[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5494-H5503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of
the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 845
Whereas Israel has existed on its lands for millennia and
the United States played a critical role in returning Israel
to those lands in 1948 immediately following the Holocaust in
recognition of its right to exist and as an indelible signal
of our solidarity with the Jewish people;
Whereas Israel is a critical ally to the American people
and to our strategic national security interests in the
Middle East;
Whereas the people of Israel--including American citizens--
were brutally attacked on October 7, 2023, by Hamas;
Whereas Representative Rashida Tlaib, within 24 hours of
the October 7 barbaric attack on Jewish citizens of the State
of Israel, representing the deadliest day for Jews since the
Holocaust, defended the brutal rapes, murders, be-headings,
and kidnapping--including of Americans--by Hamas as justified
``resistance'' to the ``apartheid state'';
Whereas Representative Tlaib's October 8 statement claimed
that Hamas' October 7 attack on the Jewish people was partly
attributable to United States security aid provided to
Israel, which ignores the fact that the Iron Dome, a co-
developed air defense system, saved lives that day by
intercepting rockets launched from the Gaza Strip against
Israeli civilian targets;
Whereas, on October 18, 2023, Representative Tlaib
continued to knowingly spread the false narrative that Israel
intentionally bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17
after United States intelligence, Israeli intelligence, and
President Biden assessed with high confidence that Israel did
not cause the explosion;
Whereas, on November 3, 2023, Representative Tlaib
published on social media a video containing the phrase
``from the river to the sea'', which is widely recognized as
a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel
and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state
extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas Representative Tlaib doubled down on this call to
violence by falsely describing ``from the river to the sea''
as ``an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and
peaceful coexistence'' despite it clearly entailing Israel's
destruction and denial of its fundamental right to exist; and
Whereas Representative Tlaib has repeatedly displayed
conduct entirely unbecoming of a Member of the House of
Representatives by calling for the destruction of the state
of Israel and dangerously promoting false narratives
regarding a brutal, large-scale terrorist attack against
civilian targets inside the sovereign territory of a major
non-NATO ally while hundreds of Israeli and American hostages
remain in terrorist captivity: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That Representative Rashida Tlaib be censured.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.
{time} 1430
Motion to Table
Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Ms. Clark of Massachusetts moves to lay the resolution on
the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas
and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 208,
nays 213, answered ``present'' 1, not voting 11, as follows:
[Roll No. 608]
YEAS--208
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Auchincloss
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Buck
Budzinski
Bush
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Duarte
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Mike
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, Vicente
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
[[Page H5495]]
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Landsman
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Magaziner
Manning
Massie
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McClintock
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Peltola
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Williams (GA)
Zinke
NAYS--213
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burchett
Burgess
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crane
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garbarino
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lawler
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luna
Luttrell
Mace
Malliotakis
Mann
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClain
McCormick
McHenry
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Salazar
Santos
Scalise
Schneider
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1
Wild
NOT VOTING--11
Banks
Blumenauer
D'Esposito
Jackson Lee
Keating
Larsen (WA)
Pelosi
Phillips
Swalwell
Webster (FL)
Wilson (FL)
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes
remaining.
{time} 1437
So the motion to table was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
{time} 1445
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. DesJarlais). Pursuant to clause 2 of
rule IX, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. McCormick) and the gentleman
from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, Representative Tlaib has repeatedly made
atrocious statements against our ally Israel and in support of Hamas, a
terrorist group responsible for the largest massacre of Jews since the
Holocaust.
Represent Tlaib has levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest
ally, Israel, and the attack on October 7. Recently, she even falsely
blamed them for bombing the Al Ahli Arab hospital, but all of our
current intelligence shows that Israel was not responsible.
As stated in my resolution on November 3, Representative Tlaib said:
``From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human
rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My
work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all
people no matter faith or ethnicity.''
Mr. Speaker, let me break down the saying, ``From the river to the
sea.'' The river is the Jordan River, and the sea is the Mediterranean
Sea. This is a call for the complete destruction of Israel. It is
disgusting when it is used in this context that was meant.
Representative Tlaib boycotted Israeli President Herzog's address to
Congress, releasing a joint statement with Representative Bush that
said: ``Bestowing President Herzog with the rare honor of a joint
address to Congress while the Israeli apartheid government continues to
enable and directly support racism and brutal settler attacks is a slap
in the face to victims, survivors, and their loved ones. . . .''
This kind of hatred against our ally Israel is unacceptable. Israel
has a right to exist. For thousands of years, the Jewish people resided
in that land and, after being displaced for centuries, returned in 1948
after the Holocaust.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen the effects of the reprehensible rhetoric
of Representative Tlaib across the Nation. At schools and colleges
around the country, Jewish students have been forced to be on alert as
their anti-Semitic peers have engaged in disgusting demonstrations,
chanting anti-Semitic slogans.
At The Cooper Union, a private college in New York, Jewish students
were forced to hide from pro-Hamas protesters in a library where they
feared for their safety.
At George Washington University, just about a half mile from this
building, students broadcast ``Glory to our martyrs,'' and ``Free
Palestine from the river to the sea,'' on the side of a campus
building.
Further, yesterday, in Ventura County, California, Paul Kessler, a
Jewish man protesting for Israel, was killed in an altercation with
pro-Palestinian protesters.
These anti-Semitic incidents are happening right now in America in
2023. Quite frankly, in my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything
like it.
The same Nation that defeated Nazism in World War II must now defeat
an internal rot promoting the same senseless violence and hatred of
Jewish people.
It is a sad fact, but this type of anti-Semitic hate is being
promoted by a small group of Members in this body--chiefly,
Representative Tlaib. We must hold her accountable.
This war in Israel is affecting everyone, whether it is innocent
Palestinians at risk because of Hamas' actions; or our fellow Jewish
Americans, who now have to worry each day about the possibility of an
anti-Semitic attack; or Sergeant Elisheva Rose Ida Lubin, a young
Jewish woman who was a member of the Israeli Border Police and grew up
in Dunwoody, Georgia, and was killed by a Palestinian assailant.
For the safety and security of our Nation, we must continue to
support Israel, a nation fighting for democracy, decency, and Western
values.
Representative Tlaib has undermined U.S. interests with her
statements and must be censured.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I have images of three politicians in my office: Abraham
Lincoln, Robert F. Kennedy, and Samuel H. Bellman, who was the first
Jewish person ever elected to the Minnesota Legislature, a great
champion of civil rights and civil liberties in the Constitution and of
the creation of the
[[Page H5496]]
State of Israel, the Jewish democratic state in 1948. He was my
grandfather.
He was elected at a time of terrible anti-Semitism, not unlike today.
Minneapolis was actually called the anti-Semitism capital of America,
and my grandpa told me a story I will never forget.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Caucuses both had
their annual retreats at a country club that did not allow Jews or
Blacks to enter. My grandfather complained privately to the speaker
about the fact that he wouldn't be able to go to his own retreat. The
speaker apologized but said that it was a tradition.
So my grandfather, the only Jewish person in the chamber, spoke on
the floor about anti-Semitism. He was booed and jeered at, and members
left as he tried to speak.
When the minority leader asked me to manage our time today, I thought
about my grandfather and how he must have felt on that day. I rise here
not in spite of the fact that I am a Jewish American who supports the
Constitution and the Jewish democratic state and hates all the anti-
Semitic tyrants and terrorists of the world, from Putin in Russia and
Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia to Hezbollah in Hamas. I am here
because of these things and because of everything that I believe in and
stand for.
At this moment when democracy is under siege all over the world,
America must stand tall for the Constitution of the United States. This
resolution is about one thing and one thing only: the punishment of
speech.
We have the chance to show the world what the American Constitution
means and how we hold fast to our core principles even when we are
drawn away from them by our passions and our righteous anger.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and the very heart
of it is our First Amendment, which protects every citizen's freedom of
speech and says Congress shall make no law abridging it.
The freedom to speak includes the freedom to disagree, the right to
think radically differently from the majority about important things,
or else it is no freedom at all. It is easy to defend freedom of speech
for people when you agree with them. The test for each Member today is
whether you can defend freedom of speech for people when you most
fundamentally and vehemently disagree with them.
The First Amendment is like an apple, and everybody wants to take
just one little bite out of it--leftwing speech, rightwing speech,
sexist speech, feminist speech, homophobic speech, pro-LGBTQ speech,
anti-war speech, pro-war speech, religious speech, sacrilegious speech.
Everybody wants a bite out of the apple.
At the end of the day, after everybody has taken his or her bite, do
you know what is left? Nothing. There is nothing left.
If you want to save the apple, you have to learn to tolerate not just
the speech you love the most but the speech you hate the most.
Now, like the First Amendment, the Speech or Debate Clause embodies
this central value in the proceedings of this body. It states that
Members of Congress ``shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance
at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and
returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House,
they shall not be questioned in any other place.''
In the two-and-a-half-century history of this great Chamber, Members
have been overwhelmingly censured for their actions, not for their
speech--actions like participating in the violent assault against
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts; assaulting Representative Grinnell, of
Iowa, with a cane; selling military academy appointments; taking
bribes; engaging in mail fraud and payroll fraud; improper spending of
campaign funds; embezzling congressional money; engaging in sexual
misconduct with a House page.
Do you see the difference? It is not what they said. It is what they
did.
I can find only three categories of cases where speech is the sum and
substance of the charge, and all are exceptions that have been ratified
by the Supreme Court:
One, violent threats against other Members of this body, which the
Court has found, as recently as April, are not protected by the First
Amendment.
Two, fighting words: the use of unparliamentary or aggressively
insulting language on the House floor that constitutes a direct affront
to another Member. The Supreme Court has said that fighting words are
not protected.
Three, speech advocating or promoting treason, secession, or
insurrection, all of them outside of the First Amendment because of
numerous provisions in our Constitution condemning and opposing
insurrection.
That is it: violent threats against other Members, fighting words on
the floor, speech inciting insurrection.
The resolution offered against the gentlewoman from Michigan is all
about censuring her for her political speech and literally nothing
else. No actions, no conduct, is being alleged or punished. The entire
motion is about her speech and how much we hate it and how wrong we
think it is, and all of that is fine for all of us to express
individually on the floor, in the media, on social media.
I have said to Ms. Tlaib myself that the phrase ``from the river to
sea'' is abhorrent to me, even with her published explanation of what
she means by it, which is very different from what Hamas says about it
and how Hamas uses it, but I would never think of punishing her or
disciplining her because we disagree about that.
The resolution proposes to condemn her for quoting this objectionable
phrase in her video, a video which is indisputably protected speech
under the First Amendment.
Unlike the gentleman from New York, Mr. Santos, whose proposed
expulsion by members of the majority was rejected by a commanding
bipartisan majority last week because he has not been convicted of
either the criminal or the ethics charges outstanding against him, Ms.
Tlaib has been criminally charged with nothing. She has been civilly
sued for nothing. She has no ethics charges outstanding before the
Ethics Committee in any way.
It is easy to see why. She cannot face criminal punishment or civil
liability for her speech because, in the United States of America, we
don't punish people for their political ideas, no matter how
wrongheaded or offensive we think they are. The majority might think
they are, or it might not, but in any event, it doesn't make any
difference.
She won reelection with 71 percent of the vote in Michigan's 12th
District, and if anyone is going to punish her for her political ideas
or performance, it must be the people of her own district who sent her
here to represent them.
Mr. Speaker, the disciplinary process should never be used to punish
the political speech or viewpoints of a Member of this Chamber just
because the majority disagrees.
The punishment of political viewpoints will mean that Members will be
censured just for being in the minority rather than in the majority,
and that will come to stifle our dialogue and haunt all of our work.
For example, the good Speaker of the House, who is my friend from the
Judiciary Committee, has taken positions in the past arguing that sex
between consenting gay adults should be a crime, that the Supreme Court
was wrong to strike down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas and wrong to
give gay people the right to marry in Obergefell, a right that he said
is ``the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom
even the strongest republic.''
The vast majority of Americans reject these positions as extreme in
public opinion polls and believe all citizens should have the freedom
to pursue their own love lives and to marry.
If the House majority changes hands, should we actually censure the
former Speaker of the House for his constitutional apostasy and thought
crimes against the rights of millions of Americans? I sure hope not
because the gentleman from Louisiana is absolutely entitled to his
political and religious views, no matter how far outside the
constitutional and American mainstream they are.
Under the First Amendment, extremism is in the eye of the beholder,
but how will we resist the temptation to punish him in the future if we
set a precedent today that Members can be censured and canceled simply
for their
[[Page H5497]]
political heresies in the eyes of the majority controlling the House?
If we say the gentlewoman can be punished because her views of
history are wrong, as I heard my friend say, can we then punish Members
of this body who refuse to vote to take down in our Halls the statues
of Members of Congress from the 19th century who joined the Confederacy
and committed treason against the Union, people like John Breckinridge,
a former Vice President and U.S. Senator who was expelled from the
Senate after he defected to the Confederacy? Should we use the
disciplinary process to impose historical orthodoxy?
If anything, there is a stronger constitutional case for punishing
the 120 Members of the House who voted against taking down statues of
Confederate traitors because multiple provisions of the Constitution
explicitly forbid and punish participation in insurrection. Do Members
who voted that way want to risk being censured in the future by
establishing that divergent minority views on history are a legitimate
matter of institutional discipline?
What about the Members who defended conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
and stated that Sandy Hook and Parkland mass murderers of dozens of
schoolchildren were staged by Hollywood to generate support for gun
safety? That is not even a matter of opinion but adjudicated positive
fact, and still, the Constitution protects your right to be wrong about
facts unless you are deliberately defrauding or cheating someone out of
something like money or campaign contributions.
{time} 1500
What about all of those Members who have followed the former
President in advancing the big lie that he actually won the 2020
election? Should we convert the 60 Federal and State court decisions
rejecting claims of election fraud and corruption into discipline and
punishment of Members who still cling to that view?
What about the 11 Members of this body who lost the 405-11 vote in
2019 recognizing that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
during World War I was a genocide? Does their denial of the genocidal
character of the deaths of more than 1 million Armenians qualify them
for collective punishment today, institutional punishment?
Can we convert differing interpretations of history into the basis
for disciplinary action?
Well, perhaps you say political dissent should be uniquely punishable
when it comes to foreign policy. Of course, the First Amendment doesn't
distinguish between speech having domestic or foreign policy content.
All of it is protected. If not, every Member of this body who has voted
against aid to Ukraine and praises Vladimir Putin, as the former
President did for his ``genius'' and his ``savvy,'' or says Putin is
not our enemy, as a number of Members have, could be censured for it by
this body.
This resolution not only degrades our Constitution but cheapens the
meaning of discipline in this body for people who actually commit
wrongful actions like bribery, fraud, violent assault, and so on.
When people are punished for their political ideas and expression,
they will wear it as a badge of honor. They will fundraise on it.
Millions of dollars will flow to people who are punished that way, and
they will join the public in mocking the new speech censors of
Congress.
A secure constitutional republic, which actively protects the freedom
of dissenting speech to allow for serious debate and growth as society,
shows its strength, not its weakness.
As Thomas Jefferson, whose beautiful statue is right outside of this
room, put it: ``If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve
this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed
as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.''
Now is a moment when we will get to see who in the House of
Representatives believes in the freedom of speech, even the speech they
hate, versus those who want to impose a new political straitjacket of
cancel culture on America and Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Fine speech. You talk about setting precedents. I think there is a
precedent. You guys must have searched really high and far and long to
find the people who voted against censuring Paul Gosar or Marjorie
Taylor Greene. There is a precedent. You are right.
When you talk about freedom of speech and who protects that freedom
of speech, you are talking to a marine, and you are about to talk to a
Navy SEAL, people who would give their lives to defend the freedom of
speech. I understand that probably as well as anybody.
Let me be clear. This is not about a First Amendment issue. Rashida
Tlaib has the right to spew anti-Semitic vitriol and even call for the
destruction of the Jewish state, but the House of Representatives also
has the right to make it clear that her hate speech does not reflect
the opinion of the Chamber. That is what this resolution is about.
When you talk about ``from the river to the sea,'' we talked about
this with the Parliamentarian, and we talked about it with legal
counsel. We talked about precedent. We got the Intel Committee to make
sure the facts are straight. We did our homework on whether there is a
precedent on this.
If this is not worthy of censure, what is? When you can call for the
annihilation of a country and its people, if that is not worthy of
censure, what is?
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Van Orden).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. VAN ORDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my colleague
from Georgia's privileged resolution to censure the Congresswoman from
Minnesota.
Before I do so, I remind my dear friend from Maryland that the
Founding Fathers did not envision Twitter, but the Nuremberg War Crimes
Tribunal decided that genocide, in fact, is a felony.
One month ago today, October 7, 2023, savages from the terrorist
organization, Hamas, invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and
intentionally targeted Jewish civilians, men, women, children, and
infants, and then slaughtered them.
Jews were being killed at a level not seen since the Holocaust, and
worldwide anti-Semitism is at an all-time high. We have seen anti-
Semitic and pro-terrorist rallies at major universities across America.
This last weekend, here in our Nation's Capital, we saw over 200,000
people rallying in support of the terrorist organization, Hamas, that
committed these atrocities in Israel. They defaced our national
monuments and the White House.
Most disturbingly, in this House, the House that freed men from the
scourge that is slavery and gave women suffrage, we have a Member who
not only supports this organization, Hamas, that slaughtered these Jews
but has actively called for the eradication of the Jews as a people by
promoting the slogan ``from the river to the sea'' on social media. She
represents this as an aspirational phrase, and she is correct. It is
aspirational for those who call for the destruction of the Jewish
people.
When I retired from the SEAL teams in 2014, I vowed that I would
defend the Jewish people if any horrors like those that took place on
October 7, 2023, were to occur. Following the murder of the innocents
that took place on October 7, I fulfilled that promise by visiting
Israel.
I visited with war-wounded soldiers in medical facilities and
consulted with military and various governmental officials. I grieved
with the families who had lost their loved ones to this savagery. I
visited the kibbutzim where infants were butchered by beasts, including
one who was removed from its pregnant mother's stomach as she watched
in horror before she herself was executed.
I bore witness to these horrors that can barely be described so that
no one can ever tell me that these events did not take place. Hamas is
responsible for them and is enabled by those who parrot their slogans.
Another massacre site I visited was the Supernova music festival,
where
[[Page H5498]]
over 200 children were butchered. Their lives were ruthlessly
extinguished after many were raped, tortured, dismembered, and then
burnt.
As I was walking through the field strewn with the detritus of this
war crime, I noticed some cups, simple festival cups. I asked the
Israeli minister I was with if I could take some home to the United
States so that I would have a tangible object that could represent the
lives of those beautiful children from around the world who were
killed. I brought back enough of these cups to give to many of my
colleagues, including the one I stand here today to censure.
She and many other Members of this House need to understand that
these are human beings. They were not slogans or a flag or a chant.
They were children who will never be able to dance again, never be able
to love again. Most tragically, they will never be able to look into
the eyes of their own children they will never be able to bear.
I ask you today, Mr. Speaker, if you had the chance to stop the
Holocaust, would you?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from Wisconsin.
Mr. VAN ORDEN. Mr. Speaker, I call upon my fellow colleagues from
both parties to say yes, we would stop the Holocaust. We will not stay
silent as the 21st century holocaust unfolds before our very eyes. We
will not.
I cast my vote today to censure, to affirm our commitment to justice
and in the defense of the Israeli people.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman
from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I am the only Palestinian American serving in
Congress. My perspective is needed here now more than ever.
I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words.
Folks forget I am from the city of Detroit, the most beautiful,
Blackest city in the country, where I learned to speak truth to power,
even if my voice shakes. Trying to bully or censure me won't work
because this movement for a cease-fire is much bigger than one person.
It is growing every single day.
There are millions of people across our country who oppose
Netanyahu's extremism and are done watching our government support
collective punishment and the use of white phosphorus bombs that melt
flesh to the bone.
They are done watching our government, Mr. Speaker, supporting
cutting off food, water, electricity, and medical care to millions of
people with nowhere to go.
Like me, Mr. Speaker, they don't believe the answer to war crimes is
more war crimes.
The refusal of Congress and the administration to acknowledge
Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul. Over 10,000 Palestinians
have been killed. The majority were children.
Let me be clear: My criticism has always been of the Israeli
Government and Netanyahu's actions.
It is important to separate people and governments, Mr. Speaker. No
government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the
Government of Israel is anti-Semitic sets a very dangerous precedent,
and it is being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human
rights across our Nation.
Do you realize what it is like, Mr. Speaker, for the people outside
of the Chamber right now listening in agony to their own government
dehumanizing them, to hear the President of the United States we helped
elect dispute death tolls as we see video after video of parents and
dead children under rubble?
Mr. Speaker, do you know what it is like to feel rising hate crimes,
to know how Islamophobia and anti-Semitism make us all less safe, and
to worry that your own child might suffer the horrors that 6-year-old
Wadea did in Illinois?
I can't believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not
disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else. My sity, my
grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with
the freedom and human dignity we all deserve.
Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Speaker, no matter faith, no matter
ethnicity, should not be controversial in this Chamber. The cries of
Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I do
not understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you-
all.
We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Speaker. I hear the voices of
advocates in Israel, in Palestine, across America, and around the world
for peace. I am inspired by the courageous survivors in Israel who have
lost loved ones yet are calling for a cease-fire and the end to
violence. I am grateful to the people in the streets for the peace
movement, with countless Jewish Americans across the country standing
up and lovingly saying: ``Not in our name.''
We will continue to call for a cease-fire, Mr. Speaker, for the
immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the
release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every
American to come home. We will continue to work for real, lasting peace
that upholds human rights and the dignity of all people and centers
peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, censures no
one, and ensures that no person, no child, has to suffer or live in
fear of violence.
Seventy-one percent of Michigan Democrats support a cease-fire. You
can try to censure me, but you can't silence their voices.
I urge my colleagues to join with the majority of Americans and
support a cease-fire now to save as many lives as possible. President
Biden must listen to and represent all of us, not just some of us.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the President to have the courage to call for a
cease-fire and the end of killings.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
If this was about calling for a cease-fire, we would not have these
proceedings.
I was wrong, by the way, when I said that it must have taken a long
time to find somebody who hasn't voted for censorship from the other
side of the aisle. You didn't find it. The gentleman from the other
side of the aisle actually did vote for censorship on a First Amendment
right. I find it rather funny. We just researched it. Unless my sources
are wrong, the vast majority of the other side of the aisle actually
voted for censorship based on a First Amendment right.
I also wanted to say that my heart goes out to the Palestinian
people--it truly does--especially those people who were bombed in the
hospital, which my colleague knows wasn't from the Israelis.
{time} 1515
Yet the statement is contrary to that, even though our intel was very
clear, as was our President, very clear. That is what this debate is
about.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for the
time.
With respect to the gentleman from Maryland, I understand the
perspective with respect to free speech, and I certainly wish to always
stand aside the protection of free speech in this country, but this
goes well beyond that.
We are not talking about restraining the gentlewoman from Michigan's
ability to speak as an American citizen. We are not talking about
punishing her and putting her in jail.
What we are talking about is whether a Member of the House of
Representatives, a Member of this body representing this Nation, is
justified in putting forward a defense of the actions of Hamas
terrorists that murdered innocent Israeli citizens and are holding
United States citizens and Israelis hostage. In her own language, she
was defending on October 8--a mere 24 hours into the brutal and
barbaric attacks in which babies were beheaded, babies were placed into
ovens, literally. Moms were raped in a house while their babies were
put in an oven. This is a documented account, video evidence, and this
is dismissed as resistance to an apartheid state.
My problem is that the gentlewoman is also referring to Joe Biden
supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people. The gentlewoman has
put forward that by virtue of the United States of America funding, in
solidarity the people of Israel in defense of their right to exist,
that by virtue of our position as Americans standing in
[[Page H5499]]
front of that flag in this Chamber representing 330 million Americans,
that by funding and supporting Israel, we are somehow perpetuating the
call for violence that we saw unfold right before our eyes on October 7
in the most brutal and heinous acts that some of us have ever seen.
I do not doubt the gentlewoman's sincerity of her concern for her
home people and concerns about the attacks on the people of Gaza.
I had some people who called into question that I would put out my
public support for my former colleague, Justin Amash, who lost cousins
in a church, receiving missile fire into a building next to a church.
I genuinely pray for the people of Israel, the people of Gaza, the
people throughout the world that are now dealing with all of this.
The gentlewoman cannot, as a Member of Congress, be standing up and
telling the world that what we saw unfold in attacking Israel is
justified. We can't.
Free speech matters. I have grave concern right now about where this
institution is going with respect to censures. I voted against the
censure last week because I thought it had drafting problems and I
thought it had significant concerns it raised.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the work that was done by my friend from
Georgia, he put forward a resolution that is worthy of support. I
support the resolution and believe that we should pass it.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).
Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this censure
resolution that is blatantly Islamophobic, anti-democratic, and an
utter waste of time.
This resolution is as dishonest as it is unproductive. Any Member who
denies that Congresswoman Tlaib has opposed the killing of civilians--
Israeli, Palestinian, and American alike--is willfully ignoring the
truth.
Representative Tlaib was elected by voters in Michigan to do exactly
what she does best: advocate for a better, safer, more just world. She
leads with love, speaks truth to power, and seeks justice even when her
life and that of her family and her staff are threatened.
As a daughter, mother, sister, friend, advocate, and effective, duly-
elected, three-term, first-ever Palestinian-American Member of
Congress, she has been a much-needed voice in an institution that has
too often failed to listen.
Today, Republicans are again attacking a Democratic colleague just
because they don't like what she has to say. It is another shameful but
predictable ploy of distraction from the real traffickers of hate who
are obsessed with policing progressive women of color.
Mr. Speaker, I oppose this offensive resolution for every little girl
from Michigan to the Middle East who sees herself when they see the
leadership of Representative Rashida Tlaib, and I urge my colleagues to
do the same.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), a Marine Corps general.
Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am reminded of Proverbs 18:21, which
says: ``Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit--
you choose.''
I take no joy in standing here today to censure a fellow Michigan
Representative, but Congresswoman Tlaib's words and actions are
abhorrent and beneath her office.
Representative Tlaib has tripled-down on her anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel rhetoric, recently posting a video with protesters chanting,
``from the river to the sea,'' with a follow-up comment explaining that
that phrase is a peaceful aphorism about human rights.
However, that quote has long been a rallying cry for supporters of
Hamas and other terrorists hell-bent on destroying Israel. ``From the
river to the sea'' refers to the area, of course, between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean Sea, which is the State of Israel.
Jewish Americans are being targeted in their schools and on our
Nation's streets. Just yesterday, a California man supporting Israel
was murdered during competing pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian rallies.
Words matter and words have real-world implications. Congresswoman
Tlaib's continued assault on the only Jewish state in the world,
Israel, is reprehensible and this body should come together to support
this censure resolution to say to Representative Tlaib: Enough.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Michigan (Mrs. Dingell).
Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is an important member of our Democratic
Caucus and our Michigan delegation. Her voice matters. She is the only
Palestinian American in Congress, and this is a representative body.
Her perspective reflects many that she represents, especially when it
is not twisted.
Congresswoman Tlaib is entitled to the same constitutionally
protected freedom of speech and expression that every other American
and every other Member of this body has. This resolution is an attack
on that fundamental right.
I spent all weekend in Michigan this last weekend talking to all the
communities about the meaning of this phrase. There are very strong
feelings on all sides. It is very clear that people interpret words in
different ways. Personally, I choose not to use a phrase that is
offensive to some and that many perceive as a threat, but I also take
seriously living in a country that does not restrict, forbid, or
censure free speech.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).
Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, soulless, disgusting, sickening,
reprehensible, and repulsive--these are not my words but the words of
my Democratic colleagues when asked about the decision of 15 Members
who refused to condemn Hamas' brutal terror attacks on innocent
Israelis.
Some of those 15 didn't stop there. Several of these Members have
gone on to use their massive platforms to accuse Israel of apartheid,
genocide, and war crimes. This rhetoric by Members of Congress is not
only careless, it is dangerous.
American cities and the cities around the world have been flooded
with anti-Israeli protests. Protestors scream for an intifada. They
demand a cleansing of Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean
Sea, the destruction of Israel, and the destruction of the United
States of America.
They ripped down the pictures of Jewish children and Jewish babies
being held hostage in Gaza. It is reprehensible. It is unacceptable.
Hamas is a terrorist organization that does not care about the
Palestinian people. Their goal is to wipe Israel from the face of the
Earth. Babies were burned alive. Babies were beheaded. Women were
raped, beaten, displayed, and then murdered. Children, mothers,
grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, they were all killed.
Anyone who supports this or refuses to condemn it has no place in the
United States Congress. I don't like censure--I hate censure--but we
have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. We do not entertain hate in
this Congress. We confront it, and we must do it with absolute
conviction.
This is not a freedom of speech issue. This is an issue of the
Congress of the United States having the right to say this is wrong.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the ranking member of the
Rules Committee.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we should reject this resolution for a few
simple reasons: first is protecting this institution. I don't agree
with a lot of what people say around here. I think a lot of what my
Republican friends say is offensive and even racist, but I don't go
around introducing censure resolutions.
If we are going to start censuring anybody who says something we
don't like, all we will do from now on is censure each other all day.
The second reason is freedom of speech. My Republican colleagues go
on and on about cancel culture, and here they are today trying to
cancel someone.
I don't want any lectures from people who are trying to create a
1984-style
[[Page H5500]]
thought police. I don't know what is wrong with them, Mr. Speaker. If
this is not the high point of Republican hypocrisy, I don't know what
is.
Mr. Speaker, I say to my Republican colleagues that they are
unleashing something very bad here. They are setting an awful precedent
for this institution. This is a very slippery slope.
I strongly urge a ``no'' vote on this resolution to protect this
institution, to protect freedom of speech, and to reject this
majority's cynical attempts to divide and distract America.
Mr. Speaker, I would say that if my Republican friends don't like
listening to people they disagree with, they should get a new job.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Miller), a marine.
Mr. MILLER of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today at what I think is a
very serious moment for our country and for the world.
Hate and anti-Semitism are on the rise. Our strongest ally and great
friend, Israel, is under siege at the hands of brutal terrorists. As a
member of the United States Marines, I know when a Member of the House
of Representatives is echoing a line that is a clear call to murder
Jews and push Israel off the map--``from the river to the sea.''
To be clear, ``from the river to the sea,'' as someone who is Jewish,
means to exterminate my people. Never again.
Mr. Speaker, the ADL recently reported that anti-Semitic incidents
rose by roughly 400 percent in the 2 weeks following Hamas' evil attack
on Israel, which began 1 month ago today.
There is no question that these incidents are a direct result of the
hate-filled lies and anti-Semitic rhetoric perpetuated by Members of
this body--``from the river to the sea.''
What exactly does that mean, ``from the river to the sea Palestine
will be free.'' I am happy to educate all of you. It means the
extermination of the Jewish people.
I understand that my colleague, the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms.
Tlaib), thinks that this is some kind of aspirational message. It is a
joke.
Mr. Speaker, I do think that this is an aspirational message. But it
is not an aspiration of peaceful coexistence. It is an aspiration to
the erasure of the State of Israel and its people, the Jewish people
who call it home and who have been refugees since the very beginning of
time.
{time} 1530
It is an aspiration to the genocide of Jews.
Mr. Speaker, I believe strongly that Members of this body should be
able to speak their minds freely, but I also think there should be
consequences for those who would use their platforms to perpetuate
garbage that puts any American at risk especially because of their
religion.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that actions have consequences, and I believe
that after a long string of anti-Semitic remarks and hate-filled
rhetoric, censure is an appropriate consequence for the gentlewoman
from Michigan.
Never again, damn it, means never again.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the
Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett).
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I come before you today in support of my
colleague Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
All Members of Congress are entitled to freedom of speech. We also
recognize that words matter and that they have the power to uplift or
to harm others.
While I have joined the statement rejecting certain harmful
phraseology that has been used, I believe Congresswoman Tlaib's
statement that she did not intend to wish harm to the Jewish community
by her words.
Congresswoman Tlaib has all since clarified that she was intending to
make an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful
coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.
The ability to have free speech but to be willing to discuss and to
change and clarify is not just mature but democratic. No Member should
express harm to others, and Congresswoman Tlaib has been willing to
listen, clarify, and express compassion.
Yet on the other side of the aisle, we have seen repeatedly
Republican Members make disparaging comments that have threatened our
fellow colleagues and their families.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands.
Ms. PLASKETT. We have had members of the Republican Conference make
floor speeches about the great replacement theory that is suggestive of
white nationalism.
As a Black woman, I am offended.
Will you censure the co-chair of your Conference, Mr. Speaker?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Ms. PLASKETT. We need to uplift. We need to allow free speech.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands is
no longer recognized.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of
Congressman Rich McCormick's resolution of censure.
Enemies of civilization are gruesomely bold and clear on their
murderous intentions. A heinously revealing declaration of their
barbaric intentions by the Iranian puppet Hamas is detailed in the
Hamas Covenant of August 18, 1988. In the midst of insane provisions is
article 7: ``The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims
fight the Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and
trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: `O Muslim, there is a Jew
hiding behind me, come and kill him.'''
They are very clear. What they are talking about is death to Israel
and then death to America.
The New York Post is correct in warning last week that we in America
are subject to another 9/11 attack being imminent by such people.
The goal of Hamas puppets of Iran is to murder the Jews worldwide. It
is fake news about caring for the Palestinian people. This is not about
territory. Suffering by the Hamas-oppressed people of Gaza is solely
Hamas dictated.
We know the duplicitous wording of ``from the river to the sea'' is
nothing more than a call of mass murder to Jewish people and will then
lead to mass murder in America.
Hamas, Houthis, and also Hezbollah are puppets of Iran with their
intent, and we are actually in a war we did not choose between
dictators with rule of gun attacking democracies with rule of law. This
began with the war criminal Putin's invasion of Ukraine on February 24,
2022, and led to the Hamas invasion of Israel on Putin's birthday,
October 7.
Over 30 missile attacks have already seriously injured American
troops who are serving in this war.
Bold and clear are the dictators with Putin's treatise of July 2021
that Ukraine does not exist; that the Chinese Communist Party that
threatens the 24 million people of Taiwan, they don't exist; and Iran
chants in English, ``death to Israel, death to America.''
It is sad to hear how the Iranian propaganda is being promoted by our
media and colleges.
As the grateful father of four sons who have served in Iraq, Egypt,
and Afghanistan, I appreciate the Israeli and Ukrainian troops for
their courage.
Democracies will prevail by building peace through strength.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Washington (Ms. Jayapal).
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this
resolution.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is one of only two Muslim-American women
elected to this body, and the only Palestinian-American in Congress.
She has fought tirelessly and successfully to get clean drinking water
for her constituents and to ensure that people have housing and
environmental justice.
If we truly want Congress to be a diverse body that represents the
diversity of views across this country, then we have to be willing to
stand up for those diverse views to be expressed. We don't have to
agree with them, but we do have to protect the right to the freedom of
speech which this body is absolutely required to do.
[[Page H5501]]
Our country and our world are in crisis. People are suffering
everywhere. Historic and present traumas for Jews, Muslims, Arabs,
South Asians, Sikhs, and so many others are playing themselves out, and
we as the elected Representatives of the people should be working
together to protect the rights of every American to say what they
believe and ensure that we preserve our democracy.
Vote ``no'' on this terrible resolution.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Lawler).
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, in 1893, Katharine Lee Bates wrote ``America
the Beautiful.'' In it she wrote: ``God shed His grace on thee and
crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.''
As the Bible says in Psalm 72:8: He shall have dominion from sea to
sea and from the river unto the ends of the Earth.
That is aspirational.
Chanting ``from the river to the sea'' is not. Chanting ``from the
river to the sea'' is calling for the eradication of Israel. I would
hardly define that as aspirational.
My colleague Representative Rashida Tlaib has parroted the talking
points and the message of Hamas, a terrorist organization whose sworn
mission is the destruction of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish
people.
Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East, a beacon of hope,
peace, and liberty in the region. It is the only multicultural,
multiethnic, and multireligious democracy. It is not an apartheid
state. The oppressor of the Palestinian people is Hamas and the
Palestinian Authority.
Mr. Speaker, if you want Palestinians to be free, then reject Hamas,
reject the Palestinian Authority, and demand that Hamas surrender.
Calling for a cease-fire that they won't abide to is outrageous. They
need to immediately surrender and return the hostages to their
families.
My colleague repeated a vile and disgusting lie that Israel bombed a
hospital knowing full well that was factually inaccurate and knowing
full well that this administration, the Biden administration, advised
her it was inaccurate, gave her a private briefing, and still she
continued to repeat this vile and disgusting lie.
Why?
It was intended to undermine. It was intended to turn the world
against Israel.
Why?
It is because when she chants ``from the river to the sea,'' she
believes it. Mr. Speaker, she believes Israel should be eradicated
because otherwise you would never, ever repeat that vile, vile
statement.
It is not a lie.
That is why we are here. It is not a lie, and that is why we are
here.
Paul Kessler was killed for holding an Israeli flag in the United
States of America. We are losing respect for the sanctity of life, the
rule of law, and the important role of faith.
We must combat anti-Semitism, and it starts with this censure.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Missouri (Ms. Bush).
Ms. BUSH. St. Louis and I rise today in opposition to this censure
resolution and also in opposition to the reckless manner that people in
this House speak when they don't realize or don't care that they put
targets on the backs of actual people, most of whom are Black and
Brown, because of a lack of care and the lack of understanding and a
lack of seeing the humanity of folks who look like Rashida Tlaib.
It is outrageous that my colleagues are blatantly, blatantly
attempting to silence the only Palestinian-American Representative
right here.
It is outrageous, but it is not surprising. Let me tell you, Mr.
Speaker, it is not surprising because this place is where 1,700 Members
of Congress, this elected body, enslaved Black people. It is not
surprising, because they thought it was right.
It is not surprising because this is a place where Members continue
to claim that the insurrection on the Capitol just appeared to look
like a normal tourist visit.
It is not surprising because this is the place where our Black and
Brown staff members repeatedly speak of experiencing racism, sexism,
Islamophobia, get pushed off of elevators, xenophobia and more right
here in this workplace. This is the place.
Let me say this: She mourns for the 1,400 Israelis who lost their
lives.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Ms. BUSH. She mourns for the 10,000, and she will not stop.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Ms. BUSH. No more lies. Cease-fire now. She takes the death threats
that you all send her, Mr. Speaker--The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
gentlewoman from Missouri is no longer recognized.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Fallon).
Mr. FALLON. Mr. Speaker, I was sitting here not planning to speak at
all, then I heard words from the other side of the aisle. They were
flowery, they were eloquent, they had passion, they were articulate,
they were powerful, and even moving probably to some.
Nevertheless, were they true?
I heard about protecting speech, the First Amendment, and our beloved
Constitution.
Who is not for protecting speech, our beloved Constitution, and the
First Amendment?
So does the gentleman from Maryland and our friends across the aisle
really believe that?
Then when I heard about slippery slope and setting a precedent, on
February 4, 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her
committees for things that she said before she was a Member of
Congress.
On November 17, 2021, Paul Gosar was censured for a cartoon that his
staff posted. A tasteless cartoon though it be, it was speech.
So we are protecting speech, are we?
It is speech that we disagree with, calling the deliberate killing of
innocent civilians resistance, claiming a bombing of a Gaza hospital
was done by the Israelis that killed hundreds of people when we knew
that was not true, and yet Ms. Tlaib doubled and tripled down on that.
That was false, and that was a lie. And then repeating and celebrating
a genocidal chant ``from the river to the sea.'' That is not a cartoon,
and that is not saying some things, Mr. Speaker, that you said before
you were a Member of Congress.
Then we were accused of, oh, it is Islamophobic, or it was pointed
out that she was a woman of color or she was the only Palestinian.
What does any of that matter?
This is about words and actions, and we hold everyone to the same
standard. We are not trying to jail her. We are not trying to expel
her. We are not levying a civil fine. We are not even talking about
removing her from committees.
We are simply firmly and formally disagreeing with her and chastising
her for her words and her actions.
What she did was not leadership. It was demagoguery of the worst
kind, and it was beneath the dignity of this office, her office, and
the alleged commitment to peace she claims.
{time} 1545
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Bowman).
Mr. BOWMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution.
First and foremost, can we please stop misrepresenting Representative
Tlaib's words? She does not want to kill Jews. She is not in support of
Hamas. She is speaking as someone who is the only Palestinian American
in U.S. history to serve in this body.
Without her voice, we would lack even more empathy for the people of
Palestine. We would not have someone with direct personal experience
speaking against the siege that is happening now in Gaza.
This body needs empathy and compassion for all people, not just
people who look like the majority of my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle. Maybe because of your lack of diversity, you lack the
cognitive and emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions when they
speak truth to power. You absolutely need to open up your mind to other
people and other experiences, especially when they are Muslim, when
they are women, and when they are people of color.
[[Page H5502]]
You had a Member of your party call my colleague a terrorist and
didn't censure her, but we are having this conversation now about your
interpretation of words.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 1\1/2\
minutes remaining. The gentleman from Maryland has 5 minutes remaining.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Carson).
Mr. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, this censure measure is a sham.
When someone who is an American, a Muslim, a woman, and a Palestinian
dares to speak out for her people, she is told to be quiet. She is told
to stop talking about Palestinian brothers and sisters in the same
breath as Jewish brothers and sisters.
My sister Rashida is a child of the Midwest, representing the best of
Midwestern sensibilities. She also exemplifies a rich tradition of the
Islamic faith in the Midwest. She is a bold leader. She is a fair
leader. She is a compassionate leader. Most importantly, she is an
American.
Standing up for one oppressed people does not negate the oppression
of another.
We should be working together to end this terrible suffering,
eliminate these sham censures, and get back to the work of the people.
That is why they elected us.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, words hold power. They are intentional
representations of our values and our beliefs. Our democracy is at its
strongest when we protect the right to dissent, to resist, and to speak
truth to power.
However, over the past few weeks, this body has wrongfully and
dangerously conflated dissent with hate speech and has willfully
characterized acts of resistance as acts of bigotry. Bigotry and
hateful speech are real, tangible threats to our shared humanity and
our multiracial democracy, and we must address them.
As someone who has heard Members of this body who are not being
brought up for censure casually use their platforms to carelessly
promote violent, racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, and
anti-immigrant language and ideals, I am clear that this resolution is
another ill-intentioned attempt to persecute dissenting voices who
refuse to stay silent and whose perspective challenges this body and
the dominant narrative.
We must resist the urge to scapegoat and vilify those who disagree
with us, and I unequivocally stand with my friend, Rashida Tlaib. I
will be voting against the resolution, and I encourage my friends to do
your job.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from
Minnesota (Ms. Omar).
Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, it is glaring hypocrisy when you have
Republicans on the other side of the aisle trying to create definitions
and say Rashida wants to annihilate people when Max Miller himself went
on TV and said we are turning Gaza into a parking lot and we want to
annihilate Palestinians. Nobody condemned him on that side of the
aisle.
What is true here is that every single one of them has not
acknowledged the fact that Palestinians are dying in the tens of
thousands but will continue to say it is us who are not acknowledging
humanity.
Rashida will stand strong, and the Palestinian movement will continue
for liberation until every single Palestinian has the right to live in
liberty.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Buck).
Mr. BUCK. Mr. Speaker, on October 7, Hamas terrorists paraglided into
a music festival and began an unprovoked spree of violence. Babies were
beheaded, young girls raped, hundreds kidnapped, and many murdered in
vile ways.
To compare a modern democracy with a repressive terrorist state is
wrong, but it is also wrong for Congress to take this action at a time
when we have serious issues that we face. To take an action and take
down the words, to strike the words, to censure a fellow Member, no
matter how incorrect we believe she may be, is wrong.
We lower ourselves when we try to take action against someone else
for their words. We all go back to our districts, and thank goodness
social media hasn't caught every one of us with everything that we say
back in our districts because we would all be standing here.
This is a wrong time to do this. It is the wrong action to take.
Let's pass a resolution condemning this kind of language, condemning
anti-Semitism on college campuses and elsewhere, but it is absolutely
wrong to vote for this motion.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I don't think that my
colleagues have caught us in any kind of contradiction when they raised
the case of Representative Gosar, who posted a video on social media
depicting himself killing our colleague Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez and also attacking President Biden. This was a true
threat. These were fighting words. This is something that is totally
within our First Amendment tradition.
Mr. Speaker, we live in a time of terror and war, great polarization
and trauma across the world. We must grapple the rule of law to our
souls with hoops of steel at this moment. In a time of all kinds of
storms all over the world, the rule of law, the Constitution, is our
shore, and now is a moment to hug the shore.
Let's defend the freedom of speech for today, for tomorrow, and going
forward in the Congress of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert this
article from 11 Alive News, titled: ``Metro Atlanta woman killed in
Jerusalem: reports,'' dated November 6, 2023.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
[From 11alive.com, Nov. 6, 2023]
Metro Atlanta Woman Killed in Jerusalem: Reports
(By 11Alive Staff)
Jerusalem, Israel--A metro Atlanta woman was killed Monday
morning in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem, news outlets
reported.
According to the Atlanta Jewish Times, Elisheva Rose Ida
Lubin, 20, grew up in Dunwoody. Gov. Brian Kemp commented on
the tragedy and shared the Atlanta Jewish Times' article on
social media.
``Marty, the girls, and I are heartbroken by the tragic
news of Rose Lubin's death,'' the governor said.
Kemp said he would keep her family in his thoughts and
prayers during this difficult time.
Lubin was a member of the Israel Border Police, the Wall
Street Journal shared in a live updates story about the
ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. She lived in Kibbutz Sa'ad in
southern Israel. The WSJ also mentioned that the area was one
of the places attacked on Oct. 7.
It's been nearly a month since officials said Hamas
attacked Israel in an ``unprecedented'' move. Thousands of
lives have been lost.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I know there is a lot of passion today. I
heard a lot of screaming. I heard a lot of accusations, you could say,
on both sides.
I don't really care what race, religion, or gender orientation you
are. Where I come from in the Marine Corps, we are all shades of green,
and we all bleed red. That is the truth. I just care about the person
who has my back.
When I was student body president at Morehouse School of Medicine, I
was elected by my peers--60 percent females, 80 percent Black, 95
percent liberal. Why? I was elected because I love people. I love
people of all sorts. This isn't about who you are. It is about what you
represent, what this body represents. That is what this debate is
about.
If this is not worthy of censure, I don't know what it is.
Representative Tlaib has stoked anti-Semitism in this Nation and
undermined our national security.
[[Page H5503]]
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this resolution to show
the world, especially our adversaries, that the United States stands
behind our allies and will not back down to terrorists.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired. Without
objection, the previous question is ordered on the resolution.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on adoption of the
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On November 7, 2023, page H5503, in the first column, the
following appeared: lies and will not back down to terrorists. Mr.
Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
question is on ordering the previous question. The question was
taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes
appeared to have it.
The online version has been corrected to read: lies and will not
back down to terrorists. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. All timefor debate has expired.
Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the
resolution. There was no objection. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
question is on adoption of the resolution. The question was taken;
and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to
have it.
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question are postponed.
____________________