Top GOP Lawmaker Rips Biden Admin: They've 'Taken Every Opportunity To Stifle Their Grip On America'

4 months ago

On Monday, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) delivered remarks on proposed legislation during a House Rules Committee hearing.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 The Biden administration has taken every opportunity to strengthen the controlling and stifling

00:06 grip they have on America.

00:09 Indeed, the expanse of the regulatory state is only outmatched by the radicalism.

00:15 From the energy sector to home loans, this administration has used red tape and executive

00:21 authority to realize the goals of woke activists at the expense of everyday Americans.

00:28 President Biden co-opted the vision of anti-energy radicals even before he entered office, when

00:34 he vowed to end fossil fuel amidst thunderous applause.

00:38 His administration made good on that promise to wage a war on energy.

00:43 They canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.

00:46 They halted court-ordered offshore lease sales, paused exports on liquefied natural gas.

00:52 Today Americans and the energy-producing states continue to pay the price for this administration's

00:59 outright hostility toward the very means by which we unlocked modern life.

01:05 The president also made proponents of woke redistributive schemes happy when his administration

01:11 advanced a set of mandates that punished creditworthy homebuyers and forced them to subsidize riskier

01:17 loans.

01:18 A January 2023 federal housing finance agency directive increased fees for half of all borrowers

01:26 with credit scores over 680 while decreasing fees for 90 percent of those under 680.

01:35 Nearly 19 out of every 20 Americans have scores above the 680 threshold.

01:40 That action sent a clear message which wasn't lost on middle-class Americans.

01:45 If you work hard, if you pay your debts, the Biden administration wants you to subsidize

01:50 the mortgages of those who did not make the same sacrifices that you did.

01:55 This is the opposite of the American dream.

01:59 Suffice it to say, Americans are keenly aware of the marching orders President Biden gave

02:03 his administration.

02:05 Embrace fringe ideas, fervently thrust them upon the populace, and leave them with the

02:11 consequences.

02:13 House Republicans will do everything we can to disrupt this cycle of punitive non sequiturs.

02:21 That's why we're here today.

02:23 The Biden administration has also exhibited a disturbing trend to surrendering to Green

02:28 New Deal devotees to the detriment of everyday people.

02:32 They put internal combustion engines and gas stoves, tools households across the country

02:37 depend upon in their regulatory crosshairs.

02:41 Now the Biden administration, now the Biden Department of Energy is acting outside the

02:46 scope of its authority to pursue a woke energy conservation agenda that harms American consumers.

02:53 For example, their recent efficiency standards for residential clothes washers will increase

02:59 the already high cost of such appliances while, according to their own analysis, saving Americans

03:06 about $9 over the lifetime of the appliance.

03:12 HR 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliance Act, will cut to the heart of the President

03:18 Biden's overzealous regulatory agenda.

03:21 The bill reforms the Department of Energy's procedures for issuing energy efficiency standards

03:26 by prohibiting the Secretary of Energy from prescribing any new or amended energy conservation

03:32 standard for a product that is not technologically feasible nor economically justified.

03:39 But the Biden administration's effort to expand executive overreach isn't just limited to

03:44 the home.

03:45 In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a guidance which would make it economically

03:52 impracticable for a company to hold a customer's cryptocurrency.

03:58 They took an opportunity to reduce confusion and turned it into a new policy, all the while

04:04 limiting the ability of two consenting parties to engage in a financial transaction.

04:10 That is the very definition of executive overreach.

04:14 H.J. Res. 109 provides for congressional disapproval of the SEC's attempt to disguise new policy

04:21 as guidance.

04:23 It also reasserts this chamber's authority in the rulemaking process.

04:29 In the same spirit, we will revisit H.R. 2925, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act.

04:35 The destructive efforts of the executive branch have also been aided by allies in the judicial

04:40 branch.

04:41 In 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's Rosemont decision

04:46 upended 40 years of mining regulatory precedent and over a century of interpretation of the

04:54 mining law of 1872.

04:56 We cannot let radical environmentalists and ivory tower judges dictate whether America's

05:01 natural resources will uplift American communities.

05:05 H.R. 2925 will right the wrongs of the Rosemont decision.

05:10 Additionally, the committee will consider H.R. 7109, the Equal Representation Act.

05:16 For far too long, noncitizens have been included in the calculations that determine the apportionment

05:24 of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of presidential electors.

05:30 They are not able to vote, but as it stands now, their very presence can have an outsized

05:36 effect and unfairly skew federal representation away from American citizens.

05:42 What's more, President Biden's self-inflicted border crisis has added a disturbing angle

05:48 to this issue because localities sympathetic to the president's agenda, particularly those

05:54 so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, are poised to directly benefit.

05:59 This isn't hyperbole, and it is only getting worse.

06:03 Since President Biden took office, there have been over 9 million illegal crossings.

06:09 That number exceeds the population of 39 states.

06:12 On this administration's watch, more illegal immigrants have crossed our border than the

06:17 populations of 78% of the states in the union.

06:22 The People's House must act to ensure that the principle of one person, one vote remains.

06:28 HR 7109 does that by directing the Census Bureau to include a question on the census

06:34 for responders to indicate whether they're a citizen of the United States.

06:39 It also amends existing statute to ensure that citizens and only citizens are included

06:45 in the population of a state for the purposes of reapportionment in the House and determining

06:51 the number of electors for president.

06:53 I'm certain we'll have quite a robust debate on these issues, and as always, I look forward

06:58 to it and look forward to the opportunity for the House to work its will.

07:01 I'll now yield to the ranking member, Mr. McGovern, for any remarks he wishes to make.

Top GOP Lawmaker Rips Biden Admin: They've 'Taken Every Opportunity To Stifle Their Grip On America'

Category

Transcript

Recommended