[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 87 (Thursday, May 21, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H3682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                      A TIME FOR POLITICAL COURAGE

  (Mr. Neguse of Colorado was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, John F. Kennedy once said that ``there are 
few if any issues where all the truth and all the right and all the 
angels are on one side.''
  Mr. Speaker, this is one of those issues.
  Five years ago, I stood here on the House floor, just a few feet from 
where I stand today, as the worst nightmare of our Framers and our 
Nation's Founders came to life, when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, 
this citadel of democracy, attacked police officers, and attempted to 
enter this Chamber and subvert the peaceful transfer of power.
  Donald Trump, on the very first day that he was sworn in, in his 
second term, pardoned 1,600 individuals who were convicted of crimes 
connected to January 6. Felons, people who attacked police officers 
here on Capitol Grounds, he pardoned them, gave them a get-out-of-jail-
free card.
  Now, 15 months later, he again does the unthinkable. He sues the 
Federal Government that he administers and attempts to secure a $10 
billion shakedown from the IRS. When that fails, when he realizes that 
that isn't politically palatable, that the American people won't 
tolerate Donald Trump signing a $10 billion check of their hardworking 
money to himself, he dispatches the Acting Attorney General, his former 
personal attorney, to negotiate a so-called settlement.

  The outcome? A nearly $2 billion slush fund, where the Department of 
Justice will pay rioters who attacked our Capitol. These individuals 
will be paid with your money, the money of hardworking taxpayers.
  It is unconscionable. It is corrupt. My Republican colleagues in this 
Chamber do nothing about it.
  Where is the Speaker? Where is   Mike Johnson? How can he look the 
officers who guard him every day in the eye, knowing that the people 
who attacked those officers will now be paid out of this Trump slush 
fund?
  It is outrageous. If there were ever a time for political courage, 
now would be it.
  There are a handful of Republicans who have said publicly that they 
abhor what this is, just a handful. The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives--let me say it clearly--Mike Johnson owes the country 
an answer.
  Will he allow these rioters, these convicted felons who assaulted 
Capitol Police officers, to be paid with taxpayer dollars out of this 
slush fund? If not, what does he intend to do to stop it?
  We have a bill that has been introduced. I believe it will be 
bipartisan. There are Members of the U.S. Senate on both sides who are 
pushing to try to stop this from materializing. The Speaker could end 
it today.
  We are not asking him for much. Show a modicum of courage.

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