out appropriately.

We have a simple bill, the SAVE Act. It has 50-odd cosponsors in the House and growing. My colleague, Senator Mike Lee, in the Senate introduced it over there. It has multiple cosponsors and growing. This bill is simple--every single Republican should support it, and if they don't support it, they should answer why--should voters in the United States who are voting in Federal elections be citizens of the United States? 87 percent of Americans say yes. Anybody sensible says yes. Should anyone who is going to vote in those Federal elections in Congress, Senate, and for the Presidency, have to demonstrate that they are, in fact, citizens, by presenting a passport, by presenting a voter ID, a real ID from a State-issued driver's license, combined with a birth certificate, other forms that we lay out, like anything else you have to do. If you want to fly in this country, all the things that you have to do to prove you are who you say you are.

To my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues who protest, saying this is crazy, it is already a requirement that you be a citizen to vote. Then what are you afraid of? What are you worried about?

I will tell you what they are worried about. They are worried about making sure it is true. They worry about the fact that the vast majority of my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues would be perfectly fine getting rid of that law requiring citizenship to vote.

We need to call the question. We have a piece of legislation that is supported by vast numbers of election law experts and groups, supported by the Speaker of the House, supported by 50-odd Republicans and growing. This bill needs to be brought forward. It needs to be brought to the House Admin Committee. It needs to be brought to the Rules Committee and to the floor of the House. It needs to be voted out by my Republican colleagues or they need to explain why.

It is a simple question. If you want people to believe in their country, if you want them to believe in the rule of law, if you want them to believe in their system of government, if you want them to believe in the elections of their Representatives and of the President of the United States, so that we can avoid what happened in 2016 when my radical, progressive Democratic colleagues questioned the election of President Trump over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and did so vocally and loudly and repeatedly questioning. Again, in 2020, questions about the election; all the way right up and through January.

If you want to get rid of those problems, then make sure our elections are believable. Make sure that you know who is voting and, importantly, make sure that only citizens of the United States of America are voting in Federal elections. This is not a hard question. You either believe it or you don't.

To my Republican colleagues who want to hide behind federalism, don't. The Constitution of the United States is clear: Both in terms of our ability to deal with the election of Members of Congress and the President, as well as issues like naturalization, our power in this area is clear. Our ability to make sure that we can do it without unduly burdening the ability of a citizen to vote is clear. Get busy fixing it if you have got a concern, but don't hide because there is going to be nowhere to hide.

The future of our country depends on the faith the people of the United States have in our institutions. We should support our police. We should support the rule of law. We should put criminals behind bars. We should have a sovereign nation and a secure border. We should know who is here. We should remove illegal aliens. We should secure the border of the United States. We should make sure that only citizens vote in our elections. We should end the dangerous flow of fentanyl into our communities. We should stop countenancing the sham trials and the politicization of our judiciary system against the former President of the United States or the politicization of the Department of Justice against the American people.

If you want to restore the greatness of this country, if you want to create prosperity, if you want to be able to believe in a country, if you want to be able to restore the American Dream and pass it down to our kids and grandkids, the birthright of being an American, it all begins and ends with the rule of law.

The rule of law is why people have come to our country to achieve greatness. They don't come here for free lunches, not historically. Maybe more recently. As the great economist Milton Friedman said, he is all for open borders if you get rid of the social welfare state.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a social welfare state. We need to limit the flow of people coming into the country and taking advantage of the social welfare state. We need to restore sovereignty. We need to make sure that criminals and terrorists aren't coming here. We need to secure the border, end the flow of fentanyl, make sure only citizens vote, support our law enforcement, keep criminals in jail, and keep the American people safe.

If you do that, there is a small chance that if combined with any kind of ounce of fiscal restraint by this body--I will not hold my breath on that one right now--we might be able to save this country for our kids and grandkids.

I want to be very clear, in particular to my Republican colleagues, if you think you are going to hide behind election season, if you think you are going to hide behind talking about what rules go down, what don't go down, if you think you are going to hide behind the Presidential election and the first 100 days of an agenda, if you think you are going to be able to hide behind that to avoid answering to the American people on what we said we would do--cutting spending, balancing the budget, securing the border of the United States, ensuring our military is strong, has the tools to carry out its job with a clear mission and care when they get home, but is sparingly used and not in endless wars, if you want to make sure that you can go to the doctor of your choice, get the healthcare of your choosing and not an insurance bureaucrat, if you want to make sure you can have a car that you can afford and electricity in your home, and if you want to be able to be free from the bureaucracy of a Federal Government strangling the American family, if you want to be able to send your kid to the school of your choice and be able to make sure that they are being taught that America is great and that God is real and that we can do great things, if you want those things, then you have to actually fight for them.

You can't just pass empty bills with empty titles because that is all we do in this damn place every day. We did it today.

We passed multiple bills that won't do a damn thing, all with fancy titles that make it hard for people to vote against whatever that additional spending or additional bureaucracy is.

That is what we did. We did it today. We will do it tomorrow. We will then try to campaign on those empty, nonsense bills.

Why don't we do something that matters? Why don't we actually do one thing we said we would do? Yes, I said it again to my Republican colleagues who excoriate me because of a speech I gave before Thanksgiving saying: Name one thing.

Well, we passed the TikTok bill on a bipartisan basis. We will require China to divest TikTok. I support that, all right.

We have this great SAVE Act we are moving. I hope we can actually pass it off the floor. We haven't done that yet. When are we going to step up to the plate and do the things we said we would do?

Have we cut spending? No. Did we honor the caps to even hold spending? No. Have we secured the border? No. Have we reined in what I might refer to as endless wars and endless conflict for the last 25 years? We have had a perpetual war, funding other people's wars. No. Have we restored energy freedom? No. Have we restored healthcare freedom, go to the doctor of your choice? No.

When are we going to do one of those things? That is why we are here. That is why the voters sent us here.

We should get busy doing the things that we said we would do, and it all begins and ends with restoring the rule of law in this country: Stand by cops, bad guys in jail, sovereign Nation, stop letting people coming in, stop letting fentanyl come in, require that only citizens vote, and pass the SAVE Act to ensure that we can believe in our elections and that only citizens are voting in them.

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