[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8346]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

  (Mr. CONNOLLY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to demand that Congress get 
serious about the Russia investigation.
  In December, along with Mr. Engel of New York, I introduced the 
SECURE Our Democracy Act that would sanction any foreign individual or 
entity found to have unlawfully interfered with our election process. 
That shouldn't be a partisan issue, yet all of the bill's 88 cosponsors 
are Democrats.
  I am also a cosponsor of the Protecting Our Democracy Act to 
establish an independent commission to get to the bottom of the Russia 
investigation.
  A recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll conducted in April found that 
73 percent of our fellow Americans want such an independent commission. 
They want to get at the truth. So do I. So should all of us. I have 
signed a discharge petition to get that bill to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these two measures, and 
to bring them to the floor for consideration. It is our constitutional 
duty to provide oversight of any executive in any executive branch.
  The American people demand answers and accountability, not 
obstruction and intimidation. Appointing a special counsel, independent 
of the White House and the Attorney General, was one way to begin to 
restore credibility that has been badly tarnished. I urge us to proceed 
with the Russia investigation with all dispatch.

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