H 5556 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 24, 1995

INCIDENTS AT UNITED STATESMEXICAN BORDER SHOULD BE

INVESTIGATED

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a

previous order of the House, the gentleman from California [Mr. BILBRAY]

is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I have

the privilege of representing the 49th

District of California. I also happen to

have the privilege of living in the

southwestern corner of the United

States, where the Pacific Ocean meets

the Mexican border. Sad to say, I also

happen to have to represent an area

that is severely impacted by intrusion

and incursions across the Mexican border, not only of illegal immigration,

but those individuals that cross the

border to perpetuate crime and theft.

Mr. Speaker, the problem is not just

those of unorganized crime or organized crime, but the problem is actually of those who are invested with

government authority in Mexico, participating in a program of theft and violence against the people of the United

States and those in San Diego County.

This photo here is a good example of

the problem. This is a federal Mexican

police officer driving a United States

stolen car, without even having the

wherewithal to bother to take off the

California license plate that was on the

vehicle. This vehicle is stolen, and

identified by the Federal agents as stolen, and still is being used on official

business for Mexico’s Government.

Now, this week we had a situation

that I think has to be brought to attention here in Washington, D.C. Mr.

Speaker, this week two Mexican Federal agents crossed over into United

States territory at the port of entry

and actually stopped members of the

United States, citizens of the United

States, with AK–47 weapons in their

possession and took those individuals,

tried to forcibly take those individuals

back into Mexico. Our United States

agents confronted them with their

weapons drawn, and for a moment

there was actually a standoff between

Mexican Federal agents on United

States soil and American Federal

agents on United States soil, pointblank range, ready to have a shoot-out.

Thank the powers above that we did

not have a tragedy here. But we did

have a situation that really calls for

attention, and that is the fact that

U.S. citizens were ready to be forced off

of U.S. territory by agents of a foreign

government, with weapons, I want to

point out, that are illegal, not only to

be imported into this country but to be

possessed in this country, and that is a

fully automatic AK–47.

Now, the Mexican Attorney General

has said these people are going to be

handled, and our Government has

turned them back over to Federal

agents to be taken to Mexico City. I

certainly want everyone in this capital

and in Mexico City to recognize this

Member will be watching this quite

closely, along with my constituents.

Mr. Speaker, not only did that happen, but in the City of Coronado an individual was arrested who has been

identified as being a state police officer

in the act of stealing a vehicle from my

district to export it to Mexico. Now, let

us be frank. A lot of us support free

trade, but this is not the type of free

trade I or my constituents support. If

we are going to export cars, we would

like it to be paid for first.

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that

an interesting side note to this incidence at the border is the car that was

being driven by the Mexican officials

who tried to take the American citizens across the border was not only

found to have alcohol and drugs in it,

but actually happened to be a stolen

American car being driven in this act.

Now, there was other instances that

have occurred, again this week, where

there were two individuals who identified themselves as being dealers for officials on the Mexican side who were

Government officials, and they were

being paid and reimbursed for that

theft.

Mr. Speaker, this is another incident

of the situation that our border is out

of control. I am not speaking against

the people of Mexico or their Government, as much as the fact that there

are problems within their Government

that we must insist be corrected.

There have been successes. I would

like to announce that the State of Baja

California Sur has cooperated with the

United States, identified 300 cars for

investigation, and actually have identified that 75 of those 300 cars are in fact

stolen American cars. They have cooperated with U.S. officials, and those

cars are now going to be returned to

their rightful owners.

b 1845

So there are successes, but the problem is that we have recognized a situation here to where we not only have

crime crossing the border, but we have

crime and violence crossing the border

under the guise of government authority.

When my police officers in Coronado

stop a car burglar and stop them in the

act, I think it is quite inappropriate for

my police officers to be greeted with a

Mexican badge that says, you have to

release me because I am a Mexican official.

Well, thank God our police officers

do not play by that game. I will ask all

my colleagues to pay attention to this

issue, Mr. Speaker, and that this Nation pay attention. And I hope that we

send a message to the White House and

to Mexico City that these things have

to stop now.

NETHERCUTT

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.

). Under a previous order of

fthe House, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. SMITH] is recognized for 5 minutes.

[Mr. SMITH of Michigan addressed

the House. HIs remarks will appear

hereafter in the Extensions of Remarks.]

previous order of the House, the genThe SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a

ftleman from Georgia [Mr. KINGSTON] is

recognized for 5 minutes.

[Mr. KINGSTON addressed the House.

His remarks will appear hereafter in

the Extensions of Remarks.]

fMEDICARE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a

previous order of the House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. FOX] is

recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address my colleagues in the House about

the very important issues facing our

senior citizens. This has been a very

senior-sensitive 104th Congress, and I

am proud to say that under the leadership of individuals on both sides of the

aisle we have been able to accomplish

some very good things.

Most notably, we have been able to

raise the income eligibility for those

seniors under 70 who want to have income above $11,280 and earn it. Under

our new legislation, they will be able

to make up to $30,000 a year over the

next 5 years without it being deducted

from the Social Security.

In addition, we have rolled back the

very unfair 1993 Clinton tax increase on

Social Security. In addition, we have

instituted the $500 elder care tax credit

and the tax credit for the purchase of

long-term care health insurance.

Now that brings us to the issue that

was raised by my colleague and friend,

Congressman BRYANT of Tennessee,

about Medicare. We, in the Congress,

want to do all we can to make sure we

preserve and protect it for the 32 million of our Nation’s senior citizens and

4 million persons with disabilities. But

the Medicare spending, as you know,

has gone up between 10 and 11 percent

a year, whereas in the private sector

health care is about a 4 to 5 percent increase a year, which tells many of us in

Congress and those also watching to

see what we will do that there really

has been a great deal of fraud, abuse

and waste in the system. If we do not

take action to save Medicare, Mr.

Speaker, by the year 2002, the Medicare

portion of the FICA taxes for everyone

will be raised 125 percent from the current level.

Seniors will face an increase in their

annual premiums. We can stop that by

preserving, protecting and improving

our Medicare by making sure we control the rate of growth and also look to

innovations with possibilities of the

medical savings accounts and with

managed care.

Last year we have seen that the Social Security Medicare board of trustees projected that the part A of the

trust fund, the hospital care portion,

would go broke by 1996. The trustees,

who included Labor Secretary Robert