To you, the silenced, I say this: I will continue to fight for you. You have been heard. For more than 240 years, tyranny has sought to extinguish the light of freedom.
As Ronald Reagan said before: Freedom is a fragile thing, and it is never more than one generation away from extinction.
The Constitution and the Bible on which it stands is stronger than the cheap tyrannical tactics of those who seek to destroy it.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd).
Mr. Budd. Madam Speaker, mob violence is not representative of our country or of this building. The American people—at least the ones who are still up watching right now—have seen this body return to a peaceful debate. And that is the American way. So let’s get back to that debate and let’s talk for a moment about Pennsylvania.
For decades, absentee voting was reserved for members of the military and citizens who are medically or physically unable to get to the polls. But in 2019, Pennsylvania dramatically increased the amount of ballots that would be cast in the Presidential election through expanded, no-excuse, mail-in voting.
On September 17, Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled Supreme Court violated the Constitution by extending the deadline to receive mail-in ballots. Article II states that legislatures, not the courts, determine the time, manner, and place of their States’ elections. But Pennsylvania’s high court directed the State officials to assume that non-postmarked ballots were received on time without any evidence that they were sent before election day.
On October 23, while early voting was already underway, the State supreme court ruled that election officials did not have to authenticate signatures for mail-in ballots.
To sum it up, Pennsylvania officials illegally did three critical things:
One, they radically expanded vote by mail for virtually any reason.
Two, they removed restrictions when a ballot can be sent in.
Three, they removed signature verification on those very ballots.
Just this week, the Pennsylvania Senate pleaded with Members of this body to delay certification until the Supreme Court resolves these disputes. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania violated their own constitution. They violated the U.S. Constitution. They opened the door for thousands of unverifiable ballots.
Because they failed to guarantee the integrity of their votes, I cannot consent to accepting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.
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Ms. Dean. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the challenge.
The Speaker. The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Dean. Madam Speaker, this is a sad day for America—a day of shame, a day of ignominy, an attack on this Capitol, an attack on our country.
Madam Speaker, our words matter. Mobs, thugs, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists attacked our government with the aim of attacking our free and fair elections.
Make no mistake, these terrorists came armed, armed with false flags; armed with hate; armed with weapons; and, tragically, armed with lies force-fed to them by those at the highest level of government, including some from the legislative and, yes, the executive branches. Incited by the one at the highest level of government, they attacked people, property, this Capitol, this cathedral of democracy.
Words matter. In his last words to our Nation and to all of us here, our dear colleague, John Lewis, wrote last July: “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.” And each generation has an obligation to preserve its institutions.
Democracy is a series of acts, acts by you and by me, by citizens, one building upon the other and another—not acts that we have heard and seen and suffered today, words and acts to incite violence, acts that tear at the very fabric of our democracy.
Madam Speaker, yet, I have hope. We, too, are armed. We are armed with the facts. We are armed with the truth. We are armed with the love of our country. We are armed with our sworn oaths. And we are armed with our precious Constitution.
We have faced tyranny and insurrection before. We are here tonight to herald to America and to the world: We will defend our democracy, and we will endure.
Madam Speaker, when I came into work this morning, as I was preparing to come to the floor, I read Tom Friedman’s op-ed, which began with the words from the Gospel of Mark: For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul?
For what shall it profit any man.
Madam Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to have the courage to uphold their oath, courage like that of Congresswoman Margaret Chase Smith, a lifelong Republican and the first in her party to speak out against McCarthyism. Putting duty over fear, she said: “I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. Surely, we Republicans are not that desperate for victory.”
Madam Speaker, for today, we have seen the cost of victory by such means. It shook the very walls of this building. Our colleagues know there is no truth to this challenge.
For what shall it profit a man.
Madam Speaker, it has been my solemn honor to participate in this sad day. I pray for our country.
Mrs. Cammack. Madam Speaker, I rise to support the objection of the electoral certification of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Speaker. The gentlewoman from Florida is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Cammack. Madam Speaker, as a new Representative here, I did not envision my first speech on the House floor to be this, here tonight, but rather, a tribute to our first responders and frontline workers who have been a shining light in an otherwise tough year for us all.
After the events tonight, I am especially grateful for our men and women who put service above self, confronting lawlessness and danger while protecting this very Chamber, its Members, and our constitutional Republic.
As a Member of the people’s House, and the wife of a first responder, thank you to our law enforcement here today. But, especially, after tonight’s unacceptable breach of the people’s House, I am furthermore resolved in the fact that we, as representatives of the people, must take a stand for every American’s right to a free and fair election as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution explicitly rests the time and manner of our elections in the hands of our State legislatures. However, State law in the 2020 election was modified or circumvented without approval of the State legislature. These actions are in clear violation of the Constitution, specifically Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, which grants State legislatures the sole authority to establish how State Presidential electors are appointed.
These changes, along with other election irregularities throughout the 2020 election, require me, as a Member of this body, to object to the certification of these electoral votes, just as my colleagues across the aisle have objected to every Republican Presidential election over the last 20 years.
Tonight, as we undertake the very serious responsibility of debating these State electoral certifications, I urge my colleagues to listen earnestly and with an open mind, remembering that just 3 days ago, we swore an oath to the United States Constitution, not a political party.
Our constituents are counting on us. Our country is counting on us. Our children are counting on us, and we cannot let them down.
Madam Speaker, in December, 25 of my freshman colleagues and I sent you a letter imploring you to investigate these election irregularities. To date, we have not received a response. That brings us to today.
My colleagues across the aisle have repeatedly invoked our Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, who famously said: We have a republic, if we can keep it.
I say, let’s keep it.
Madam Speaker, it is with that sentiment in mind that I ask my colleagues to defend the power vested in this legislative branch by the U.S. Constitution and reject the certification of the electoral votes of the State in question. It is our responsibility to have
