[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 147 (Monday, December 4, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H11941-H11942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         URGING VICE PRESIDENT GORE TO ACCEPT ELECTION RESULTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, today two very important court decisions 
were handed down, one by the United States Supreme Court and one by the 
trial court in Florida, dealing with the issue of the Presidential 
election. These decisions were both again in favor of Governor Bush.
  The decision of the Supreme Court vacated the ruling of the Florida 
court, which extended the time for the certification of the election 
results in Florida and remanded the case to the Florida court asking 
them to justify their action because they did not appear to have any 
legal justification for the actions that they had taken, essentially 
contravening the United States Constitution as well as the laws passed 
by the Florida legislature setting out a clear procedure for handling 
the election in Florida.
  The Florida trial court judge today ruled in favor of the Bush 
campaign and against the Gore campaign on each and every one of the 
contested issues raised by the Gore campaign in Palm Beach County, in 
Miami-Dade County, and in Nassau County.
  Since November 7, the Nation has been placed in a serious case of 
uncertainty. We have economic uncertainty. We have political 
uncertainty. And we have a Government that needs to be in transition 
but is delayed by the fact that the Vice President has not conceded 
this election.
  We are now faced, 4 weeks from that election, with a continuing 
crisis of uncertainty. It is time for the Vice President to do the 
responsible thing and accept the results of this election.
  Governor Bush was ahead at the time that the networks called Florida 
for Vice President Gore. He was ahead at the time they pulled it back. 
He was ahead the following morning when they called the election for 
Governor Bush. He was ahead when the election returns came in. He was 
ahead when they conducted the first automatic recount. He was ahead 
after the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was continued. 
And he remains ahead today.
  These two rulings make it very likely that he is going to remain 
ahead throughout this process. And to ease the country's uncertainty 
and to do the responsible thing by allowing president-elect George Bush 
to begin the process of transitioning to a new government and to have 
the ability to pull the entire country together, it is absolutely 
essential that the Vice President do the right thing.
  The votes have been counted, recounted and counted again, and yet 
Vice President Gore has yet to concede. For the sake of the country, he 
should accept the outcome and move forward from this election with 
dignity. The country would be better served if the Vice President 
reconsidered his strategy of countless lawsuits which undermine and 
delay the process of selecting our next President.
  Previous Presidential candidates chose the statesman-like route of 
accepting the will of the people and moving on. It is important for our 
next President to have the ability to have the support of Vice 
President Gore as he moves into the transition process.
  Governor George W. Bush has a record of bipartisan leadership. I look 
forward to working with him in that process and in the next Congress of 
the United States. But in order to get that process smoothly 
transitioned, we cannot afford to lose any more days than we already 
have, where 4 weeks that are ordinarily used to begin the very 
difficult task of selecting nearly 6,000 people to take positions from 
cabinet levels on down and then to begin the

[[Page H11942]]

process of planning a legislative agenda for the American people.
  All of these things are delayed by the uncertainty created by the 
current situation, which becomes increasingly clear is serving no good 
purpose. Every time we move further down the process, the results are 
the same. Governor Bush is still ahead in the election. And it seems to 
me, Mr. Speaker, that it is entirely appropriate at this time that the 
Vice President do the right thing for the country, the statesman-like 
thing for the country, and concede this election.

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