Speeches

Washington, D.C. – Today, during House floor debate on H.R. 8369 the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, Congressman McClintock delivered the attached remarks in support of the measure. Mr. Speaker: On December 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt stood in this very hall and asked for a Declaration of War against the government that attacked our fleet the day before at Pearl Harbor and he solemnly pledged to win through to “absolute victory.” On October 7th, Hamas targeted and butchered innocent and unarmed women and children. Israel not only has a right to defeat Hamas – it has a moral duty to do so. The killing on both sides can only end with the unconditional surrender of Hamas. The sooner that day comes, the better for all humanity. To hasten that day, the President requested, and the Congress provided the precision bombs and other munitions that Israel needs to quickly bring this war to an end while minimizing civilian casualties. And now, that same president is withholding that aid while sending billions of dollars of supplies into Gaza before Hamas has surrendered. This act is treacherous, and it must not stand. This measure says so.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor: Mr. Speaker: Ukraine and Israel are in growing danger of running out of arms and ammunition while China casts a hungry eye on Taiwan. History warns us of allowing aggression to grow unchecked and of how quickly events in an unstable world can unravel Profligate spending is exhausting our resources and damaging our economy, but as Reagan reminded us, defense is not a budget issue. You spend what you need to spend – and although the defense of these besieged nations is one step removed from our own – it would be good to keep it that way. I regret that the three military aid bills are larded up with $20 billion of economic handouts, but we’re out of time and out of options. I’m afraid it is the price we now have to pay for months of dithering in this House. Without these bills today, we and the world risk a future butcher’s bill that is incalculable.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor. Mr. Speaker: I don’t discount the mounting dangers we face from enemies abroad. But we also cannot discount the dangers we face at home from the very powers this bill would continue. The FBI abused these powers 278,000 times in a single year and  turned them against American citizens: searching for January 6th and Black Lives Matter rioters, probing political donors and even piercing congressional offices. John Adams believed that indiscriminate searches by British officials became the first spark of the American revolution. Having lived under such a tyranny, the Founders protected us with the Fourth Amendment. Before authorities can search through our records, they have to get a warrant from an independent judge by showing probable cause to suspect we’ve committed a crime. There are many excellent reforms in this bill that I applaud. But they largely depend on these agencies policing themselves, and experience warns us that’s just not enough. Without a warrant requirement, I fear these powers will once again be turned against our fundamental liberties and -- these days -- that scares me as much as a terrorist attack.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor. Mr. Speaker: Do we really want to give the President the power to declare “foreign adversaries” and then require a communications platform within them to be banned or sold to a government-approved owner? If there are data privacy concerns, we should warn consumers and trust them to make their own decisions. If there are propaganda concerns, we should defend the free and open debate that our First Amendment protects, confident that the best way to judge truth from lies is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference. The last thing we should do is take that power AWAY from the people and give it to the government. The answer to authoritarianism is NOT more authoritarianism. The answer to CCP-style propaganda is NOT CCP-style oppression. Let us SLOW down before we BLUNDER down this very steep and slippery slope.

H.R. 7335 by Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05) passed the House Judiciary Committee today. The Transparency in National Security Threats Act (H.R. 7335) requires the Attorney General in conjunction with the DHS Secretary to provide information regarding watch listed aliens encountered by DHS. It also requires that the administration make public each month the number of illegal aliens encountered at the border from each foreign country. This information is currently unavailable to the American public.

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor. Mr. Speaker: Secretary Mayorkas is guilty of maladministration of our immigration laws on a cosmic scale. But we KNOW that’s not grounds for impeachment, because the American Founders specifically rejected it. They didn’t want political disputes to become impeachments, because that would shatter the separation of powers that vests the enforcement of the laws with the President – no matter how bad a job he does. Cabinet secretaries can’t serve two masters.  They can be impeached for committing a crime relating to their office, but not for carrying out presidential policy. The border crisis can’t be fixed by replacing one left-wing official with another.  It can only be fixed by the American people at the ballot box by replacing this administration with one committed to securing our borders, defending our country, and upholding the rule of law.  Americans are already coming to that conclusion. And I’m afraid that stunts like this don’t help.

Washington, D.C. – The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement held a hearing today on "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Social Services.” Subcommittee Chairman McClintock delivered the following opening statement at the hearing: The day he took office, Joe Biden issued executive orders that opened our borders to the world and began the largest illegal mass migration in recorded history. Since that day, his administration has deliberately released into the country over 3.3 million illegal aliens, a population the size of the state of Iowa. And while the border patrol was overwhelmed changing diapers and taking names, an additional 1.7 million known got-aways have entered as well – an additional illegal population the size of West Virginia.

The ancient Greeks would have appreciated the irony of this story. Kevin McCarthy spent his life preparing for the job that he held for just 269 days. For decades, he devoted all of his energies and skills to build one of the most formidable political organizations of our time that ultimately took back the House. In those 269 days as Speaker, despite the most slender of majorities and with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House: He cut $2 trillion of spending over the next decade. He forestalled the hiring of an army of IRS agents. He curtailed the woke policies plaguing our armed forces. He averted a government shutdown in a dangerous world. He reopened the Capitol to the American people. He launched historic investigations into government corruption. And he produced the strongest border security measure in a century and landmark legislation to restore American energy independence.