[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 101 (Thursday, June 26, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5807-H5810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            PRESERVING THREE COEQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Woodall) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time.
  I don't know if you have seen the headlines yet, Mr. Speaker, you 
have been busy with votes all day long, but the Supreme Court, in a 9-0 
decision, today struck down the National Labor Relations Board so-
called recess appointments that the President made there over the 
Christmas season in 2011-2012--9-0.
  I hear a lot about the Supreme Court being a divided body, Mr. 
Speaker. 9-0, the Supreme Court said that the President of the United 
States had absolutely no constitutional authority to name members of 
the National Labor Relations Board without Senate approval.
  They said that the recess appointment power that is provided the 
President in the Constitution of the United States is not there, so 
that the President of the United States can avoid Senate approval.
  It is there, so that the Nation can continue to run in the absence of 
the Senate being in session, in order to give its approval.
  Mr. Speaker, the reason I bring that up is because that was yet 
another decision--in a long line of decisions the President has made--
to ignore this body, to ignore the United States Senate, and, in fact, 
to ignore all of article 1 of the Constitution; and that is not just a 
Republican from the State of Georgia saying that, Mr. Speaker.
  That is nine Supreme Court justices. Every single Supreme Court 
justice--the most liberal of the Supreme Court justices--said the 
President vastly overstepped his authority and his actions were 
unconstitutional.
  Now, that is not news to anybody who has been following that case, 
Mr. Speaker. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals made that same decision 
and said that the President overstepped those bounds, and that was way 
back in 2012.
  I have a quote here from President George Washington's farewell 
address in 1796, Mr. Speaker. George Washington said:

       It is important that the habits of thinking in a free 
     country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its 
     administration.

  That is us, Mr. Speaker. That is representatives in government. That 
is the White House, that is the courts, and that is the Congress.

       Should inspire caution in those entrusted with its 
     administration, to confine themselves within their respective 
     constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the 
     powers of one department to encroach upon another.

  In his farewell address, George Washington said:

       In order for this country to succeed, these individual 
     branches of government, the checks and balances created in 
     the Constitution, the men and women entrusted with those 
     responsibilities must resist encroaching on one another.

  Against that backdrop, Mr. Speaker, against the backdrop of our 
Nation's first President and against the backdrop of--well, he is 
standing right out in a painting out here in the hallway, Mr. Speaker, 
George Washington presiding over the Constitutional Convention in the 
summer of 1787--this man entrusted with the birthing of our country, 
with the understanding of the consent of the governed and how we can 
preserve our freedoms while administering our governmental 
responsibilities said:

       Resist the opportunity to encroach on the powers of 
     competing branches of government.

                              {time}  1245

  What I have on this sheet, and you can't see it, Mr. Speaker, but it 
is

[[Page H5808]]

quotes from President Barack Obama, and not quotes from 20 years ago 
and not quotes from 10 years ago, but quotes from just the 3 years that 
I have been serving here in this body, just the 3 years that I have 
been entrusted with some responsibilities. Here on article I the 
President says that, and this was at a speech at North Carolina State 
in January of this year, he said:

       Where I can act on my own without Congress, I am going to 
     do so.

  The President says, if I can do it without these other branches of 
government, I am just going to do it. I am just going to do it. 
President Washington says avoid encroaching on one another. The Supreme 
Court says, Mr. President, when you step outside of your lane, 9-0 we 
are going to declare your actions unconstitutional. Those were actions 
taken back in 2012, Mr. Speaker. Even this year, the President 
continues down that path.
  At the State of the Union Address this year, Mr. Speaker, the 
President said:

       America does not stand still, and neither will I. So 
     whenever I can take steps without legislation, that is what I 
     am going to do.

  There is no confusion at the White House, Mr. Speaker. It is not an 
accident at the White House. When the President made those recess 
appointments that today the Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision 
were entirely unconstitutional, he wasn't confused about what he was 
doing. He didn't misunderstand what the Constitution said. He wasn't 
confused about what state the Senate was in. He knew they were not in 
recess. He decided that he would define what recess was. He decided 
that he would do it anyway. He decided he did not care if he encroached 
on the Senate's lane, that article II came and trumped article I.
  In the February, 2013, State of the Union Address, the President 
said:

       I urge this Congress to get together and pursue a 
     bipartisan, market-based solution to carbon change. But if 
     Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I 
     will.

  Climate change. I can't go into a high school in my district, Mr. 
Speaker, without young people wanting to talk to me about the 
environment, wanting to talk to me about climate change. This is an 
issue of national concern. This isn't just the President's concern; it 
is an issue of national concern, and obviously, international concern. 
But the President in his State of the Union Address doesn't say, I am 
going to take this concern and I am going to win the hearts and minds 
of the American people, and I am going to move legislation through 
Congress to enact my goals. He says, I hope Congress does what I want 
them to do; but if they don't, I am going to do it anyway. That is 
exactly what he said with his recess appointments, Mr. Speaker, which 
today the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 was an unconstitutional action by 
this White House.
  Mr. Speaker, August of 2013, we were in the midst of the President 
proposing changes to ObamaCare. During that summer, he said in a normal 
political environment, it would have been easier for me to simply call 
the Speaker, John Boehner, and say, You know what? This is a tweak that 
doesn't go to the essence of the law. It has nothing to do with--for 
example, where we are able to simplify the attestation of employers who 
are already providing health insurance, it looks like there might be 
some better ways to do this. Let's make a technical change.
  The President says, ordinarily what I would do is I would call the 
Speaker of the House. Ordinarily, I would call the Congress and I would 
say, Hey, I have got this little bitty idea, this little bitty tweak 
that I would like to make. Would you all work with me on legislation to 
do so? That would be the normal thing, the President says, that I would 
prefer to do. But we are not in a normal atmosphere around here when it 
comes to ObamaCare. We have executive authority to do so, and we did 
so.
  So here is what the President said: He said, I know what the right 
thing to do is. I know that what the Constitution requires is, if I 
have an idea, that I contact the Congress, that Congress moves that 
idea through, that I put my signature on it, and it becomes the law of 
the land. I know that is the ordinary course of events, but these are 
not ordinary times, so I am going to ignore those constitutional 
mandates and I am just going to do it myself.
  He said that about the enforcement of ObamaCare. He said that about 
his actions on climate change. He said that about his appointments to 
the National Labor Relations Board. And the Supreme Court said, as did 
the district courts, that is unconstitutional; you can't do that.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, we all have an agenda we would like to pursue. I 
would like to believe we are all focused on the improvement of this 
country, we are all interested in opportunity for all American 
citizens. I would like to believe we are all interested in growing jobs 
and the economy and in protecting freedom. And the debate we have is 
about how to get to that place, and when the one branch of government, 
Mr. Speaker, decides they are going to ignore the others and do it 
their way, the entire system breaks down. The court today spoke 
directly to that.
  Now, I want to contrast that, Mr. Speaker, because you might just 
think hey, Congressman Woodall, you are a relatively new Member from 
the great State of Georgia, and you are just bitter because you are a 
Republican and there is a Democrat in the White House. Well, that is 
nonsense. That is nonsense.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to take you back to what previous Presidents have 
said. You have heard what this President has said, and that is not what 
previous Presidents have said. Bill Clinton, December 1994--and 
remember back, Mr. Speaker, December 1994. Republicans had just taken 
over the U.S. House for the first time in 60 years. For the first time 
in 60 years, we had a Republican majority in the House. President 
Clinton is only 2 years into his term, and he is looking at this brand 
new Congress, and he says, not if Congress doesn't do what I tell them 
to do, I am just going to roll over top of them; not if Congress 
doesn't do what I tell them, I am just going to do it my way; not I 
have a pen and I have a phone, but he says this:

       I hope and believe we can cooperate with this new Congress.

  He goes on, and he is talking about the same environmental issues 
that President Obama is talking about, and he says:

       The most significant environmental gains in the last 30 
     years were made under a Democratic Congress and a Republican 
     President, Richard Nixon. We can work together again.

  And we did, Mr. Speaker: the biggest tax reform bill in my life time, 
1997, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich; the biggest welfare reform bill 
in my lifetime, 1996, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich; biggest Medicare 
reforms in my lifetime, 1997, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. That is 
what this country does, Mr. Speaker. We work together. We all have 
common goals, and we have different ways of getting there, but we work 
together.
  Our Founders feared an all-powerful Executive, Mr. Speaker, who would 
roll over the Congress and roll over the will of the people; feared it, 
and set up the Constitution to prevent it. Other Presidents have 
understood that. Ronald Reagan, he wasn't working with a friendly 
Congress, he was working with a Congress of the other party, and he 
said this:

       There were also pessimistic predictions about the 
     relationship between our administration and this Congress. It 
     was said that we could never work together. Well, those 
     predictions were wrong. Together, we not only cut the 
     increase in government spending nearly in half, we brought 
     about the largest tax reductions and the most sweeping 
     changes in our tax structure since the beginning of this 
     century.

  That was Ronald Reagan's State of the Union Address in 1982. He had 
been in office just over a year. And he worked with a Democratic 
Congress, a Republican President, and he did some of the most sweeping 
changes that this Nation has seen in the past century. That is what we 
do. That is who we are as a people.
  President Kennedy, 1961:

       The answers are by no means clear. All of us together, this 
     administration, this Congress, this Nation, must forge those 
     answers. Members of the Congress, the Constitution makes us 
     not rivals for power but partners for progress.

  I want you to hear the tone of those different statements. President 
John F. Kennedy to the Congress:
  We are not rivals, but we are partners.
  President Reagan to the Congress:
  They said we could never work together, but they were wrong. We 
brought the most sweeping changes since the beginning of this century.

[[Page H5809]]

  President Clinton:
  The most sweeping changes in the last 30 years were made with 
Democrats in Congress, Republicans in the White House working together.
  President Barack Obama:
  If Congress doesn't do what I tell them to do, I am going to do it 
myself.
  The Supreme Court today, a 9-0 decision: What President Obama is 
doing is unconstitutional. I tell you, Mr. Speaker, when folks are 
doing things that are unconstitutional, it threatens the very fabric of 
the freedoms that bind this country together.
  Mr. Speaker, it just so happens that the Supreme Court ruled on yet 
another unconstitutional action of the White House today. I hadn't 
actually anticipated that decision happening today. I came down to talk 
about the President's new environmental initiative. He wants to reduce 
carbon emissions, CO2 emissions, carbon dioxide emissions by 
30 percent. He announced this policy from the White House, and the 
media covered it expansively.
  Here is Bloomberg:

       President Obama's views addressing the problem of climate 
     change as a key part of his legacy.

  Reuters:

       Climate change is becoming a major legacy issue for Obama.

  USA Today:

       Obama clearly hopes to make this an important part of his 
     legacy.

  These are all articles from the last 30 days, Mr. Speaker. The 
Chicago Tribune, the President's hometown newspaper:

       Experts note this rule will spur the growth of the cap-and-
     trade marketplace in the States. In that sense, it may be 
     remembered as a rare moment when Obama worked around the 
     opposition in Congress to implement one of his top goals.

  Politico:

       If finalized next year and put into place, it would be one 
     of Obama's largest legacy achievements.

  The New York Times:

       It would be the strongest action ever taken by an American 
     President to tackle climate change, and become one of the 
     defining elements of Mr. Obama's legacy.

  Mr. Speaker, you may be asking, Congressman Woodall, for Pete's sake, 
you are talking about this being a major legacy issue. From Reuters: An 
important part of the legacy. From USA Today: Remembered as a rare 
moment of success. From the Chicago Tribune and Politico: Largest 
legacy achievement in Obama's administration. So you may be asking, Mr. 
Speaker, so where is the legislation on Capitol Hill?
  The largest legacy achievement in the Obama administration, and this 
is the administration that brought you ObamaCare, this is the 
administration that brought you a complete re-regulation of the 
financial services industry. This administration that brought you all 
of these sweeping changes, the media says this next proposed change may 
be the largest yet, and there is not a single piece of legislation 
moving across this body to implement it because the President says, 
even though this is the biggest initiative of his career, even though 
this is the biggest change ever proposed, he does not need the approval 
of Congress to do it. He is going to do it on his own.
  Mr. Speaker, that is frightening. It is frightening. And the only way 
that he is allowed to do these things is if we can't work together in 
Congress to stop him. It seems to have become the pattern in my adult 
lifetime that Republican Congresses protect Republican Presidents and 
Democratic Congresses protect Democratic Presidents, instead of article 
I, protecting the powers of the people, while article II tries to 
implement those authorities.
  Again, the President is not confused about what is happening here, 
Mr. Speaker. This is from the White House's Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology just last month, regarding a 30 percent 
reduction in carbon emissions. He says:

       Clearly the President regards this as part of his legacy to 
     really turn the country around on climate change, and he aims 
     to get that done.

  I want you to think about this, again, Mr. Speaker. The biggest 
initiative of the President's administration, his Director of the 
Office of Science and Technology says that the President aims to get 
this done. It has been covered by every media outlet in America, and 
there is not one piece of legislation on this floor to implement that 
because the President believes that the right way to do it is without 
winning the hearts and minds of the people, without winning the hearts 
and minds of Congress, but just doing it and letting the chips fall 
where they may. He has tried that over and over and over again. It is a 
pattern in this administration, a pattern that the Supreme Court 
unanimously finds unconstitutional.
  I want to take you to part of that Supreme Court decision, Mr. 
Speaker. From page 40 of that decision:

       The recess appointments clause is not designed to overcome 
     serious institutional friction, it simply provides a 
     subsidiary method for approving officials when the Senate is 
     away during a recess.

  Here is another context:

       Friction between the branches is an inevitable consequence 
     of our constitutional structure.

  Hear this, Mr. Speaker: the President has announced the largest 
environmental initiative of his agenda, arguably the largest initiative 
of his entire Presidency, and he says I don't care what Congress says, 
I am going to do it by myself. This in the same month when the Supreme 
Court unanimously says, Mr. President, friction? Friction is not only 
natural in Congress and the White House, it is anticipated by the 
Constitution. And no, you cannot use your phone and your pen to avoid 
friction. We must work together. We must come together on an idea. We 
cannot operate independently.
  The recess appointments clause is not designed to overcome 
institutional friction. Friction between the branches is an inevitable 
consequence of our constitutional structure.

                              {time}  1300

  Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of shots I hear from this very same well 
where I gave a very similar speech almost 2 years ago where we talked 
about these very same issues as the President embarked on those 
original actions that led to this Noel Canning decision today. Mr. 
Speaker, those words went unheeded. Those words went unheeded.
  The American people want to trust their President. The American 
people want to believe in their President. I want to trust my 
President. I want to believe in my President. But we cannot--we 
cannot--sacrifice constitutional principles in the name of expediency 
so that any one person can pursue their agenda. Working together has 
always been essential in the fabric of this Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 years from now, we cannot wake up as we did 2 years 
from the day that I gave this speech, where we knew the Constitution 
was at risk, where we knew rather than winning the hearts and minds of 
the American people in the Congress the President just did it his own 
way, where we knew that there was a better pathway forward but so many 
in this Chamber said nothing. So many across the hall in the Capitol in 
the United States Senate, Mr. Speaker, said nothing. So many, in the 
name of supporting their party, were complicit in undermining their 
Constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, today is a day that we can reset that clock. We are in 
the midst of a major policy initiative, this 30 percent reduction in 
carbon, that the President owes it to all of us to go out and win the 
hearts and minds of the people, win the commitment of Congress to make 
that the law of the land.
  George Washington: avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one 
department to encroach upon another. The very fabric of the 
Constitution, the very fabric of the beginning of our country, Mr. 
Speaker, who we are as a people necessitates friction between the 
branches and cooperation to wield the people's power.
  The President said he was doing the right thing for the right reasons 
2\1/2\ years ago, Mr. Speaker, when he made those recess appointments. 
The appellate court of the United States of America said: You are doing 
the wrong things; they are unconstitutional. The President said: I 
don't believe you; take it to the Supreme Court. I have got friends 
there. The Supreme Court said, 9-0: You are violating the Constitution 
when you use your phone and your pen to get this work done instead of 
seeking the approval of Congress.
  We can throw our hands up, Mr. Speaker, and say the ends justify the 
means. We can say it is just too hard to

[[Page H5810]]

work together; we might as well just do our own thing. George 
Washington cautioned us in his farewell address that that would be 
where human nature would lead us, but this is an institution that is 
full of conscientious men and women who took an oath to serve their 
constituency and to serve this Nation and to serve this Constitution.
  We have an opportunity today, Mr. Speaker, not a partisan 
opportunity, not a House or Senate opportunity, but an opportunity 
given to us by the Supreme Court of the United States, to reset the 
clock on this relationship. For those of us who have always known these 
actions were unconstitutional, I confess it is a bit of a validation. 
For those who might have been defending this dictatorial action as 
something that was perhaps permitted in some small way under this 
Constitution, they now have the certainty that they need. Not a 5-4 
majority, not a 4-4-1 plurality, but a 9-0 unanimous decision that if 
we are to move forward in this country, we are to move forward 
together, with article I, Congress passing the law, and article II, the 
White House enforcing the law.
  We can do this, Mr. Speaker, and we owe it to the American people to 
do exactly that.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________