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Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.

First, I want to thank Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Calvert for their work on the fiscal year 2022 Defense appropriations bill.

As the former chair of this subcommittee, I know how much hard work goes into drafting this bill and how important it is.

I also want to acknowledge the efforts of the committee staff, specifically our minority clerk, Johnnie Kaberle, and the majority clerk, Chris Bigelow.

Providing funding for our nation's defense is one of the most important responsibilities we have as Members of Congress, and those staffers are so very, very important.

I am pleased to see that this bill funds many priorities for Members on both sides of the aisle.

Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.

First, I want to thank the subcommittee chair, Ms. Roybal-Allard, and the ranking member, Mr. Fleischmann, for their work on this Homeland Security appropriations bill. It's a very important bill, and I know you have put a lot of work into this.

I know that you both work extremely hard to find common ground. Unfortunately, there are just too many differences of opinions in this year's bill, and I am going to have to oppose it in its current form.

To put it simply, the bill before us today proposes funding levels and policies that fail to address the illegal immigration crisis we are currently experiencing in this country.

If we are going to get serious about stopping migrants from making the dangerous journey to the United States, then we cannot include some of the things in this bill, such as: