Dear Friend,

Moments ago, I joined Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul in a press conference detailing the importance of passing the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023. The highly anticipated legislation seeks to address critical portions of border security that have failed under the Biden Administration. 

You can find the transcript of my remarks below. 

Make no mistake, our border is broken. This Administration has been unwilling or unable to secure the southwest border. Statistics show [that in] FY 21, under President Biden, we set a record of 1.9 million encounters along our border. Last year in FY 22, we shattered that record with more than 2.7 million encounters along the southwest border. And now in FY 23, we are expected to break that once again with a number that is projected to exceed over 3 million [encounters]. That number is projected before Title 42 expires two weeks from today. 

Additionally, we know that drugs smuggled across our borders are killing young people at an alarming rate and our border agents are experiencing a crisis of morale. Secretary Mayorkas — as Chairman Green spoke of moments ago — continues to deny the crisis that exists on the border, even as his chief of [Border] Patrol recently testified before Congress that five of the nine sectors along the southwest border were not secure. House Republicans are stepping in to fill that gap — that gap of leadership created by the inactions of this Administration.

This legislation will hire thousands of new agents, it will pay retention bonuses to front line officers, we will invest in new technology, we will construct hundreds of miles of walls and barriers, and we will support our local and our state partners.

The time to act is now, and Republicans must lead this fight: the fight to secure our border, the fight to support the hard-working men and women of law enforcement, and the fight to stop the flow of illegal drugs coming into our communities that are killing young Americans.

I promise you, I pledge to you, that as Republicans we will not back down from this fight, that we will bring this legislation to the floor and that we will combat the failures of the Biden Administration.

The Border Reinforcement Act of 2023 would:

• Direct the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume border wall construction.
• Bolster Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staffing by mandating hiring of agents to meet the goal of 22,000 CBP agents.
• Require CBP to develop a technology investment plan and to upgrade existing technology.
• Require DHS to disclose monthly border data to the public and to Congress by the seventh day of each month.
• Establish retention bonuses for U.S. Border Patrol personnel.
• Provide increased support through Operation Stonegarden grants to local law enforcement jurisdictions.
  

You can find the full press conference by clicking here, and you can read more about the Republican plan to secure our border by clicking here. 

Cutting Spending and Protecting Americans from a Debt Default

This week, I voted in favor of the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 that would lower government spending and avoid a government default on its debt obligations. Two years of reckless spending has driven our nation to the edge of a debt default and has created an inflation crisis that has cut the real wages of all Americans. This legislation tackles both problems by cutting wasteful spending while avoiding a debt default crisis that would cripple our economy.  

I'm proud to say that this legislation passed the House of Representatives and awaits action in the Senate. This is the first step in rebuilding a strong economy and putting our nation back on the right track to fiscal responsibility. 

This important legislation would cut spending by establishing Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending levels at FY 2022 levels and allow for 1% growth over the next 10 years. Additionally, it would reclaim unspent COVID-19 response funds, defund the provision in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to hire an additional 87,000 IRS agents, repeal uncapped “Green New Deal” tax credits, and lower energy costs through the provisions outlined in H.R. 1. The Limit, Save, Grow Act protects funding for America’s national defense, veterans, Medicare, and Social Security.

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) report on the legislation showed that it would reduce the deficit by about $4.8 trillion over the next 10 years. The CBO estimates that the deficit for 2023 will be $1.4 trillion — or 5.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — and is expected to rise to 6.9 percent of GDP by 2023. As of April 26, 2023, the current national debt stands at nearly $31.5 trillion.

Americans deserve fiscal responsibility from Congress, which is why I proudly supported this critical piece of legislation to bring down the out-of-control government spending that led to the inflation crisis and ensure that America will not default on its debt obligations. It is now up to President Biden and Senate Democrats to pass this important legislation immediately. Any delay or continued political posturing would jeopardize our nation’s fiscal and financial wellbeing in the coming months.