People Over Politics

Floor Speech

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Mr. LIEU. Mr. Speaker, last term, when Democrats were in control, we put people over politics and passed a bipartisan infrastructure law to rebuild your roads, bridges, and highways; to take lead out of water pipes; and to put broadband internet everywhere, from rural areas to cities, suburbs, and everywhere in between.

This year, when Republicans took control of the House, what did they do? They spent the enormous resources of their committee staff and the time and attention of their Members to hold not one but two hearings complaining about Twitter. They also took turns reading the United States Constitution on the House floor.

How does that help you, the American people? It doesn't. But it is worse than that.

Republicans are actually trying now to pass extreme bills that are going to actively harm American families. This week, we are going to vote on a bill that is going to make it easier for books to be banned at schools. It is also going to violate the privacy rights of students. If your child, unfortunately, has an eating disorder or is cyberbullied or is harassed or bullied, that information is going to have to be posted on a public website that the school has. Every other student and every parent is going to know that this is happening at the school. That is an outrageous violation of privacy.

Let me tell you about the amendments that Republicans rejected when Democrats tried to make this extreme bill better. Here are some amendments the Republicans rejected.

Republicans voted no on an amendment to remove lead pipes from schools.

Republicans voted no on an amendment to ensure kids had access to healthy meals.

Republicans voted no on an amendment to help keep firearms out of schools.

Republicans voted no on an amendment to prevent schools from monitoring students' menstrual cycles.

Republicans also voted no on an amendment to prevent the censorship of the teaching of the Holocaust.

This extreme bill is going to do horrible things to students' privacy, and it is going to increase books that are banned at schools.

In addition to doing stupid stuff and trying to pass extreme bills, Republicans have now gone on a rampage about what the Manhattan district attorney is doing without even knowing what the purported charges are or what the grand jury evidence is.

What if the evidence is overwhelming? What if it is rock solid that an American by the name of Donald Trump committed crimes? How do Republicans know? They don't.

Do you know what else they cannot explain? When Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, was arrested, indicted, convicted, and went to prison for participating in an illegal hush money payment scheme to Stormy Daniels, not a single Republican leader complaining now said a thing about what happened to Michael Cohen.

They cannot explain why they are holding Donald Trump to a different standard. Michael Cohen served prison time for participating in an illegal hush money payment scheme to Stormy Daniels.

In America, we should apply the same standard to all Americans. No one is above the law--not the former President's enablers, not the former President's attorneys, and not the former President himself.

Let's let law enforcement do their work. Let's let the judicial process do its work. Let's wait to see if there are going to be any charges, what those charges may be, and what the evidence is.

A jury or judge will get to hear this evidence, and the American people will see it. The prosecution will have to show beyond a reasonable doubt what their evidence is.

Let me conclude with this: Every American, including Donald Trump, is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law, and that presumption will also be applied.

Let's apply the law equally, the way our Founders wanted it to be done.

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