During a debate on the House floor last month, Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) discussed the Trump Administration's record on border security.
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00:00And I'll just briefly close just with some of the comments that I had made before.
00:04President Trump in November, along with congressional majorities, the House majority
00:15stayed in Republican control. The Senate majority flipped to Republican.
00:22What was a clear show that we wanted to move past some of the policies that have been implemented
00:29or not implemented from the previous administration. And I'm proud as we look out at this
00:35first 100 days, again, to reiterate what has taken place with our southern border.
00:45Enforcing very common sense laws such as, you know, making sure that our parole authority is
00:54properly done, ending catch and release, and re-implementing the Remain in Mexico policy.
01:02I think this gets missed from the conversation quite a bit. It's actually some of the most humane
01:06things we can do. I still remember the 30 plus immigrants that were basically killed in the
01:13back of that truck in San Antonio area. And the only reason that that type of thing happens is
01:21because the cartels don't care for human life. The cartels that were running the border the last
01:27four years, they do not care about the, you know, the plight of an immigrant searching for
01:34a better life and another unique work opportunity. They sell them a bill of goods.
01:40They literally sell them that bill of goods by making them pay thousands and thousands of dollars
01:44on the hope that once we get you across the border, everything's going to just be great for you.
01:51And then they get stuck in a legal system that doesn't benefit them. The most humane way to do it
01:56is to re-implement things like the Remain in Mexico policy. And this was the point that I had always
02:04tried to continue to make was just the simple policy changes would actually reduce border crossing
02:09significantly. And when you do that, you take away the power that the cartels have. And when the
02:15cartels are in power, human beings suffer. There's no other way to put or to look at it. Customs and
02:22Border Patrol data from earlier this month show that Southwest border crossings are the lowest they've been
02:27in recorded history. Think about that. By the numbers, there were over 7,000 Southwest border
02:36crossings in March. Still a high number. But over the last four years, the monthly average was over
02:43150,000. It's astonishing. This is something that has been delivered. I would appreciate any
02:54opportunity to codify this into law. I do not like ruling by executive order all the time. This is stuff
03:03we need to codify. I hope that we can learn from the good experience from the Lincoln-Riley Act that
03:11is how our functioning republic is supposed to work, that we get a piece of legislation done.
03:18This one had good, strong bipartisan support. The president signed it. And I know there's more that
03:24we can be doing on that. So we don't have this constant back and forth in the future of our country.
03:30We've got to get some predictability with this type of policy. Predictability is incredibly important
03:35as well. As I look ahead past the 100 first days, I look ahead to what's one of the most important
03:42things to accomplish going forward is a reconciliation piece of legislation. This discussion that has been
03:52very prominent here in the Beltway is the talk of reconciliation. But to put it in plain terms,
04:01this is just making sure at the end of this year that American families don't pay a significant
04:06increase in taxes. In 2017, there was major tax reform done. And I think if you were to take a look at
04:14the specific elements of that bill, you would find excitement, broad support for almost all of it.
04:23Republicans in 2017 doubled the standard deduction. Who does the standard deduction support? Who does
04:30it help? It helps lower and middle income Americans, plain and simple. It increased the number of people
04:37that took the standard deduction. It gives them the best tax benefit. It's the wealthy folks that itemize
04:43for the most part. And so right there, you're already targeting middle and lower income Americans.
04:50The second piece is doubling the child tax credit. So in 2017, we doubled the child tax credit Republicans
04:55did from 1000 to 2000. That's something that's been incredibly bipartisan. Democrats in their own
05:01versions of reconciliation have enhanced that as well. I lead the American First, the Family First Act,
05:08which is another enhancement of the child tax credit and looking forward to hopefully getting that
05:12passed through. But that's another key win. And numerous business provisions that help real wage
05:20growth, economic activity, strong GDP growth is all benefiting everyone. But anytime you have the
05:27White House, House and Senate under one party, things get a little chippy. They get a little bit partisan
05:32as you try to get a significant piece of legislation through. And that's not going to be any different
05:36this time. That was the case in 2017. I wasn't here then. But as I was sort of watching from the
05:42sidelines on these type of things, I get it. Then in 2021, when Democrats had the White House, House and
05:48Senate, they did American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act. They tried to do Build Back Better.
05:52Those were incredibly partisan approaches, of which I firmly disagreed with. But that was the piece that took
06:01place at the time. We have an opportunity going forward for this next few months to be able to
06:07deliver on something that's very important to every American family. And that is making sure that they
06:12have consistency in the tax code. So there's not going to be a massive tax increase on American
06:18families next year. And it's something that I'm proud to be working on. And I hope that we can
06:22celebrate as a key piece of success as we as we look past this first 100 days of the administration.
06:29And we're, you know, four months into our 119th Congress. This is going to be a key piece.
06:34Democrats will say over and over again, oh, this is just a tax break for the billionaires.
06:41Well, when you cap salt like Republicans did, that only hurts wealthier folks. I hate to bring them
06:47that news. I believe it was Bernie Sanders that was criticized by the Washington Post. Again,
06:53the Washington Post by giving three or four Pinocchios when they say that this tax,
06:59these tax breaks that Republicans do just go to benefit the wealthy. I mean, that's the Washington
07:03Post saying, okay, let's call it as it is. These are, these are Pinocchios. These are complete lies
07:11that the tax policies that Republicans put forth actually strengthen and target the middle and
07:19lower income Americans. We, you know, we'll say that over and over again. Unfortunately,
07:24my Democrat colleagues will say, oh, this is just going to benefit the billionaires. And I hope
07:28deep down that they would come to some realization that that's, you know, that is just a lie. Their
07:35own media is saying that it's just a lie. It's, it's just one of those things that exists back here.
07:40And we're, you know, we're probably going to be dealing with that a lot for the next few months.
07:43But the reality is, this is good, strong tax policy that is going to benefit American families and
07:49workers. And so in addition to some of the successes we've had over the last few months,
07:55this is, this is something that we've got to be able to, to really lock in and accomplish. And I
08:01look forward to being a key part of that as we, as we move forward. And with that, Mr. Speaker,
08:06I yield back the balance of my time.