Such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, welcome to witchhunt week here in the United States house of representatives. Our economy is slowly recovering. Slower than any of us would like. Millions of unemployed americans have been left behind because their Unemployment Benefits have expired. Our immigration system is broken. Millions of americans are living in poverty because they dont earn enough to make ends meet. And we have a pay equity issue where women on average earn less than men for doing the same job. I mean, Climate Change is a real issue and getting worse. And so what is the response from the House Republican leadership . A jobs bill . No. A fully funded transportation bill . No. An extension of longterm Unemployment Benefits . No. Comprehensive Immigration Reform . No. An increase of the minimum wage . No way. A pay equity bill . No. A sensible Energy Policy . No. Of course not. Not from this leadership. You know, when it comes to jobs economy, my he republican friends have no ideas. And heres the deal. Theyre afraid the American People are going to figure this out and so what do they do . They create distractions and diversions, more investigations, more investigations. Mr. Speaker, instead of tackling the issues that actually matter to people, House Republicans are once again playing to cheap seats with hyperpartisan political witchhunts. Now, this rule before us today contains two bills. One would hold lois lerner, the former director of the i. R. S. , exempt organizations in contempt of congress. The other would appoint a special counsel to investigate the targeting of conservative groups by the i. R. S. And thats just today. The House Republican leadership will be doubling down on the crazy later this week by creating a select committee to exploit the tragedy of benghazi. Its shameful. This is ridiculous. The i. R. S. Clearly oversteps in a way they identified and targeted nonprofit groups. No one debates. Thats not an issue for debate. But an issue of this magnitude and importance, potential abuse by the Internal RevenueService Deserves to be handled in a bipartisan and professional manner. That standard has not been achieved during these investigations. I say these investigations, pleural, because multiple plural, because multiple committees have spent years looking into this. From nearly the beginning, republicans have operated on their own and not in a bipartisan and professional manner. To date, 39 witnesses have been interviewed. More than 530,000 pages of documents have been reviewed. And the i. R. S. Has spent at least 14 million of taxpayer money cooperating with all these requests and all these investigations. And what do we have to show for all the work . We had a circus in the committee of government reform and oversight. A circus. We have seen chairman issa literally cut the mic while Ranking Member cummings was speaking. In all my years as a member of congress, as a staff member, i never saw such behavior in a committee before. Ever. And during this investigation weve seen over 30 legal experts come together and state that chairman issas contempt proceedings, one of the bills that were considering here today, are constitutionally deficient. In other words, more than 30 legal experts, both democrats and republicans, and also including former house counsels, believe the courts would throw this contempt resolution out of court. Now, of course, chairman issa is entitled to his own opinion, but we cannot just ignore the legal opinions of more than 30 legal experts, including two former house counsels. Ranking member cummings had a great idea or sensible idea that i cant quite understand why my friends on the other side hasnt accepted it. He said, lets hold a hearing with many of these legal experts and get to the bottom of why they feel chairman issas actions are deficient. But chairman issa nicked that quickly. Said no hearings. This is the Oversight Committee. This is the committee that is supposed to be nonpartisan when you think about it. I mean, the investigations are upposed to have some credibility. But chairman issa nicks that. In fact, hes refusing to hold such a hearing. It actually just baffles me. If chairman issa firmly believes this contempt resolution has merit and has legal standing, then what is the harm in holding a hearing in considering these legal experts opinions . The truth is that chairman issa, the Republican Leadership, really do not care about doing this fairly and they never have. This is an exercise in political theater designed for the conservative media closed information loop. Mr. Speaker, speaking truth to power is important. Investigating abuses of power is even more important, but abusing the process in the name of investigating abuse is wrong. Weve been down this road before. Weve seen this kind of witchhunt steam rolled through this very capital, but not even Joseph Mccarthy was able to strip away an american citizens Constitutional Rights under the fifth amendment. As chairman issa is trying to do. The Congressional ResearchService Found that the last Time Congress tried to hold witnesses in contempt after they asserted their fifth amendment right not to testify was in the 1950s and 1960s and senator Joseph Mccarthys committee, the house on american activities committee, and others. In nearly every case, the juries refused to convict or federal courts overturned those convictions. This exercise that we are engaged in today is nearly identical to the actions of senator mccarthy. It was wrong then. It is wrong now. This is sad because it demeans this house of representatives. It may be red meat for the extreme right wing, but for too Many Americans it adds to the cynicism that this is a place where trivial issues get debated passionately and important ones not at all. Mr. Speaker, the i. R. S. Is a powerful agency. Can be ode itself either daunting or beneficial, depending on where you sit. The i. R. S. And the code can be used to help people, like through the eitc, the child tax credit, and the r d tax secret credits, or it can be used punitively as it was during the nixon administration. The i. R. S. Dund the Obama Administration must be held to the i. R. S. Under the Obama Administration must be held to a high standard. In fact, the hearings depositions and investigations held to date actually show that there was no white house involvement in this case. None. You know, the problem here is that the narrative that my republican friends have doesnt fit the facts and theyre frustrated, so they want to kick the ball down the court and more committees, more investigations, more special counsels. Maybe theyll find something. In addition, these hearings that were held, these depositions and investigations show that the targeting of nonprofit groups by the i. R. S. To conservative groups. Unfortunately, this whole process is so political that my friends, the republicans on the Oversight Committee, intentionally limited the scope of what they are focused on to ust conservative groups. Doesnt matter what happened to progressive groups. The truth is that liberal both liberal and conservative groups were targeted. Thats a fact thats conveniently left out of the argument and accusations posed by my friends on the republican side. Mr. Speaker, i understand what the republicans are trying to do here. Its Crystal Clear. They do not want to talk about the issues that matter to people. From the economy to the environment to immigration. They dont want to talk about those issues because the majority of americans majority of the American People disagree with them. They dont want to talk about these issues because they have no ideas. Nothing. Nothing to offer. They dont even want to talk about Obamacare Anymore now that eight million americans have health coverage. They dont know what to do now, so theyre coming up with these desperate attempts to try to create distractions. So this is what this is what theyre left with. Sad little scraps of political nonsense that they keep trying to peddle as leadership. Mr. Speaker, this rule and resolution are colossal wastes of time. They do nothing. They do nothing at all to try to ensure that the i. R. S. Is about politics. They do nothing at all to try to achieve any kind of justice or truth. I urge my colleagues to vote no and to get on with the business of actually solving real problems that affect real americans. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts reserves the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise . Mr. Nugent mr. Speaker, its amazing that those on the other side of the aisle would say this is trivial. This impacted american citizens , and i wont disagree that it may have impacted those on the left. But to a greater extent, it impacted those on the right. And to americans, one of the most powerful organizations there are in america is the i. R. S. They can instill fear into your heart when you get that letter. So when you have one that does something that is so outrageous as what theyve done, its not trivial. At least not to the people i represent. Mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Kelly. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Kelly thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman. Im reminded of a passage in the bible. If you can see a speck of sawdust in your neighbors eye but not a plank in your own. Isnt it amazing that we have to go to a resolution to restore the American People their faith and trust that they are quickly losing in a government because we will not finish the job . We will continue to back peddle. Well try to put the spotlight someplace else. This is not gender spever. This is not party specific. This has nothing to do with anything other than honesty and truth. To sit here and Say Something that doesnt really exist, oh, theyre trying to put the spotlight on something else. We came here and took a pledge, its not just a pledge, and its not just a responsibility. It is an obligation to get to the truth. When we have to have a resolution asking the chief Law Enforcement officer of the country to appoint a special committee, how far have we fallen in the eyes of the people that we represent . Is there an issue here . Yes, there is. Are there things that have to be settled . Yes, there is. A year ago on may 10 i was 65. This saturday i will be 66. Ive learned more about myself in the last year than the American People have learned about what the i. R. S. Has done to them. This covers all americans. This is not a republican issue. This is not a democrat issue, a libry tarian or an independent libritarian or an independent issue. When we get to defending the people we represent becomes secondary to a political agenda, then we have fallen far from where were supposed to be. In this great house, so much has been decided on policy for the American People. Isnt it time to restore their faith and confidence in this body and why we would sit back and scratch our heads and say, i dont know why our Approval Rating is so low, maybe if we just answered the questions and answers them truthfully and we were truly transparent the American People wouldnt cast doubts on who it is they elected to represent them. I applaud this issue, and i applaud this resolution. Be it resolved that we will restore to the American People the trust and faith and confidence they have to have in their form of government. Please, talk about political maneuvering. Were making balloon animals and trying to tell people this is what you need to look at. Dont worry weve taken away your personal freedoms and your personal liberties. This is not the issue. This november we got to get reelected. So lets make it about something else. Lets turn it on gender. Lets turn it on pay inequality. Lets turn it on everything we can possibly do and turn the light away from what the problem is and that is the loss of faith and confidence by the people of this great country in the most remarkable model the world has ever known. And who everybody would love to immolate but they cant. It falls on our shoulders not as republicans or democrats but as representatives of the people of this great country to get the answers that they deserve. Lets stop the fooling around about things that dont really pertain to this and lets get them answered. Again, we have to have a resolution to the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States to ask him to do his job, thats pathetic, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired the time of the gentleman from the time of the gentleman from pennsylvania has expired. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. I have Great Respect for the gentleman from pennsylvania but hes highlighted the differences between the two parties here. You mentioned were trying to focus attention on gender inequality and other issues. We are. I think theres something wrong when women in this country make 77 cents on every dollar a man makes. I think thats outrageous. I think women ought to be paid the same as men to do the same job. O, yeah, that is an issue. That is something we should talk about and its not just a womans issue, by the way. Its a family issue. The senate sent us over an immigration bill that would reduce the deficit by 900 billion over the next 20 years, 900 billion. They did it in a bipartisan way. We cant even get a vote here. We cant even get a vote here in the house of representatives. You know, there are millions of our fellow citizens who are unemployed, whose Unemployment Benefits have run out. We cant even get a vote to extend Unemployment Benefits for these people. Maybe because they dont have a super p. A. C. Maybe those out there are natural constituencies, i dont know what it is. Those are important issues. Quite frankly, yes, thats what the American People want us to be talking about, things that matter to them. And the problem with what were doing here today, this is so blatantly politically motivated, even in terms of the scope of the investigation, that it just it is aughable, it is laughable. Listening to the debate in the rules Committee Last night amongst those in the Oversight Committee, the back and forth, and realizing how broken that committee is, how partisan that committee has become, because of the leadership in this house , it is really sad. No one here is defending the i. R. S. No one here is defending lois lerner. We want but what we dont want to do is trample on the constitution and we dont want to unnecessarily politicize these proceedings, which is what is happening right now. Mr. Speaker, at this time id like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from virginia, r. Connolly. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Connolly thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend, mr. Mcgovern from massachusetts, distinguished member of the rules committee, with whom i spent five hours last night. I wish my friend, mr. Kelly, were still here on the floor because he reminds us we take an oath when we become a member of congress. And at the beginning of every new congress. To defend, protect the constitution of the United States. We dont take an oath to look at the best polling for our respective parties and pursue no matter what the issues that rile up our base. At the republican retreat earlier this year, two issues polled real well with their base. Benghazi and the i. R. S. And sadly, cynically, we are here today, irrespective of the Constitutional Rights of an american citizen who happened to be an i. R. S. Employee, bending and genuflecting at the alter of that polling data to fire up that base. Were not here defending the constitution. Because if we were, we would be invoking our own history. There was a sad period known as the mccarthy era in this very citizens, federal employees and nonfederal employees, were trampled upon. The fifth amendment right is one of only 10 imnumerated in the constitution and for a reason. Because stinging in the memories of our early colonials chambers that had occurred in great britain, the parent country, and even here. And they wanted to protect all citizens, innocent and guilty alike, from selfentrapment, from their own words being used against them in Legal Proceedings unfairly. They felt so passionate about it that it was one of only 10 innumerated rights in the bill of rights. In the mccarthy era there were some famous cases. U. S. Vs. Quinn being one of them. And another one, hogue in which the Supreme Court of the United States hogue, in which the Supreme Court of the United States and District Court