Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, in order to enforce our laws, we give terrifying powers to such agencies as the FBI, the IRS, and the CIA, among others. The misuse of these powers to effect political outcomes would be fatal to freedom, and it is the hallmark of any dictatorship. This, our Constitution, was written to prevent whoever is in power.

Now, in recent years we have watched the IRS target individuals because of their political beliefs. We have seen a glaring double standard in the enforcement of our laws by our Justice Department based on the political beliefs of their targets. We have seen their powers used to intimidate citizens into silence, whether the Tea Party or parents questioning their school boards.

Most alarmingly, we have seen the use of the FBI and our intelligence agencies to suppress political viewpoints disagreeable to those in power or to manufacture or propagate one of the greatest scandals in American history: the Russian collusion hoax.

Now, when a government can interfere with the elections that govern it and when agencies can act independently of the outcome of these elections, then democracy will die.

This select committee is designed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations, and I would hope the Democrats would be just as eager to sort this out as the Republicans. After all, it was not that long ago that these powers were turned against the left and could be again if we do nothing.

As Madison warned: Democracy alone is not enough to protect our liberty, for in a pure democracy, 51 percent of the people can vote any time to throw the other 49 percent in jail. That is why we have a Constitution which limits the powers of government through checks and balances like this Congress and like our Bill of Rights, and it is why each of us takes an oath to support and defend it.

Let us all honor that oath today.

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