What an uncomfortable hearing. Is it not? Let me say it is uncomfortable for the entire American citizenry to gaze upon this bizarre realm of D.C. and wonder how it operates when we are facing now $32 trillion in debt.

This subcommittee will not allow the Biden administration, nor Secretary Mayorkas, to sweep their failures under the rug.

It's a massive network. We intend to break it.

Secretary Mayorkas has been derelict in his duties to this country and has continuously refused to enforce immigration law.

The volume of drugs seized and the arrests made is reflective of the realities of effective law enforcement, but also the overwhelming amount of trafficking that we're dealing with and the criminal activity.

Public awareness is a big part of this, in addition to enforcement. The social media companies, frankly, have to do more.

If we identify these guys, we've got to break their back, make them hate each other. It's just fine with me.

The purpose of today's hearing is to examine the Biden administration's failures and perhaps to examine some areas of shared success with previous administrations.

Under the Biden administration, America has been suffering from wave upon wave of misery flooding across our Southwest Border.

We must ensure that you have the legal pathway--statutory pathway to conduct your investigations.

The reckless open-border policies set by President Biden and Mayorkas have greatly benefited the Mexican cartels.

We have challenges for budget decisions to make. I feel quite confident that we'll be able to maintain and grow the capabilities of TSA.

There's a lot that we could get done within the parameters of a conservative budget projection if you had that money returned to TSA?

We're not going to do it at the cost of an American citizen's pay that has been adjusted appropriately to be relatively equivalent to their colleagues in a similar position in another division of Government.

We all work at the pleasure of the citizenry that we serve, and we must be--we must be focused on good stewardship of the people's treasure.

It seems to me that that would be a game-changer for TSA to have that money returned, correct?

In the interest of just clarity, I believe that what TSA was dealing with is that it's not that the 20 percent of the work force was overpaid; it's that the 80 percent of the work force was underpaid.

This must be addressed, and very few of us here would argue that the size and scope of the United States Federal Government was too small in 2022.

We have waiting times of over 200 days.

I disagreed with that determination at the time, and I think history will prove men like me correct.

Well, that is stunning testimony because virtually every American watching has been impacted in some way.

I think it was ugly, it was tainted by agenda.

I don't believe the Ranking Member is capable of presenting to this committee justification for claiming that Secretary Wolf served illegally.

If I was in charge, I would bring regulatory powers of the Federal Government back 50 years.

Secretary Mayorkas' failure is difficult to calculate the impact upon our country, our entire country, generational trauma the man has brought upon our country.