[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5872-H5873]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEFENDING MOTION TO RECOMMIT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Budd) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm that House
Democrats are considering a rule change that would severely limit the
rights of the minority party in the House for years to come.
I am referring to the partisan push to water down or to eliminate the
motion to recommit.
Mr. Speaker, the MTR, as it is called, is a critical procedural tool
that gives the minority party one last opportunity to improve
legislation before a final vote on this House floor. An MTR not only
increases transparency between Members of Congress and their
constituents, but it holds Members accountable and forces them to go on
record for viewpoints that they hold.
Weakening the MTR would only serve to shield Members from criticism,
suffocate debate on key policy issues, and overturn longstanding House
precedent. It would be a blatant power grab by the majority Democrat
Party.
That is why my colleagues and I will be appealing to the Rules
Committee this week in writing, demanding that the MTR be preserved.
Confronting Voter Fraud
Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, for the past 2 weeks, I have heard from an
overwhelming number of my constituents, and they do not have confidence
in the integrity of November's election.
They are outraged that media pundits and establishment Democrat
politicians are sneering at the very concept of taking the time to
ensure that every legal vote is counted and that every illegal vote is
thrown out.
Every citizen has a right to seek justice in a court of law, and that
includes the President of the United States. His legal team needs to be
given the time to collect and present evidence of voting and tabulation
irregularities.
Until the courts have played their constitutional role, we should be
wary of declaring winners and losers.
Look, if we could spend 2 years investigating conspiracy theories
about Russian collusion, we should be able to take a few weeks to
confirm the integrity of this election.
I am glad that Attorney General Bill Barr authorized the Department
of Justice to investigate any and all allegations of illegal activity.
He took this necessary step after 38 of my House colleagues and I
requested that the Department leave no stone unturned in this effort.
We will also be introducing legislation this very week that will
require the DOJ to create a national strategy to identify and combat
voter intimidation, fraud, ballot system glitches, sabotage, and
hacking.
Mr. Speaker, voting is the most sacred civic duty in our Nation. In
an election for our Nation's highest office, involving unprecedented
levels of mail-in voting, we must take the time to ensure that every
legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is not counted.
Nothing is more important than the integrity of our ballots.
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