[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 27, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H4073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THERE GOES THE RULE OF LAW
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Gohmert) for 5 minutes.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of my friend from
Texas. We do have some disagreements, but I want to go back to the
issue of jobs.
People are hurting. Without jobs, the unemployment has been higher
than the President said it would ever get if we would just simply give
him about a trillion dollars to give away to his friends, that that
would make it all better. Well, it didn't.
What we've seen over and over from this administration is a complete
disregard for the rule of law. When you look at all the people who have
been drawn into this country illegally, in violation of our immigration
laws--even though there is no country in the world that allows the
immigration that this country does and the wide open gates that we do.
But we do have parameters.
We've been told there may be a billion, billion and a half people who
want to come to this country. If they did all at once, they would
overwhelm us, and there would be no country for others to come to.
Why do so many want to come here? It's because we've always had
regard for the rule of law. When there were those who would ignore the
rule of law and put partisan and personal benefit above the law,
eventually they had to account. Some have gotten away, but this country
has done a better job of being fair across the board than any other
country in history. That's why so many want to come here, because we've
had more jobs, a better economy, and made more advancements than any
country in history.
Yet, on the issue of immigration, this President stands up and
announces we're going to ignore the law, just as he did on marriage.
There is a proper law that was signed into law by President Bill
Clinton, enacted by Congress, upheld, and he says we're going to ignore
that because we don't like it. There goes the rule of law.
When it comes to ObamaCare, we've passed this law. But you know what?
So many of the people that pushed this through and rammed it down the
throats of America, they're asking for waivers and they're good
friends, so we're going to give them waivers so they can ignore the
rule of law.
How about the auto bailout? Ignored. The bankruptcy law? It ignored
the Constitution and took away dealerships and gave them to others.
This was a place where the rule of law was completely ignored.
Then this President stands up and says: Not only are we going to
ignore the rule of law, duly passed law, but as I speak, I will create
law. I now speak into effect new work visas and work permits that have
never existed. But just as the ancient pharaohs or the leaders of the
ancient world, as I speak, so it must be. I'm speaking into effect new
work permits. I'm speaking into effect an ignoring of the laws that
were duly passed. I'm speaking into effect a chance to give them jobs
that Americans are hurting and trying to get.
We also have an Attorney General who was not only asked about Fast
and Furious, he was asked about Justice Kagan on the Supreme Court: Are
you aware of any instances during Justice Kagan's tenure as Solicitor
General of the United States in which information related to patient
protection and affordable care and/or litigation related thereto was
related or provided? He refused to answer.
When did your staff begin removing Solicitor General Kagan from
meetings in this matter? On what basis did you take this action? On
what other matters was such action taken?
{time} 1100
Look, the rule of law required that when it turned out there were
possibly thousands of abuses of the national security letter in a
Republican administration, I picked up the phone, called the chief of
staff of my President, and said, This is unforgivable. We need a new
Attorney General. Where is my friend across the aisle who will step up
and say, the rule of law is too important?
We have Justice Kagan, who is ignoring law 28 U.S.C. 455 that says,
You must disqualify yourself in any case in which your impartiality
might reasonably be questioned. It must be reasonably expected that
either she ignored the law, did not do her job as Solicitor General,
was totally negligent, or she did her job, and she should not have sat
on this case. She should have disqualified.
I beg and plead for my colleagues across the aisle to step up, as I
did when the Attorney General was responsible for presiding over an
injustice, and call for her resignation. It is contemptuous of
Congress.
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