Providing for Consideration of H.R. National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for yielding.

I was here on 9/11, and I could see the billowing smoke as we ran for our lives as the planes were hitting the Pentagon and the aftermath.

I was here on January 6 when screaming voices came and glass began to break, as the video has shown us, the video of the beatings. My tribute to all the officers--we have heard the story of Officer Fanone.

All we want is truth, and all we want is for the big lie to be undone.

It is important to support H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex, and the underlying emergency supplemental that General Honore and his committee so aptly did.

I thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko for their hard work. Be reminded of the fact that it was the former President still lingering, lashing around instead of allowing the transfer of peaceful government to go. He is now pushing big lies.

I wanted the Vice President to live. I wanted the Speaker to live. I wanted Members to live. I wanted Black officers not to be under the threat of racist overtones. So this commission will listen to it all.

I ask my colleagues to get rid of the big lie, stand by the Constitution, the flag, and justice and equality for all. Pass H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act.

Mr. Speaker, as Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Homeland Security, and Terrorism, and a senior member of the Homeland Security, and Budget Committees, I rise in strong support of the rule governing debate of H.R. 3237, the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act of 2021, and H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex.

H.R. 3237 provides $1.9 billion in funding to respond to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when thousands of domestic terrorists inspired by the 45th President stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent, crazed, and desperate effort to disrupt the Joint Meeting of Congress prescribed by the Constitution to tally the votes of presidential electors and announce the results to the nation and the world.

H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol Complex Act, which establishes a national commission charged with investigating and reporting upon the facts and causes of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy.

Specifically, the January 6 Commission's mandate includes:

1. examining and evaluating evidence developed by relevant Federal, State, and local governments, in a manner that is respectful of ongoing investigations, regarding the facts and circumstances of the attack;

2. building upon other investigations regarding the attack and targeted violence and domestic terrorism related to such attack; and

3. reporting to the President and Congress regarding its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures taken to prevent future acts of targeted violence and domestic terrorism and improves the security posture of the United States Capitol Complex in a manner that preserves the accessibility of the Capitol Complex for all Americans, and strengthen the security and resilience of nation and American democratic institutions against domestic terrorism.

Like September 11, 2001, we cannot and must not ever forget the existential threat faced by our democracy on January 6, 2021, when thousands of domestic terrorists inspired by the 45th President stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent, crazed, and desperate effort to disrupt the Joint Meeting of Congress prescribed by the Constitution to tally the votes of presidential electors and announce the results to the nation and the world.

Mr. Speaker, the morning of September 11, 2001 is, and will always be, a day like no other.

It is a day all living Americans will remember because not since Pearl Harbor had there been such a dastardly and deadly attack on American soil.

On that day, we were united in our shock and anger and sadness and in our resolve to defend our country and protect the freedoms that has made America the greatest country in the history of the world.

I experienced the same gamut of emotions on January 6: grief, hope, resolve, and fierce commitment to protect our country.

Mr. Speaker, the assault on the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists and insurrectionists rightly takes its place as one of the darkest moments in our nation's history since the Civil War.

Mr. Speaker, the January 6 insurrection caused tragic loss of life and injuries, while leaving behind widespread physical damage to the Capitol Complex and emotional trauma for Members, Congressional employees, and the Capitol Police.

It bears repeating often that the Congress and the nation owe undying gratitude to the men and women who answered the call of constitutional duty and heroically won the day on that bloody and deadly afternoon.

That is why I introduced H. Res. 169, a resolution commending the officers of the United States Capitol Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, and other law enforcement personnel for their selfless and heroic service in defense of American democracy in responding to the assault on the United States Capitol by domestic terrorists on January 6, 2021.

H. Res. 169 notes that the January 6, 2021 siege of the Capitol assault resulted in one of the worst days of injuries for law enforcement in the United States since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but that the officers of the United States Capitol Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, and other uniformed law enforcement officers stood their ground in defense of American democracy while being attacked metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and other weapons.

The resolution conveys the thanks and appreciation of a grateful nation to them for their selfless and heroic service, encourages all educational and media institutions throughout the United States to teach and celebrate the story of their heroism and patriotism; and calls upon all Americans to read, celebrate, and revere the Constitution of the United States, fidelity to which is the surest best means of forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessing of liberty to them and their posterity.

Mr. Speaker, the domestic terrorists and seditionists who attacked the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 were not, as some of their ardent defenders and apologists across the aisle have stated falsely, on a ``normal tour visit''; nor was their effort to lay siege to the Capitol and disrupt the processes of government an act of persons who love their country.

And it is absurd to suggest that it was a celebration of the United States and what it stands for when the leading edge of terrorists desecrated the Capitol by offensively parading the treasonous Confederate flag through the building and when, because of their insurrection, several members of law enforcement made the supreme sacrifice and scores more were seriously injured.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a few moments to explain why the intended purpose of the January 6 insurrection--to disrupt the Joint Meeting of Congress to tally the votes of presidential electors and announce the results to the nation and the world--was the greatest threat to the American Experiment since the Civil War when the proslavery forces would rather make war than let the nation survive and the pro-freedom forces would accept war rather than let the nation perish.

The Framers understood and declared to the world that democratic governors derived their powers from the knowing and voluntary consent of the governed as expressed in free, fair, and unfettered elections unmarred by the influence or sabotage of any foreign country or entity not a member of the political community.

The most important feature of a democracy is that it is the voters who alone can confer the legitimate consent and authorization necessary to govern upon the governors who are then duty-bound to represent the voters' interests, and only their interests.

Mr. Speaker, the fundamental democratic compact between the governed and the governors is that the latter's authority and continuance in office comes exclusively from the governed and allegiance is owed exclusively to the governed.

This agreement can only be reached through free and fair elections, a breach of which threatens the vitality and viability of the social contract upon which democratic self-rule of, by, and for the people depends.

Mr. Speaker, President Lincoln called the United States the ``last best hope of man on earth'' and stated at Gettysburg the importance of finishing the work we are in to ensure that ``government of the people, for the people, by the people does not perish from the earth.''

By our actions in voting to establish and empower a National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol Complex, we are taking an indispensable step in ensuring the preservation of our democracy, which has been the envy of the world for more than 240 years.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to join me in voting for the rule and the underlying legislation, H.R. 3237, the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act of 2021, and H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex.

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