[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 195 (Tuesday, December 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H10033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ABOLISHING BIGOTRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, once again, I rise to stand in 
the well of the House of Representatives. As a proud American, it is 
always an honor to stand in the well of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak truth to power as well as speak 
truth about power. The power that I desire to speak truth to is the 
Speaker of the House, and I want to say something about the Speaker of 
the House.
  Today, I acknowledge the Speaker's righteousness when he made a 
decision--I am not sure that it is one that he contemplated with any 
degree of time--but at some point, there was a decision made to allow 
Articles of Impeachment that I filed to move forward, such that there 
could at least be a vote to table it or not. He did not interfere with 
the process. He did not try to change the rules so that there would be 
no opportunity for a Member to move impeachment forward, to the extent 
that we did.
  I am proud of Speaker Ryan for doing this because, as a result, I 
hold in my hand what I call the historic 58. Fifty-eight Members of 
Congress, some of whom were ranking members of full committees, voted 
to allow this process to move forward. On a second occasion, 66 
Members, the historic 66, voted to allow the process to move forward.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ryan did not try to circumvent the process. For 
this, I say that I am grateful. I respect him for not trying to 
circumvent the process. Mr. Speaker, had he tried to circumvent it, I 
probably would be standing here saying some words that would not be 
similar in any way to what I am saying currently.
  I am mentioning this because there is a question that has been put to 
me by many members of the press as to whether or not we will move 
forward again with impeachment. I am here to say without question, 
reservation, or hesitation that we should not allow ourselves to get 
back to bigotry as usual. There seems to be a desire to avoid the 
question of bigotry emanating from the Presidency. There seems to be a 
desire to move on to something else; let's find another way to deal 
with the problem.
  But that is not what the people who suffer from the bigotry have to 
endure, just the conversations. They have to deal with the actual 
bigotry, the actual ugliness that is being fostered across the length 
and breadth of this country as a result of the bigotry. There are 
people who are suffering.
  The culture is changing. Bigotry is real, and people have to deal 
with it. Because they do, I don't think we should allow bigotry to go 
unnoticed as it emanates from the Presidency. Because I don't think so, 
I will make an announcement sometime next week, more than likely, as to 
whether or not we will have additional Articles of Impeachment brought 
before the House.
  I have never interfered with the Mueller investigation; I don't 
intend to interfere with it. But I just believe that we ought not allow 
bigotry to go unnoticed. We ought not try to get to a point in this 
country where we will allow bigotry to be nothing more than a talking 
point. It ought to be an action item.
  The greatest place to ascertain whether it is an action item is how 
we as Members of Congress not only talk about it, but how we vote when 
the issue is given an opportunity to be voted upon.
  Mr. Speaker, I assure you that I will make an announcement sometime 
in the near future as to whether or not there will be another vote on 
bigotry emanating from the Presidency. I also, again, thank you for not 
circumventing the process. Republicans had a majority, and you could 
have done it without a single Democratic vote. You respected the right 
of individual Members. It is the right of the individual that you have 
protected under your leadership. I pray that protection will continue.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President

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