Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to consider the Senate amendment to H.R. 1233, the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014. This bill was introduced by the ranking member, who I see is here today, and was first passed by the House on January 14 of this year. It was passed by a vote of 420-0. Let not a unanimous vote belie the fact that the ranking member worked hard to find consensus within the House and to make sure that this was a well-reasoned and, in fact, tailored piece of legislation. The Senate, as it often does, did make some changes, but ultimately this bill, H.R. 1233, which would codify existing executive order and allows former Presidents to appeal to incumbent Presidents to keep certain Presidential documents privileged under the Presidential Records Act, is the good work of Mr. Cummings. This bill would lock into statute a process established by President Reagan in 1989. In 2009, President Obama restored this by executive order. However, like anything that the Congress has observed for a long time that is being done by executive order, the question is: Should it be on the whim of the next President, or should it, in fact, be something which statutorily is part of the Presidential Records Act, which was a statute created by Congress? I think particularly important is the fact that Mr. Cummings recognizes that past Presidents, including President Clinton and, of course, President George W.…”