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[Pages H3137-H3138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONSTITUTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to raise questions of grave
constitutional significance.
Last week, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
requested the IRS turn over years' worth of President Trump's personal
and business tax returns. These are returns that cover business
decisions and dealings long before the President came to office.
[[Page H3138]]
Similarly, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform has
indicated that his committee will examine allegations regarding how the
President valued real estate, among other business decisions, long
before the President was elected. He has also indicated he may call
members of the President's family to testify about these and other
Trump Organization dealings.
These actions are not only blatantly partisan, but they raise serious
constitutional concerns.
Our system is one of limited powers and of checks and balances. The
Congress is not a law enforcement agency. It is not a court of law. It
is a legislative body.
Beside me are the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren, someone whom I
would say most on the other side hold in high esteem:
``There is no general authority to expose the private affairs of
individuals without justification in terms of the functions of the
Congress. . . . Investigations conducted solely for the personal
aggrandizement of the investigators or to `punish' those investigated
are indefensible.''
As the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, investigations
conducted by this House ``must be related to and be in furtherance of a
legitimate task of the Congress.''
The Court has particularly warned that investigations of the private
affairs of individuals are off limits without a clear connection to
this body's constitutional functions. Rightly so. We are a nation of
laws and of liberty.
The President's political opponents tried and failed to make his tax
returns and his business dealings an issue in the 2016 Presidential
election. The American people settled that issue at the ballot box.
{time} 1045
It is absolutely clear that the majority does not seek the
President's tax returns, information about his business, or to haul his
family before Congress in an effort to pass new laws or for some other
legislative purpose.
These investigations are thinly veiled attempts to use the powers of
this Chamber to provide ammunition for the 2020 election.
Mr. Speaker, each of us swears a duty to uphold the Constitution.
Each of us has a responsibility to ensure that our actions conform
within its boundaries and its principles. I urge the majority to
remember that obligation and reconsider this course.
The investigatory power of this institution is absolutely critical to
our function as a coequal and independent branch of government.
Excesses by the body led to an intervention by the Supreme Court in
an over 40-year period when the right of Congress to compel testimony
was called into question.
Again, in the 1950s, the court was forced to intervene to stop the
excesses of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Let's be clear. These so-called investigations set a dangerous
precedent. The majority wants to use Congress to investigate the past
personal and business dealings of an elected official and his family.
This is yet another attempt to coerce and intimidate people with whom
they disagree.
This isn't legitimate. This is a witch hunt, and it threatens to
undermine legislative investigations in the future.
So, again, I ask the majority to think very hard about their
constitutional obligations and what these partisan attacks against the
President will mean for the future of this House. It is your right to
oppose the President at the ballot box, not to use the powers of this
body to score political points.
There is no legitimate purpose for this Congress to investigate the
President or his family before he was elected to office.
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