Jim Baird: “What we are about here is about as serious as it gets. We are contemplating the possibility that everyone in this…”

“What we are about here is about as serious as it gets. We are contemplating the possibility that everyone in this building and most of the Federal Government officials in this city would be killed. It is not pleasant to contemplate, but I view it as a sign of the strength of this great democratic Republic that we are able to contemplate it because what we are saying is this: We are proud to have been elected and serve in this great body, but there is something bigger than us as individuals. There is an institution that we love and hold dear called the House of Representatives that assures the people of our States and our districts that they will have a voice in the Federal Government as it deliberates the most weighty matters that come before this Nation. Should we all be killed and not have a mechanism to replace this institution, we would leave this great Nation, indeed the world, without the system that has served us so well, the system of checks and balances to ensure that a self-appointed executive would not emerge with no checks and balances, to ensure that an unelected Cabinet member could not exercise extra constitutional powers without the checks of a representative body.”