[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10874]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                THE OATH TO DEFEND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Graves) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GRAVES of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to remind my 
colleagues why we are here.
  We are here to represent our constituents, and we are bound by an 
oath that we all took when we were sworn into office.
  As each of us stood in this Chamber, we solemnly swore that we would 
support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all 
enemies, foreign and domestic; that we would bear true faith and 
allegiance to the same; that we would take this obligation freely, 
without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that we would 
well and faithfully discharge the duties of this office in which we 
serve, so help us God.

                              {time}  1130

  Madam Speaker, there is a constituent of mine, Jack Smith. He is a 
defender of the Constitution and one of the strongest conservatives I 
know. Jack never fails to sound the alarm when Washington is off track 
when it comes to the Constitution--and I think we all know that comes 
quite often; it is very frequent.
  So whether it's a foreign or domestic enemy of the Constitution, I 
stand committed to defend this document whenever and wherever I can. 
And today, in honor of Jack and the Ninth Congressional District, 
Liberty Council, and all my constituents, I urge the Members of this 
House, the Senate, and the Office of the President to reflect on your 
oath, to reflect on what you swore as you took that oath of office and 
the clear guidelines that it and the Constitution have bound us by, 
because the future of this great and glorious cause we call America 
depends on it.

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