Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/House/Counting Electoral Votes/Arizona Objection Debate/Schiff Speech
Mr. Schiff. Madam Speaker, a little more than 2 months ago, America performed an extraordinary feat. Under some of the most trying circumstances in our history, our fellow citizens conducted a free and fair election, vindicating our Founders’ belief once again, that we were capable of self government and a peaceful transition of power.
On November 3, the American people chose Joe Biden to be their next President by an enormous margin. The successful conduct of that election, among the most secure in American history, was not an accident. It was the result of the dedicated work of thousands of volunteers, canvassers, poll workers, electors, and State and local election officials.
When the conduct of any State election was challenged, the courts, through judges appointed by Democrats and those appointed by Republicans, heard unsubstantiated claims of fraud, found they had no merit, and said so.
But most important, the American people persevered. In the midst of the worst pandemic in a century, America had one of the most impressive elections in a century, with historic voter turnout.
Our fellow citizens did their civic duty. The question we face today is: Will we do ours?
That we are here, with a substantial number of our Members seeking to overturn an election is remarkable, tragic, and all too predictable, for it is the natural result of a locomotive set in motion months ago with a myth. For weeks and weeks, before, during, and after our election, a dangerous falsehood was propagated: That our election would be marred by massive fraud.
Never mind it was the same election which brought the very men and women to this Chamber who would challenge its results. What value has consistency when measured against ambition?
A former Senator from Georgia, remarking on a contested election over a century ago, said: “Able men, learned men, distinguished men, great men in the eyes of the nation, seemed intent only on accomplishing a party triumph, without regard to the consequences to the country. That is human nature. That is,” he said, “unfortunately, party nature.” Was he right?
We stand in a House which was once the place of giants. Have we become so small? Does our oath to uphold the Constitution, taken just days ago, mean so very little?
I think not. I believe, to quote our dear departed friend, Elijah Cummings, that we are better than that. I think Elijah would be proud that the debate here today is not between Democrats and Republicans, and that some Republicans, including the Republican leader of the Senate, remain devoted to the principle that we are a nation of laws, not individuals, let alone a single individual.
It may seem unfair to the new Members who have only just taken the oath for the first time, that they should be so soon tested with one of the most consequential votes they may cast, no matter how long they serve. But it is so, and none of us can shrink from that responsibility. Nor can we console ourselves with the intoxicating fiction that we can break that oath without consequence because doing so will not succeed in overturning the election. An oath is no less broken when the breaking fails to achieve its end.
We must be mindful that any who seek to overturn an election will do injury to our Constitution, whatever the result. For just as the propagation of that dangerous myth about this election made this moment inevitable, our actions today will put another train in motion. This election will not be overturned.
But what about the next? Or the one after that?
What shall we say when our democratic legacy is no more substantial than the air, except that we brought trouble to our own house and inherited the wind?
This isn’t the first time we have had a contentious election, and it won’t be the last. In 1800, John Adams lost a closely contested election to Thomas Jefferson, in the first peaceful transition of power from one party to another in our history. Adams was hardly pleased with the result, choosing to skip the inaugural activities, but he did what leaders are required to do in a democratic government when they lose. He went home. He went home.
Jefferson would later refer to his victory as the Revolution of 1800, but marveled that the Revolution had occurred “by the rational and peaceful instruments of reform, the suffrage of the people.”
It has never been our place to overturn an election, and if we hope to remain a democracy, it never will be.