Issues of the Day
Floor Speech
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Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership on the Budget Committee, and I thank him for his patriotism, his love of this country, and for his desire to do what is right for our country, first and foremost.
Madam Speaker, today was a sad day, I believe, for our country. We have got, now, round two of this phony impeachment process.
It is purely political. It is not based in facts, not based in the pursuit of truth and justice. There is no openness; there is no fairness; and there is, really, no credibility.
The American people are not buying this bologna, not a single bit.
That is why we are seeing round two of putting lipstick on a pig, as we say in Texas. But, listen, the nature of this phony process is what it is, no matter how you dress it up.
It is sad because we are allowing this institution to be degraded. We are making a mockery out of this Chamber, the serious business of this country, and the serious nature of impeachment.
I would say, first and foremost, that the claim that this President has committed a high crime, treason, or impeachable offense is absurd, really.
From the outset, I would say that this is a baseless claim that only firsthand knowledge, the only primary source of evidence, is his conversation with President Zelensky. Unlike the cherry-picked leaks from Chairman Schiff, he let it be known what he said, what their conversation was about, in the full sunshine, for all the public to see.
And it was clear that the President not only didn't have a quid pro quo, the President not only didn't commit some impeachable offense, for heaven's sake, he was ensuring that taxpayer dollars, as the fiduciary, the chief fiduciary of this country, weren't going to be wasted or abused or misspent on anything except for what they were intended for and that every stone would be turned over to root out graft and corruption.
Now, that is not just appropriate; that is to be commended for any chief executive, especially for our President.
I think that this process is purely political and aimed, again, not at truth and justice, but at a distraction from what is not happening on trade, on prescription drugs, and a whole host of things that we have to address if we are going to have a real impact on our fellow countrymen and move this country forward.
I think it is a distraction from the socialist policies that have been advanced through this Chamber that have no chance of having any real effect on mainstream America.
I think, ultimately, it is to discredit this President; and instead of actually doing battle for hearts and minds the old-fashioned way in the public squares and at the ballot box, they are doing it by weaponizing this serious constitutional provision of impeachment.
Again, it is a sad day. But what I would say in closing, to my dear friend from Wisconsin, is that it is one thing to take the oxygen out of this Chamber for actually doing things that are going to have a real impact and make a real difference in the lives of our fellow Americans, it is one thing to take this President down yet another rabbit hole, another Russian collusion hoax, but another thing to do irreparable harm to our democracy.
The Presidency, how is it ever going to be the same after this? How will a President ever have a phone call with a foreign leader where they can have the candor that is necessary to build relationships and to do the people's business.
Madam Speaker, I say to my fellow Americans: This isn't about truth and justice. This is about fear and hate, hate for our President and for what he stands for, for his agenda, and fear that they can't beat him at the ballot box, so they are going to do it by weaponizing our congressional oversight responsibility and abusing the power of this great institution for their political objectives. I say that is wholly un-American.
For my children's sake, they are doing irreparable harm to not only the Presidency, but to all of our democratic institutions. If you lose that, you lose the ability to govern, Republican or Democrat; you lose the ability to govern functionally for the American people.
What a sad day. History will judge cruelly those who participated in this instead of doing it the old-fashioned American way, from house to house in the neighborhoods, in the public squares, and at the ballot box.
God save our great country, and God help us all if this political railroad job and farce continues any longer.
I thank my friend from Wisconsin for yielding to me. I am grateful for the opportunity.
God bless America, and go, West Texas.
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