The Public Record
Rubén Gallego is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Arizona's 7th congressional district since January 6, 2015. Born on November 20, 1979, he has focused on issues such as veterans' affairs, immigration reform, and education during his time in office. Gallego, a former Marine, has been an advocate for military families and has worked to improve access to healthcare for veterans. He has also been involved in efforts to address gun violence and climate change.
Let's be clear. Donald Trump's Presidency is the real national emergency. President Trump fired the FBI director to protect his national security adviser. He tried to rip healthcare from millions of Americans and destroy protections for…
the Federal Government must live up to its trust responsibility and provide the resources the tribes deserve to address climate change impacts.
As a body, this Congress can make countless improvements to the lives and well-being of indigenous peoples, and that starts here in this Subcommittee.
Climate change is ignorant of reservation boundaries and treaty land maps, and yet indigenous peoples are often left to fend for themselves in addressing the issues that arise--and that is just not right.
We have a lot of ground to cover, and I look forward to working with my friend and fellow Marine, Ranking Member Cook (Oorah!), and the rest of my colleagues, on addressing these and other pressing issues.
As the only Committee with exclusive jurisdiction over these issues in the House of Representatives, we have a great responsibility.
Earlier this year, tens of thousands of Arizona teachers took to the streets to demand that Governor Ducey and the Arizona State Legislature do right by Arizona students. It did so because Ducey and the State GOP have crippled the State's…
It is not. It is very simple. This clause allows House committees to issue subpoenas, which are legal documents that force somebody to do something, in this case either testify or give Congress documents.
But, Ted, did you know that there are actually concrete steps the majority party can take to exercise its power over the administration and hold it accountable for its actions?
Every committee has jurisdiction over a set of agencies. Those agencies each have something called an inspector general. These officials are responsible for investigating waste, fraud, and abuse at each agency and reporting back to…
That is right. When the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, it included checks and balances that allow the legislative branch, us, to oversee the executive branch, the President. It is part of what makes our Nation great.
That is a great question. Maybe our friends in the majority have forgotten how to use their power.
Despite their united control of Congress, my Republican friends seem to think there is nothing they can do when Donald Trump acts in a matter that is contrary to our laws and our values. Here is what they have been saying: Congressman Ryan…
Great idea. So, let's start with a new class that we call Welcome to Congressional Oversight 101 or, as I like to call it, Congress for Dummies.
Ted, for example, could we actually be protecting the Special Counsel from being fired by the President?
I believe there is an actual bill that has been introduced, specifically, that Ryan could actually bring to the floor, to protect the Special Counsel and not just talk about protecting the Special Counsel.
We certainly have brought this up, and we will continue to be pushing this bill until it comes to the floor. Let's move on to lesson 2.
It is important to remember the congressional committee chairman gets to decide what topics they hold hearings on. So are you telling me the Judiciary Committee chairman is more interested in Hillary Clinton's emails from 2015 or maybe…
So let's move on. What is the third thing that we could be doing as Congress to actually put the executive in check, Ted?
Subpoenas. What is a subpoena? You are a former Federal prosecutor. Please enlighten us, since somehow this Congress has forgotten that we could do subpoenas.
I don't know if you know this, Ted, but there is this neat little House rule called House rule XI, clause 2. Have you heard of this?
So what have we learned today? Unfortunately, we have learned that our Republican colleagues are unwilling or afraid, either-or, to use their power vested in them by the Constitution on behalf of the American people to keep the executive…
Or we could do something really crazy and subpoena all the many administration officials and department heads who have gotten rich and richer by exploiting their public offices for private gain.
It is shameful that we are going on recess right now while we know that there are foreign adversaries targeting our elections, targeting our elected officials; we have a President that we cannot get straight answers out of, and this…
Politicians like Rubén Gallego
