Yvette Herrell: “This is not how I imagined my first speech in the House of Representatives or my first week to be in Washington. The…”

“This is not how I imagined my first speech in the House of Representatives or my first week to be in Washington. The violence that occurred in this building yesterday is reprehensible and inexcusable. I am appalled by anyone who assaults our Nation's law enforcement officers. I swore an oath on Sunday to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We are here today delayed, but not deterred, to debate a constitutional question and follow a constitutional process. The Constitution gives State legislators, not State executives or judges, the sole authority to determine how their State selects Presidential electors. Nobody disputes that in Pennsylvania, as well as in other States, rules and regulations were changed by executive fiat or judicial edict. These changes were significant and irregular. They included changes to vote-by-mail deadlines, identity verification requirements, and other ballot handling practices. In Pennsylvania specifically, the Democrat Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court usurped the constitutional authority of the State legislature. {time} 0110 Together, they exceeded their authority by extending the deadline for absentee ballots and by waiving signature requirements for those ballots. In their haste to make these changes, the secretary and the court created two different and unequal standards for voters.…”