Censuring Representative Paul Gosar

Floor Speech

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Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, during Democrat's leadership of the House, we have seen an unprecedented exercise of authority that only a Democrat could wield due to the authoritarian nature of the actions.

Democrat leadership has fined Republican Members for not masking, installed metal detectors, stripped another Republican of committee assignments, issued and sought to enforce sweeping subpoenas against the former President and his top advisers, and I am not just talking about subpoenas related to the events of January 6.

Democrats on the Oversight Committee are chilling, if not infringing, the First Amendment rights of advocacy groups, corporations, and individuals.

They have asked for communications between certain nonprofit organizations and certain Members' offices. These communications fall squarely within the right to petition and freely associate.

And today, we are debating a resolution to censure Dr. Gosar for something he posted to his Twitter account.

While Republicans certainly do not condone violence and extreme behavior, my question for this body is: When will we exact punishment in an equitable--that is one of the favorite words of my Democrat colleagues--equitable manner?

Madam Speaker, we have Democrat colleagues who routinely call for violence in the streets, make anti-Semitic comments on Twitter, launch obscenities at our elected officials, and engage in inappropriate relationships with Chinese operatives.

Yet, Madam Speaker, these Democrats maintain even their leadership positions on prestigious and sensitive committees like the Intelligence Committee.

The last time we took this extraordinary step to censure a member of this House it was Congressman Rangel, and that was after a thorough Ethics Committee investigation into tax evasion, improper use of official resources, and other improper benefits.

Instead of solving America's crises--drugs flowing across the southern border, rising gas prices and grocery prices, and this ongoing pandemic--we are here on the floor debating the censure of Dr. Gosar.

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Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution.

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