[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8729]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   TRUST, ANTITERRORISM, AND BREACH OF TRUST BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. The Justice Department targets Associated 
Press, FOX News, and other journalists. For political reasons, the 
State Department and White House contrive a false story about Americans 
murdered in Benghazi. Cover-ups ensue. The President promotes rather 
than fires the principal deceiver. The President promises to punish the 
Benghazi murderers, yet the only person jailed is a scapegoated 
filmmaker the White House falsely blamed for inspiring the Benghazi 
attacks.
  Armed Federal SWAT agents raid Gibson Guitar and threaten to put 
Gibson Guitar out of business. Why? Gibson Guitar imported the same 
guitar materials they have imported for years; yet Martin & Company, a 
Gibson Guitar competitor, imports the same guitar materials with 
impunity. The difference? Gibson Guitar contributes to Republicans like 
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Senator Lamar Alexander of 
Tennessee, while Martin contributes $35,000 to Democrats.
  The IRS targets law-abiding citizens who use names like ``Tea Party'' 
and ``Patriots'' and dare exercise their freedom of association and 
speech rights. In one particularly outrageous example, Texan Catherine 
Engelbrecht is investigated and harassed by the IRS, the FBI, the 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Alcohol, Tobacco, 
and Firearms. Why? Engelbrecht founded the King Street Patriots, which 
hosts weekly discussions on economic freedom, and True the Vote, which 
trains volunteers to fight voter fraud.

                              {time}  1020

  The White House manages the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal that 
left hundreds of Mexicans and an American Border Patrol agent dead. 
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unethically--and 
perhaps unlawfully--shakes down companies she regulates for donations 
to support ObamaCare.
  President Obama thumbs his nose at America's immigration laws by not 
only giving millions of illegal aliens a free pass; Obama rewards 
illegal conduct by giving illegal aliens work permits in direct 
violation of American law, thereby undermining the ability of Americans 
to obtain good-paying jobs.
  America is in uncharted waters when our own Federal Government 
aggressively undermines our rights to freedom of speech and 
association--rights won with American blood on the battlefields of 
Lexington and Concord, Trenton and Princeton, Saratoga, Cowpens and 
Kings Mountain, and Yorktown.
  Mr. Speaker, America faces a policy debate between privacy and 
national security. Fifty years ago, our foes were well-known nation-
states like Communist China and the Soviet Union. Now, our enemies may 
be foreign neighbors, foreign tourists, or even foreign students.
  Foreign terrorists seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons of 
mass destruction that can destroy an American city or murder hundreds 
of thousands of Americans in a single attack.
  As America seeks the proper balance between our privacy rights and 
national security, one thing stands out: Americans must be able to 
trust our Federal Government to do the right thing with the privacy 
information Americans give up. If we cannot trust the Federal 
Government to use our private privacy information solely for 
antiterrorism purposes, then the balance shifts. We will not give up 
our privacy information, thereby increasing the risk of a successful 
weapon of mass destruction terrorist attack on an American city.
  More and more, our own Federal Government disregards the rule of law 
that is essential to avoid the strife and bloodshed of anarchy. More 
and more, the Federal Government targets American citizens who differ 
politically with the White House.
  While the IRS, Gibson Guitar, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and 
numerous other scandals are troublesome, the bigger picture is that 
this White House, this administration, has breached the public's trust. 
The bigger scandal is that this White House, this administration, by 
their breach of trust, has undermined America's national security and 
thereby risked American lives.
  Mr. Speaker, the White House can still do the right thing, but the 
right thing is not coverups. The right thing is not rewarding and 
promoting political cronies and lawbreakers. The right thing is, with 
full and open candor, telling the American people the truth about these 
scandals. The right thing is very publicly and aggressively firing 
offending Federal employees. The right thing is very publicly 
prosecuting lawbreakers. Then and only then will the trust of the 
American people in the Federal Government be restored. Then and only 
then can America fight the war on terror with certainty that we will 
win.

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