As prepared for delivery:
Good afternoon.
President Biden has failed to enforce our immigration laws and secure our southern border. The crisis he created has unleashed devastating consequences across the nation. The White House continues to prioritize progressive ideology over public safety, and their policies allow dangerous criminals to illegally cross into the United States and freely roam our streets. Bad actors are emboldened knowing the U.S. government will do nothing to remove them from the country.
The reality of illegal offenders being repeatedly released into our communities after committing more crimes isn’t conjecture. We’ve witnessed the tragic fallout.
In Georgia, we just saw a young woman’s future senselessly stolen. Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was brutally murdered while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia. The person charged with her murder entered the United States illegally in 2022 and was paroled and released into the country by the Biden Administration. This man went on to commit crimes in both New York and Georgia before his path fatally crossed with Laken Riley’s.
Enough is enough. This situation was preventable. No family should ever have to endure this type of pain, and we must do everything possible to keep Americans safe. That is why we are taking up H.R. 7511, the Laken Riley Act. This measure will require that the Department of Homeland Security issue a detainer and take into custody aliens who commit burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. It also gives states the authority to bring civil cases against the Federal government for failure to enforce immigration laws. Together, these authorities will help ensure that what happened to Laken Riley will not happen to anyone else in the future.
We will also consider H.R. 2799, the Expanding Access to Capital Act. Biden-era bureaucrats have increasingly imposed red tape and regulatory hurdles on small businesses and job creators. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has demonstrated that both through its imposition of unnecessary mandates and neglect of capital formation.
Capital formation is critical to creating long-term, sustainable economic growth. Sadly, instead of making sure that small businesses and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow can access capital markets, the SEC has wasted time focusing on requiring public companies to disclose immaterial and irrelevant information.
H.R. 2799 will change this state of affairs. By encouraging opportunity and right-sizing regulatory barriers, the bill will help small businesses and entrepreneurs access capital, reduce costs for issuers and for investors, make it more attractive for companies to go public and stay public, and improve investor choice. It will drive American economic growth and prosperity now and into the future.
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