And Still I Rise: Denouncing the President's Authoritar-Ianism and Recognizing the Impeachment Warriors

Floor Speech

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Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid Democrat. I am proud, Mr. Speaker, to say that I rise today to recognize those whom I call the impeachment warriors.

I had a press statement that was sent out, and I would like to read just a few words from it, Mr. Speaker.

It reads: ``Media Advisory and Public Notice'' ``Congressman Al Green recognizes the significant battle won by impeachment warriors.''

Then there is a subtitle: ``Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been returned to the United States and may get the due process authoritarian President Trump declared he had no constitutional right to.''

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of these organizations and what they have done. They have made a difference. These organizations have been on the front line to prevent an authoritarian President from devolving our country into a total state of authoritarianism.

These organizations have taken the time to organize and mobilize within our communities, and these organizations deserve an expression of appreciation.

I believe that organizations that go to this length should have a flag flown over the United States Capitol to honor what they have done, Mr. Speaker. I have in my hand such a flag. This is the flag that was presented to me upon my arrival in Congress by a Member of Congress. I cherish it, and I have kept it. This flag was flown over the United States Capitol.

I plan to have a similar flag flown over the United States Capitol for each of the following organizations. For edification purposes, these flags will be flown over the same Capitol, up the same flagpole that had a flag flown for President Kennedy, for Dr. Martin Luther King, and for Rosa Parks. I want them honored because of what they are doing to prevent an authoritarian President from devolving our country into full-blown authoritarianism.

Mr. Speaker, one of the organizations that I would like to call to the attention of this Congress would be Free Speech For People. This organization has acquired more than 600,000 signed statements and petitions to impeach and remove President Trump from office.

The Women's March is another organization that has been engaged. The Mayday Movement, the Fourteenth Now! movement, and the Citizens' Impeachment movement.

I have two friends that I would like to single out who have been very helpful: Jessica Denson would be one. She is with ``Lights On with Jessica Denson,'' a podcast, and my constitutional law friend, attorney John Bonifaz.

I plan to have these flags flown this week, and they will be presented to these organizations at a later time.

These flags will represent what I believe is a true testament from one Member of Congress to say to them:

Please know that you have won a battle. You have been able to bring Mr. Garcia back to this country with your work. However, that battle doesn't mean that the war is over. We still have a war to fight because we have an authoritarian President in office.

I have in my hand, Mr. Speaker, a column from The Washington Post. This story from The Washington Post is dated June 9, 2025. It reads as follows. This is the style of the story. It reads: ``California Governor Gavin Newsom says Trump is stepping toward authoritarianism.''

An excerpt from the actual story reads: California Governor Gavin Newsom should be arrested.

This is something that President Trump said.

This is from the story:

President Donald Trump said that he thought California Governor Gavin Newsom should be arrested, a claim that Newsom described as an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.

I concur with what he said about the step, but I would simply say this: I think we are already there. We are in a country wherein a President has devolved democracy into authoritarianism. This President has done so by using executive orders. He has done so by using the very courts to move his executive orders, but by moving them such that they move slowly and get to a final judgment that would be against him.

This President has disrespected the Federal courts. He has disrespected the orders of the court. When the courts have said to him: Even if you differ with our orders, you have to appeal these orders. You cannot decide that you are going to proceed notwithstanding the court's failure to implement the orders that you think should be implemented.

This President has decided that judges should be impeached if they decline to follow his mandates. He has said ugly things about the judiciary and has gone so far as to say that some judges don't deserve to be on the bench and that these judges should be removed by way of orders of impeachment emanating from this very House.

This President has devolved democracy into authoritarianism. He is a President ripe for impeachment, and impeachment is what we shall bring to the attention of this House.

We have already filed H. Res. 415 to impeach the President. This resolution deals with the acts that he has perpetrated related to the removal of a person from this country without due process, without giving this person the opportunity to say: You have made a mistake, notwithstanding the fact that his administration acknowledges that a mistake was made.

This President, pursuant to these articles, should be removed from office because judges told him that he had made a mistake and that he should facilitate the bringing of this person back to the country, and he has not done so as of the time these articles were filed.

This President knows that the removal without due process was an improper action; but he did it, notwithstanding the knowledge that was accorded him by some members of his staff, some persons in his administration.

So I say to you, H. Res. 415 would be Articles of Impeachment that we will call to the attention of the public. This means that they will be voted on. They will be voted on in this House. I will read them. They will then be read again by the clerk, and, thereafter, they will be voted on.

Those who vote to table--and there will be a motion to table. Those who vote to table will be voting against the Articles of Impeachment, notwithstanding all of the evidence. Those who vote to have the articles move forward will vote against tabling the Articles of Impeachment. Then we will let the record stand, and I suggest to everyone to vote your conscience. I will be voting to avoid tabling these Articles of Impeachment.

I am going beyond these Articles of Impeachment. I am going to file additional Articles of Impeachment this month, and these articles will relate to not only the President but also the Vice President. Both of them should be removed from office, President and Vice President, and I will present these Articles of Impeachment to this House this month. I don't know that I will bring them to a vote this month, but I do know that they will be presented to the House this month.

The President is unfit to hold the office that he has. The things that he says and the things that he has done are clearly indicative of an authoritarian presidency.

Mr. Speaker, I have been censured by this House for the things that I have done. I was in here, and I called to the attention of the President that he had no right--I didn't say right. I said that he didn't have a mandate, but I was, in essence, saying he had no right to eliminate or to cut Medicaid. Then I went on to talk about Social Security and Medicare.

I was among the very first to call this to the attention of not only this House and the President but literally to the attention of this country and the globe. I was right then, and I am right now. The President is cutting, by and through the Members of the House and soon to be the Senate, money from Medicaid, some $700 billion. He is going to cut now Medicare, and only God knows what will happen as it relates to Social Security in the hands of my Republican colleagues.

I believe that we cannot allow a President to do these things without challenging him, without confronting him whenever we have the opportunity.

Having done so, I was censured for what I did, and I accepted my censure. I accepted it. It doesn't mean that I agreed with it, but I accepted my censure because I believe that if you protest, you have got to be prepared to suffer the consequences. I was prepared to suffer the consequences. I don't agree with them. I believe that when we do things that contravene the law, things that are not in harmony with society, things that are causing harm to society, I believe that there are punishments that we should suffer. If you break the law, you should suffer punishment.

I believe that a President who is breaking the law by avoiding the constitutional responsibilities imposed upon him by his oath of office, by the Constitution itself, I believe that when he does this, impeachment is the remedy. If the courts cannot control him and my Republican colleagues, who have the majority in the House and the Senate, won't control him, then the only thing left is impeachment.

That means that the Congress of the United States of America, in this House, this will become the court of last resort. We plan to use the court of last resort to bring justice to the country for what an unfit President is doing to devolve our democracy into autocracy.

I believe that this is something that must be done, notwithstanding the fact that I have been censured, yes; but I haven't been silenced, and I will not be silenced. I will not be silenced because too much is at stake. The country is devolving into this autocracy, this authoritarianism, and we have to speak up.

I don't ask others to do what I do. I don't mind standing alone. If it means standing alone, I will stand alone. I would hope that there would be others of goodwill who would stand also. If they don't, I leave that to them to deal with as they choose to navigate their way through this Congress and through life.

I have been silenced, no. I have been censured, yes. I plan to continue with this movement. This movement is something that I call now a countdown to impeachment. This countdown is something that I embrace. I embrace it with my friends, all of whom I have named, but I think sometimes it bears repeating certain things.

I want the folk over at Free Speech For People to know that this countdown to impeachment includes them, and there are more than 6,000 persons they have on their petition.

The Women's March, a group of women who have come together to claim and demand that women have the respect in this society that men have. As an example: Men get paid more for work that women are doing, the same work, but don't get equal pay. Some estimate it to be about 20- plus percent, maybe 25, 26 percent. Well, there isn't a man alive who is worth 26 cents more than a woman. We have to make sure that the Women's March is supported, and I am going to support them.

The Mayday Movement, a movement started to make sure that this President knows that there are people who are going to march and protest to make sure he is impeached. They are all a part of the countdown to impeachment.

The Fourteenth Now! movement is something that started very early on in the Presidency and the President's reign this time, in this President's term of office. This movement was started to prevent what is happening now, and that is our government is devolving into authoritarianism.

Finally, the Citizens' Impeachment movement, this movement is something that has grassroots elements associated with it across the country. I am proud to say that they are part of the countdown to impeachment.

Again, a flag will be flown in honor of these organizations for the efforts that they have made. I will bring additional Articles of Impeachment to the attention of the Congress this month to impeach not only the President but also the Vice President.

Finally, the articles that I have presented already to this Congress will be read, and they will be voted on. Make no mistake about it, I will bring additional Articles of Impeachment because this President continues to breach the mandates of the Constitution. As long as he continues to do it, I will continue to bring Articles of Impeachment. I think we are laying the foundation for his being impeached.

Finally, there are those who contend that we should not impeach at this time. Well, I contend that there are many things that we bring to the floor of the House that we don't get the kind of results that we desire when we bring them initially, many things.

We have brought the equality legislation before the House, and we passed it twice in the House. That doesn't mean that we are not going to continue with it. We are not going to give up on it. It took us almost 100 years to get the Affordable Care Act. We never gave up on it.

Bringing things to the attention of the House that don't get passed the first time, that is nothing new. I believe that we will do this, and we will be persistent with it.

I know that as we do it, we will gain additional momentum. There will be many who won't vote for it initially, but then there will be more the second time that will--and more the third time, the fourth time, and however many times it is necessary to get us to our final Articles of Impeachment that will bring President Trump down. He does not deserve to hold the office that he holds.

Mr. Speaker, impeachment is the remedy when the courts can't control him and when his party won't control him. It is left up to us, those of us who have the will and courage to bring Articles of Impeachment before the Congress of the United States of America.

This will be done. This is my pledge. The countdown to impeachment continues.

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