[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONCERNING REMARKS OF SPEAKER GINGRICH IN MONDAY SPEECH

  (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, ideally we are able to put aside our 
partisan interests and consider the people's business, if not with a 
blank slate, at least with an open mind. The Speaker of the House has 
an even greater duty. He not only represents his district and his party 
but he represents the integrity of the House of Representatives for all 
Members.
  This Monday the Speaker delivered a speech in which he accused 
unnamed presidential advisers of being unpatriotic, accused Members of 
the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight for voting for a 
cover-up, urged the President and unnamed members of our party to quit 
undermining the law in the United States, and declared that in the last 
2\1/2\ years we have lived through the most systematic, deliberate 
obstruction of justice, cover-up and effort to avoid the truth we have 
ever seen in American history. These remarks, which demean the office 
which he is privileged to hold, were repeated in the well of the House.
  The Speaker noted in the same speech that America is a Nation under 
the rule of law and that no person is above the law. I fully agree with 
his comments. But speeches are empty sentiments unless they are 
practiced through our public behavior. There is more to the rule of law 
than after-dinner rhetoric. The rule of law requires impartial and 
competent investigations. It assumes the Speaker will not prejudge the 
results of these investigations. It requires, if not charity towards 
all, at least an absence of malice.
  The Speaker's remarks have shown that he falls far short of this 
standard. I have sent him a letter and asked him here today to recuse 
himself from all further actions connected with this investigation. We 
must restore a sense of fairness to this process and integrity to this 
House.

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