[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2099-2100]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRESS IS A COEQUAL BRANCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tipton). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strongest support 
for the invitation to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address 
this body and to express my personal support for the Speaker's 
invitation.
  Congress is a coequal branch. The Constitution acknowledges that. It 
establishes that. To suggest, as some have, that this body does not 
have a role in the geopolitical and diplomatic strategy of this Nation 
is flatly wrong.
  This body, this Congress, funds our diplomatic activities. We, this 
body, this Congress, funds our military activities. And this body 
authorizes the use of military force, as acknowledged

[[Page 2100]]

by the President just today with his delivery of a request for an 
authorization to use military force.
  This body, this Congress, authorizes sanctions. And this body has 
expressed strong support in recent years for additional sanctions on 
Iran. We have a disagreement with the President, very respectfully, on 
this issue. But to suggest that this body, this Congress, this coequal 
branch, established by article I of the Constitution, should simply lay 
down its responsibility because the President of the United States 
suggested during the State of the Union that he will veto any 
additional sanctions we pass would be a dereliction of the duty of this 
body, of this Congress.

                              {time}  1030

  That is why we have expressed our interest and we have said to the 
President that we do want to hear from our greatest ally in the Middle 
East to express our position of how to secure the region. It is 
appropriate. We are a coequal branch.
  At a time when the President continues negotiations with Iran over 
the objections of so many in this body, at a time when the 
administration has had to acknowledge--forced to acknowledge a secret 
letter to Iran, it is appropriate for this body to stand up, and it is 
appropriate for this body to suggest that we stand with Israel perhaps 
in a way that the President does not.
  This body, this House, this Member, we welcome the Prime Minister 
here in March. We look forward to hearing his vision, the vision of our 
greatest ally in the region, on securing peace in the Middle East, 
providing for the stability of the Middle East, securing democracy, and 
to say with the people of Israel that we stand with you in providing 
for your security.

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