[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 17, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            RECENT RHETORIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, in bizarre Washington news of the last week, 
the raging controversy is whether the President of the United States 
referred to other countries and a continent as s---holes or s---houses. 
As if either word means a drop of difference, especially when you 
insult other nations in the world as our President did.
  Equally worrisome is that the leadership of this branch of 
government, the U.S. House of Representatives, a coequal branch of 
government, has been complicit or silent about how to respond to the 
comments made by our President. In fact, Speaker Paul Ryan took 19 
hours and 53 minutes to respond.
  And with all of that time, enough time to have driven from 
Washington, D.C., to Dallas, Texas, or to watch the movie ``Jaws'' nine 
times, what was his stinging and necessary rebuke after that much time 
and thought? ``Unfortunate.'' The Speaker said the President's comments 
were unfortunate and unhelpful.
  Look, it is unfortunate when you walk outside and step in a puddle of 
water. This was more like walking into a global-sized pile of S.
  We are not on the staff of the White House. We are a coequal branch 
of government, and it is about time we acted like it. Saying nothing, 
or basically nothing, is unacceptable. We need to put our country 
before our political party.
  Calling other countries, and even a continent, names like s---holes 
or s---houses puts our servicemembers and our Americans overseas at 
greater risk. Weak words or silence makes Congress complicit with the 
President's racist rhetoric.
  And, by the way, people outside the beltway just think Congress is 
full of S. Everyone else had the proper response to the President's 
comments, that they were pure BS.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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