Restoring Power to the People's House

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind this body that our role as Members of Congress is not just to pass laws and allocate funding. We are the people's House because we are the closest to the people.

We have the most crucial duty to oversee the executive branch and hold the bureaucracy accountable for their actions. Since the founding of our Nation, this oversight function has been a cornerstone of our democracy.

Yet, time and time again, we see witnesses from the executive branch refusing to answer the questions of the people. They quibble over details and dodge questions. Our hearings have become political theater. Witnesses act like teenagers caught out after curfew.

The deep state evades the constitutional oversight authority that the people's House is supposed to yield. This authority is the way our Founders intended to keep the Federal bureaucracy in check.

Enough is enough. This cannot continue. It is time to take a stand and restore the power of the people's House. We must ensure that the men and women who would act like rulers over the American people, despite never being elected, and then intentionally withholding information from the United States Congress, finally face consequences.

Under title 2 of current law, their duplicity is already illegal. Refusing to answer the people's questions that are deemed ``pertinent to the question under inquiry'' is currently punishable by a fine or imprisonment. The application of this law, however, has been lost to history.

Just this year, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and many others blatantly and boldly violated the law and have gleefully and unabashedly refused to answer questions in hearing after hearing. They have zero respect for the American people and no fear of the United States Congress.

At a hearing on June 4, Attorney General Garland was asked if the Supreme Court's then-pending decision on obstruction charges would change the Department of Justice's actions in prosecutions related to January 6. Garland's response was: ``I don't answer hypotheticals.''

In November of last year, at a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee, Secretary Mayorkas simply refused to answer when asked by Vice Chairman Guest how many daily apprehensions constituted a crisis at the southern border.

Just today, the Director of the Secret Service, Dr. Kimberly Cheatle, refused to answer nearly every single question she was asked by Members on both sides of the aisle about the egregious security failures of July 13.

This is what we have experienced over and over again. That is why I am introducing the STOP the SWAMP Act. Our legislation will make it clear that those bureaucrats who refuse to answer the questions of the American people will be permanently disqualified from Federal employment. It will further empower committee chairs and ranking members, Members from both parties, to refer cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

Lastly, it would give the United States Congress more tools to withhold the salaries of those who obstruct our oversight efforts. We cannot allow the swamp, the entrenched bureaucrats in Washington who believe they know better than the people they are supposed to serve, to continue to dodge oversight of Congress and rule by fiat over the American people.

We must stand up for the American people and demand transparency and honesty from those who serve in our government. Our Republic's survival hinges on it.

It is time to send a clear message that we will not tolerate any attempts to undermine our oversight role. We are the voice of the people, and we will not be silenced.

Together, we can stop the swamp and ensure that our government is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.

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