[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 52 (Wednesday, March 22, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1303-H1304]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PEOPLE OVER POLITICS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lieu) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LIEU. Mr. Speaker, last term, when Democrats were in control, we 
put people over politics and passed a bipartisan infrastructure law to 
rebuild your roads, bridges, and highways; to take lead out of water 
pipes; and to put broadband internet everywhere, from rural areas to 
cities, suburbs, and everywhere in between.
  This year, when Republicans took control of the House, what did they 
do? They spent the enormous resources of their committee staff and the 
time and attention of their Members to hold not one but two hearings 
complaining about Twitter. They also took turns reading the United 
States Constitution on the House floor.
  How does that help you, the American people? It doesn't. But it is 
worse than that.
  Republicans are actually trying now to pass extreme bills that are 
going to actively harm American families. This week, we are going to 
vote on a bill that is going to make it easier for books to be banned 
at schools. It is also going to violate the privacy rights of students. 
If your child, unfortunately, has an eating disorder or is cyberbullied 
or is harassed or bullied, that information is going to have to be 
posted on a public website that the school has. Every other student and 
every parent is going to know that this is happening at the school. 
That is an outrageous violation of privacy.

  Let me tell you about the amendments that Republicans rejected when 
Democrats tried to make this extreme bill better. Here are some 
amendments the Republicans rejected.

[[Page H1304]]

  Republicans voted no on an amendment to remove lead pipes from 
schools.
  Republicans voted no on an amendment to ensure kids had access to 
healthy meals.
  Republicans voted no on an amendment to help keep firearms out of 
schools.
  Republicans voted no on an amendment to prevent schools from 
monitoring students' menstrual cycles.
  Republicans also voted no on an amendment to prevent the censorship 
of the teaching of the Holocaust.
  This extreme bill is going to do horrible things to students' 
privacy, and it is going to increase books that are banned at schools.
  In addition to doing stupid stuff and trying to pass extreme bills, 
Republicans have now gone on a rampage about what the Manhattan 
district attorney is doing without even knowing what the purported 
charges are or what the grand jury evidence is.
  What if the evidence is overwhelming? What if it is rock solid that 
an American by the name of Donald Trump committed crimes? How do 
Republicans know? They don't.
  Do you know what else they cannot explain? When Trump's former 
attorney, Michael Cohen, was arrested, indicted, convicted, and went to 
prison for participating in an illegal hush money payment scheme to 
Stormy Daniels, not a single Republican leader complaining now said a 
thing about what happened to Michael Cohen.
  They cannot explain why they are holding Donald Trump to a different 
standard. Michael Cohen served prison time for participating in an 
illegal hush money payment scheme to Stormy Daniels.
  In America, we should apply the same standard to all Americans. No 
one is above the law--not the former President's enablers, not the 
former President's attorneys, and not the former President himself.
  Let's let law enforcement do their work. Let's let the judicial 
process do its work. Let's wait to see if there are going to be any 
charges, what those charges may be, and what the evidence is.
  A jury or judge will get to hear this evidence, and the American 
people will see it. The prosecution will have to show beyond a 
reasonable doubt what their evidence is.
  Let me conclude with this: Every American, including Donald Trump, is 
entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law, and that 
presumption will also be applied.
  Let's apply the law equally, the way our Founders wanted it to be 
done.

                          ____________________