Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, I will start by thanking my colleague from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is not the Republican President. He is the American President. What happened last night was beneath the dignity of the House and beneath the dignity of the American people. I say that as someone who is new to this body.

I also point out how it was perceived and how it may have been interpreted.

As Members know, each Member of the House receives a guest ticket. I decided to give my guest ticket, the first one that I was able to give for this kind of occasion, to a teacher from eastern Washington. I gave it to her with the goal of inspiring an interest in civics and public service in the next generation of young people.

In fact, we ran a competition for students to nominate their teacher, and the winning teacher that came had never before been to Washington, D.C., had never been to the Halls of Congress, and was so excited that she was here to watch the joint session.

I have no idea what her political beliefs were, no idea whether she is Republican or Democrat or Independent. She was just excited to be here as part of this experiment in democracy that we have. All of her students were watching from home.

While it can be regrettable, and it happens on both sides, when people have a spontaneous outburst of emotion and maybe say something they shouldn't, what I saw and what I worry about what her students saw last night was a continued premeditated attack, and some might even say the appearance of a violent and threatening action with the cane.

That may not have been the intent, but I worry that those students perceived what I saw as I watched was a scene that was beneath the dignity of this House, beneath the dignity of the American people, and certainly beneath the dignity of our President.

At some point, America cannot continue on this slide towards continual partisan fighting and all of the divisiveness. We all need to do better, including myself and I think every Member of this body.

Let's join together on this. Let's join together and realize that this episode was beneath the dignity of what the American people expect from Congress. Let's have this be a new beginning in civility from a low point that this body can rise and behave in the manner, I think, that all of the American people want it to behave, and certainly those high school students that were watching from home, who were so excited that their teacher was here to experience this special moment.

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