Calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Vice President for his excellent leadership, for his professionalism, and, frankly, for his faithfulness to our Constitution.

Not only would it be an abuse of the 25th Amendment for Mike Pence to invoke it to make a political statement, it is clearly not our role in Congress to do what we are doing here tonight or what is proposed to be done by the majority.

Speaker Pelosi claims that President Trump incited the mob that attacked the Capitol at a rally. As Mr. McClintock spoke earlier, he read the President's statement. He encouraged people to come peaceably and patriotically.

The Washington Post is reporting something that I would hope that our chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence would know about. The FBI report warned of war at the Capitol the day before the attack on our Capitol. I am curious how someone proposes that the President incited the mob at a rally the day before the rally.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the article.

[From The Washington Post, Jan. 12, 2021]

FBI Report Warned of `War' at Capitol, Contradicting Claims There Was

No Indication of Looming Violence

(By Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky)

A day before rioters stormed Congress, an FBI office in

Virginia issued an explicit warning that extremists were

preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and

``war,'' according to an internal document reviewed by The

Washington Post that contradicts a senior official's

declaration the bureau had no intelligence indicating anyone

at last week's demonstrations in support of President Trump

planned to do harm.

A situational information report approved for release the

day before the U.S. Capitol riot painted a dire portrait of

dangerous plans, including individuals sharing a map of the

complex's tunnels, and possible rally points for would-be

conspirators to meet in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts

and South Carolina and head in groups to Washington.

``As of 5 January 2021, FBI Norfolk received information

indicating calls for violence in response to `unlawful

lockdowns' to begin on 6 January 2021 in Washington, D.C.,''

the document says. ``An online thread discussed specific

calls for violence to include stating `Be ready to fight.

Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in,

and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being

spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or

a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we

die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal.''

BLM is probably a reference to the Black Lives Matter

movement for racial justice. Pantifa is a derogatory term for

antifa, a far-left anti-fascist movement whose adherents

sometimes engage in violent clashes with right-wing

extremists.

Yet even with that information in hand, the report's

unidentified author expressed concern that the FBI might be

encroaching on free-speech rights.

The warning is the starkest evidence yet of the sizable

intelligence failure that preceded the mayhem, which claimed

the lives of five people, although one law enforcement

official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid

disciplinary action, said the failure was not one of

intelligence but of acting on the intelligence.

At the FBI office in Norfolk, the report was written within

45 minutes of receiving the information, officials said, and

shared with counterparts in Washington.

The head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Steven

D'Antuono, told reporters on Friday that the agency did not

have intelligence suggesting the pro-Trump rally would be

anything more than a lawful demonstration. During a news

conference Tuesday, held after The Post's initial publication

of this report, he said the alarming Jan. 5 intelligence

document was shared ``with all our law enforcement partners''

through the joint terrorism task force, which includes the

U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Police, D.C. police, and

other federal and local agencies.

He suggested there was not a great deal for law enforcement

to do with the information because the FBI at that time did

not know who made the comments. ``That was a thread on a

message board that was not attributable to an individual

person,'' D'Antuono said Tuesday.

D'Antuono did not say what, if anything, the FBI or other

agencies did differently as a result of that information. Nor

did he explain why he told reporters on Friday that there had

been no such intelligence.

Steven Sund, who resigned as Capitol Police chief, said in

an interview Tuesday that he never received nor was made

aware of the FBI's field bulletin, insisting he and others

would have taken the warning seriously had it been shared.

``I did not have that information, nor was that information

taken into consideration in our security planning,'' Sund

said.

Since the riot, agents and prosecutors have been intent on

tracking down and arresting the most violent participants in

the mob, in part because there is already significant online

discussion of new potential clashes for Sunday and again on

Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is set to take the

oath of office.

Michael R. Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for D.C., said

there would be a strike force of prosecutors looking to file

charges of seditious conspiracy where the evidence merited

it.

The Jan. 5 FBI report notes that the information represents

the view of the FBI's Norfolk office, is not to be shared

outside law enforcement circles, that it is not ``finally

evaluated intelligence,'' and that agencies receiving it

``are requested not to take action based on this raw

reporting without prior coordination with the FBI.''

Multiple law enforcement officials have said privately in

recent days that the level of violence exhibited at the

Capitol has led to difficult discussions within the FBI and

other agencies about race, terrorism and whether

investigators failed to register the degree of danger because

the overwhelming majority of the participants at the rally

were White conservatives fiercely loyal to Trump.

``Individuals/Organizations named in this [situational

information report] have been identified as participating in

activities that are protected by the First Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution,'' the document says. ``Their inclusion

here is not intended to associate the protected activity with

criminality or a threat to national security, or to infer

that such protected activity itself violates federal law.

``However,'' it continues, ``based on known intelligence

and/or specific historical observations, it is possible the

protected activity could invite a violent reaction towards

the subject individual or others in retaliation or with the

goal of stopping the protected activity from occurring in the

first instance. In the event no violent reaction occurs, FBI

policy and federal law dictates that no further record be

made of the protected activity.''

The document notes that one online comment advised, ``if

Antifa or BLM get violent, leave them dead in the street,''

while another said they need ``people on standby to provide

supplies, including water and medical, to the front lines.

The individual also discussed the need to evacuate

noncombatants and wounded to medical care.''

On Jan. 6, a large, angry crowd of people who had attended

a rally nearby marched to the Capitol, smashing windows and

breaking doors to get inside. One woman in the mob was shot

and killed by Capitol Police; officials said three other in

the crowd had medical emergencies and died. A Capitol Police

officer died after suffering injuries.

The FBI said in a statement that its ``standard practice is

to not comment on specific intelligence products,'' but added

that FBI field offices ``routinely share information with

their local law enforcement partners to assist in protecting

the communities they serve.''

For weeks leading up to the event, FBI officials discounted

any suggestion that the activities of Trump supporters upset

about the scheduled certification of Biden's election win

could be a security threat on a scale with the racial-justice

demonstrations that followed the police killing of George

Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

While the nation's capital is one of the most heavily

guarded cities on the planet, local and federal law

enforcement agencies sought to take a low-key approach to

last week's event, publicly and privately expressing concerns

that they did not want to repeat last year's ugly clashes

between protesters and police.

Some law enforcement officials took the view that

protesters who support Trump are generally known for over-

the-top rhetoric but not much violence, and therefore the

event did not pose a particularly serious risk, according to

people familiar with the security discussions leading up to

Jan. 6.

Even so, there were warning signs, though none as stark as

the one from the FBI's Norfolk office.

FBI agents had in the weeks before the Trump rally visited

suspected far-right extremists, hoping to glean whether they

had violent intentions, said a person familiar with the

matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the

law enforcement activity. It was not immediately clear who

was visited or if the FBI was specifically tracking anyone

who would later be charged criminally. These visits were

first reported Sunday by NBC News.

In addition, in the days leading up to the demonstrations,

some Capitol Hill staffers were told by supervisors to not

come in to work that day, if possible, because it seemed the

danger level would be higher than many previous protests,

according to a person familiar with the warning who spoke on

the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Capitol

Police did not take the kind of extra precautions, such as

frozen zones and hardened barriers, that are typically used

for major events near the Capitol.

Federal agents are on high alert as the inauguration nears,

with authorities bracing for possible violence not just in

Washington but also nationwide, officials said.

The FBI recently issued a different memo saying that

``armed protests'' were being planned ``at all 50 state

capitols'' and in D.C. in the run-up to the inauguration,

according to an official familiar with the matter, speaking

on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive law

enforcement matter.

The memo--first reported by ABC News and later confirmed by

The Post--is a raw intelligence product, compiling

information gathered by the bureau and several other

government agencies, the official familiar with the matter

said. Some of it is unverified, and the threat probably will

differ significantly from place to place, the official said.

But the information it highlights to law enforcement is

nonetheless troubling--including that there was data

suggesting people might storm government offices or stage an

uprising were Trump to be removed from office, the official

said.

In a statement, the FBI declined to comment specifically on

the memo about state capitols but said: ``Our efforts are

focused on identifying, investigating, and disrupting

individuals that are inciting violence and engaging in

criminal activity. As we do in normal course of business, we

are gathering information to identify any potential threats

and are sharing that information with our partners.

``The FBI respects The rights of individuals to peacefully

exercise their First Amendment rights,'' it said. ``Our focus

is not on peaceful protesters, but on those threatening their

safety and the safety of other citizens with violence and

destruction of property.''

Others are reporting a timeline that has the breach out of sync as well, but that highlights the importance. There is far too little that we know about this attack on our Capitol.

Here is what we do know. No one has defended this attack on our Capitol. On the contrary, we are missing--willfully missing, in my opinion--a moment of extreme unity in our Nation, just like what was willfully done earlier this year.

At a time of great political and partisan division, even seething anger, one thing all Americans seem to agree on is that these attacks were wrong. The President condemned them. He discouraged violence, not just on January 6 but on other days throughout the year as he talked about law and order and as he talked about something that we finally seem to agree on, that there is a clear distinction between the Constitution's First Amendment protection of the right to assemble peaceably and riots, criminal, unlawful riots.

There is a distinction between rioters and protesters. Frankly, it took us months to agree on that as a body in Congress, but the people of the United States of America agreed to it. They understood it.

I encourage my colleagues across the political spectrum, the Members of Congress gathered here together today and tomorrow, to stand united and move forward with the agreement our country had, that this was wrong.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 38 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, today the Rules Committee met and reported a closed rule, House Resolution 38, providing for consideration of House Resolution 21, calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President.

The rule provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary or a designee. The rule self-executes a manager's amendment by Chairman Nadler. The rule provides that the prohibition against engaging in personalities during debate, with respect to references to the President, shall not apply during consideration of House Resolution 21 or any special order of business relating to the impeachment of the President considered on January 13, 2021.

Finally, the rule authorizes and directs the Sergeant at Arms to impose a fine against a Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for the failure to wear a mask in contravention of the Speaker's announced policy on this subject for the duration of the pandemic.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to debate the rule for House Resolution 21, a resolution calling for Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare President Donald Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office. We take this action solemnly and with grave concern for the safety and security of our Nation and its people, even in the final days of this President's administration.

Last Wednesday, a lawless mob breached this Chamber with the most evil and destructive intent. They were here to take the law into their own hands, to disrupt Congress as it counted the electoral college votes, and to overturn the lawful election of Joseph Biden as our 46th President.

As violent invaders broke windows and rammed doors, they chanted that they wanted to hang the Vice President and kidnap the Speaker of the House, and they brought the tools to do it. They beat one police officer to death, tased others, and tried to shoot one with his own gun. Another officer will likely lose an eye. Scores of others

suffered head injuries when they were beaten with pipes. Blood was spilled on the marble floor just outside this room.

Members, staff, and reporters were forced to take cover under furniture and barricade themselves in rooms, clutching gas masks and fearing for their lives as the President's MAGA supporters chanted and raged nearby. Journalists were specifically targeted and beaten. Explosive devices were placed nearby to divert the police from protecting the Capitol.

This was not a peaceful protest. These were crimes against our country and the people who go to work every day on Capitol Hill. Just this afternoon, the FBI announced that it expects to charge hundreds of people with crimes ranging from simple trespass to conspiracy and sedition, to weapons offenses, to felony murder.

Crimes like this do not occur in a vacuum. They must be planned. They must be led.

The attack on the Capitol was incited by this administration. For months, they told their supporters that if they didn't win the election, the election was rigged. When the majority of American voters decided they had had enough of this chaos, they declared that the election had been stolen. The administration invited the President's most rabid supporters to come to D.C. on January 6 for a wild protest. Then the administration whipped them into a frenzy and sent the mob across town to attack the Capitol and disrupt the counting of electoral college votes. But it didn't end there.

The President reportedly watched with excitement as the news media began streaming images of the terror at the Capitol through electronic devices in America and around the world. The President tweeted that the Vice President had betrayed him. And even after the violence was apparent, the President and his lawyer placed calls to allies on Capitol Hill, trying to persuade them to prolong their objections to the counting of the electoral votes. What the administration didn't do for hours was to lift a finger to call off the mob or to rally support to defend the government, the historic monuments in the Capitol, the police, or especially the people under siege in the building. Members here in this Chamber know that, for hours, the President refused to return their calls begging for help.

Mr. Speaker, in the days since, the administration has continued to claim that the election was rigged. It has denied any responsibility for the riot, and praised the rioters, all while reports proliferate that the administration's supporters are planning more violence in the weeks ahead.

This is why this President remains a clear and present danger to the country, so long as he continues to serve. The reality is that we all-- even the most loyal political supporters--know that this President is unfit for office. Any other President with an ounce of character would have resigned after seeing the bloody consequences of the actions on Wednesday. Any other administration would have invoked the 25th Amendment long ago.

I don't care if a President incites a riot against Congress on his first day or the last day of his or her Presidency. Such an act is a crime against our government, much less against the people who are terrorized or killed in the attack. If a President can refuse to acknowledge the will of American voters, then incite a coup to stay in power without punishment, then our democracy is lost.

Mr. Speaker, that is why it is vital for Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to do the right thing--to invoke the 25th Amendment. Otherwise, this Congress must remove Donald Trump from office.

I have heard the calls for unity, and I agree that now is the time to come forward in unity, to defend our country, not to defend a man who has proven himself incompetent to occupy the office of the President for another day.

I am grateful to those Members of the Republican Party who agreed that the time has come to put loyalty to country above partisan considerations. And we welcome their support in taking whatever actions are necessary to end this chaos, to defend our government, and to protect the American people.

I also find the cries of partisanship by the President's remaining supporters to be unconvincing. The whole world watched in horror on January 6 as the administration encouraged a mob to attack the seat of our democracy to disrupt the election of Joseph R. Biden and then stood by as rioters sacked the Capitol.

Many civic leaders from both parties have condemned the President's actions and called for his removal. So, no, this is not partisan.

But I invite the President's supporters in Congress--no, I beg them-- to join the American people in holding this President accountable for the violence we experienced last week and to prevent further chaos in the days to come.

Before I conclude, I want to take a minute to give my deepest condolences to the families of the Capitol Police officers who died as a result of this attack. I want to thank the men and women of the Metropolitan and Capitol Police forces who valiantly defended both our democracy and the people who work on the Hill and wish a speedy recovery to the scores who were injured during the attack.

I also want to thank our tireless facilities and custodial staff for putting the building back together after terrorists violated it and the members of the press corps who have been so abused by this administration and were specifically targeted by this mob but continued documenting the attack so Americans could see what was really happening.

Lastly, I want to thank our staff across the Capitol for their bravery and dedication to public service. I want to thank them for the work they do every day but especially for their heroism in returning to the floor last Wednesday night to help us continue the electoral college vote count, and I thank them for being back here with us today. We are indebted to them for their service to our country.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).

Mr. Speaker, we, of course, share the concern of our colleagues from the other side of the aisle that an incident like this never happens again. That is why we are urging the Vice President to invoke the 25th Amendment, because of the clear and present danger of continued violence under this administration.

While I believe there will be a time to talk about bipartisan efforts to have an investigation through this House, this is not the moment for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui), a distinguished former member of the Rules Committee.

I would just suggest that sedition is inherently divisive, and it is difficult to unify before there has been accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi).

Just to clarify, this provision about suspending the rule about personalities is so that we can have a full and frank discussion of just why the request is being made to invoke the 25th Amendment and just why this President should be impeached. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to describe the high crimes and misdemeanors and other misconduct which forms the basis of those requests if that rule were not suspended.

As I mentioned in my opening, we don't view this as a partisan resolution. We have Members from all sides of the political spectrum now calling for the removal of this President. Members might want to check their news feed to see the growing list of civic, business, and religious leaders from across the country who have said: Enough is enough. This President is a clear and present danger.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I would inquire if the gentleman has any more speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, after the chaos and potentially--well, definitely criminal behavior that we saw here last week, there is no trust left between this administration and the majority of the American people.

The stability of our executive branch is a foundational piece of our democracy. This administration has failed or refused to uphold the most basic duties of protecting our Constitution and our national security or of respecting the coequal branches of our government.

Wednesday's bloody attack proved that this administration is an imminent and continuing danger to our country even in the waning days of this Presidency.

I am heartbroken for our country but more determined than ever to fight to preserve our democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I call on Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to do the right thing. I call upon our colleagues to do the right thing: to put our country before the interests of any one man and to join us in ending this failed Presidency.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Just a few days ago, the Nation was shaken by the violent and destructive actions of an outrageous mob that stormed the Capitol and attempted to gain access to this very Chamber, seeking to harm innocent lives and disrupt democracy at work.

I vehemently condemn their lawless actions. This never should have happened, and the perpetrators of these despicable crimes that took place in this building must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

While Americans have the right to passionately voice their views and peacefully dissent in protest, the siege on our Capitol last Wednesday was the furthest thing from peaceful protest. As a result of the violent and frightening events of the day, six lives have been lost.

This includes two courageous Capitol Police officers who put themselves in harm's way to protect us, secure the building, and restore order. We will never forget their selfless sacrifices and bravery. Our deepest prayers remain with their families, friends, loved ones, and the entire United States Capitol Police force as they grapple with their heavy loss.

As we seek to pick up the pieces and move forward healing our Nation, I am concerned that the majority is proceeding with the wrong course of action.

Earlier today, Mr. Speaker, the Rules Committee met and reported out a rule for consideration of House Resolution 21. This is a nonbinding resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to convene the Cabinet and declare President Trump incapable of executing his duties pursuant to section 4 of the 25th Amendment.

I think this resolution is misguided and inappropriate for the legislative branch to pursue. As such, I must oppose it.

Mr. Speaker, under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, when it appears the President is unable to fulfill his or her duties, it is the responsibility of the Vice President, with the concurrence of a majority of the Cabinet, to initiate the process for making that determination.

That responsibility, grave as it is, rests solely with the Vice President. There is no role for Congress in this

process. The only role for Congress arises later and only in the circumstances where there is a dispute between the President and Vice President about the President's ability to fulfill his or her duties, but we are not faced with that situation now.

Nor is this resolution intended to designate, by law, another body besides the Cabinet to exercise this power, which the text of the 25th Amendment says it may do. Instead, with today's resolution, what the majority is asking the House to do is to assume a power it does not have. The House has no role in initiating section 4 of the 25th Amendment, and we should not pretend otherwise. Instead, that power lies with the Vice President.

And we should be very clear about what this resolution actually is. It is an attempt to pressure the Vice President into performing a duty he clearly does not believe is necessary at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I was here in the Capitol last week, as were all of my colleagues. We all had the opportunity to watch Vice President Pence as he fulfilled his duty under the Constitution. He showed sound judgment and poise under pressure, and his actions were above reproach. Indeed, he fulfilled his oath of office and acted in a manner befitting his constitutional role. It was a statesman-like performance under the most difficult of circumstances.

Despite witnessing the Vice President's sound judgment and ability to fulfill his oath in person, the majority is now seeking to push him into performing an additional action under the 25th Amendment. The Vice President has not done what the majority wishes him to do, and so they are bringing up this resolution now in effort to pressure him into doing so.

This act, attempting to substitute the House's judgment for the Vice President's, is not contemplated anywhere in the Constitution. As we all saw last Wednesday, Vice President Pence's judgment is sound. There is no need for the House to attempt to substitute its judgment for his own.

I personally have strong faith in him, and I believe he will consider his constitutional duty in the same manner that he carries out all of the other constitutional duties assigned to him: in a forthright manner that fulfills his oath of office and attests to his personal integrity.

Should the Vice President ever believe that the 25th Amendment needs to be invoked, I have no doubt that Vice President Pence, both as a leader, as a former House colleague, and as a friend, would exercise good judgment with respect to performing that duty. That he has not taken that action thus far is not an indication that the House needs to push him to do so. His record of sound judgment should speak to us on this issue.

As such, I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution. I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule, a ``no'' vote on the underlying measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko), who is my very good friend and fellow member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately bring up a resolution establishing a bipartisan national commission on the domestic terrorist attack on the United States Capitol.

This commission, modeled on the 9/11 Commission, will be charged with examining and reporting upon the facts and causes relating to the attack that occurred on January 6 of 2021 and with providing appropriate findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures.

I can think of no more appropriate path for Congress to follow, Mr. Speaker, than to ensure that a bipartisan commission reviews all evidence and reports back to us on this horrific event.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) for further explanation of the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain), who will be giving her first address on the floor of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler), who is the newest Republican member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would disagree somewhat with my good friend from Pennsylvania. I have had the privilege of being in this body for many years, and I have never seen what we see in sections 2 and 3 of this rule, the suspension of appropriate language.

I understand the difficulties of dealing with this issue and respect that. However, at a time when the rhetoric has been over the top, I think we should set a high example. We have never done this before in my time here. We didn't do it in previous impeachments.

The need to do it now is lost on me, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I have great confidence in my friend. I have great confidence in my friends on the Rules Committee.

So, the rule is the rule. This will almost certainly pass. I would just hope that everybody acts as good as they can. I mean, I hate to put it that simply, but this is an important issue.

I respect all the Members of this body. I know they have very different points of view on this. That is to be expected.

Generally, our debates are professional. Generally, that standard is something we are proud of and something that we aspire to. I hate to see it ever lowered or any exception provided.

I also have great confidence in the Speaker's Chair, and I know that they will enforce the appropriate level of civility and decency on the floor.

But, Mr. Speaker, I just ask my fellow Members to please, please think about this, because we have taken a very important safeguard off the rails of debate, so to speak.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), my very good friend, the distinguished Republican ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution.

The resolution asks this House to substitute its judgment for the Vice President's in making the grave decision to initiate procedures under section 4 of the 25th Amendment. Under the Constitution, this is a role that belongs exclusively to the Vice President and the Cabinet, not to the House of Representatives. Attempting to usurp this responsibility is not supported by the Constitution and would be a historic overreach.

Members should also take assurance from the Vice President's strong record of sound judgment. Rather than pressuring him into acting, we should be reassured by the knowledge that he would act on this topic as he does on all others in performing his duty, in a manner befitting his constitutional role as Vice President of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 38, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 21) calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 21.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes to begin.

Mr. Speaker, we have experienced the trauma of a violent attack on this House of Representatives, on this Chamber, and on all of the people who work here.

An armed, lawless, and enraged mob smashed windows, beat up and crushed Capitol Hill Police officers who cried out in agony; overcame and subdued law enforcement; killed or caused the deaths of at least five American citizens, including a heroic Capitol Hill Police officer, Brian Sicknick, and four other Americans; inflicted serious injuries on dozens of our police officers and other people, including 15 officers who had to be hospitalized.

Chanting ``stop the steal'' and ``hang Mike Pence,'' they threatened the lives and safety of the three individuals in the line of succession to the President of the United States. They built a gallows right outside the Capitol.

They screamed, ``Where is Nancy?'' They stormed the Speaker's office, and they occupied it. They stole government property. They trashed the place.

They terrorized officers, staff, and Members. They brandished the Confederate battle flag in the Capitol of the United States, something that didn't even happen during the Civil War.

They allowed hundreds or thousands of people to enter the Capitol without metal detectors or any kind of security screening at all, not only to desecrate the temple of democracy and to spit in the face of Congress but actually to interfere with the counting of electoral college votes in the 2020 Presidential election.

They may have been looking for Vice President Pence and Speaker Pelosi, but every person in this room could have died. As a shaken Senator Lindsey Graham said, ``The mob could have blown the building up. They could have killed us all.''

Mr. Speaker, whether or not you believe the President's course of conduct in encouraging, building, summoning, assembling, and inflaming the mob--lighting the flame, as Congresswoman Liz Cheney put it in a very powerful and cogent statement this evening--whether you believe that that was a high crime and misdemeanor, an offense against the Republic, that is a question for another time. And to put my cards on the table, I think it was a crime against the Republic.

But leaving that aside, I think every Member in this body should be able to agree that this President is not meeting the most minimal duties of office. He is not meeting the oath that he swore, to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. He is not protecting and defending the democracy itself, the process of electing the President. He is not respecting the peaceful transfer of power. He is not taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. He is not protecting the Republic against mob insurrection, invasion, and hostility. He is not protecting the republican form of government for the people of the United States when he allowed this to happen.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution is simply asking Vice President Pence to exercise his powers under the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, section 4, to convene the Cabinet and to mobilize the Cabinet to state and articulate what is obvious to the American people--this President is not meeting the duties of office and is clearly not capable of it-- and to transfer the powers to the Vice President under the 25th Amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman reasonably poses the question: Why are we doing this?

We think that the President of the United States constitutes a clear and present danger to the Republic and to our people.

For example, on the white supremacist websites that helped to build the President's mob, they are now calling for a return engagement on the days of January 19 and 20. They are calling again for an attack on the Capitol, and they are calling again for the State legislatures, now in 50 States, to be surrounded.

What will the attitude be of the President of the United States? Will he give them aid and comfort? Will he wink at them? Will he send them positive tweets and messages, calling them patriots?

Also, on extreme rightwing websites, they are calling for the President to pardon the organizers of the armed violent insurrection that took place in this body not even a week ago. What if the President decides to pardon them?

We know this President is not living up to the most minimal duties of his office. That is why we are doing this, to protect the public.

By the way, we are not telling the Vice President what he must do. We have no authority to do that. We are telling him what we think he should do and that the Congress will be with him because we know that he has come under extreme rightwing pressure on everything from the counting of the electoral college votes to his positions on a whole range of things to go along with Donald Trump. So, we are trying to counterbalance that attack on him from the right to say the people want to see a peaceful way through this.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Very quickly, the gentlewoman, whom I have not had the pleasure to meet yet, confuses disability and incapacity. Franklin D. Roosevelt was in a wheelchair. He had a disability, and he was one of our greatest Presidents. President Lincoln, according to historians, suffered from depression, but he was one of our greatest Presidents.

Incapacity is different. Incapacity is demonstrated by President Trump's complete, total inability to conform his conduct to the rule of law and the Constitution.

I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I heard one of our colleagues say it was the fault of the mob, not Donald Trump. But who summoned the mob? Who created the mob? Who assembled it?

You don't have to trust us if you don't like what you call ``Democrat Members.'' We do prefer Democratic Members for the new ones, but how about this? Listen to the chair of your own conference.

The chair of the Republican Conference, Liz Cheney, said, ``The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President.''

So you can hate the Democrat Members all you want. That is the chair of the Republican Conference.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time both sides have remaining?

Mr. Speaker, the cancel culture of violent white supremacy tried to cancel out all of our lives last Wednesday.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bera).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on both sides?

Accountability comes before healing, but healing should come.

If we look at the Constitution, we will clearly see that Mr. Raskin's resolution fits the language: an inability to be able to discharge your duties, to exercise the laws carefully.

Do you consider these words from the President of the United States to insurrectionists and terrorists to ``walk down to the Capitol,'' says the President, telling them: ``If you don't fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore.'' And that is the attack that the domestic terrorists made on this place.

All we are asking of the Vice President, through this resolution, is to reflect on that and to call upon the 25th Amendment to convene the Cabinet, to begin the healing, because the President of the United States is dangerous to the American people.

That is why we are on the floor today. We hope that he will have an opportunity to reflect because the Constitution says in many places that the actions of this President are dangerous.

People have died. We have lost two police officers. Others are in the hospital. And yes, it was an insurrection. It is time to pass H. Res. 21.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and on Homeland Security, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 21, a resolution calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President.

As a person who was in the House chamber, that day and witnessed the terror, mayhem, and horror unleashed by the President's incitement of insurrection and utter betrayal of his sacred oath, it is manifestly evident that the President is clearly incapable, and certainly unwilling, of exercising the duties of his office, which makes it essential for Vice-President Pence to convene the principal officers of the Executive Branch to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, the resolution recites a tale of abdication and dereliction of duty by a President of the United States unseen in the history of our country.

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by section 15 of title 3, United States Code, for the counting of electoral votes, Congress experienced a massive, violent invasion of the United States Capitol and its complex by a dangerous insurrectionary mob, which smashed windows and used violent, physical force and weapons to overpower and outmaneuver the United States Capitol Police and facilitated the illegal entry into the Capitol of hundreds, if not thousands, of unauthorized persons (all of whom entered the Capitol complex without going through metal detectors and other security screening devices).

This insurrectionary mob threatened the safety and lives of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and the President pro tempore of the Senate, the first three individuals in the line of succession to the presidency, as the rioters were recorded chanting ``Hang Mike Pence'' and ``Where's Nancy'' when President Donald J. Trump tweeted to his supporters that ``Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country.'

The marauders attacked law enforcement officers, unleashed chaos and terror among Members and staffers and their families, occupied the Senate Chamber and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office along with other leadership offices, vandalized and pilfered government

property, and succeeded in causing the unprecedented disruption of the Electoral College count process for a 4-hour period in both the House and the Senate, a dangerous and destabilizing impairment of the peaceful transfer of power that these insurrectionary riots were explicitly designed to cause.

At least five Americans have died as a result of injuries or traumas suffered during this violent attack on Congress, including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, and more than 50 police officers were seriously injured, including 15 officers who had to be hospitalized by these violent assaults.

There could easily have been hundreds more wounded and killed, a sentiment captured by Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the President's fiercest enablers, who observed that ``the mob could have blown the building up. They could have killed us all.''

Mr. Speaker, these insurrectionary protests were widely advertised and broadly encouraged by the current President, who repeatedly disgraced his high office by exhorting his millions of followers on Twitter and other social media outlets to come to Washington on January 6 to ``Stop the Steal'' of the 2020 Presidential election, promising that the protest on the Electoral College counting day would be ``wild.''

Although President-elect Joseph R. Biden decisively won the 2020 Presidential election with more than 81 million votes and defeated President Trump 306-232 in the Electoral College, a margin pronounced to be a ``landslide' by the current President Trump when he won by the same Electoral College numbers in 2016, the current and temporary occupant of the White House never accepted these election results as legitimate and waged a protracted campaign of propaganda and coercive pressure in the Federal and State courts, in the state legislatures, with Secretaries of State, and in Congress to nullify and overturn these results and replace them with imaginary and fabricated numbers to maintain his continuance in office.

This culminated in the current President taking the stage at the insurrection rally he held on the Ellipse Grounds on January 6, 2021 to exhort the rioters and insurrectionists to ``walk down to the Capitol,'' telling them ``if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.'

The President's putative lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who possesses the uncanny knack of surfacing to make things worse whenever the President is acting to undermine American democracy, warned the mob to expect ``trial by combat.''

While domestic terrorists occupied parts of the Capitol, the person currently occupying the office of President of the United States, ignored or rejected repeated real-time entreaties from the Speaker of the House and the Democratic Leader of the U.S. Senate to appeal to his followers to exit the Capitol.

Mr. Speaker, photographs, cell phone videos, social media posts, and on-the-ground reporting show that numerous violent insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol were armed, carrying police grade flex cuffs to detain and handcuff people, used mace, pepper spray, and bear spray against United States Capitol Police officers, erected gallows on Capitol grounds to hang ``traitors,'' vehemently chanted ``Hang Mike Pence'' while roaming the Capitol, emphasizing that storming the Capitol was ``a revolution,'' and committed the unspeakable offense of brandishing the Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol.

In all of this, Donald John Trump has demonstrated repeatedly, continuously, and spectacularly his absolute inability to discharge the most basic and fundamental powers and duties of his office, including most recently the duty to respect the legitimate results of the Presidential election and the duty to respect the peaceful transfer of democratic power under the Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, Donald John Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

For the safety and security of the people of the United States and the survival of our democracy, he must be removed from office.

For these reasons, I urge all Members to join me in voting for H. Res. 21, calling upon the Vice-President to convene the Cabinet and to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.