Guest Criticizes Democrats’ Focus on Climate Change Over Border Security

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael Guest (MS-03) criticized the focus on climate change legislation by Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS) during a CHS markup.

“Our primary mission is securing the people of this country. We can’t ask this agency to continue to do things such as include the impact of climate change when we are failing right now in the primary mission of this agency.”

During the CHS markup, the Committee considered H.R. 3756, the “Department of Homeland Security Climate Change Research Act, just days after a report found that the volume of illegal immigration under President Biden will cost the American taxpayers $20 billion a year.

“We’re not talking about securing the border, we’re not talking about doing what we can to protect border communities, we’re not talking about the $20 billion that the immigrants who have come across over this Administration is costing the taxpayers of the government. Instead, we’re talking about a climate change bill,” Guest said.

Congressman Guest argued that the current stresses on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are already straining the department’s ability to perform its primary duty of protecting our nation. 

“We need to be focused on our primary mission. We can’t ask the Department [of Homeland Security] to deal with cybersecurity, to deal with disaster response, to deal with securing the border, and then at the same time put another unnecessary federal regulation on this agency. That, to me, is asinine,” Guest said.

Click here to watch Congressman Guest’s statement.

Congressman Michael Guest represents Mississippi's Third Congressional District. Currently serving his second term, Congressman Guest serves as the Vice Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, as a Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and as a Member of the Committee on Ethics.

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