With that, let us proceed with our responsibilities to the Constitution to which we have just, within 72 hours, taken the oath to uphold.
Mr. Hoyer. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the objection.
The Speaker. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Hoyer. Madam Speaker, it is a sad day in America. It is a wrenching day in America. It is a day in which our words and our actions have had consequences of a very, very negative nature. We ought to watch our words and think what it may mean to some.
My remarks were written before the tragic, dangerous, and unacceptable actions—and “unacceptable” is such a tame word. My remarks started with, “Madam Speaker, the American people today are witnessing one of the greatest challenges to our democracy in its 244-year history.”
Little did I know that this Capitol would be attacked by the enemy within. I was here on 9/11 when we were attacked by the enemy without.
We need to all work together to tame and reduce the anger and, yes, the hate that some stoke. What some—not all, Madam Speaker, but some—in this House and this Senate are doing today will not change the outcome of the election, which is the clear and insurmountable victory of President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris. Instead, all they will accomplish is to further the dangerous divisions.
This was written before this Capitol was assaulted, before this democracy was put aside by thousands, encouraged by the Commander in Chief.
Instead, all they will accomplish is to further the dangerous divisions, as I said, among our people and energize conspiracy theories stoked by our foreign adversaries, which seek to erode America’s confidence in our democracy and our system of free and fair elections.
I was here in 2000. I was strongly in favor of Al Gore for President, and my candidate got more votes than the other candidate. His name was George Bush, of course. And one of the saddest days was January 20th of 2001 when our candidate, who won the election, in my view, was not elected. But it was also one of the proudest moments of my career because the greatest power on Earth passed peacefully from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush.
Not a shot was fired. Nobody assaulted this Caucus or this Congress or this Chamber. Because we were not disappointed? No. Because we were not angry? No. Because we believe in democracy. We believe in “We the people.”
One of the speakers, I think it was the Senator from Texas, expressed: We are here for the people.
If those were the people, we are in a lot of trouble.
Our electoral system, our democratic system, however, did not break under the strains of the misinformation, the claims of fraud, which court after court after court have dismissed out of hand, not because there was a little evidence, but because there was no evidence.
That is why we are the longest-lasting constitutional democracy in the world. I hope all of us in this body are proud of that and understand why that is the case. Because, as Dick Gephardt said on this floor many years ago, democracy is a substitute for war to resolve differences. It proved once more the ever-beating strong heart that gives life to our Republic and our freedoms.
That strength, Madam Speaker, is derived in part from our institution and our laws, but most importantly, it is powered by citizens’ and leaders’ commitment to our Constitution. Not just us. We swear an oath. But it is all of America.
Barack Obama spoke from that Chamber, and he said: I am going to be taking another title next year—citizen.
And he was proud to take that. And every citizen needs to protect, preserve, and uplift our democracy.
Some today did not do that, many today.
Sixty-eight years ago in Springfield, Illinois, Governor Adlai Stevenson gracefully conceded his loss to General Dwight Eisenhower. He said this: “It is traditionally American,” he told his deeply disappointed supporters, “to fight hard before an election.”
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But then he added, it is equally traditional to close ranks as soon as the people have spoken—not the Congress, not the electors, the people have spoken.
That which unites us as American citizens is far greater than that which divides us as political parties.
It was another man from Springfield, fourscore and 8 years earlier, who won reelection to the Presidency in the national crisis that tested our country and its democratic institutions, who pleaded even in his hour of victory for the same spirit of reconciliation. That was the party of Lincoln. That hasn’t happened to this hour.
Lincoln said: “… now that the election is over,” he asked, “may not all, having a common interest, reunite in a common effort to save our common country?”
Such is the duty of an American who stands for elections, or participates in our politics, to be either humble in triumph or gracious in defeat.
I have lost some elections—not too many—and I have won a lot of elections. I hope that I have been gracious in defeat and humble in victory. I hope that I put my State and my country first, not myself.
It is clear to all that the outgoing President has not followed the path that Stevenson and Lincoln urged. So, we, the people—each one of us represents about 750,000 to 800,000 people, some a few less. The people, they have spoken in the way that our Constitution set for them to be heard by us and by the country—they voted, and they voted pretty decisively.
We, the people, together, must turn away from division and its dangers.
The senior Member of our body, Don Young from Alaska, spoke the other day when we were sworn in and said: Ladies and gentlemen of this House, we are so divisive that it is going to destroy our country. We need to reach out and hold one another’s hands.
We all have a title that we honor more than any other—perhaps parent, perhaps husband. But we are all Americans. Not Americans-R; not Americans-D. We are Americans.
Let us hope tonight that we act like Americans. Not as Ds and Rs, but as Americans, just as Al Gore, just as Hillary Clinton, just as Adlai Stevenson, just as Abraham Lincoln, who had won that election, of course. But he had defeated people, and he said that is not the issue; the issue is to reunite.
We, the people, must again be the strong heart of our American democracy.
We, the people, on this day in Congress, must be agents of unity and constructive action to face the grave threats that confront us and tell those who would assault our Capitol: That is not the American way.
We, the Members of Congress, who swore an oath before God to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and our democracy, must do so now.
I don’t usually read Senator McConnell’s speeches, but I am not speaking as a Democrat, nor was he speaking as a Republican just a few hours ago.
“We’re debating a step that has never been taken in American history, whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a Presidential election.”
He went on to say that he supports a strong State-led voting reform.
“The Constitution,” he said, “gives us here in Congress a limited role. We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts, and the States have all spoken.”
Five people said the election of 2000 was over. We didn’t agree with them. But Al Gore said: We are a nation of laws. Five people—yes, they were members of the Supreme Court, but they were five people—said the election is over. I sat on that podium and saw that power transfer to George W. Bush.
McConnell went on to say: “If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever.”
He said that, McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, about 2 hours ago, 3 hours ago, now 4 hours. He went on to say: “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.”
He concluded: “”It would be unfair and wrong to disenfranchise American voters and overrule the courts and the States on this extraordinarily thin basis. And I will not pretend such a
