LIVE: House Speaker McCarthy Holds News Conference as Government Shutdown Looms 2023-09-29 14:37

Thank you all. Moments ago, the flags over the Capitol were lowered in memory of Senator Dianne Feinstein. As California's longest-serving senator, Senator Feinstein broke barriers and blazed a trail for women. Her career was, by any standards, historic. Speaking personally, I worked with the senator for quite some time, together on many different bills, but the one that I think stands out was our water legislation. It was historic. It was the first time in California history in more than 25 years that we were able to pass water. It was the WIN Act, and I remember the hours and the nights that we would have to work to try to work through, and the challenges. We come from different parties. We have different philosophies, but we put our state first. At the same time, Barbara Boxer opposed it. It was one of the last votes of the Senate. It had more than 70 votes at the time. I believe, at the end of the day, the trailblazing of the first woman elected mayor, even coming from a different party, inspired women from both sides of the aisle to seek elected office and to have their voices heard. My deepest condolences to her family, her colleagues, and to her staff. Last night, the House did something none of you sitting here thought we can do. The number of questions I could take from the number of weeks about doing appropriation bills. I told you, don't give up on us because we're not giving up on the American people. We passed three appropriation bills, defense, state, and foreign ops, and homeland security. My biggest question is, I don't understand why the Democrats voted against funding the government. In all, we have four appropriation bills done. There's 12 overall to get done. It's the discretionary spending every year that government is supposed to do. We have now in the House passed more than 70% of the discretionary spending on appropriations. Need I remind you, how much has the Senate passed? Zero. Not one appropriation bill has passed the Senate. We've done what many have said was impossible. When I became Speaker, I said we're going to change Washington. We did that by keeping our commitment to restoring regular order. Bills that passed committee in June and July have been open for amendments for months. Struggled with a number of members who wouldn't allow it to become up, but I never gave up. 440 amendments were considered on the floor this week. For those who are historians, we are the first Republican majority to pass the state and foreign ops bill through regular order since 2006. My entire political career as a member of Congress, the Republicans have never been able to do what they just did last night. As we continue to get conservative wins in return to regular order, we actually need a stopgap measure to allow the House to continue to finish its work, to make sure our military gets paid, to make sure our border agents get paid as we finish the job they were supposed to do. Another reason for the stopgap is to address President Biden's historic failure on the southern border. This is how bad things have gotten under President Biden's watch. In five days, there's been more than 50,000 illegal border crossings. Put that in perspective, in just five days. That's more than twice as much as the average for the entire month. In the last administration, a wide-open policy hurts America. We've heard it from Democrat leaders across the country. But despite the chaos, the President still won't go to the border, setting new records every day, fentanyl at an all-time high, killing Americans, and he refuses to go to the border. He's been one time in 50 years, one time in 50 years, he's had more dinners with Hunter Biden's foreign business partners than he has going to the border. Think about that for one minute. Something he said he's never done, he's done more than he's ever been to the border in 50 years as an elected official. He was less than 200 miles from the border this week in Arizona, less than 200 miles, and he couldn't even stop by for an 87-second photo op. Really makes you believe that President Biden is deliberately letting this happen and trying to continue to ignore it. If Biden won't visit the border, why won't he at least listen to the Democratic leaders that are elected across this nation? Mayors of New York City say Biden's border policy will literally destroy the city of New York. Governor of New York says illegal immigrants should go somewhere else. The governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. Mayor of El Paso says the city is at a breaking point. Mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, says President Biden has abandoned them. Not one of these individuals is a Republican. Why does President Biden and congressional Democrats continue to ignore the border and ignore their own leaders? That is why I'm putting on the floor a stopgap measure that will fund the government and secure the border. No longer can the president ignore a problem he created that kills Americans every single day, destroys some of our greatest cities, and puts states in a state of emergency. Every member will have to go on record of where they stand. Are they willing to secure the border, or do they side with President Biden on an open border and vote against a measure to keep government open? House Republicans are working through an impeachment inquiry to hold this administration accountable. Yesterday we heard from expert witnesses who said that there is enough evidence for an impeachment inquiry. Jonathan Turley, he said, and I quote, I do believe that the House passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of Joe Biden. Bruce Dabrowski, the forensic accountant, as a fraud investigator, when I see smoke, I immediately look for the fire. Why were members of the Biden family and close business associates receiving millions of dollars of payments from foreign entities and individuals? Republicans have been uncovering the Biden family culture of corruption, and we will follow the facts wherever they lead. Again, remember, as the President ran for office, he told us he's never talked to his son about any of the business. We now know that's a lie. Not only did he make phone calls in, he had meetings. There were benefits for those dinners. A new Porsche, more than $3 million from a Russian oligarch, travels to nine family members. As Chairman Comer announced, we are moving forward with subpoenas for Hunter and James Biden's personal and business bank records. The American people deserve to know the truth, and that's exactly what we're doing. This is not impeachment. This empowers the House to get the facts, to answer the questions the American people were wondering. With that, I'd like to turn it over to our Chairman, Mr. Mark Green. I too want to extend my condolences to the Feinstein family. Our prayers, my wife and I, Cammie and I, our prayers are with you. Speaker McCarthy, thank you for your leadership, for shining a light on what's going on at the border. I know last fall we made a trip down to the border and took a look. It's far worse now than it was then. Just last week in Eagle Pass, every single Border Patrol agent was off the border processing the mass waves of people at the Eagle Pass crossing site, meaning the entire border was unsecure. It is a tragedy what's happening, and I am deeply appreciative of the Speaker shining a light on it and, you know, adding this to the CR that's going to be voted on later today. And I really want to take a second, though, and take a little victory lap, too, just like the Speaker did. Yesterday, we passed Homeland Approach with every single Republican voting for it and two Democrats voting for it. That was pretty cool. You know, we're moving the needle on this. The Speaker talked about, you know, the mayors and the folks that are out there talking about the impact, the human cost impact, the financial cost impact in New York and Massachusetts. But we had Democrats on my committee this week admit that there was a humanitarian crisis at the border, that the cartels are in control of the border. Go listen to them. Yet President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas do. And so, Speaker's leadership, we're going to put this on the CR. And look, there's a return on investment here that's pretty simple. If you do a 30-day CR that costs X dollars and you shut the border down forever with H.R. 2, the strongest, best border security bill in the history of this country, you save hundreds of billions of dollars over those years and tens of thousands of American lives. It's a no-brainer. So I appreciate the Speaker's leadership on this. And I will say, I'm going to be followed now by a fantastic member, Republican member, Monica Dela Cruz. Thank you, Congressman. And thank you, Mr. Speaker and my fellow colleagues. My name is Monica Dela Cruz, and I have the honor of representing Deep South Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, here in the People's House. Joe Biden's reckless policies have left our border wide open. And you know, I can't even use the word border anymore, because under Joe Biden, the word border does not exist. It is fully open. Just to give you an idea, in 2017, we had fewer than 25,000 border crossings per month. Per month. Right now, under the leadership of Joe Biden, we had 30,000 illegal border crossings in just three days. Do the math. 30,000 in just three days. This is not only affecting our local communities, but it is affecting communities all the way up to New York City. And we're going to hear from my fellow colleague about this. It's not just about the illegal immigration. It is about the drugs that are coming through our borders. I'm a mother of two children, and I worry every single day about what's coming across our border. In Nueces County, in the last year, they confiscated two and a half gallons of fentanyl. Two and a half gallons. Think about that. Two jugs of milk. Two to three jugs of milk. That's enough to kill two and a half times the population of Houston, Texas. And that's just what we've confiscated. There will be families sitting around the Thanksgiving table with a chair that's empty, missing a child, missing a husband, missing a parent because of Joe Biden's reckless policies. Under the Speaker's leadership, we made a commitment to America. And the Speaker and my colleagues and I have kept that commitment to America. We passed H.R. 2, securing the Border Act, so that we could show Americans that we are committed to keep American communities and Americans safe. With that being said, Chuck Schumer and President Biden have done nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, Mayorkas came to the RGV sector just recently when we had thousands of people crossing in Eagle Pass, Texas. Just a couple of hours away, 7,500 people crossing in two days with a population of Eagle Pass, Texas that was only 28,000. Think about that. It is incredible. I introduced legislation this week to get our Border Patrol agents paid. God forbid we have a shutdown. Not only that, but I have introduced legislation that will ensure that if a stiff penalty will be given to those who flee Border Patrol and custom agents. We are working hard, but the President and too many Washington politicians have failed to act. The government is not a telenovela. We came here to lead and deliver results and solve problems. And most of us are here to do that. So today, will we vote to shut down the federal government or will we vote to shut down the border? The choice will be made in just a couple of hours. I choose to stand with hardworking families. I choose to stand with Border Patrol and custom agents. And I choose to stand with American people who want a secure border. Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much and good morning, everyone. I am proud to represent the southwest corner of Long Island that just borders New York City. And over the last couple of weeks here on Capitol Hill, much of the conversation and the rhetoric has been focused around the fact that Republicans can't seem to agree. But you're mistaken. We do agree. We agree that we need to rein in reckless spending from Joe Biden's administration. We agree that there is nothing more important right now than securing our southern border. If you want to see people who can't get along, focus your attention on what now has become a circular firing squad of Democrats just in my home state of New York. You have Mayor Adams. You have Governor Holcomb. You have Secretary Mayorkas. You have President Biden and our so-called border czar, Kamala Harris, sitting around a circle firing shots at one another because they have no idea how to make this disaster better. Mayor Adams, who I will tell you there is few things that we agree on, but I do agree with him on one. This issue, the fact that our borders are wide open, could destroy one of the greatest cities in America, New York City. People have actually said that the lights are dimming on Broadway because of the disaster that's been created. And what's the response? Well, a year ago, when everyone was saying, the people behind me were saying, that eventually every state would become a border state, we were coined as fear mongers. But now you look at cities throughout this country and they have been taken over by migrants. Over 100,000 migrants have came into New York City since spring of 2022. And Governor Holcomb and Mayor Adams, throughout their campaigns, were there with open arms. We are a sanctuary city. We welcome everyone to the land of milk and honey. Well now, Mayor Adams clearly had no plan in place. There's people on street corners. He's now set up shop in vacant warehouses at JFK Airport. Does anyone legitimately think that people come into this country for a better way of life, for the American dream, to live in a vacant warehouse at JFK Airport? The answer is no. That's not the American dream, and it's a failure of democratic policies. Now we have the governor asking the president and his administration, which we are confident he is going to agree to, to allow migrants to live in our national parks, one of them being Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. I had a great career in the NYPD, and some of my brothers and sisters who took the oath to protect and serve the Constitution, took the oath to stand that line between good and evil, that took the oath to put their life on the line every day to defend hardworking New York City neighbors, they call Floyd Bennett Field their office. SCUBA, aviation, special operations, and other members of the NYPD now have to share their office with illegal migrants. It is estimated that in 2023, the city of New York will spend close to four and a half billion dollars, with a B, just on migrants. In 2024, estimates that could be up to eight billion. Chairman Green held a hearing the other day about the financial burden that migrants are causing on the United States of America. There were members of our committee that sat on that dais whose state budget don't equal the amount of money that New York City is going to spend on migrants over the next couple of years. And the answer to that? Mayor Adams wants to cut city budgets by 15% over the next nine months. The NYPD, the FDNY, emergency management, sanitation, you name it, they are getting cut 15%. Those are the agencies that are fighting each and every day to handle the migrant crisis. This has affected our schools. It's affected local businesses. Just yesterday, they announced that there's over a thousand CVSs closing. Has to do with people walking in and walking out. We're dealing with it in New York City. It's affected every industry. And today, we are going to take a stance. And when Americans have asked, people back in New York have asked, well, what is Republicans doing about it? Like the chairman said, like the speaker said, we passed the most comprehensive border bill, the Secure the Border Act, to invest money in infrastructure and technology, to hire more Border Patrol agents. And what have the Democrats done? Zero. So today, we are going to vote. And I ask my colleagues, this is not about standing behind an individual. It's about standing up for America. Today is about moving America forward. The people that sent us here to govern, today we are going to govern. And I hope many of my colleagues will join in continuing to make sure that our government remains open, and most importantly, securing our border for generations to come. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Thank you, Anthony. And 70 percent, more than 70 percent, discretionary spending has improved inside this House. The Senate has done nothing. A little later today, we'll vote on a stopgap to keep government open and secure our border. It's a bipartisan bill that can keep government open. We hope Democrats will join with us. I hope Democrats don't vote to shut the government down. With that, let me take questions. Yes, sir. Mr. Speaker, Bill Fulwell, in order to get a stopgap bill, he would get support from Democrats. You say the people who typically believe... Really? Yeah. So let's see. What has the White House done, and what has the Senate done? They haven't passed one appropriation bill, and they haven't passed any... They haven't passed a COA. And they've been trying to pass an appropriation bill, too, and they haven't done any of that. We have an opportunity here that if the White House won't listen to the governor of Massachusetts, the governor of New York, the mayor of New York, the mayor of El Paso, we will. So what's interesting here is you want to take a side of people that haven't done anything, but you have a body here that continues. So when the Senate was concerned about the price of oil now at $100, what have they done about that? Nothing. But we passed a bill that would lower the price of energy for all Americans. It's easy... Yeah, it's easy... It's easy to surrender. If you want to surrender, yeah, but if you want to fight for the American public, to secure our borders and keep government open, how is that a problem? It's only for CNN that that becomes a problem, that I don't surrender to the liberals. What I want to do is stand for America. So you won't come? Yes, sir. We'll see. I can't understand why someone would side with President Biden on keeping the border open. We'll see when the vote comes. If those individuals vote that way, you should ask them that question. You know what's interesting? And I don't know. I don't have a degree in journalism. But if I phrase back the questions you asked me last week, you would ask me, well, what do you expect to do when all your appropriation bills fail? Why do you assume when the Senate has done nothing and the House continues the act that I should do what the Senate does? Why if we are a separate body that represents America, why can't we stand for America? What I expect to do is exactly what we did last night, to not give up and pass our bills and keep government open. Do you see it for government? No. I hope you listen to me. I'm putting a bill on the floor so government won't shut down. The Senate hasn't done any of that. The President hasn't engaged in anything. He got an 87-second photo op in Michigan on a strike that he created. He's had 50 years to visit the border, and he hasn't. He's had Democrat leaders cry out. States declare a state of emergency, and he's ignored it. So we're actually doing what we said we would do. Just like we said we'd give the parents' bill a right. We passed that, and the Senate does nothing. When people were concerned about crime, when D.C. was going to decriminalize, and you all asked me, why are you passing this bill? The Senate will never take it up. You know what? It's law today. When we wanted to end the pandemic, and you asked me the exact same question you ask me here now, you just put a new title in it. Why do you pass that? The President will never sign it. It's signed into law. When you asked me that you could never because Republicans in the past couldn't pass a border security bill, we have a slim majority. We have a slim majority. We had three members out yesterday, and we still pass those appropriation bills. I don't know in the moment of time that you will look at what body works and what body talks. What body represents the American people and listens to them and takes action? It doesn't matter what party they're in. We listen to all sides. We offered 440 amendments. We went through regular order, something this body has not seen. Since I became Speaker, we had a total open bill, something that hasn't happened in seven years for the whole time of Pelosi and Ryan. I don't know what they teach in journalism school. I want you to believe in this country. You don't have to be so negative. This is America. We're too great to think so small and be so negative. Yes? It's not just I who's made it the issue. The governor of New York, the governor of Massachusetts, Republicans and Democrats here and in the Senate as well. I've talked to, yes, Democrat senators and Republican senators about it. The difficulty that you have is the leader in the Senate, if you want to get, what you have to do is get real policy, just like what we're doing today. This gives real policy in H.R. 2. Because the challenge is what the President has done here by opening the border. You have to get 60 votes in the Senate for policy change. That's going to be a high threshold, but it has to be policy. Yes, ma'am? I've never asked anybody that question on. I don't intend to. You know the best thing to do is just leave. First thing I would do is, do you know as taxpayers, we're paying money to store the materials instead of finishing the holes in the wall? The first thing you do is you finish the wall. The next thing you re-institute, remain in Mexico. Title 42, you've got a number of members on both sides of the aisle that would support that. Then we have to have asylum reform. You allow people just to claim asylum to walk in. 90% of them doesn't hold up, but they're already in the country and never depart. Then we have to stop the cartels, the human trafficking that they're doing, the wristbands in America that still have to pay back. We need to stop the fentanyl. Do you realize what fentanyl is doing in this nation? It's the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. I want you to think for one moment, for every person in America, what happens between the ages of 18 and 45? It's the years that you reproduce. It's your most productive years in business. It is the age of those who are willing to serve to defend our freedom. That's what it's attacking. It starts in China and comes through the border. It kills 300 Americans a day. What would you report if an airliner crashed today? Because that'd be about the same number. But what if the plane crashed again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day? Would you sit here and ask me the question, why don't I surrender and just go with the Senate and ignore the problem? Is that the question you would ask? I pledged in taking this job to change Washington, to stand up for the American public. That's exactly what we're doing. But if you want to take the easy way out, if you want to just assume the status quo, if you believe allowing that to continue is the best place for the country, then I guess I'm not your speaker. But as long as I'm here, that's what I'll fight for. Perfect. Well, first of all, we don't waive the 72-hour rule. This CR has been out there for more than a week. We've talked about this for a number of weeks. We added a bipartisan provision in it, something that I've been talking about for quite some time and I thank the members throughout, a debt commission. We can no longer ignore this problem. After the debt ceiling, when I came back, I said we needed this. Members on both sides of the aisle have been working towards this, and we added that into the stopgap funding bill. Of course, I would not take my salary, but the number one thing I want here is for government not to shut down. I do not want our military not to be paid, our border agents not to be paid. Why should they be punished? Because the president ignores the problems. They should not. So what we're doing is putting on the floor. So I want you to ask the question of anybody who votes no on it, why do they believe those in the military not to be paid? Yes, sir. Question. Mr. Speaker, would you say that today ... You have watched me time and again. Have you ever known me to quit after one time if it doesn't succeed? I don't stop. I love that you come back every time and you ask the same style questions. There is going to be a moment in time that you're going to believe in us. There's going to be a moment in time that you're going to write, we're actually going to pass it. You know, every time I come here, on Monday you say you're never going to get this done. What are you going to do? This is what I believe. I believe in this country. I believe in the philosophy of representing the individual. I believe keeping government open is the right thing to do. I believe securing the border is the right thing to do. I believe this bill will bring us more freedom and make the nation stronger. So I'm not going to be angry about it, even based upon the questions you ask. And you know what? Just as I'm not going to give up on the American people, I'm not going to give up on you. I'm not. One day you're going to be happy. One day you're going to enjoy your work. And one day you're going to believe we can solve our problems. Thank you. Have a good day.