[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 166 (Thursday, September 24, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4951-H4952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE
PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I seek to provide a privileged resolution
here in the House.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will give notice of his
resolution.
Mr. GOHMERT. H. Res. 1148, raising a question of the privileges of
the House.
Whereas, on July 22, 2020, H.R. 7573 was brought to the House floor
for a vote, with the purpose of eliminating four specific statues or
busts from the United States Capitol along with all others that include
individuals who ``served as an officer or voluntarily with the
Confederate States of America or of the military forces or government
of a State while the State was in rebellion against the United States''
yet failed to address the most ever-present historical stigma in the
United States Capitol; that is the source that so fervently supported,
condoned and fought for slavery was left untouched, without whom, the
evil of slavery could never have continued as it did, to such extreme
that it is necessary to address here in order for the U.S. House of
Representatives to avoid degradation of historical fact and blatant
hypocrisy for generations to come.
Whereas, The Democratic Party Platform of 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, and
1856 states ``That Congress has no power under the Constitution, to
interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several
States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of
everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the
Constitution; that all efforts of the abolitionists, or others, made to
induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery . . . are
calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences; and
that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the
happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of
the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our
political institutions.''
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4951, the following appeared: and
that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the
happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency
of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend our
political institutions.''
The online version has been corrected to read: and that all such
efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of
the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union,
and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political
institutions.''
========================= END NOTE =========================
Whereas, The Democratic Party Platform of 1856 further declares that
``new states'' to the Union should be admitted ``with or without
domestic slavery, as [the state] may elect.''
Whereas, The Democratic Party Platform of 1856 also resolves that
``we recognize the right of the people of all of the Territories . . .
to form a Constitution, with or without domestic slavery.''
Whereas, The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 penalized officials who did
not arrest an alleged runaway slave and made them liable for a fine of
$1,000 (about $28,000 in present-day value); Law-enforcement officials
everywhere were required to arrest people suspected of being a runaway
slave on as little as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership; the
Democratic Party Platform of 1860 directly, in seeking to uphold the
Fugitive Slave Act, states that, ``the enactments of the State
Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law
are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and
revolutionary in their effect.''
Whereas, The 14th Amendment, giving full citizenship to freed slaves,
[[Page H4952]]
passed in 1868 with 94 percent Republican support, 0 percent Democrat
support in Congress; the 15th Amendment, giving freed slaves the right
to vote, passed in 1870 with 100 percent Republican support and 0
percent Democrat support in Congress.
Whereas, Democrats systematically suppressed African-Americans'
rights to vote, and by specific example in the 1902 Constitution of the
State of Virginia, actually disenfranchised about 90 percent of the
black men who still voted at the beginning of the twentieth century and
nearly half of the white men, thereby suppressing Republican voters;
the number of eligible African-American voters were thereby forcibly
reduced from about 147,000 in 1901 to about 10,000 by 1905; that
measure was supported almost exclusively by Virginia Democrats.
Whereas, Virginia's 1902 Constitution was engineered by Carter Glass,
future Democratic Party U.S. Representative, Senator, and even
Secretary of the Treasury under Democrat President Woodrow Wilson, who
proclaimed the goal of the constitutional convention as follows: This
Democrat exclaimed, ``Discrimination! Why, that is precisely what we
propose. That, exactly, is what this Convention was elected for--to
discriminate to the very extremity of permissible action under the
limits of the federal Constitution, with a view to the elimination of
every Negro voter who can be gotten rid of legally.''
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4952, the following appeared: to
discriminate to the very extremity of permissible action under the
limits of the federal Constitution, with a view to elimination of
every Negro voter who can be gotten rid of legally.''
The online version has been corrected to read: to discriminate
to the very extremity of permissible action under the limits of
the federal Constitution, with a view to the elimination of every
Negro voter who can be gotten rid of legally.''
========================= END NOTE =========================
Whereas, In 1912, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's
administration began a racial segregation policy for U.S. government
employees and, by 1914, the Wilson administration's Civil Service
instituted the requirement that a photograph be submitted with each
employment application.
Whereas, The 1924 Democratic National Convention convened in New York
City at Madison Square Garden; the convention commonly known as the
``Klan-Bake'' due to the overwhelming influence of the Ku Klux Klan in
the Democratic Party.
Whereas, Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt continued
Woodrow Wilson's policy of segregating White House staff and maintained
separate dining rooms for white and black staffers. He also continued
the White House Correspondents Association's ban on credentialing black
journalists for White House duties until outside pressure from black
publications finally forced a change in policy in 1944, the last year
of his presidency. According to the American Journal of Public Health,
prior to his presidency, Roosevelt not only banned blacks from
receiving treatment at his polio facility in Warm Springs, Georgia, but
black staff were forced to live in the basement of the facility or in a
segregated dormitory while white staff lived in the hotel or in
surrounding cottages.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4952, the following appeared:
Whereas, Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt continued
Woodrow Wilson's policy of segregating White House staff and
maintained separate dining rooms for white and black staffers. He
also continued the White House Correspondents Association's ban on
credentialing black journalists for White House duties until
outside pressure from black publications finally forced a change
in policy in 1944, the last year of his presidency. According to
the American Journal of Public Health, prior to his presidency,
Roosevelt not only banned blacks from receiving treatment at his
polio facility in Warm Springs, Georgia, but black staff were
forced to live in the basement of the facility or in a segregated
dormitory while white staff lived in the hotel or in surrounding
cottages.
The online version has been corrected to read: Whereas, Democrat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt continued Woodrow Wilson's
policy of segregating White House staff and maintained separate
dining rooms for white and black staffers. He also continued the
White House Correspondents Association's ban on credentialing
black journalists for White House duties until outside pressure
from black publications finally forced a change in policy in 1944,
the last year of his presidency. According to the American Journal
of Public Health, prior to his presidency, Roosevelt not only
banned blacks from receiving treatment at his polio facility in
Warm Springs, Georgia, but black staff were forced to live in the
basement of the facility or in a segregated dormitory while white
staff lived in the hotel or in surrounding cottages.
========================= END NOTE =========================
Whereas, Democrat Congressman Howard Smith, former chairman of the
House Rules Committee introduced the ``Declaration of Constitutional
Principles'' in a speech on the House floor where he attacked the
Supreme Court's 1954 decision on Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka (KS) which determined that segregated public schools were
unconstitutional. Smith's declaration urged people to utilize all
``lawful means'' to avoid the ``chaos and confusion'' which would occur
if they desegregated schools. History.House.Gov states that, ``Under
Smith, the Rules Committee became a graveyard for numerous civil rights
initiatives in the 1950s.''
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4952, the following appeared: the
Supreme Court's 1954 decision on Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka (KS) which determined that segregated schools were
unconstitutional.
The online version has been corrected to read: the Supreme
Court's 1954 decision on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(KS) which determined that segregated public schools were
unconstitutional.
========================= END NOTE =========================
Whereas, In 1964 the Democratic Party led a 75-calendar-day
filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Whereas, Leading the Democrats in their opposition to civil rights
for African-Americans was a fellow member of the Democratic Party,
Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia--a known recruiter for the Ku
Klux Klan.
Whereas, Democrats enacted and enforced Jim Crow laws and civil codes
that forced segregation and restricted freedoms of black Americans in
the United States; and
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4952, the following appeared:
Whereas, Democrats enacted and enforced Jim Crow laws and civil
codes that forced segregation and restricted freedoms of black
Americans in the United States.
The online version has been corrected to read: Whereas,
Democrats enacted and enforced Jim Crow laws and civil codes that
forced segregation and restricted freedoms of black Americans in
the United States; and
========================= END NOTE =========================
Whereas, On June 18, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the
removal from the Capitol portraits of four previous Speakers of the
House who served in the Confederacy saying that the portraits, ``set
back our nation's work to confront and combat bigotry;'' the men
depicted in the portraits were Democrat Robert M.T. Hunter, Democrat
Howell Cobb, Democrat James L. Orr and Democrat Charles F. Crisp: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved,
That the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall remove any
item that names, symbolizes or mentions any political organization or
party that has ever held a public position that supported slavery or
the Confederacy, from any area within the House wing of the Capitol or
any House office building, and shall donate any such item or symbol to
the Library of Congress.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 24, 2020, on page H4952, the following appeared:
Whereas, On June 18, 2020, House Speaker NANCY PELOSI ordered the
removal from the Capitol portraits of four previous Speakers of
the House who served in the Confederacy saying that the portraits,
``set back our nation's work to confront and combat bigotry;'' the
men depicted in the portraits were Democrat Robert M.T. Hunter,
Democrat Howell Cobb, Democrat James L. Orr and Democrat Charles
F. Crisp. Resolved, (1) That the Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall remove any item that names, symbolizes or
mentions any political organization or party that has ever held a
public position that supported slavery or the Confederacy, from
any area within the House wing of the Capitol or any House office
building, and shall donate such item or symbol to the Library of
Congress.
The online version has been corrected to read: Whereas, On June
18, 2020, House Speaker NANCY PELOSI ordered the removal from the
Capitol portraits of four previous Speakers of the House who
served in the Confederacy saying that the portraits, ``set back
our nation's work to confront and combat bigotry;'' the men
depicted in the portraits were Democrat Robert M.T. Hunter,
Democrat Howell Cobb, Democrat James L. Orr and Democrat Charles
F. Crisp: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Speaker of the
House of Representatives shall remove any item that names,
symbolizes or mentions any political organization or party that
has ever held a public position that supported slavery or the
Confederacy, from any area within the House wing of the Capitol or
any House office building, and shall donate any such item or
symbol to the Library of Congress.
========================= END NOTE =========================
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader
as a question of privileges of the House has immediate precedence only
at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after the
resolution is properly noticed.
Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the
gentleman from Texas will appear in the Record at this point.
The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at
the time designated for consideration of the resolution.
____________________