James Comer: “And I rise in opposition. Madam Speaker, we are here today debating a premature and ill-advised resolution to hold…”

“And I rise in opposition. Madam Speaker, we are here today debating a premature and ill-advised resolution to hold Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress. In the eyes of the Democratic majority, their crime is not cooperating enough with the Democrats' investigation into the reinstatement of the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. First, this contempt citation is a misuse of one of the most powerful tools available to this body. Second, the idea that the Trump administration is stonewalling this investigation or even, in Chairman Cummings' words, engaged in a coverup from the top, is simply wrong. The bottom line is, the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce are cooperating with the committee's investigation into the reinstitution of the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The administration has produced a total of 31,000 pages of documents to the committee, 14,000 pages from the Commerce Department and 17,000 pages from the Justice Department. The committee had heard testimony from six witnesses, with more interviews expected this month. Secretary Ross himself testified for over 6 hours about his decision to reinstate the citizenship question on the Census. The real issue we should be debating is why the Democrats are afraid to ask how many citizens are in the United States of America.…”