Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, delivered the following remarks on the House floor outlining his concerns over the Joe Biden administration and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s policies and the many crises America now faces as result of their policies.
Madame Speaker, some matters go beyond simple coincidences, and some things are simply inexplicable and inexcusable.
The blizzard of crises our nation has endured since January of 2021 cannot be attributed to a simple string of bad luck.
The reality is that these were intentionally induced crises by our elected officials in the White House and in this body. What we have seen in the last few years, is an unprecedented frontal assault on middle-class Americans and their security. This is the leading edge of the dismantling of the fabric of our nation that the far left has been asking for, for years.
With a slow boil over the last year, our nation has endured record-high crime, record homicide rates, record-high fentanyl deaths, record-high illegal crossings across our borders, record debt, record-high inflation, record-high gas prices, interest rates have gone parabolic, affordability metrics are at all time lows, the stock market is now at a straight line down — downward trend, crushing our workers’ retirements accounts, and our supply chain challenges persist.
And Madame Speaker, these are just some manmade domestic challenges. On the world stage, our nation is now no longer the sole and preeminent superpower, on the heels of the Afghanistan debacle in the midst of a national security crisis, where we have lost operational control of our southern border, and on the cusp of a recession, and more war and conflicts with peer-threats like Russia and China, many are looking at the so-called leaders in D.C. as the source of the problem. And with good reason.
We are a country now controlled by a single party who is flying us into the ground. We are in a nosedive, and any one of these crises alone could be fatal, but the confluence of these challenges poses a truly existential threat to our country. And we need this body, and this president, to do better.
Madame Speaker, I rise today to seek explanations. You see, over the course of the last year, I along with many Americans have been scratching our heads, wracking our brains as to why this administration is doing certain things.
Why does it choose to support those who want to defund the police?
Why is this administration so accommodating to China and Iran?
Why does it support mayors and district attorneys who give hope to the criminals rather than protecting the victims?
Why choose to continue to spend recklessly without any regard for our children’s future?
Why does your party care more about the borders of other nations than our own?
And why is this administration focused on our military adopting woke policies instead of being able to win a war?
And while I agree with very little from this administration, I do agree with one statement the president made last August. On Aug. 15, just days before 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan, our president said, “I am President of the United States, and the buck stops with me.” Indeed, it stops with the president.
But we all end up paying for these mistakes, Madame Speaker. We pay for our record debt, our record spending, our inability to look past petty politics. We pay for the accommodations to the far-left, progressive flanks of your own party, a party that no longer resembles the ideas inspired by President Kennedy. A party that has become hijacked by BLM (Black Lives Matter) and special interests. Hijacked by fear, rather than a devotion to our beautiful Constitution.
And why does this administration continue to do the inexplicable and the inexcusable?
Madame Speaker, you and I sit on opposite sides of the political aisle, but like passengers on an airplane, when we fly through a storm, that doesn’t matter, we just want the pilot to be qualified and to get us through the storm. It doesn’t matter if you are on the left side and I’m on the right side of the aisle, we all just want to get to our destination safely.
And for the first time in my life, I am worried that there is no one in the cockpit qualified to fly this aircraft. And I know most Americans share this concern.
I have spent my life defending this beautiful country. Since the age of 18, as a Naval officer, I have been willing to give my life for this nation, and if I’m willing to die for it, I’m willing to work for it. And if I’m willing to work for it, I’m willing to do what’s right for it. And in this mission, I will never stop, but I expect the same from you, Madame Speaker and I expect the same from our president. And I can’t understand why elected officials would choose to put our country in harm’s way. It is only inexplicable, and inexcusable.
Ours is a nation that deserves to be loved and not intentionally flown into the ground. She is a precious one, Madame Speaker, but she is not invincible.
Rep. Mike Garcia represents the 25th Congressional District, which includes the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.
Video of the congressman’s speech on the House floor:
