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December 13, 2023
Speeches
Mr. Speaker: When the Presidents of MIT, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania were invited to denounce open race-hatred on their campuses, they wrapped themselves in the mantle of free speech. People have a right to say what they think as long as it doesn’t become threatening conduct, they said, and on this narrow point they’re right. But that doesn’t explain why antisemitism is rampant on their campuses. It is not a tolerance for outrageous speech that is the problem – it is a complete intolerance of patriotic speech. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the two most intolerant and oppressive universities in the country are Harvard and UPenn. MIT ranks 136th out of 254 universities surveyed. How is it possible that such depraved and discredited philosophies as Marxism, totalitarianism, racism, Islamic-fascism and antisemitism now flourish on these college campuses? Because for years, the antidote to these social pathologies – the American founding principles of freedom, democracy, tolerance, and justice that have always kept them in check -- have been systematically suppressed and removed from campus discussions.
December 1, 2023
Vote Notes on Legislation
This resolution substantially broadens the grounds for expulsion that the House has observed for nearly 2 ½ centuries. I do not condone the conduct that is alleged. Indeed, I condemn it. After all I have read about Mr. Santos, I feel a little like Thaddeus Stevens when he was asked if there was anything Simon Cameron wouldn’t steal. He said, “I don’t think he would steal a red hot stove.” When Cameron objected, Stevens gladly withdrew the remark. The power of expulsion negates the right of the people to choose the representative they most want to speak for them in Congress. Such an extreme power should be used with extreme care. Until now, the precedent for expulsion has been limited to acts of disloyalty (joining the confederacy) and conviction of serious crimes involving the office. Santos has been charged with such crimes, but has not been convicted. Although Congress is not required to wait for a verdict, I believe it should. Trial by a jury of one’s peers is an essential element of our jurisprudence, and a congressional committee, buffeted by partisanship, political pressures and personal relationships is a poor substitute. Given the heightened political passions that are afoot these days, I think we should resist expanding the traditional grounds for expulsion and trust our justice system and our citizens to resolve the issue, as surely they will.
November 30, 2023
Speeches
Mr. Speaker: The attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th was an unprovoked act of barbarity and butchery that targeted innocent civilians and broke every rule of war dating back to medieval times. The sinister nature of the attack and the genocidal character of the government behind it should shock the conscience of every man and woman of good will on this planet. As the Nazis were systematically murdering six million Jews, the civilized nations of the world took up arms in defense of the defenseless, annihilated the scourge of Hitler and Hitlerism and vowed to NEVER allow such crimes to be permitted again. To assure this objective, these united nations restored the Jewish state to the Jewish homeland, whose roots in Israel trace back to the dawn of human history. NEVER AGAIN. Israel exists today to maintain and uphold that sacred vow of mankind. NEVER AGAIN. The generation that survived those times KNEW how vital that declaration is and how essential the existence of Israel is to fulfill it. And yet, the genocidal hatred that produced the Holocaust was never completely extinguished.
Issues:Foreign Affairs - International
November 20, 2023
Columns
As Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas has carried out the Biden administration’s open borders policy and deliberately produced the worst illegal mass migration in history. Since he took office, he has released three million illegal immigrants directly into the country, a population the size of Arkansas. And while the Border Patrol has been occupied changing diapers and taking names, an additional 1.7 million known got-aways have entered as well – an additional illegal population the size of Hawaii. The impact on schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, working families’ wages, social programs, law enforcement, national security and has been catastrophic. In response, many are demanding Mayorkas’ impeachment for “failing to maintain operational control of the border,” as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution puts it. He is certainly guilty of that and more: maladministration, malfeasance, and neglect of duties on a truly historic scale. But these are not impeachable offenses. We know this because the American Founders specifically rejected these terms at the Constitutional Convention.
November 15, 2023
Vote Notes on Legislation
The continuing resolution we tried to pass under McCarthy had significant spending reductions and a strong border security component. Sadly, this was defeated by a handful of self-proclaimed conservatives joined by every Democrat, and we lost that opportunity. The six-week CR then adopted was to give us enough time to finish the appropriations process and press conservative policies in negotiations with the Senate. This was thwarted when McCarthy was removed by self-proclaimed conservatives, joined by every Democrat. Ironically, this Continuing Resolution, supported by every Democrat but two, has NO spending reductions, NO border security, extends the Pelosi levels of spending for another three months and includes a one-year extension of the farm bill, which means no reforms to the bloated food stamp program. We have met the big spenders, and they is us.
November 13, 2023
Vote Notes on Legislation
Alejandro Mayorkas is the worst cabinet secretary in American history, guilty of malfeasance, neglect of duty and maladministration. He has implemented Biden’s open border policy that has produced the worst mass illegal migration ever recorded. Elections have consequences, and this is one of them. The grounds for impeachment are explicitly laid out in the Constitution: “Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Treason and bribery are well defined. But from the beginning, politicians have tried to stretch the meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors” to apply to political disagreements, and that is antithetical to the fundamental architecture of the Constitution.
November 6, 2023
Columns
The vile ideology of antisemitism and hatred has grown on the political left to the point it has now permeated the House of Representatives. The congressional apologists for Hamas and its aim to obliterate Israel would destroy all of Western Civilization if allowed to have their way. Anyone who doubts that need only look at the atrocities and horror Hamas unleashed on the peaceful neighborhoods of Israel on October 7th. There are no words strong enough to adequately express contempt and disgust for this ideology and its adherents in the House. It should be denounced and marginalized within Congress and its advocates should be removed from office by the constituencies who sent them here. But punishing members of Congress for their political views – even the most extreme and objectionable views – is a slippery slope we must avoid for our own sakes.
November 2, 2023
Vote Notes on Legislation
This motion defeated the official censure of Rashida Tlaib for her antisemitic rhetoric. I voted yes because we must never punish speech, no matter how vile it may be. I denounce her defense of Hamas in the strongest possible terms. I can do so because of the freedom of speech our Constitution protects. Speech can be ugly, disgusting, hateful, prejudiced and alarming. But it can never be dangerous to a free society as long as men and women of good will have the freedom of speech to dispute it, challenge it and reject it. That freedom is only safe for the rest of us if it is safe for the worst of us. Indeed, it is this freedom that protects US from THEM. Accordingly, I voted to table the motion.
October 5, 2023
Columns
The decisions that run the House, especially the election of the Speaker, belong to the majority. When the majority fails to vote as a majority, it ceases to be one. On Tuesday, eight Republicans stole that decision from the Republican conference and stole the House majority from the voters who elected it. What is to be done? Each day that goes by without a Speaker, the House is paralyzed to act on the dangers bearing down on us. Each day brings us closer to a power-sharing arrangement that will move the House sharply to the left and eliminate the only political counterweight in our elected government to the woke left. No candidate for Speaker is likely to receive 96 percent of the Republican Conference vote required by this new precedent. Anyone who can achieve this feat will be captive to the whims of any five members with a grievance on any particular day. Any Speaker elected under these terms would be unstable, weak and transient.
October 3, 2023
Speeches
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered remarks on the House floor in opposition of a motion to vacate the chair. Mr. Speaker: If there was ever a time for sobriety, wisdom and caution in this House, it is right now. If this motion carries, the House will be paralyzed. We can expect week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be conducted. The Democrats will revel in Republican dysfunction and the public will rightly be repulsed. It will end when the Democrats are able to enlist a rump caucus of Republicans to join a coalition to end the impasse. This House will shift dramatically to the left and will effectively end the Republican House majority that the voters elected in 2022.