Special to the
Opelika Observer
Roger’s statement on Independence Day
As we celebrate Independence Day, I always like to reflect on how very blessed we are to live in America.
The American flag is the symbol of our freedom – throughout wars, hard times, terrorist attacks – the flag is what gives us hope, inspiration and reminds us of the sacrifices made during the last 233 years for our liberty. Our American flag should be honored, respected and revered.
I cannot fathom why any American would kneel during the National Anthem, much less burn our flag.
Recently, I signed on as a cosponsor to HJ Res. 65, a bill that would propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States giving Congress power to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag.
We have so much to be proud of today.
I am thrilled about how well our country is doing under President Trump. Our economy is thriving. People are back at work and have good-paying jobs. Our military is being rebuilt and America is once again respected in the world.
Regardless of one’s political views, we all should take pride in America. We should be able to disagree respectfully while putting America first. There is no better example of this need than the crisis we face at our Southwestern border.
Massive waves of illegal immigrants are overwhelming the resources of our brave border patrol agents. Instead of acknowledging this crisis and working together to resolve it, House Democrats refuse to lift a finger. My bill to provide the $4.5 billion President Trump requested to help with just the humanitarian relief has been rejected 17 times by House Democrats as of this writing. By not agreeing to this bill, Democrats are hurting the very people they claim to want to help and jeopardizing our sovereignty.
As we celebrate the Fourth of July, let’s remember America is strongest when we are together as a people and that freedom is not free. God Bless America!
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Rogers on C-SPAN
Rogers, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, joined C-SPAN’s Newsmakers to discuss the humanitarian crisis at the border, Iran, border security and more. C-SPAN’s Susan Swain moderated the discussion with The Hill’s Scott Wong and the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli.
On the cause of the border crisis:
“It is a humanitarian crisis and it is not manufactured – it is real and getting worse. The fact is that over the last three months, we have had over 100,000 migrants coming across our border…We are dealing with a huge volume of migrants and there is a different set of migrants. In the recent past, we have dealt with single males, typically from Mexico. Now we have many women and children and we are not set up to handle them.”
On current conditions at the border and the need for Congressional action:
“These women and children and men need to have housing and health care while we try to determine who is appropriate for allowing in to our country or who needs to be sent back. They come across from Central America to Mexico, and by the time they get here, most of them are in very poor health. I am hopeful that soon the Democrats will allow my authorization bill to appropriate $4.5 billion in supplemental funding to help deal with this.
When President Trump was talking about wanting to get money for the border barrier, the Democrat party kept saying, well, we don’t need barriers, they don’t work. What we need is money for health care, transportation, housing. Well, that’s all this appropriations bill is, $4.5 billion to provide that kind of assistance to the border.”
On the need for retaliation against Iran:
“There absolutely has to be some response to that provocative, unprovoked act. But it does need to be measured. I think that’s what the president is trying to decide, whether it needs to be a kinetic strike, like was being planned, or something in the way of other diplomatic approaches to put pressure on them.”
On executive authority to take immediate action against Iran:
“When you have a country like Iran shoot down an American drone in international airspace, I don’t think we need to have three months of argument in Congress to decide what needs to be done. We have a commander-in-chief to make decisions like this, and it does not matter if it is a Democrat or a Republican. I thought the same way about Barack Obama when he was president.
If we are going to get into a long-term war, that’s a different story, but [Trump] needs to take action in a quick manner, whether it is sanctions or kinetic attacks…There has to be a response. Otherwise, China and Russia will be much more provocative in their actions toward us because they know we are paralyzed and unable to respond.”
Democrats Chose to Appease the Radical Left and Reject Bipartisan Consensus
Rogers also recently joined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) today to highlight the humanitarian crisis at the southwest border and House Democrats unwillingness to work in a bipartisan manner to address it.
Conditions on Border are Beyond a Crisis:
This is an enormous and growing humanitarian crisis at the border. In the last three months, we’ve had in excess of a 100,000 migrants come across our border. In March, it was 104,000. In April, it was 109,000. In May it was 140,000…We have a capacity in our CBP processing centers of 4,000 – we now have 20,000 people in those facilities. This has got to be addressed.
Months of Democrat Inaction:
We have put forth a bill – my bill – that was the president’s request. [DHS and HHS] told us what they needed for humanitarian relief. It’s been rejected – [Democrats] won’t even let us vote on it – 17 times.
More Politics and Poison Pills:
Unfortunately, the bill that the Democrats are bringing to the floor is full of political poison pills. They don’t want this situation solved. One of the provisions they put in [the bill] prohibits sending DoD resources down to the border to supplement CBP. They prevent us from paying ICE agents overtime. They prevent us from taking other DHS personnel like FEMA or TSA people that volunteer and letting them go down to the border…in administrative roles to free up agents to go and do their jobs.
A Path Forward:
[Democrats] need to at least compromise with the Senate bill. It’s not our bill – it’s not [exactly] what we want, but it’s a compromise…We need to be able to provide some relief for this horrible situation down at the border.