Political Quotes

“I want to thank Mr. Clay for his discussion here. I think it is courageous and necessary. To begin with, the painting's removal by the Architect of the Capitol was an infringement on the free speech rights of the artist and on the Congressman, yourself, Mr. Clay, from Missouri. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that: ``Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech. . . . '' And it is undisputed that the First Amendment's free speech guarantee extends to artistic expression, including visual arts. This is true even when such expression may be offensive to many people or to some people. While Members who removed the artist's painting may have acted based on their belief that the artwork's viewpoint was offensive, that belief cannot trump the free-speech rights of the artist and of you, yourself, Congressman Clay. I congratulate you for putting this discussion into the Record. Mr. Speaker. This past January within the very confines of the Capitol complex, we witnessed a direct assault against the First Amendment when several Republican Members of Congress unilaterally removed a painting by high school senior David Pulphus from the 2016. Congressional Art Competition display in the Cannon Tunnel. The painting, sponsored by our colleague--Representative William Lacy Clay--had been displayed in the Cannon Tunnel along with more than 400 winners of the Art Competition for nearly 7 months without incident or comment.…”