Using the Power of the Purse
Floor Speech
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I thank my colleagues.
I hope America is paying attention because we cannot continue to fund a government that appears to be determined to destroy our country from within.
We have millions of illegal aliens crossing our southern border. We have lost all operational control, the sovereignty of our Nation at the southern border.
They are asking for more money for COVID. Since March of 2020, we have spent $8 trillion just on COVID. That is $8,000 billion. You cannot convince me or any American across the country that our Nation has actually spent that money. We should have a full accounting of this money.
They want more money for Ukraine. We have already sent them about $70 billion.
Do you know how much Russia spends, my colleagues, every year, on their military, their entire budget?
I will answer the question. It is about $70 billion. We have given to Ukraine the entire budget for Russia for their military expenditures. We have no control over this money. We are not sending them any more money, not without a fight.
They want a CR passed, a continuing resolution, a short-term budget to keep the Federal Government operating until December. That is after the elections have ejected our colleagues across the aisle but before Republicans will be sworn into the majority on January 3. That is wrong on every level.
It is like identifying an arsonist, banishing them from your neighborhood, and giving them gasoline and matches on the way out. We cannot allow it. We stand strongly against it, but we don't have the votes.
America, there is not enough Republicans in the House of Representatives to stop this CR in the formula that the Democrats intend. We need Americans to communicate and stand strong. Align yourselves with the conservatives in the House of Representatives, like my colleagues here tonight, and help us fight the good fight to preserve our Republic.
I yield back to the gentleman.
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I would bring our focus on to our total national debt for a moment. As concerned American patriots, conservative constitutionalist men who love our country, we are discussing this continuing resolution, the temporary funding of the Federal Government that we stand against because of the process and the lack of appropriate regular order that reflects the failure of this body to perform regarding our budget responsibilities that were laid out clearly by our Founders.
Let's talk about our $31 trillion in debt.
It was 1980 in America before we had accumulated $1 trillion in debt. So in the first 200 years of our existence, America accumulated $1 trillion in debt. In the following 40 years, we have accumulated $30 trillion.
We are up $31 trillion in debt. If this body were to balance the budget and run a $1 billion surplus, it would require 31,000 years to address a $31 trillion debt.
Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, 1 trillion is 1,000 billion.
No one here, nor across the Nation that we love and serve, believes we have 31,000 years to fix this thing. We must restore fiscal sanity to this body.
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. It is dangerous.
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