[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1531-1532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1700
                        ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)

[[Page 1532]]


  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, first of all, I would like to 
acknowledge the fallen Navy SEAL officer in Yemen and offer my concern 
to his family. I will rise tomorrow to continue my questioning on that, 
but today I wanted to make sure that I prayerfully acknowledged the 
sacrifice he made for this Nation.
  I rise today because we are one step further for the nominee for the 
Attorney General of the United States of America. And I join my 
colleagues in the Senate, the other body, who raised concern of not 
being able to inquire of Mr. Sessions what his position would be on 
what has been determined by five courts, at least, of the 
unconstitutionality of the executive order. It is a ban on Muslims, it 
is a violation of the First Amendment, equal protection of the law, and 
due process--First Amendment being freedom of religion.
  Therefore, we now have an Attorney General making the first step, Mr. 
Sessions, where we do not know whether you will be able to embrace the 
laws that protect the most vulnerable women, children, the civil rights 
of many, and the voting rights of many, and, frankly, I believe those 
questions should be answered.
  I conclude by saying, when you questioned Deputy Attorney General 
Yates, she was able to say that she would stand as an independent, 
objective person Attorney General having oversight over the White 
House. Will you be able to do the same?

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