[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   AUTHORIZING THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER 
   SUFFICIENT GROUNDS EXIST FOR THE IMPEACHMENT OF WILLIAM JEFFERSON 
                CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 1998

  Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, throughout this whole unseemly matter, I have 
tried desperately to cling to the dignity of the instruction of the 
Constitution to guide my actions. I have carefully weighed the evidence 
we have seen so far: the Referral from the Office of Independent 
Counsel (OIC), the President's taped testimony, and the reams of 
evidence in support of the OIC Referral. As a grand juror in this 
process, evaluating the evidence carefully, and privately, is 
consistent with my constitutional role.
  Today, the House allows the Judiciary Committee to move forward on 
the investigatory phase of the impeachment process. We are not voting 
on impeachment; that is the duty of the Senate. We are not quite yet to 
the actual grand jury phase of this process; we are at the point where 
Congress' prosecutors and investigators are asking to complete that 
part of the Constitutional obligation. My vote today is based on only 
what the OIC has referred to us.
  It is important to complete the process. We should be fair. We have 
yet to see witnesses deposed or cross-examined, nor weighed additional 
evidence. Today the House has a choice, to investigate only what the 
OIC referred to us and be finished by the end of the year, or to 
continue the steady drumbeat of those things already investigated by 
the FBI, the OIC and the Congress. There is no need for such a shotgun 
approach.
  Today's vote is in deference to the Constitution. No one will report 
this, but that Constitutional deference should be the single most 
important point made in analyzing Democratic votes on either plan to 
continue the investigation. The House vote to analyze, for those who 
wish to do that, is the next full House vote; that will speak to the 
actual question of impeachment.
  My votes today, for democratic alternative and in opposition to the 
Republican plan, are an indication that what we have received from OIC 
may be sufficient for the inquiry. Again, remember, this was not a vote 
on the question of impeachment, it is a vote for the HJC to proceed 
with the inquiry. The next possible action by the House will be any 
action we may take on actually referring articles of impeachment to the 
Senate. The final question of impeachment rests with the Senate.

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