Dennis Kucinich: “I will repeat the title of this bill: ``To require representatives of government designated as state sponsors of…”

“I will repeat the title of this bill: ``To require representatives of government designated as state sponsors of terrorism to disclose to the Attorney General lobbying contacts with legislative branch officials.'' This bill would require diplomats, Cuban, Sudanese, Syrian and perhaps others, to now report their meetings with Congress to the Justice Department. Now, this is a two-way street. Once they do that, then the Attorney General has the ability to go back to Members of Congress and begin to inquire what was that meeting about. They don't have any business doing that. We are a coequal branch of government. We are a separate branch of government. Since the Justice Department now feels that they can go into our offices and grab our papers, what is the difference between doing that and having another government say they met with Members of Congress and then the Justice Department coming back and saying what was that meeting about. We don't have to answer to the Justice Department. I wasn't elected by the Attorney General. I was elected by the people of Ohio's 10th Congressional District. This bill opens the door for the destruction of our constitutional right to speech and debate of the separation of powers. Not everything that we do here in this Congress poses an undermining of our role as Members of Congress. And I assert that this does.…”