North Shore Louisiana News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On May 11, 2023 , House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Congressman Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) to celebrate the passage  of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act. Leader Scalise praised H.R. 2 as the strongest bill ever passed by Congress to secure the American homeland and stem the flow of fentanyl, which kills hundreds of Americans a day. 

Leader Scalise's remarks:
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and congratulations to our Speaker. How about this team? Once again, House Republicans came together to solve a major crisis facing our nation. A crisis that was created by President Biden's failures. 

“President Biden walked in on his first day in office with a commitment to open up America's southern border. He took direct action that has opened up our southern border and started a flood that we have never seen before. Over five million people have come into our country illegally as [President] Biden took the oath of office. That's more people than the entire population of my home state of Louisiana that have come into the country illegally. And it's getting worse. 

“Today [is] the day that we pass this important bill to secure America's border, the strongest bill that this Congress has ever passed, at a time when our border has never been less secure. And you had the Secretary of Homeland Security – today, Secretary Mayorkas – said the border’s not open. Well Mr. Secretary, if 10,000 people coming across our border is not open, I would hate to see what you think is an open border.

“This is a crisis that needs to be fixed. The House didn’t sit around waiting on the Secretary or the President to do their job[s], even though they failed. We took action to protect every community in America that is now a border town.

“The devastation from our open border is affecting every community in America. Today in America, 300 young people will die from drug overdoses related to the fentanyl coming across our open southern border because of President Biden's failure. Tomorrow, another 300 young people will die. When is the President going to finally stand up and do something to stop those deaths? Do those deaths not matter to President Biden? 

“They matter to us, and we took action to do something about it. It’s long past time the Senate do something to address this crisis. It’s long past time for President Biden Secretary Mayorkas to do something to address this crisis.

“If they're going to continue to fail the American people, we're not going to stop working for those families who are struggling under the weight of these devastation to these failed policies.” 

Original source can be found here.