[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 STOP THE FRENZY OF MOTIONS OF CENSURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Himes) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, it was in this Chamber on January 6, 2021, 
that I came to realize relatively late in life how fragile our 
democracy is. I realize that the words of the Constitution, to which we 
all pledge an oath, are important, and so are the concepts underlying 
those words, the concepts of a peaceful transition of power, the 
concept of the separation of church and state, and the concept of 
freedom of expression.
  These are concepts that are hundreds of years older than the 
Constitution, but they are critical to our democracy, which I think we 
would all agree is currently a bit fragile.
  For this reason, I am profoundly disturbed that this House has gotten 
into a frenzy of censure resolutions to censure the speech of Members 
of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the second clause of the First Amendment to our 
Constitution that says that Congress shall make no law abridging the 
freedom of speech. Our Founders protected us, in particular, with 
another clause in the Constitution, the Speech and Debate Clause. 
Article I, Section 6, says that we will be protected: ``For any speech 
or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned.''
  Our Founders decided that we would not be sanctioned for the things 
that we say, yet there are at least four resolutions before this 
House--one from Ms. Jacobs, one from Ms. Greene, one from Ms. Balint, 
one from Mr. McCormick--seeking an official censure of Members of 
Congress for the things that they have said.
  Mr. Speaker, this is what I mean by the erosion of the foundational 
principles on which our democracy exists.
  I don't much like any of the speech that the Members who are accused 
of foul speech have engaged in, but the test of our commitment to 
freedom of expression is not how hard we fight in a moment for the 
rights of those that we agree with. The test is whether we are willing 
to stand up for freedom of expression for somebody with whom we don't 
agree.
  To my Republican friends, I would say they have quite rightly, in 
many instances, objected to the cancel culture, which is too rampant in 
our universities and elsewhere. Why now? Why in this institution?
  To my Democratic friends, I would remind them that every progressive, 
going back to Galileo right up through Cesar Chavez to Martin Luther 
King, has been tolled and tortured and sanctioned for their expression.
  It is time for this to stop in this Chamber. It is time for us to 
stop trying to punish each other for the things that we say, no matter 
how abhorrent.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that we are more than just Representatives. If 
we were just Representatives, we would go back to our constituents and 
bring their ideas here. We are stewards of this institution, which is 
why we take an oath to the Constitution.
  If you take seriously your role as a steward of this institution, 
vote to table every one of these obnoxious motions to censure. If they 
do come up and aren't tabled, vote against them. The freedom of 
expression upon which this institution is built demands nothing less.

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