Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule. While I do not support the legislation this rule brings up, that is not the main reason for my objection. I am opposed to the rule before us because provision 6 in the rule turns off section 202 of the National Emergencies Act relating to the COVID-19 national emergency for the remainder of the 117th Congress. What this line really does is kill a joint resolution I introduced 2 weeks ago in accordance with the National Emergencies Act. The framers of this act wrote the law to inject congressional oversight to rein in the emergency powers codified into U.S. law that give the President additional powers in times of declared emergency. Section 202 outlined the process where, 6 months after an emergency is declared, Congress meets to consider a joint resolution of termination, forcing the debate on the necessity of continuing the national emergency and correlating powers given to the President. Over a year later, Congress has never met to debate the merit of the COVID-19 declared emergency, even after the President extended the emergency another year. This is because Congress has a poor track record in enforcing our emergency duties.…”