Office of Rep. Tracey Mann
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — U.S. Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for the final time before the 2024 presidential election to urge the nation to reject four more years of the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies. Below is the transcript of his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge that this will be the very last time I speak in this Chamber before we have a new president-elect. In the coming weeks, the American people will head to the polls, and we’ll have a choice before us. We can choose four more years of Vice President Harris’ chaos and madness, or we can choose four years of law and order and American strength.
When I came to Congress almost four years ago, America was strong. Our streets were safe, and our border was more secure than any other point in recent history. Prior to the pandemic, the U.S. had one of the strongest economies we’ve had in the past 20 years. Even in the face of adversity, President Trump led the federal government in empowering America’s small businesses and families. Just a few years before, House Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that put more money in the pockets of American families, put more food on their tables, and better positioned them to care for each other.
Four years ago, America’s strength was well understood on the world stage. The Trump Administration spearheaded the historic Abraham Accords, and the U.S. was tough on our adversaries like Communist China, Iran, and their terrorist proxies. We saw an era of historic trade deals with the passage of USMCA, President Trump’s trade deal with Japan, and his Administration’s work to hold China accountable for the deals it agreed to. It truly was an era of American greatness.
Unfortunately, much of that greatness has been undermined. I once looked at the nation and felt optimistic about the future that awaited my children. I felt that when it was time for them to spread their wings and build their own lives, they’d inherit a country that gave them the opportunity to pursue their American dreams. I was confident that when the time came for them to purchase a home, choose a college or university, or start their own small business, they’d step into an economy that empowered them to successfully do these things. On January 21, 2021, that started to change. Vice President Harris and President Biden have made America less safe, destroyed the American economy, and have made America look weak on the world stage.
Since day one, Vice President Harris and President Biden have been laser focused on rolling back President Trump’s policies that actually worked. Their open border policies have ushered 16 million illegal immigrants into the country without adequate background checks or vetting, making every state a border state. Rather than fixing their open border policies, they coddle radical activists and leave Americans at risk. Under their leadership, cartels and drug lords have been the winners, and the American people have been the losers.
Vice President Harris and President Biden’s economic policies are the sole reason for the skyrocketing inflation that has haunted America over the past three years. In the Big First District of Kansas, American families, small business owners, farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers have struggled to manage sky high interest rates, higher input costs, and a crumbling economy. For young Americans, homeownership feels like a distant dream. Rather than reversing bad policy or coming up with solutions to these challenges, the Biden-Harris Administration’s proposal is more reckless government spending that got us here in the first place.
Vice President Harris and President Biden have failed to capitalize on the strength of President Trump’s trade deals and have formed ZERO new trade deals in the last four years. The country is facing the largest agricultural trade deficit that we’ve faced in years, hurting America’s farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers who desperately want access to new markets to help feed a hungry world.
Vice President Harris and President Biden’s weak foreign policy gave Russia a green light to attack Ukraine while their appeasement to the Iranian regime emboldened Iran-backed Hamas to attack our strongest ally in the Middle East, Israel. As antisemitism rotted our own nation, college campuses, and universities, the Biden-Harris Administration turned a blind eye and instead held up congressionally approved arms for Israel to protect itself.
Mr. Speaker, —is this the future we want? Do we want to gift our children a nation with wide open borders? Do we want them to grow up in a country with an economy that fails to work for the average family and fails to address our $35 trillion debt? Do we want a nation that is unsafe or where the American dream is no longer attainable?
In a short few weeks, we will all head to the polls, and we have a choice. We can vote for a candidate who has told us what she wants to do to address her failing policies, or we can vote for the candidate who has shown us what his policies can do to strengthen the nation. I know what choice I will make.