Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, it was in this Chamber on January 6, 2021, that I came to realize relatively late in life how fragile our democracy is. I realize that the words of the Constitution, to which we all pledge an oath, are important, and so are the concepts underlying those words, the concepts of a peaceful transition of power, the concept of the separation of church and state, and the concept of freedom of expression. These are concepts that are hundreds of years older than the Constitution, but they are critical to our democracy, which I think we would all agree is currently a bit fragile. For this reason, I am profoundly disturbed that this House has gotten into a frenzy of censure resolutions to censure the speech of Members of Congress. Mr. Speaker, it is the second clause of the First Amendment to our Constitution that says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Our Founders protected us, in particular, with another clause in the Constitution, the Speech and Debate Clause. Article I, Section 6, says that we will be protected: ``For any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned.'' Our Founders decided that we would not be sanctioned for the things that we say, yet there are at least four resolutions before this House--one from Ms. Jacobs, one from Ms. Greene, one from Ms. Balint, one from Mr. McCormick--seeking an official censure of Members of Congress for the things that they have said. Mr.…”