Chairman Burgess Opening Remarks on H.R. 3724, 4790, 5179, 5339, 5717, 7909, and H.J. Res. 136
As prepared for delivery:
Good afternoon.
Before we begin today’s hearing, I am grateful that President Trump is safe after the second attempt on his life just two months after the first assassination attempt. I am just at a loss for words. Thank you to the Secret Service for responding in an efficient manner. Unfortunately, President Trump is the only President who has ever encountered this much political violence against him. The Biden-Harris Administration continues to vilify President Trump by calling him a threat to democracy, prompting political violence against him. Not one, but two assassination attempts. This must stop, and I hope the temperature of rhetoric is lowered after this latest example of unacceptable political violence.
Over the past four years, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Congressional Democrats have enacted an agenda that has made the cost of living skyrocket, made it harder to save for retirement, weakened our standing on the world stage, and injected woke politics into nearly every aspect of our lives.
Starting with the American Rescue Plan, followed by the failed Build Back Better, then the laughably named Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration and their allies in Congress have attempted to shape this country according to a vision articulated by their extreme, left flank.
But that’s only half the story. Federal agencies under the Biden-Harris Administration have - at the same time – undertaken a similar extremist posture towards the federal regulatory regime, injecting woke policy into federal agencies and how they regulate the American people.
The results have been devastating. I don’t think I need to tell anyone on this committee that American families are being squeezed by rising costs across the board. It is increasingly harder to succeed, whether you’re a small business, a family, or even a student in this country under Democrat rule.
That is why today, the Rules Committee will be considering a variety of measures that break down some of the most egregious examples of woke lawmaking and regulation over the past few years.
Whether it's forcing unrelated far-left politics on our financial markets or retirement plans, openly disregarding immigration law, eliminating consumer choice in the marketplace, or appeasing radical extremists at the behest of our greatest geopolitical allies, each of these bills addresses a problem that should never have happened. But the Biden-Harris Administration and its allies created these problems that no one asked for. These bills bring sense to the nonsensical.
Today, House Republicans are standing against the Biden-Harris Administration in ensuring American homes are safe, their retirement funds are secure, the funds they entrust to us are spent wisely, their consumer choice is protected, and their First Amendment rights are unquestioned. Each of the bills before us today addresses these important issues.
In particular, I want to highlight two bills that are of particular importance to my home state of Texas.
The first of which, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, makes it crystal clear in U.S. law that illegal aliens who commit domestic violence are both deportable and inadmissible in this country. Such an individual is already abusing a deliberate lax enforcement of U.S. immigration law on account of the Biden Administration and their “border czar,” Vice President Harris. This bill ensures that the same lax enforcement does not extend to criminal domestic conduct.
Speaking of lax enforcement, the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act makes clear that no state or local government, like San Francisco, that refuses to assist federal immigration officials in enforcing the law is ineligible for federal funds to assist illegal aliens. These local jurisdictions, otherwise known as “sanctuary cities”, made the conscious choice to disregard federal immigration law. They should not be incentivized by receiving federal funds to do so. The No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act eliminates this perverse incentive to hold these cities accountable for their conscious choice.
I look forward to the discussion today and would like to yield to our Ranking Member, Mr. McGovern, for any remarks he wishes to make.
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