Michael Burgess: “Last night, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 980, providing for consideration of four…”

“Last night, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 980, providing for consideration of four measures: H.R. 5585, H.R. 6678, H.R. 6679, and H.R. 6976. The rule provides for consideration of all four measures under structured rules with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee of jurisdiction, or their designee. The rule provides one motion to recommit for each measure. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and support of the underlying bills. Today, we are here to address an ongoing crisis, not a new concept to this body. The word ``crisis'' has been a hard one for my friends on the other side of the aisle to absorb when it comes to our current situation on the southern border. Let's just put a few things into perspective: In 2023, Customs and Border Protection encountered over 2\1/2\ million illegal migrants attempting to cross the southern U.S. border. In December alone, Customs and Border Protection encountered 302,000 illegal migrants--that is just in the month of December--attempting to cross the U.S. southern border, the highest number of unlawful migrant crossings in a single month in recorded history. In 2023, Customs and Border Protection confiscated almost 230,000 pounds of drugs, including 22,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl, being smuggled across the southern border. If this doesn't sound like a crisis to you, I don't know what would. Mr.…”