Peter Welch: “I want to align myself with the comments made by the Senator from Connecticut and the Senator from Illinois. The…”

“I want to align myself with the comments made by the Senator from Connecticut and the Senator from Illinois. The Constitution is pretty straightforward on this. It is pretty basic: [N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. This $200 million plane that is going to--$400 million plane--the estimates go up and down, but it is an expensive plane--is a gift, and it is going to the personal use of the President of the United States. The Constitution says it is the job of Congress to say yes or no to a gift. It is our job. And if this Congress wants to vote to accept this $400 million plane, that is our job to do it. If this Congress is silent and doesn't demand that we enforce article I responsibility about this extraordinary gift from the Government of Qatar, that is on us. That is on us. And what we are seeing time and again is the relinquishment of authority and power under article I, and it can't be shipped out of here fast enough to the Executive down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to satisfy anyone. That is so profoundly threatening to the well-being of our democracy. The whole point of having three branches of government is the recognition that you cannot allow one person, or even one branch of government, to consolidate all power. There has to be checks and balances.…”