Genesis with Revelations Yet to Come

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, it is always a preeminent privilege to stand in the well of the House of Representatives to advocate on behalf of my constituents in the Ninth Congressional District of Texas, but it is also a greater honor to advocate on behalf of the American people. I contend that no one could have predicted that I would have had this great opportunity at my birth, and I am always grateful to have it, and I want people to know that I appreciate it greatly.

Mr. Speaker, last night, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan piece of legislation, H. Res. 295. This is a resolution that would encourage law enforcement agencies to use body cameras. It passed overwhelmingly, and I am here today to express my gratitude to the many Members who supported this piece of legislation.

I would like to start with the leadership. I am honored that the leadership supported it because, without the support of leadership, legislation does not come to the floor.

Mr. Boehner, I am grateful that you supported and allowed it to come to the floor.

Ms. Pelosi, I am grateful that you supported and allowed it to come to the floor.

Mr. Hoyer, I am honored that we had the opportunity to visit with you about it as well as with other members of leadership, including Mr. Boehner, and that you allowed it to come to the floor.

I also want to mention the chair of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Goodlatte. He allowed us to visit with him about this legislation. We are grateful that he participated in the process and allowed it to come to the floor.

I am also especially honored to mention Mr. Conyers, the sage of the House of Representatives, the dean of the House of Representatives, and I am grateful that he has been understanding and has given us the opportunity to have this piece of legislation come to the floor in the form of a resolution.

There were Members who supported this, and they were cosponsors. I have to mention my very dear friend Mr. Cleaver. I will say candidly that, without him, we wouldn't have been able to have succeeded. He has been a partner with me on this legislation, and we have worked through the entirety of the process.

I will mention Mr. Ted Poe from Texas. He and I were lawyers together, and we were judges together. He was the first person to actually sign onto the resolution, and that meant something to have his support.

Mr. Poe, I am grateful that you signed on as the first original cosponsor, and my prayer is that this piece of legislation is something that you will be proud of in the years to come.

Mr. Luetkemeyer signed onto it, Mr. Lacy Clay, Mr. Yoder, and Ms. Clarke--all persons who were original cosponsors of the legislation. I am grateful that they chose to allow their names to be associated with it, and I am grateful to all of the Members of the House of Representatives who voted for it, some 421 Members.

Let me now just focus on the legislation for just a moment and remind everybody that this, in a metaphorical sense, is not the end; it is the beginning. In a metaphorical sense, it is not the closing argument as we might have in a trial; it is the opening statement. As a Christian, in a metaphorical sense, this is Genesis; it is not Revelation. There are many other things to come. In fact, we have a piece of legislation--the CAM TIP Act--that is currently pending before the House, and my hope is that we will get some additional cosponsors on that piece of legislation.

As for this piece of legislation, let me announce that what it does is to simply provide encouragement to law enforcement agencies to know that the consensus of the House of Representatives is that you have body cameras. We ask that you please consider the rationale for body cameras.

One, transparency. This means that there won't be disputes about what happened. With cameras, you can still have some disputes. This is not a panacea; it will not cure all that ails some of our concerns. Yet it does provide some empirical evidence, empirical evidence that we would not acquire otherwise because of the contentions that can be at odds with each other about facts. By the way, as a judge, I know that you can have persons with the best of intentions who can see the same facts and come away with different conclusions as to what occurred. This provides the additional transparency.

It also provides an opportunity for us to allow this evidence to go into court. It is not enough for the public to see what is going on. Those who serve as jurors will have an opportunity to see what happened and base their decisions on more than what one person says as opposed to what another person says.

I am proud to tell you that the piece of legislation will provide an opportunity for people to adjust their behavior. A wonderful thing can happen when cameras are on. People will know that they are being watched, and they can adjust their behavior.

I am so honored that the legislation has passed, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak this morning. I thank those who were supportive of it. This is the genesis. The revelations are yet to come.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair and not to other Members.

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