Self-Inflicted Crises

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of Georgia's Ninth District to bring attention to two major issues plaguing our country as we speak, the economic crisis and the Biden border crisis, as both will affect our country for years to come.

Inflationary pressures are crippling consumer purchasing power at record rates, and our national debt is on the rise.

My constituents are eager to course-correct our Nation's fiscal ship so we can guarantee that the American Dream is attainable for future generations of Americans. Unfortunately, the Biden administration shows no signs of curtailing its spending habits any time soon, as Democrats are keying up a plan to shoehorn through Congress, the progressive American Jobs and Families Plan, which combined total $4 trillion in deficit spending.

Folks, the debt is already at $28.4 trillion. The White House has announced a budget that will leave the American people holding a stunning $39 trillion in debt by 2031. And what is truly scary? The interest payments on the debt are on track to eclipse our Nation's defense spending in just 10 years. As a military officer, that doesn't sit well with me.

The looming debt spiral will quite literally be the death of the American Dream as we know it if we don't act now. It is clear the Biden administration has no regard for Americans' pocketbooks, nor does it show any remorse for the future generations who will be left to bear the brunt of Democrat-controlled spending.

If that wasn't enough of a crisis, it has been 84 days since Vice President Harris was tapped as the border czar, yet she still has not made a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. I have traveled to the border twice and have personally witnessed the escalation of the crisis. Why has the Vice President not gone?

The Department of Homeland Security published shocking statistics that paint a very clear picture of how the Biden administration policies are creating a devastating crisis on the border. Last month, encounters at the border exceeded 180,000. This level of apprehension has not been seen in over 21 years and is up 675 percent when compared to May of last year.

Dangerous human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals are smuggling deadly drugs over the border and into our communities at an alarming rate, refueling the opioid crisis, the very crisis former President Trump successfully subdued.

When we look at fentanyl seizures alone, Customs and Border Protection has already seized almost double the amount of fentanyl in the first 8 months of fiscal year 2021 than it did in all 12 months of fiscal year 2020.

The numbers will only continue to rise as more illicit substances come across the border through September, especially as Biden continues reversing Trump's successful border policies.

Enough is enough. We must put country over progressive politics, and I look forward to standing with my Republican colleagues to do so.

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