[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A DEVOLUTION IS TAKING PLACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise and stand in the 
well of the Congress of the United States of America to address the 
question of the State of the Union.
  What is the State of the Union?
  Mr. Speaker, the State of the Union is one of devolution. We are 
devolving into the normalization of inequality; inequality in a way 
that allows us to pass a $1.5 trillion giveaway that will reward the 
rich for being rich and punish the poor for being poor.
  We are devolving into hyperpartisan political events by the hijacking 
of a Supreme Court Justice when Justice Gorsuch was appointed to the 
Supreme Court.
  We are evolving and devolving into the hijacking of justice itself 
because we now find that there are those who believe that there is a 
deep-state conspiracy within the Justice Department; that somehow there 
is this belief that the Justice Department should be assaulted and 
attacked; that it should be demeaned; that it should be discredited.
  We are devolving into, Mr. Speaker, the normalization of 
disqualifying bigotry, as evidenced by some of the statements that have 
come from the Presidency; statements that would normalize language such 
as: there are some ``fine people'' among those who are bigots, racists, 
and persons perpetrating hate in Charlottesville, as evidenced by the 
notion that we can allow people to say ugly things about other 
countries and, in a sense, develop a race-based immigration policy.
  Mr. Speaker, we are devolving into a society that recognizes a rising 
stock market as the acid test for everything when, in fact, it is only 
proof that some people are doing better while many others are not.
  There is a devolution taking place, and I, Mr. Speaker, contend that 
there is a solution to this devolution. The solution is the impeachment 
of an unfit President.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

                          ____________________