On the recordJuly 17, 2019
I thank my good friend for courageously bringing this contempt resolution to the House today. The authority and the very integrity of the House of Representatives has been challenged by this administration as never before in American history. If it were not for the Supreme Court, this administration's determination to deliberately prevent an accurate Census count would have succeeded. Neither the President nor the Republican House has the support of a majority of the American people. Using Secretary Ross, the administration tried to cheat its way to an undercount. Both Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross have gone out of their way to refuse to provide needed documents or offered pretexts for not providing them pursuant to valid subpoenas. So serious has been this obstruction that the House must seek criminal contempt, which can carry stiff penalties and prison time, or simply surrender to the administration and invite continuing obstruction of our ability to perform our legislative and oversight functions. To be sure, we fully recognize the difficulty of enforcement of criminal contempt against this administration by this administration, but the House would as soon surrender its authority as to take no action in the face of historic and willful defiance.
