[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1079-H1080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1115
                          REMOVING CORRUPTION

  (Mr. Subramanyam of Virginia was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, our Founding Fathers had a pretty clear 
principle when it came to corruption. Thomas Jefferson, a fellow 
Virginian, warned of the fate of our country if corruption prevailed. 
He said: ``The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before 
they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of 
the fold than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall 
have entered.''
  There are wolves in our government and in governments all around the 
world. Look at Russia, where the wolf, Vladimir Putin, has become the 
richest person in the country and maybe the world. It is a country 
where if you speak out against him, you will pay the price. If you make 
a lot of money, he better get half.
  We see what a democracy can become. It will cease to be a democracy. 
The people will cease to govern, and those in power will enrich 
themselves.
  We cannot let that happen in our country, but we are trending in the 
wrong direction today. The U.S. recently received the lowest ever 
Corruption Perceptions Index score in recent history.
  For all the things this administration has done, we cannot turn a 
blind eye to the corruption it has endorsed.
  Let's start with the profiting off of the Presidency. From the time 
President Trump got elected, he has used the office to actively profit 
from Amazon deals, branded Bibles, shoes, and digital trading cards. 
Then there are the meme coins, which are a perfect way for Russia, the 
CCP, and anyone else with an interest in influencing U.S. policy to 
conveniently pad the President's personal pockets. It sends a message 
to our adversaries that America is for sale.
  How can we ever trust that decisions are being made in the best 
interests of the American people and not as a financial quid pro quo?
  Then there is DOGE. The first thing it did was fire the very people 
in charge of rooting out corruption and protecting whistleblowers. Why? 
They would never have signed off on the administration's actions.
  It doesn't stop with the administration. They have green-lighted 
corruption abroad by getting rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 
a law to prevent bribery of foreign officials. Companies will now have 
to put corruption experts on their payrolls, and they will pass along 
those costs to consumers.
  Then there is the normalization of corruption by pardoning corrupt 
politicians across the political spectrum.
  Mayor Eric Adams was in a bind, facing indictment on charges of 
corruption, conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery, but President Trump 
directed prosecutors to drop the charges. Conveniently, Mayor Adams is 
now steering his city's policies at the whims of this administration.
  When Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, convicted for essentially 
selling a U.S. Senate seat, asked for a pardon for his corruption, he 
got it. Blagojevich even had a name for a corrupt Democrat bailed out 
by an administration, a ``Trumpocrat.''
  These actions are hurting the American people. They steal from the 
American people. They erode our trust, raise costs on working families, 
and steer us into bad policy.
  Thomas Jefferson also liked to say that when ``a republic is 
corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing 
evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its

[[Page H1080]]

lost principles. Every other correction is either useless or a new 
evil.''
  We have the power to remedy this. With decisions like Citizens United 
and the actions of this administration, it is not going to be easy, but 
my constituents and the American people have the power to stand up and 
make their voices heard. They should keep speaking out and sharing 
stories.
  Do not let this be normal. Together, we must remove corruption and 
restore its lost principles.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stutzman). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.

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