so bound together through federalism in which we may live together peacefully as citizens in this vast land agreeing to disagree, free to live according to our own beliefs and according to the dictates of our conscience.
Now, many of my colleagues were poised this afternoon to vote to insert Congress into the constitutionally prescribed decisionmaking of the States by rejecting the sole official electors sent to us by each of the States of the Union. I hope they will reconsider.
I can tell you that I was not going to, and I will not be voting to reject the electors. And that vote may well sign my political death warrant, but so be it. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and I will not bend its words into contortions for personal political expediency.
Number one, rejecting the electors certified to Congress by sovereign States violates the 12th Amendment and the entirety of the Constitution it amends, notwithstanding claims that you must read certain sections first. It is clear, it is black and white, we count. It is ministerial. And our only job is to count the electors before us. We have only one slate of electors per State sent to us under color of law, and no more.
Number two, to the extent you believe we do have constitutional authority to reject, we are arguing using incomplete and often misleading data points to prove it. I am not afforded time to go point by point, but there are more misleading claims than legitimate ones.
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Three, rejecting the electors ignores the Founder’s specific admonition that Congress not choose the President, as articulated in Federalist No. 68.
Four, indeed, the Founders drafted the inclusion of a phrase specifically putting Congress into the manner of the election process then specifically rejected it.
Five, if more than a trivial bloc of this body votes to reject a sovereign State’s electors, it will irrevocably empower Congress to take over the selection of Presidential electors, and doing so will almost certainly guarantee future Houses will vote to reject the electors of Texas or any of our States for whatever reason.
Six, voting to reject the electors is not remotely consistent with our vote on Sunday, a vote I forced to highlight the very hypocrisy: to accept the outcome of the election of ourselves through elections conducted under the same rules, by procedures put in place by the same executive branch officials, impacted by rulings from the same judges, State and Federal. To do so is entirely inexplicable on its face.
Seven, the argument for rejection most given by my colleagues is based on the allegations of systemic election abuse by executive or judicial branch officials interfering with the “legislatures thereof” in Article II.
Many States made poor policy decisions. Whether these poor policy decisions violate State laws is a contested matter and a matter for the States to resolve for themselves.
More, five of the six legislatures are controlled by Republicans. Not one body has sent separate electors. Not one body has sent us even a letter by a majority of its whole body. The only body, the Pennsylvania Senate, who managed to come up with a majority of Republicans to complain only did so yesterday in an eleventh-hour face-saving political statement. Not one GOP statewide official has formally called on us to change. Not one law enforcement organization, State or Federal, has presented a case of malfeasance.
History will judge this moment.
Let us not turn the last firewall for liberty we have remaining on its head in a fit of populist rage for political expediency when there is plenty of looking into the mirror for Republicans to do for destroying our election systems with expansion of mail-in ballots.
I may well get attacked for this, but I will not abandon my oath to the Constitution. And I will make clear that I am standing up in defense of that Constitution to protect our federalist order and the electoral college, which empowers the very States we represent to stand athwart the long arm of this Federal Government by its very design.
Mr. Brooks of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the objection.
The Speaker. The gentleman from Alabama is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Brooks of Alabama. Madam Speaker, for years, Democrats and their media allies deceived America about Trump–Russian collusion and the extent of foreign interference in the 2016 elections. Yet, in 2020, Democrats promoted massive foreign interference in American elections by helping illegal aliens and other noncitizens vote in American elections, thereby canceling the votes of and stealing elections from American citizens.
Want evidence? Exhibit A. In 1993, Democrats rammed through Congress the National Voter Registration Act, making it illegal—illegal—to require proof of citizenship that prevents illegal aliens and noncitizens from registering to vote.
Why did Democrats do that? Simple. To steal elections, of course.
Exhibit B. How bad is the noncitizen voting problem? In 2005, Democrat President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Federal Election Reform warned that “noncitizens have registered to vote in several recent elections” and recommended that “all States should use their best efforts to obtain proof of citizenship before registering voters.”
Exhibit C. A June 2005 General Accountability Office report discovered that up to 3 percent of people on voter registration lists are not U.S. citizens.
Exhibit D. In 2008, Electoral Studies surveyed 339 noncitizens. Eight percent admitted voting in American elections.
As an aside, I have seen higher percentages in other studies.
Exhibit E. The 2010 Census counted 11 million illegal aliens in America.
Exhibit F. A 2018 Yale study estimated as many as 22 million illegal aliens in America.
Exhibit G. The math means between 880,000 and 1.72 million illegal aliens illegally voted in the 2020 elections.
Exhibit H. In 2014, Old Dominion University and George Mason University professors surveyed noncitizens and illegal aliens and found they vote Democrat roughly 80 percent of the time.
Exhibit I. The math is again straightforward. The 60 percent Biden advantage times the illegal alien voting number means Joe Biden gained roughly 1,032,000 votes from illegal alien voting. That is the high number.
Exhibit J. While no one knows for sure how massive the illegal alien voting bloc is, we do know Joe Biden and his campaign believed it large enough and critical enough to winning the Presidential race that, at the October 22 Presidential debate, Joe Biden publicly solicited the illegal alien bloc vote by promising: “Within 100 days, I am going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Madam Speaker, that is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for illegal aliens. Joe Biden knew exactly what he was doing by seeking the illegal alien bloc vote. After all, on May 11, 1993, then-Senator Joe Biden voted for the National Voter Registration Act, which makes it illegal to require proof of citizenship from illegal aliens and other noncitizens when they seek to register to vote.
Madam Speaker, the evidence is compelling and irrefutable. Noncitizens overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden in exchange for the promised amnesty and citizenship and in so doing helped steal the election from Donald Trump, Republican candidates, and American citizens across America.
Madam Speaker, in my judgment, if only lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens are counted, Joe Biden lost and President Trump won the electoral college.
As such, it is my constitutional duty to promote honest and accurate elections by rejecting electoral college vote submissions from States whose electoral systems are so badly flawed as to render their vote submissions unreliable, untrustworthy, and unworthy of acceptance.
Mr. Reed. Madam Speaker, as a proud Republican, I rise in opposition to the objection to the electorate.
The Speaker. The gentleman from New York is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Reed. Madam Speaker, I come to this side of the aisle as a proud Republican but, most importantly, as a proud American.
Today, we saw an assault on our democracy. I love this institution. I love the United States Congress, and I love
