Impeaching John Koskinen

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. I thank the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I actually wanted to touch on something that is a little bit different.

Look, we have all seen the documents. We have all heard the argument, even this evening, on the bad acts. Now I want to walk you through why we must do this. And I understand for a lot of our brothers and sisters in this body, this is uncomfortable. This is something that hasn't been done in a very long time. So let me walk through sort of a line of logic, because you can't be a Member of Congress and go home and do townhalls and talk to reporters and say, ``I am going to defend the Constitution,'' ``I am going to defend our Article I authority,'' and then not stand up and defend it. So let's actually do sort of a linear line of logic here.

If tomorrow one of you became a CEO, 15 years ago this body passed something called Sarbanes-Oxley, which basically said, if you are in the leadership and someone commits bad acts in your organization, you accept the responsibility because you accepted that position of leadership. These are the things we require from the real world outside this body.

Has anyone here ever been a real estate broker, had a securities license, other types? If bad acts happen underneath your license, what happens? You lose your license. You are removed from that position. But somehow these rules, this concept of responsibility that this very body has put out on the rest of the country, the rest of the private sector, is not willing--or is uncomfortable--to demand the very same status of responsibility, the very same status of ethics that we require from a real estate broker, from corporate executives. We are not going to require it from the head of one of the most powerful bureaucracies in this Nation?

And this is to all my brothers and sisters in the body. I accept it is uncomfortable doing something you have not done before. That does not mean it isn't the right thing to do.

You have heard the argument made. The facts are crisp and clear. Now it is time to make that decision. Are you willing to defend the Article I position that this body holds in the Constitution? Are you willing to defend the Constitution? Or are you willing to let our representation of the American people continue to be trampled on by this administration?

Mr. Jordan, thank you for letting me have the mike.

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