On the recordNovember 17, 2021
Madam Speaker, I have been serving in this body just under 3 years. In that 3 years, an enormous amount has happened. In response to the Republican leader's remarks, when he says that this action is unprecedented, what I believe is unprecedented is for a Member of House leadership, of either party, to be unable to condemn incitement of violence against a Member of this body. It is a sad day when a Member who leads a political party in the United States of America cannot bring himself to say that issuing a depiction of murdering a Member of Congress is wrong and instead decides to venture off into a tangent about gas prices and inflation. What is so hard? What is so hard about saying that this is wrong? This is not about me. This is not about Representative Gosar. But this is about what we are willing to accept. Not just the Republican leader, but I have seen other Members of this party advance the argument, including Representative Gosar himself, the illusion that this was just a joke, that what we say and what we do does not matter so long as we claim a lack of meaning. This nihilism runs deep, and it conveys and betrays a certain contempt for the meaning and importance of our work here; that what we do, so long as we claim that it is a joke, doesn't matter; that what we say here doesn't matter; that our actions, every day, as elected leaders in the United States of America don't matter; that this Chamber and what happens in it doesn't matter.…





