Speeches

Our nation has just suffered the largest illegal mass migration in history, deliberately engineered, abetted and encouraged by President Joe Biden and his allies in Congress. For four years the American people have endured the effects of this calculated lawlessness: schools flooded with non-English speaking students, hospitals packed with illegals demanding free health care, Americans pushed out of homeless shelters to make room for illegals, an estimated $150 billion a year taken from struggling American families to pay for free food, free legal services, free transportation, free housing, free clothing, free cell phones for those who have broken into our country. Millions of American workers have been displaced, driving down wages and drying up opportunities for our own young people.

Today, the subcommittee meets to conduct oversight into the activities of the Office of Refugee Resettlement administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. We welcome HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to answer questions we have arising from his administration of this Office. I think we would all agree that if a child shows up lost and alone on your doorstep, you have a moral obligation to find out where that child lives and return him safely home. The last thing any decent person would do is to take that child to a strangers house and leave him there. Yet it appears this is exactly what this administration has been doing for the last four years. In just four years, this administration has deliberately allowed 7.6 million illegal aliens to enter the United States, releasing more than 5.7 million illegal aliens into the country while more than 1.9 million known gotaways evaded apprehension -- an illegal population larger than the state of Arizona, our fourteenth largest state.

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered remarks on the House floor discussing the weaponization of the judicial system. The American Justice system has always been the pride of our nation and the envy of the world. In America, justice is portrayed as blindfolded, because it doesn’t matter whether those who seek it are rich or poor, weak or powerful, Republican or Democrat. Equal justice under law means exactly that: everyone is treated the same. It is this central principle that gives the law its moral authority. Without it, law simply becomes raw force, devoid of legitimacy. Respect for the law breaks down, and without that respect, civilization gives way to the law of the jungle. This is the well-trodden path to tyranny, taken by many nations through history. We Americans have always believed that it can’t happen here. And yet, it HAS happened here, and we are watching it in real time. The turning of the law against our democracy began with the IRS harassment and intimidation of the Tea Party movement during the Obama Administration. One of the principal players was the same Jack Smith that the Biden administration tasked to pursue federal charges against Mr. Biden’s political opponent.

Washington, D.C. – Today, during House floor debate on H.R. 8369 the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, Congressman McClintock delivered the attached remarks in support of the measure. Mr. Speaker: On December 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt stood in this very hall and asked for a Declaration of War against the government that attacked our fleet the day before at Pearl Harbor and he solemnly pledged to win through to “absolute victory.” On October 7th, Hamas targeted and butchered innocent and unarmed women and children. Israel not only has a right to defeat Hamas – it has a moral duty to do so. The killing on both sides can only end with the unconditional surrender of Hamas. The sooner that day comes, the better for all humanity. To hasten that day, the President requested, and the Congress provided the precision bombs and other munitions that Israel needs to quickly bring this war to an end while minimizing civilian casualties. And now, that same president is withholding that aid while sending billions of dollars of supplies into Gaza before Hamas has surrendered. This act is treacherous, and it must not stand. This measure says so.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor: Mr. Speaker: Ukraine and Israel are in growing danger of running out of arms and ammunition while China casts a hungry eye on Taiwan. History warns us of allowing aggression to grow unchecked and of how quickly events in an unstable world can unravel Profligate spending is exhausting our resources and damaging our economy, but as Reagan reminded us, defense is not a budget issue. You spend what you need to spend – and although the defense of these besieged nations is one step removed from our own – it would be good to keep it that way. I regret that the three military aid bills are larded up with $20 billion of economic handouts, but we’re out of time and out of options. I’m afraid it is the price we now have to pay for months of dithering in this House. Without these bills today, we and the world risk a future butcher’s bill that is incalculable.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor. Mr. Speaker: I don’t discount the mounting dangers we face from enemies abroad. But we also cannot discount the dangers we face at home from the very powers this bill would continue. The FBI abused these powers 278,000 times in a single year and  turned them against American citizens: searching for January 6th and Black Lives Matter rioters, probing political donors and even piercing congressional offices. John Adams believed that indiscriminate searches by British officials became the first spark of the American revolution. Having lived under such a tyranny, the Founders protected us with the Fourth Amendment. Before authorities can search through our records, they have to get a warrant from an independent judge by showing probable cause to suspect we’ve committed a crime. There are many excellent reforms in this bill that I applaud. But they largely depend on these agencies policing themselves, and experience warns us that’s just not enough. Without a warrant requirement, I fear these powers will once again be turned against our fundamental liberties and -- these days -- that scares me as much as a terrorist attack.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor. Mr. Speaker: Do we really want to give the President the power to declare “foreign adversaries” and then require a communications platform within them to be banned or sold to a government-approved owner? If there are data privacy concerns, we should warn consumers and trust them to make their own decisions. If there are propaganda concerns, we should defend the free and open debate that our First Amendment protects, confident that the best way to judge truth from lies is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference. The last thing we should do is take that power AWAY from the people and give it to the government. The answer to authoritarianism is NOT more authoritarianism. The answer to CCP-style propaganda is NOT CCP-style oppression. Let us SLOW down before we BLUNDER down this very steep and slippery slope.

H.R. 7335 by Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05) passed the House Judiciary Committee today. The Transparency in National Security Threats Act (H.R. 7335) requires the Attorney General in conjunction with the DHS Secretary to provide information regarding watch listed aliens encountered by DHS. It also requires that the administration make public each month the number of illegal aliens encountered at the border from each foreign country. This information is currently unavailable to the American public.