[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4553-4554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HISTORIC PARALLELS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Johnson of Louisiana). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Gohmert) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
majority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it has been an interesting couple of days. 
We heard from our President, and that was a great privilege this 
morning to hear from him at our Conference. We were reminded what an 
amazing victory President Trump had last November. Some said it was so 
very historic, maybe as historic going back clear to Andrew Jackson's 
victory in 1828.
  That took me back, being a lover of history, being convinced over the 
years, as I majored in history in college because I knew out of the 
Army 4 years, when I finished that, I figured I would major in what I 
loved, and that was history. Although my mother thought I should have 
majored in math or either been a doctor or a college math professor.
  But history I loved, and I continue to learn from history. The old 
adage is those who refuse to learn from history are destined to repeat 
it. The corollary that is not as well known is those who do learn from 
history will find new ways to screw up.
  But the 1828 election that saw Andrew Jackson become our President 
actually happened after four abysmal years, some would say the least 
productive 4 years any President has ever had, and it was actually a 
President who was a hero of mine, John Quincy Adams. He was the first 
son of a former President to be President. Some have said he was 
probably the best educated President we have ever had, having been 
educated at the best Massachusetts had, England had, and France had. He 
wrote books in German, fluently spoke French.
  Of course, if he had had his way, he would have been married to an 
American, but when his mother, Abigail, was not too pleased with the 
girl he thought was the love of his life, he ended up being directed to 
England where he ended up falling in love with Louisa, and she 
ultimately became his wife; but apparently his mother didn't think she 
was quite fit. Louisa became the first--used to be able to say the 
only--First Lady the country has ever had who was not born in the 
United States. Like I say, if he had had his choice--first choice--then 
his wife would have been born in the United States. But that is the way 
things fall. He loved his wife dearly.
  He was quite accomplished. He kept the most complete journal of 
anybody we have ever had who was President. He knew slavery was wrong. 
He knew slavery was destroying our country, that we could never reach 
the potential that God had for this country unless we eliminated 
slavery. He had corresponded to England with a guy by the name of 
William Wilberforce, who had dedicated his adult life since his 
twenties to eliminating slavery in the British Isles and British 
territories.

                              {time}  1715

  He ran for President in 1824. No one won with the electoral votes. It 
was thrown to the House of Representatives. John Quincy Adams garnered 
the favor of Henry Clay in the House. And when Clay threw his support 
behind John Quincy Adams, Adams then won the Presidency.
  Adams had some friends who were very close to him. They knew his 
heart, they knew his heart was pure, and his intentions were clearly 
nothing but the very best for the United States. They knew him to be a 
man of honor, a man of integrity, a man of his word. He had not made 
any kind of deal with Henry Clay to make him Secretary of State. But as 
a man of honor, a man of integrity, he could not understand why he 
couldn't go ahead, and why he shouldn't go ahead, and appoint Henry 
Clay to be Secretary of State.
  His closest friend said: John, if you appoint Henry Clay to be 
Secretary of State, you will never, ever be able to convince anybody in 
Congress--the House or Senate--you will never convince anybody in 
Washington but your closest friends, those of us that really love you, 
you will never convince the rest of the world or posterity that you had 
not cut a deal with Henry Clay that in return for his support for you 
being President, you would make him Secretary of State. Please, appoint 
him to anything, but not Secretary of State. It is going to look like 
you made a deal and bought the Presidency with the appointment.
  But there were those who did not love John Quincy Adams, didn't have 
that much respect for him, and would have been fine if he had not won 
the election, but he had won the election. And those who didn't care 
about John Quincy Adams encouraged him: Sure, appoint Henry Clay, it is 
your choice. You appoint whoever you want.
  Those who loved John said: John, it is not a good idea. People are 
going to brand you improperly. We know you are honest. Those are not 
really your friends that are telling you to just appoint Henry Clay to 
be Secretary of State. Go ahead.
  He didn't listen to the closest friends who loved him and cared about 
him. He listened to those who didn't care if he succeeded or failed. So 
he appointed Henry Clay to be Secretary of State.
  Some historians would say he had the least productive 4 years of any 
President in history. It is always arguable. But there were clearly 
times throughout his 4 years as President when he backed bills and 
pushed bills that would have been good for the United States and that 
should have had the support of both the House and Senate when they 
couldn't get passed simply because people thought he had bought the 
office with the appointment of Henry Clay to Secretary of State. And so 
they went against anything and everything that John Quincy Adams tried 
to support thereafter.
  That may seem kind of a strange story to pull out from history, 
except I was reminded of it as I thought about today, and I thought 
about some folks who even in October, they didn't care about Donald 
Trump getting elected President, they didn't really support him at that 
point, so they encouraged him: You go ahead and let's do this bill that 
we are bringing to the floor and just never mind the fact that prices 
will not come down, unless you want to say 10 percent over 3 years, 
maybe 10 percent.
  After the prices will probably continue to go up after those same 3 
years, we may be able to cut 10 percent off at some point. Why? Because 
we are not stripping the regulation, the regulatory authority, out of 
ObamaCare. We are only repealing part of it. And we are leaving almost 
all of the part that has driven costs through the roof. It has driven 
the price of health insurance through the roof. It has blown the 
deductibles so high that so many of my constituents and friends know 
they will never have enough cash to pay for the deductible to even get 
to a claim that the insurance company would pay.
  And I just know that when the prices of health insurance don't come 
down over the next few years, people are going to say President Trump 
broke his promise to repeal ObamaCare. He only got part of it, but the 
monopolies that had begun to grow in the health insurance market grew 
bigger and fatter. And a man who wanted to do an honorable thing for 
America and get rid of ObamaCare--that it cost people their insurance, 
their doctor, their medicine, that it caused so much suffering and 
heartache as people struggle with their healthcare bills--he promised 
he would get rid of it, he wanted to deliver on his promise, and he has 
been told by people who weren't really sure if they cared if he won or 
lost that: Gee, just pass this, this will be great. Just pass anything. 
Pass something. We will call it a victory and move on.
  But these are the times when it is very important to take an 
assessment of those who want to see you succeed and those who really 
don't care. There are those who have felt on the Republican side that 
if Donald Trump was defeated, that would be the end of the Tea Party 
movement, that would be the end of any type of populism rising

[[Page 4554]]

up against the runaway socialism, the runaway assault on religious 
freedom, the Second Amendment.
  The American public rose up, and this is our first chance to really 
deliver on our promises. I hope that the votes are not all there yet so 
that we can reach an agreement so that we can include in the bill that 
comes to the floor, not an amendment we vote on so that it can be voted 
down, but actually included in the bill so that we take out at least 
the big hunk of what has caused health insurance prices to skyrocket.
  And if we can do that, we can have a win this week, one that we can 
all feel good about on our side of the aisle, and even my friends on 
the other side of the aisle. If we do the right thing and make sure 
that we take action that actually legitimately brings down health 
insurance costs, then my friends on the other side of the aisle will 
hear good reports of joyful remarks with gratitude that insurance 
prices have come down, we can now afford it, our deductible is lower, 
we are building a health savings account, it is great.
  There are some good things that can come out of the votes this week. 
But if people take advice from those who are not as concerned with 
their total success, then this could be the start of a Presidency that 
was as unpleasant as John Quincy Adams' Presidency, which ended up 
leading to the inevitable result of his defeat in 1828 to Andrew 
Jackson.
  I hope we keep our promise.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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