[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H4273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LET'S FUND THE GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, as of today, Congress has less than 3 weeks 
to reach an agreement on government funding before the September 30 
deadline. If we cannot complete this fundamental task, the one thing we 
have to do as Members of Congress, we risk shutting down the 
government, an outcome that would have devastating consequences for the 
American economy, American families, and our national security.
  I wish I could stand here and talk about all the great bipartisan 
work that the House Appropriations Committee has been doing and 
reassure you that we are on track to fund the government on time, but 
unfortunately that is far from reality.
  This year, House Republicans have abandoned bipartisanship and 
instead chose to draft some of the most extreme partisan and harmful 
legislation that I have ever seen. Their bills would enact devastating 
cuts that would jeopardize our children's education and futures, weaken 
our rural communities, increase costs for families, and leave our 
country less safe by directly cutting funds for necessary law 
enforcement.
  On top of this, they have packed these bills to the brim with extreme 
policy riders that have no chance of becoming law, including abortion 
bans and extremist discriminatory policy.
  We often say that your budget is a reflection of your values, and 
these shameful funding bills show that the House Republicans are 
lacking many.
  It doesn't have to be this way. Over in the Senate, Democrats and 
Republicans have put together bipartisan funding bills, all of which 
have passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee with 
overwhelming bipartisan support. House Republicans, however, are on an 
island of their own, seeking to jam their rightwing ideology down the 
throats of the American people or else subject them to a shutdown that 
will have devastating consequences. This would be the height of 
irresponsibility.
  It has become clear that the House Republicans do not have a plan. 
Faux impeachment is just a distraction. They do not have a strategy, 
and the chaos and confusion will come at a cost of a government 
shutdown that the American people cannot afford.
  Republicans in the House need to do the right thing: Come to the 
table with Democrats and both parties in the Senate and let's fund the 
government. It is not rocket science. It is just basic governance.


            Wisconsin Shouldn't Impeach Justice Protasiewicz

  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about what is happening 
in my home State of Wisconsin. There are calls from the gerrymandered 
State assembly to impeach the newest State supreme court justice before 
they have even heard a case.
  Justice Janet Protasiewicz was elected overwhelmingly. She defeated 
her opponent by more than 200,000 votes. She won by 11 points. In a 
purple State like Wisconsin, that is a landslide. However, because she 
mentioned that Wisconsin's extremely gerrymandered State legislative 
and congressional districts might be a problem, the current State 
assembly is threatening to use their impeachment powers before she even 
has a chance to hear a case.
  The State assembly is trying to overturn the will of the voters 
because they don't like who won the election. Using this logic, if the 
legislature doesn't like the possible outcomes of any election or cases 
before the court, it can conceivably threaten impeachment without 
actual cause and undermine the separation of powers of government. The 
legislature does not trump the judiciary. They are co-equal branches of 
government.
  Under the Republicans' absurd logic, they could threaten impeachment 
over their gerrymandered maps or keeping Wisconsin's 1849 abortion law 
or even potentially over giving themselves a pay increase even if they 
thought the court would find it unconstitutional.
  There is a standard for impeachment. It is for wrongdoing in office, 
not for disagreeing with the legislature. The fact that Justice 
Protasiewicz has not heard a single case makes this even more 
ridiculous.
  Now the Republicans in Wisconsin are maybe changing their tune. They 
likely realize this impeachment farce might be a bad idea, but that is 
not stopping them from coming up with new bad ideas to stay in power. 
Now they claim they want an independent commission, a Trojan horse, to 
distract as a way to stay in power, an idea that they previously 
dismissed.
  If the Republicans don't like the so-called fair maps that come out 
of this commission, they can still draw their own maps under this 
Trojan horse plan. It only requires a simple majority, which when you 
have gerrymandered maps, you certainly have. This is wrong. It does not 
represent Wisconsin's values and, frankly, it is un-American.

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