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Floor Speech
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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, later this evening, we are going to hear the President of the United States tout the successes of his administration over the last year. He will say that our country is in a better place because of his leadership.
Are you ready?
Are you looking forward to hearing how grocery costs, energy costs, and the gas prices have all gone down over the last year? Maybe you are eager to hear about Joe Biden's solution to the historic border crisis--one which he created, by the way--that has crushed our rural hospitals, our schools, and other public resources.
So let me save you some time. Here is how President Biden's speech is going to go. The economy has never, ever been better.
This is a lie. Grocery prices are up 21 percent; gas prices are up 32 percent; inflation is up 18 percent; credit card debt for the average American is at an all-time high. Do those numbers sound like the economy is better than ever?
Well, I don't think so.
He will say America has never been safer.
This is a lie. Cities across the country are experiencing surges of homicides, muggings, and carjackings. New York City just deployed the National Guard to combat subway crime.
Let me read that one more time. New York City just deployed the National Guard to combat subway crime.
I never thought I would see it. This is obviously a Democratic city.
Washington, DC--right here, our Nation's Capital--saw, last year, its deadliest year in almost two decades.
That doesn't sound like this administration and its Democratic allies have prioritized the safety and security of Americans, which, by the way, is any--any--administration's top responsibility.
Joe Biden will turn to Ukraine next and say that, by continuing to send billions of dollars to secure their border, we will protect our country--billions more dollars. Yet that is another lie. We have already spent and sent over to Ukraine $120 billion, only to watch their war descend into a yearslong stalemate, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and no end in sight.
We are $34 trillion in debt and borrowing an additional $80,000 per second. You heard me right. We are borrowing $80,000 per second. That is $4.6 million a minute. We are increasing the debt at a rate of $2.5 trillion per year.
Our munitions are depleted because the President has continued to give it away to other countries. We are defenseless; we are broke; and we have little to show for it. Our streets should be made of gold. We should have fast trains across the country. Our airports should be immaculate. We have nothing to show for a $34 trillion debt.
President Biden will also say the border crisis should have been solved with the Biden-Schumer border deal and complain that Republicans blocked the bill from moving forward. I was looking forward to this bill, but, surprisingly, this is another lie.
The Biden-Schumer border deal was a border giveaway. The bill did not stop the administration from paroling thousands of people per day into our country. To me, that was what a border bill was supposed to be about.
The bill did not authorize funding to complete the border wall. It is simple: Put up a wall. We just put one outside the Capitol here today to keep the mean people from coming to this speech tonight.
The bill will not stop funding sanctuary cities where criminal aliens are protected from deportations.
The President will claim he has done everything he can do to secure the border but that Republicans have tied his hands. That is what he will say. To clarify, the President of the United States will claim, at the end of the night, he cannot secure the Nation's border. How embarrassing. What a shameless dereliction of duty and a bold-faced lie. He thinks that Americans are either too stupid to see what is going on here or he might think they just don't care, but I think they do. He is wrong on both counts. Tuesday's primary race results proved just how wrong he is.
When I last spoke on the floor 1 week ago, I said I would be back the next time an American was killed by an illegal alien. Well, here I am, and it is far too soon.
This past weekend, 27-year-old Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd was killed by an illegal alien. This is he right here. Raul Benitez Santana--a Mexican citizen, drunk and high behind the wheel--crashed his car into Trooper Gadd and killed him. Trooper Gadd was a husband, a father, a brother, and a son. Benitez Santana has been arrested multiple times before since he has been in the United States illegally--illegally--over the last 10 years, and this man lay dead today because of that. He has been charged several times for driving with a suspended license in addition to possession of marijuana and domestic abuse.
He should have been deported long ago, but he wasn't. Now Trooper Gadd is dead. Does anybody care other than his family?
Sadly, Marysville, WA, where the crash occurred, is a sanctuary jurisdiction. I still haven't figured that out. You know, I have spoken about sanctuary jurisdictions before. They are cities, counties, and States where locally elected officials prohibit police from cooperating with Federal law enforcement officers to get criminal aliens out of our communities and into removal proceedings to be deported, but if you are in one of these sanctuary cities, that doesn't happen.
This tragic event is but one in a pattern of occurrences happening across our country in which the lives of U.S. citizens are put at risk because of Joe Biden's refusal--absolute refusal--to secure the border.
So, earlier today, the House of Representatives voted on the Laken Riley Act. We talked about her a couple of weeks ago here, right on this floor--a young lady who was killed by an illegal alien at the University of Georgia.
The Laken Riley Act would mandate the detention of illegal aliens charged with crimes as small as shoplifting. That is exactly what Laken Riley's killer had been arrested for previously. By the way, he had also been arrested for endangering a minor before he was charged with Laken Riley's murder. This bill today that was voted on in the House-- 170 Democrats voted against this bill.
The blame for the state of this country rests solely with President Biden. He is the boss; he is the leader--period.
Does he care about you? Does he care about you as a taxpayer and a citizen of this country? He doesn't show it.
Does he care about your family? Does he care about keeping them safe or is it just by luck that nothing happens to you? I don't think he does.
Will he protect you? I don't think so. He hasn't shown that. He didn't protect Laken Riley or Trooper Gadd here. I am sure he won't talk about Laken or Trooper Gadd in his speech tonight, but he should. Their names should come up. Their families are grieving. It is just unfortunate that he doesn't take the leadership role and the blame. These two Americans don't support his narrative of a successful Presidency.
He is going to say he has had a successful first 3 years and his last year was successful, but we have lost a lot of people because of the decisions that he has made at the border, and there have been many, not just these two. One is too many.
I don't know how many people will support this talk tonight. I am anxious to hear it. I am anxious to hear what his writers got together and said about our country and what has happened over the last year and what he foresees in the future. It had to be hard.
Unless drastic changes are made to our Nation's leadership in the very near future, I think the American citizens are going to be on their own. It is just going to be by luck whether you are going to make it or not make it. I am not talking about just financially. I am talking about life or death, because we are losing people almost daily.
So, on that, I am looking forward to hearing President Biden's speech tonight. I hope the American people will listen in--listen in hard--on what is going on, because this is our country, and our country is in trouble. I hope to God that we make the right decisions come this November. God bless.
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