enemy, we fought a civil war. And at the conclusion of that Civil War we passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments that make clear that no State is so sovereign that they can deprive their citizens of equal protection of the laws.
When it comes to elections, that means one person gets one vote. It doesn’t mean that other citizens can dilute the votes of other citizens and deprive them of equal protection. And it doesn’t mean that a State can do that by law or by practice.
So whether the law was changed and made it such that there is no way to provide equal protection—one person, one vote—or the practice was corrupted, it cannot stand. Frankly, lastly, it must guarantee that there is a proof that it was equal protection under the law.
None of that happened in a number of States. The people of America, tens of millions of them who came out to vote, have been unheard by this body and by far too many courts. We need to show them the respect they are due by the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution that we fought to sustain to end the era of Jim Crow to pass civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and so many other pieces of jurisprudence.
Mr. Johnson of Ohio. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. Davidson of Ohio. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman needs to maintain his position and control of the time.
Mr. Johnson of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this objection and to give voice to the 249,386 men and women of Ohio’s Sixth Congressional District who have had their voices silenced by the rogue political actors in Pennsylvania who unilaterally and unconstitutionally altered voting methods to benefit the Democratic candidate for President.
Secretaries of state and State supreme courts cannot simply ignore the rules governing elections set forth in the Constitution. They cannot choose to usurp their state legislatures to achieve a partisan end, Constitution be damned.
Madam Speaker, this is a sad day for America. We have seen too many sad days like this recently: assaults on courthouses, police stations, and now the U.S. Capitol. People who disagree with the results of police work and court decisions are wrong to respond violently. And people who disagree with the results of an election are also wrong to respond with violence. Thank you to the Capitol Police and all the law enforcement involved for protecting the people’s House today.
Madam Speaker, some may question our motives for raising these objections, but other than the Bible, our Constitution is the most sacred document known to man because it created the most free and prosperous nation in human history.
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2021 has the chance to be remembered for when the leaders of a deeply divided America came together to defend that sacred document and to ensure that the integrity of future Presidential elections is ensured. It is imperative we take this opportunity. The future of our Republic depends on it.
Benjamin Franklin, in the summer of 1787, during the heated debate to create our sacred Constitution, said these famous words: “I have lived long, sir, a long time … and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth … that God governs in the affairs of men.
“And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writing that ‘Except the Lord build it, they labor in vain that build it.’”
Madam Speaker, I pray that we would turn to the God Almighty that ordained our Nation into being to help us in our time of need.
Mr. Kinzinger. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the objection.
The Speaker. The gentleman from Illinois is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Kinzinger. Madam Speaker, as a student of foreign policy, if somebody described to me the actions that we saw, I would have assumed we were in a failed nation or a banana republic. Storming past police, some carrying the flag of the Confederacy, the mob breached this House.
But there is good news: The democracy held today.
For the last few years, misinformation and fear has been fed into people for profit and power, and for too many years, leaders around the country said nothing and sometimes echoed those messages because of the belief that winning, no matter the cost, was worth everything.
Today, we saw the result of ignoring these warning signs.
People look to Washington to give hope. Instead, we simply amplify fears.
People look to us for expertise on what can and can’t be possible. Sometimes it is easier to say what makes people feel good instead of the hard facts.
Today, some Members of Congress argue that we can unilaterally pick the next President, that with our glorious wisdom, armed with Twitter, we know better than the American people. Some have shown that, if conspiracies are repeated enough, they become facts and they aren’t disputed.
Even here in this Chamber after the events today, some speeches have been shockingly tone-deaf. I have seen people applaud cheap political lines that are embarrassing.
Power and cultural fights have divided us so much that they are the ultimate goal now, and sometimes the oath we swear to uphold feels like a prop.
People have been lied to by too many for too long.
So here is the truth: Joe Biden won this election, the effort will fail, and everybody knows it.
For some out there, this isn’t about making a statement for the betterment of our country; it is about avoiding the pain of leveling with the people and telling them the truth: the emperor has no clothes.
I know many are disappointed in the result, but what legacy are we leaving? Have our kids seen the day where Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill had a beer over their differences, or have they learned that to lead, you must tweet, and sometimes all in caps, because now this is Hollywood, fame is the ultimate goal?
But the first step that we can take to restore this is to reject the charade, and what happens next is up to us.
We get threatened with primaries; we worry about the political implications. But our names will long be forgotten; the legacy of now will exist.
The bottom line: If we ask men and women to be willing to give their lives for this Nation and we talk about their service with tears in our eyes, shouldn’t we be willing to give up our jobs to uphold that Constitution?
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler).
Ms. Herrera Beutler. Madam Speaker, is this a country, is this an America that we want to give to our children, a country of lawlessness, of might makes right, of mob rule?
Previous generations of Americans have laid down their lives to answer “no” to that question. I do not want to be the first generation of Americans so selfish as to answer “yes.” Nothing is more important to me than preserving this constitutional Republic as a Representative.
Article II of the Constitution states: “Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors,” meaning that it is the duty of the State legislatures to select their electors in a manner they stipulate. It is right here.
The Founders of our Republic did not want to federalize elections, which is why they reserved the selection of electors to the State legislatures.
Historically, when Congress intervened in the electoral process, it was in the Civil War. It was when States were sending multiple slates of electors. But that is not the case today.
Of the six States actively being contested, five have Republican legislatures; five are controlled by one party; five have the authority to get together and to vote to change the elector that they sent to us.
How many of the six did? Not one.
Pennsylvania did not get together and vote as a body and send us a new slate of electors. They did not send us a bill or a resolution citing injustice at the State level.
None of them.
Are they cowards? Do they not know the Constitution? Have they not read
