Calling on Vice President Pence to Convene and Mobilize the Cabinet to Activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to Declare President Donald J. Trump Incapable of Executing the Duties of His Office

Floor Speech

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Two questions, as we begin another 24 hours that will deepen the wounds of the country and the disaffection among Americans:

First, will you stop at nothing?

Second, is there any hypocrisy too far?

Let's call this what it is: An ultimatum, an attempt to intimidate and bully Vice President Pence. They are not seeking just the same ends as the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) said, they employ the same means. They seek to bully the Vice President to abuse power under the 25th Amendment, intended to provide for temporary or sudden incapacity of the President while they claim to be scandalized about the President bullying the Vice President one week ago to abuse power under the 12th Amendment.

With all due respect for the gentleman from Maryland, he has not answered: Why are you doing this now?

Tonight, the Vice President has clarified in a letter sent to all of us at 7:34 p.m. that this resolution has absolutely no other purpose. Here are three key things he said: ``I urge you and every Member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment. Work with us to lower the temperature and unite our country. . . . `'

Quote: ``As you know full well, the 25th Amendment was designed to address Presidential incapacity or disability.''

Quote: ``Under our Constitution, the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation.''

And listen to this one carefully: ``Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority . . . , and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.''

The Vice President has given you your answer before you ask the question. No legitimate purpose to this resolution remains. Your ultimatum does violence to a core feature of the architecture of the Constitution. The Framers were emphatic about their purpose to avoid making the President a creature of Congress. The 25th Amendment was not ratified to change that, as you well know. Please do not pervert this important protection to undermine the Constitution.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time each side has remaining?

Mr. Speaker, this past year, government told Americans: You can't go to church, you can't go to work, you can't go to school.

One hour ago, Democrats told Republicans, new rules--new rules for the House.

Today, you can say anything you want about the President, no rule on decorum, no rule about attacking personality. They can say anything they want, and we see we have done that.

Today, on the floor, you have to wear a mask. If your masks comes below your nose, you are going to get fined.

And in order to come in here and debate and constitutionally represent your constituents, the 750,000 people we all get the privilege of serving, you had to walk through a metal detector.

And they did all those changes with less than 40 minutes of debate.

And, tomorrow, they are going to impeach a President, a President who is leaving office in 8 days--8 days before there will be a peaceful transfer of power, just like there has been every other time in American history. But they are going to do impeachment. They are going to do it, again.

They have been obsessed with it. It is truly an obsession. People on the Democrat side started calling for impeachment the day President Trump was inaugurated. They attacked him before he even won the first election, before he won in 2016. They attacked him that summer when they started their investigation.

This is scary, where this goes, because this is more than about impeaching the President of the United States; this is about canceling the President and canceling all the people you guys disagree with. That is what scares me more than anything.

We have seen it play out over the past several days. I never thought I would see the things that we are now witnessing. I don't know where it ends, but I will tell you what: It should scare us all.

And I said this in the Committee on the Judiciary--and the gentleman from Maryland will remember this--the cancel culture doesn't just go after conservatives and Republicans. It won't just stop there. It will come for us all. That is what is frightening.

And I hope you all recognize that and that at some point we can unite and actually do things that help those folks back home that we all get the privilege of representing.

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Mr. JORDAN. Herrell).

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