[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H7063-H7064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              STILL I RISE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Torres of New York). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, still I rise. And I rise today to 
address the unfortunate circumstances that took the lives of 19 
children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas, at Robb Elementary School.
  I rise to address this because the families are still suffering. 
Children did not return home from school. This should never happen in 
our country.
  I will never forget the baby, the child who indicated that she took 
the blood from a friend who was lying on the floor, and she took that 
blood, and she put it on her body and on her face so that the gunman 
wouldn't shoot her. She will have to live with this for the rest of her 
life.
  I rise because there have been many conflicting stories about what 
happened. Almost daily there was a different story, a different 
narrative. And at some point, the families deserve the truth about what 
happened in Uvalde, what happened at Robb Elementary School.
  They deserve the truth.
  And they deserve the truth because the pain and suffering may not 
immediately leave them, but it will give them some hope that one day 
they will be able to wake up one morning and be relieved of some of the 
pain and suffering that they are enduring currently.
  And to get to this truth, which some persons have tried to crush to 
earth, of course, we know that William Cullen Bryant is right: ``Truth, 
crushed to earth, shall rise again.''
  They tried to crush the truth to earth, and they used--someone did--
the Governor of the State of Texas because, wittingly or unwittingly, 
the Governor of the State of Texas laid a foundation for a coverup.
  Some things bear repeating. Wittingly or unwittingly, the Governor of 
the State of Texas laid the foundation for a coverup. For, you see, the 
Governor took to the stage shortly after the shooting, perhaps a day 
later, he took to the stage, and he had with him persons with great 
credibility.
  He had with him the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Texas, two 
U.S. Senators from the State of Texas; he had with him a State 
Representative and a State senator; with them, the Director of the 
Texas Department of Public Safety, all on the stage with the Governor.
  With them, the Chief Patrol Agent for the Del Rio sector of the U.S. 
Border Patrol. He had with him the Uvalde mayor, the Uvalde County 
Judge, the chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School 
District, the Superintendent for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent 
School District, and the Commissioner for the Texas Education Agency, 
all on the stage with the Governor.
  While on the stage with the Governor, and in their presence, the 
Governor made the following statement--I had my staff give me the 
statement. I want to read the statement that the Governor made because 
the Governor, whether wittingly or unwittingly, laid the foundation for 
a coverup.
  Here is what the Governor said: ``The reality is, as horrible as what 
happened, it could have been worse.
  ``The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials 
did what they do.''
  They did what they do. This is the Governor speaking. And he goes on 
to say: ``They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the 
singular purpose of trying to save lives.''
  And these are the Governor's words.
  ``And it is a fact that because of their quick response, getting on 
the scene of being able to respond to the gunman, and eliminating the 
gunman, they were able to save lives.''
  Well, Governor, you and I know that it is not a fact that this 
occurred, as you articulated. And we know, not because some righteous 
person came forward to share the truth; not because there was an 
investigation and as a result of the investigation truths crushed to 
earth are now alive again.
  No, it is because a news source released a video. It was a George 
Floyd moment. But for the video, there probably would not have been a 
successful prosecution in the George Floyd case.
  It was an Edmund Pettus Bridge moment. But for--at that time, the 
tape, I suppose--the actual showing of what happened at the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge, on Bloody Sunday, I wouldn't be in Congress.
  The video spoke truth to power. When power was attempting to cover up 
the truth, the video spoke truth. The video is available for the world 
to see.
  And upon seeing this video, the Governor indicated that he was 
misled, deceived, if you will. That is what the Governor says.
  Well, before we go on, I think it is important for us to expose the 
definition of coverup, because there are many persons who have their 
own definition. But I like the one that Oxford gives. This is the 
Oxford definition. The Oxford definition of coverup. Coverup per 
Oxford: An attempt to prevent people's discovering the truth about a 
serious mistake, a serious mistake, or a crime.
  You can have a coverup and not have a crime. You can have a coverup, 
and there is only an attempt, an attempt to prevent the discovery.
  So our discovering by way of the video does not eviscerate the fact 
that a coverup was taking place. They were trying to hide the truth. 
They were engaging in insidious prevarication.
  `` . . . because Carlyle is right, `No lie can live forever.' ''
  ``Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again,'' William Cullen Bryant.
  The video is the truth. And now, Governor, you have a duty, 
responsibility, and an obligation to the people of the State of Texas 
and to those babies who lost their lives, you have got a responsibility 
to come forward and tell us who told you that all of these heroic 
actions took place. The people need to know, but those parents need to 
know because of their suffering.
  Who was it that was trying to cover up the truth? You know who the 
person is, Governor. You have the responsibility to bring it to the 
attention of the public.
  And if that person received that intelligence, or lack of 
intelligence, flawed information, fallacious commentary, if that person 
received it from another person, then we need to know who that person 
is. And we need to know until we get to the person who initiated this 
fabrication, this prevarication. We need to know who initiated it.
  Who was the genesis of the coverup? That is the Governor's 
responsibility.
  You need to do this, Governor, and you need to do it immediately, if 
not sooner. You need to do it because you are the Chief Executive 
Officer of the State of Texas. You are the person who can assemble all 
of these high-profile persons.
  You are the person who gave credibility to the insidious 
prevarication. You are the person, Governor. All of these high-profile 
people were there because you were there. That was your call.
  All of your credibility is on the line now. You need to expose the 
person who brought this fabrication to you such that you would then 
present it to the world.
  And I say to the public at large, and anybody who is listening, my 
dear friends and colleagues, I say to you, it has to be somebody the 
Governor trusts.

                              {time}  1345

  It has to be somebody that he believes in. It has to be somebody that 
he was willing to accept that person's word and go on national TV and 
repeat, echo, what that person told him.
  Governor, you have got to do it. You have got to expose the person 
who brought this to you, and it has to be, in my opinion, somebody that 
you trust. Somebody that you believe would vet the information before 
sharing it with you. Somebody that has been with you. Somebody that you 
have confidence in.
  It is not somebody that just walked off the street. It is not 
somebody that you just happened to meet as you were coming to the press 
conference. No, Governor. It is somebody that you know and trust, and 
you've got to expose that person.
  That person doesn't deserve to be secreted. That is not something 
that we would accord a person who would present such a prevarication. 
You have got to reveal the name of that person.
  If there is a person that told this person that you are secreting so 
far or you

[[Page H7064]]

are not telling us about, then we need to know who that was. We have 
got to get back to the source, the genesis, of this misinformation that 
you claim you received.
  Governor, I will give you this admonition. If you do not go back to 
the genesis, at some point, Governor, the eye of suspicion will be on 
you. At some point, Governor, this will no longer be a question of who 
told you. At some point, this will become a question of why did you do 
this? Why did you do this to these families?
  Why would you further a prevarication that would cause them to 
embrace the people who behaved in a pusillanimous fashion; timid, 
cowardly. Why would you want them to embrace them as heroes?
  I support law enforcement. My uncle was a deputy sheriff. I am in 
Congress because of my uncle. One day he told me I was going to be a 
lawyer, and I believed him. I went on the rest of my life trying to 
become a lawyer because my uncle said it was such that I would do.
  Well, I support law enforcement, but I don't support what happened 
that I saw on that video. You can be opposed and antithetical to what 
happened on the video and not be antithetical to law enforcement. That 
is just a fact.
  You don't have to be antithetical to every law enforcement officer 
because you see something that you find distasteful on the video, that 
is disdainful. No.
  I support law enforcement, but I will never support what I saw on 
that video, and those babies deserve justice, Governor. So it is up to 
you, Governor. It is up to you now to do that which righteousness 
requires. Righteousness.
  I am also saddened because the officers who appeared, they were in 
body armor. Some of them; not all, but some of them. They had shields; 
not all, but some of them. They had long guns; not all, but some of 
them.
  It has been reported that more than 300 officers appeared--300. Long 
guns, short guns, body armor, shields, helmets.
  In Texas, there are those who want a teacher with a pistol to do what 
more than 300 persons armed with long guns, protected by body armor, 
some with shields, what they could not do or did not do within an hour.
  More than 70 minutes lapsed before the gunman was taken out, but we 
expect a teacher in the State of Texas to be prepared to take out a 
gunman with an AR-15-type weapon.
  This is a level of inanity that borders on insanity, something that 
is totally unacceptable among people of good will. Teachers ought to be 
allowed to teach. Let teachers teach.
  We train the constabulary to deal with these kinds of issues, the 
police, the Department of Public Safety officers, the Texas Rangers. 
They get paid to deal with these issues. Let teachers teach.
  Let's secure schools. Let's make sure every school has locks that 
lock--locks that lock--doors that shut, and that there is a culture in 
the school that prohibits the use of emergency exits for routine visits 
to your automobile or some other place outside of the school. That 
would be important for the protection of life.
  But there is something else that could have been done, because, 
Governor, those babies shouldn't have lost their lives. There is 
something that you and I and other persons who hold public trust, who 
can pass laws, could have done to save the lives of those babies.
  Governor, 18-year-olds should not be able to purchase weapons of war. 
Weapons of war belong in Ukraine, not Uvalde.
  Babies shouldn't die in school because someone has a weapon of war. 
He should not have been able to purchase that long gun, that weapon of 
war. If he had not been able to purchase it, they wouldn't have died at 
the hands of a person with a weapon of war. So I say to you: They 
shouldn't have died as a result of that long gun, that weapon of war.
  But there is a way for you to vindicate yourself. Here is how you can 
vindicate yourself, Governor. You have the authority, the awesome 
power. By virtue of the office you hold, you have the power to call a 
special session of the State legislature in the State of Texas.
  When you call that special session, Governor, you have the power, the 
awesome power, to have on the agenda legislation that will prohibit the 
sale of an AR-15-style weapon, a long gun, to an 18-year-old in the 
State of Texas. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't have happened.
  We can prevent it from happening again, but it takes will more than 
way. The way is there. We have the power. Do we have the will is the 
question.
  I haven't seen the will. There ought to be the will because we have 
seen this circumstance before. This is not the first time. We have seen 
it in the Tops grocery store; 10 people murdered. Walmart store, people 
murdered. We have the power.
  At some point, the American public, which believes that there should 
not be long guns of this type in the hands of persons who are under 21, 
at some point, the American public is going to turn on somebody, and I 
don't mean in a violent way--I mean at the polls on election day. The 
American public is going to announce its position at some point. At 
some point, some persons are going to find themselves making an early 
exit, if you will.

  So I am going to ask that we cease and desist with this fabrication 
or belief that there is nothing we can do, that the Constitution 
doesn't allow it. Yes, it does.
  The Constitution doesn't say you can't have some regulations. The 
Constitution doesn't say you can have a bazooka. You can't have a 
switchblade drone; you can't have a predator. And if you are under 21, 
you ought not be able to have a weapon of war.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm going to close with this commentary. It is not 
enough for things to be right. They must also look right.
  While it may be right for the Governor to have had a press conference 
with all of these outstanding personalities with great credibility, it 
may have been right. It may have been right for the Governor to receive 
what he perceives at the time to be credible information and find out 
later that it is not credible and to just ignore this. I don't say that 
it is, but maybe it is right.
  But it is not enough for things to be right, they must also look 
right; and it doesn't look right for the Governor to know who gave him 
this insidious prevarication and to secret the name of the person.
  It is not enough for things to be right, they must also look right; 
this does not look right.
  Because I believe it isn't right, I am calling on the Governor to act 
expeditiously, reveal the name of the person, and to do so with the 
understanding that if this person is under your command, under your 
office, then there has to be some sanctions imposed.
  Mr. Speaker, the babies and the people of the State of Texas deserve 
no less.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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