On the recordSeptember 27, 2023
I thank Representative Pfluger for yielding and for working on this issue. It is so critically important. Maybe the President didn't have an absolute plan in mind, but he did say he wanted people to remain in Texas and not bother the mayor of New York City and the Governor of Massachusetts. The gentleman knows this really well that that rainy Saturday we were working on this up in the Rules Committee, the President said he was going to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill. Veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill when the Governor of Massachusetts says we have an emergency, the mayor of New York says we are losing our city, and he is going to veto the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill? This policy that Mr. Pfluger is attempting to prevent is wrong. The President should not have articulated it, and he certainly should not have articulated that he is going to veto the bill to protect the border. Governor Abbott had to declare an invasion. He had to declare an emergency. He is having to spend Texans' billions on doing the job the United States Government should be doing. We need to fund this bill and pass this bill.
