'Unserious And Politically Motivated': Bennie Thompson Pans GOP's Bill Condemning Kamala Harris

4 months ago

During debate on the House floor, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) spoke in opposition to a resolution that would condemn Vice President Kamala Harris for her role on the border.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

00:05Gentleman's recognized. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the

00:10unserious and politically motivated resolution. It's sad that today we are

00:16wasting time on this pointless resolution, which is nothing more than a

00:21campaign press release, rather than addressing real problems facing the

00:26American people. But a do-nothing resolution is right in line with this

00:31do-nothing Congress. The House is about to go on vacation for six weeks, having

00:38delivered only political resolutions, not solutions, for the American people. In

00:43fact, my Republican colleagues are so eager to campaign, they are starting the

00:49August recess a week early and rushing to the floor with this press release

00:54disguised as a resolution before they head for the exits. Let's make no

01:01mistake. This resolution is only before this body because Vice President Harris

01:07will be the Democratic nominee for president. Testing new campaign messaging,

01:13though, is not a good use of the House's time. Yet, that is all this resolution

01:19offers. It changes absolutely nothing. It does not even pretend to change

01:24anything. I'm sure the American people would rather use our time to fund the

01:29government, but my Republican colleagues can't seem to agree among themselves

01:34about that. Instead, here we are debating House Resolution 1371, a second-rate

01:41attempt to election interference. Perhaps it's also an ethics violation, since my

01:48Republican colleagues are blatantly using House resources for campaign

01:53purposes. And like so much other campaign literature, this political

01:58resolution is premised on falsehoods and supported by cherry-picked statistics.

02:04The resolution would have, you believe, President Biden and Vice President

02:08Harris inherited an impenetrable southern border from the former

02:13administration. This is just not true. The cruel and inhumane policies of the

02:19Trump administration did not deter irregular migration. It took a worldwide

02:25shutdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic to temporarily reduce the ever-increasing

02:31numbers of desperate people seeking freedom, safety, and opportunity in the

02:37United States. When global pandemic-era restrictions eased, worldwide migration

02:44increased. The United States is far from alone in facing this challenge. When

02:54President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, they reversed terrible

02:58Trump-era policies that separated children from their parents and put

03:03children in cages. The Biden-Harris administration has also increased

03:08enforcement, deployed more border surveillance equipment, and sped up

03:12immigration processing. The administration is removing and returning

03:18more people and implementing tough new policies that have cut the number of

03:22border crosses by more than half over the last seven weeks alone. Vice

03:28President Harris, in particular, has worked to address the root causes of

03:33migration, especially from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Improving

03:39conditions in Northern Triangle countries means fewer people feel

03:44compelled to make the journey to the U.S. As we've seen results since Vice

03:50President Harris was given this task, customs and border protection encounters

03:54with Central American migrants have declined by more than 70 percent.

03:59Furthermore, under Vice President Harris's leadership, the administration

04:04has also reinforced partnerships with countries in the region and even around

04:09the world to increase enforcement and share information. Mexico, for the first

04:15time ever, has agreed to accept the return of Venezuelans and Cubans. Under

04:22the former president, we struggle to remove migrants from these countries

04:26from the United States. There are also more visa requirements to enter the

04:32Western Hemisphere now, making the journey that more difficult. This

04:37administration has recognized that migration is no longer regional, but

04:41global, and has taken action. But Mr. Speaker, you'll notice that

04:48nowhere in my remarks have I referred to the vice president as a so-called

04:53border czar, like this flawed resolution does. That is because such a position

04:59does not exist. The authors of this resolution cannot point to a single

05:05administration document that names the vice president the quote-unquote border

05:11czar. That is because such documents do not exist. Even news organizations like

05:19Axios, that referred to Vice President Harris as a so-called border czar, has

05:25posted corrections and clarifications. That's because border czar is simply not

05:32her role. I'd like to read from President Biden's March 2021 remarks

05:38describing Vice President Harris's duties. I quote, the vice president has

05:43agreed among the multiple other things that I have asked and had her leading,

05:49and I appreciate it, agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those

05:55nations to accept the returnees and enhanced migration enforcement at their

06:01borders. Unquote. The vice president's role is diplomatic. It's about leading

06:07partnerships with foreign countries. It's not about overseeing the border patrol

06:12or ICE. That is Secretary Mayorkas' job, and he said as much in testimony before

06:19the Homeland Security Committee. The border czar title is a work of fiction

06:25created by overreactive Republican imaginations and the media, and this

06:30resolution is premised on that fiction. Furthermore, this resolution is

06:36incredibly petty because Republicans struggle to quick squeeze anything of

06:42substance into it. It criticizes the vice president who was directed to focus on

06:48diplomatic engagements from waiting three months to visit the southern

06:53border. Republicans then take issue with where she chose to go along the southern

07:00border. Vice President Harris went to Texas, just not the part of Texas

07:05Republicans thought she should go. The resolution also criticized the vice

07:10president for failing to make direct outreach to U.S. Border Patrol chiefs.

07:15Again, she was not tasked with overseeing the border patrol. Secretary Mayorkas,

07:22their actual boss, speaks to the U.S. Border Patrol regularly. Furthermore,

07:28House Resolution 1371 only includes border encounter statistics through May

07:35of this year, conveniently failing to include a nearly 30% decrease in

07:42encounters between ports of entry in June. The resolution also conveniently

07:48fails to mention that since early last month, DHS has removed or returned more

07:56than 65,000 border crosses to more than 125 countries. In the past year, DHS has

08:05removed or returned the most people since 2010. That includes more removals

08:11to countries other than Mexico than in any other prior year ever. Mr. Speaker,

08:18the House has better things to do than adopt pointless, false, and politically

08:23driven, non-binding resolutions. Perhaps, for example, it could legislate on border

08:29security in a bipartisan fashion, as the Senate tried to do. That is, before former

08:37President Trump told his mega-allies to run away from the negotiating table so

08:44he could run on border security on the campaign trail. See, as much as my

08:50Republican colleagues talk about the threats from our border, they don't seem

08:55to want to do anything about it. Taking action is bad politics for them, so we

09:02get political resolutions rather than solutions. In fact, under Republican

09:08control, the 118th Congress has little to show for itself. Indeed, it is among the

09:15least productive in history. Maybe House Republicans are simply biding their time

09:22because they think they can implement their Project 2025 agenda next year. This

09:30do-nothing resolution is out to test-drive political talking points

09:35rather than change the sorry trajectory of this do-nothing Congress. Before I

09:41reserve, Mr. Speaker, I want to note that this is the first time the Homeland

09:47Security Committee has come to the floor since the passing of my dear friend,

09:52Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who was a senior member of this committee.

09:59Congresswoman Jackson Lee cared passionately about border security and a

10:04humane immigration system that reflected American values. We will miss her bold

10:11distinctive voice during today's debate, which we all know that she would have

10:18participated in with trademark tenacity. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to

10:26oppose this thinly-veiled attempt as a political attack, and I reserve the

10:31balance of my time.

'Unserious And Politically Motivated': Bennie Thompson Pans GOP's Bill Condemning Kamala Harris

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