Steve Russell

Mr. Speaker, we are told it is the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas. As a Nation, we have celebrated it with family, with breaks from work, and with a bit of pomp in our Nation's Capital. But why? It has not always been the case.

When Americans began to settle in the Colonies, they came with varied religious backgrounds. To the Pilgrims and Puritans, the idea of celebrating a holy day associated with the churches that had persecuted them in Europe was repulsive. But to those high churches long established--such as Anglican, Episcopal, and Catholic--Christmas was observed widespread.

In the fabric of our Nation, the low church settlers dwelt more in New England, where Christmas was not observed, and the high church settlers were more in the South, where it was. Still, it was not until 1837, when Louisiana made Christmas a State holiday, that Christmas was officially recognized.

In time, more States began official recognition. In 1870, Christmas became a national holiday. Its lack of recognition was not for a lack of understanding for the importance of the birth of Christ. Rather, it was out of respect to the various Christian beliefs making up our national fabric.

It was not until 1889 that a Christmas tree adorned the White House, and the first official Christmas tree lighting ceremony did not occur until 1923, under President Calvin Coolidge. The first White House Christmas card did not appear until 1953, under President Dwight Eisenhower.

Still, our Nation and our leaders have always made great effort to express the importance of the birth of Christ. Here is what a few of nearly all of our Presidents have said about the birth of Christ:

Calvin Coolidge: ``For many generations, Christmas has been joyously observed . . . because on that day was born one who grew to be the only perfect man and became the Savior of the world. No other influence in human experience has compared with the birth and life of Christ.''

Franklin Roosevelt: ``Here, at home, we will celebrate this Christmas Day in our traditional American way--because of its deep spiritual meaning to us; because the teachings of Christ are fundamental in our lives; and because we want our youngest generation to grow up knowing the significance of this tradition and the story of the coming of the immortal Prince of Peace and Good Will. But, in perhaps every home in the United States, sad and anxious thoughts will be continually with the millions of our loved ones who are suffering hardships and misery, and who are risking their very lives to preserve for us and for all mankind the fruits of His teachings and the foundations of civilization itself.''

Harry Truman: ``In love, which is the very essence of the message of the Prince of Peace, the world would find a solution for all its ills. I do not believe there is one problem in this country or in the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. . . .

``In the stillness of the eve of the Nativity when the hopes and mankind hang on the peace that was offered to the world 19 centuries ago, it is but natural, while we survey our destiny, that we give thought also to our past to some of the things which have gone into the making of our Nation. . . .

``In this day, whether it be far or near, the kingdoms of this world shall become, indeed, the kingdom of God, and He will reign forever and ever, Lord of Lords and King of Kings . . .

``Since returning home, I have been reading again in our family Bible some of the passages which foretold this night. . . . We miss the spirit of Christmas if we consider the incarnation as an indistinct and doubtful, far-off event unrelated to our present problems. We miss the purport of Christ's birth if we do not accept it as a living link which joins us together in the spirit as children of the ever-living and true God. In love alone--the love of God and the love of man--will be found the solution of all the ills which afflict the world today.''

Lyndon Johnson: ``We were taught by Him whose birth we commemorate that after death, there is life. . . . In these last 200 years, we have guided the building of our Nation and our society by those principles and precepts brought to Earth nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas.

``In a few days, we shall all celebrate the birth of His Holiness on Earth. . . . We shall acknowledge the kingdom of a child in a world of men. That child, we should remember, grew into manhood Himself, preached and moved men in many walks of life, and died in agony. But His death, so the Christian faith tells us, was not the end. For Him, and for millions of men and women ever since, it marked a time of triumph, when the spirit of life triumphed over death.''

Gerald Ford: ``In our 200 years, we Americans have always honored the spiritual testament of 2,000 years ago. We embrace the spirit of the Prince of Peace so that we might find peace in our own hearts and in our own land, and hopefully in the world as well.''

Ronald Reagan: ``The Nativity story of nearly 20 centuries ago is known by all faiths as a hymn to the brotherhood of man. For Christians, it is the fulfillment of age-old prophecies and the reaffirmation of God's great love for all of us. Through a generous Heavenly Father's gift of His Son, hope and compassion entered a world weary with fear and despair and changed it for all time.''

Reagan continues. `` . . . I have always believed that the message of Jesus is one of hope and joy. I know that there are those who recognize Christmas Day as the birthday of a great and good man, a wise teacher who gave us principles to live by. And then there are others of us who believe that He was the Son of God, that He was Divine. If we live our lives for truth, for love, and for God, we need never be afraid.''

George H.W. Bush put it this way: ``At Christmas, we, too, rejoice in the mystery of God's love for us--love revealed through the gift of Christ's birth. Born into a family of a young carpenter and his wife, in a stable shared by beasts of the field, our Savior came to live among ordinary men. Yet, in time, the miraculous nature of this simple event became clear. Christ's birth changed the course of history, bringing the light of hope to a world dwelling in the darkness of sin and death.

Today, nearly 2,000 years later, the shining promise of that first Christmas continues to give our lives a sense of peace and purpose. Our words and deeds, when guided by the example of Christ's life, can help others share in the joy of man's Redemption.''

Bill Clinton: ``The Christmas story is dear and familiar to us all-- shepherds and angels, Wise Men and King Herod, Mary and Joseph, and, at the heart of it all, a Child. This Child was born into poverty in a city too crowded to offer Him shelter. He was sent to a region whose people had endured suffering, tyranny, and exile. And yet, this Child brought with Him riches so great that they continue to sustain the human spirit 2,000 years later: the assurance of God's love and presence in our lives and the promise of salvation.''

Barack Obama: ``More than 2,000 years ago, a child was born to two faithful travelers who could find rest only in a stable, among the cattle and the sheep. But this was not just any child. Christ's birth made the angels rejoice and attracted shepherds and kings from afar. He was a manifestation of God's love for us.''

Even with all of their flaws, the political and party tensions, the times of national prosperity and crisis, our Presidents have been consistent in expressing publicly their belief on why Christ's birth matters. Bold Presidential statements: the only perfect man, Savior of the world, immortal Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords who will reign forever, His Holiness, Son of God, the light of Hope, God's love and presence in our lives, a manifestation of God's love for us.

No other human being has ever been accorded such accolade by our Presidents.

Indeed, even in our national Congress, well over 90 percent of elected officials associate themselves with the

Christian faith, and give similar words as to why Christ is important. But even all the words of Presidents and national leaders are not as important as the words of the man himself, whose birth created all the fuss. What did Christ claim about himself? We have bold statements by Jesus. Here are some pretty astounding ones:

John 6:35:

I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never

hunger.

John 8:12:

I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not

walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

John 10:9-11:

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved,

and he will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does

not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have

come that they might have life, and that they might have it

more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd

gives His life for the sheep.

John 10:14-17:

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known

by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father;

and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have

which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they

will hear My voice and there will be one flock, and one

shepherd. Therefore, My Father loves Me because I lay down My

life that I may take it again.

John 11:25:

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me,

though he may die, he shall live.

John 14:6:

I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the

Father except by Me.

John 15:5-13:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,

and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do

nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a

branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them

into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and

My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it

shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that

you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the

Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If

you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as

I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in

you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment,

that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love

has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his

friends.

Ponder this. These are bold claims. The bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection, the way, the truth, the life, the vine. Only God could make such claims.

John 3:16 explains it this way:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten

Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but

have everlasting life.

As human beings, we understand life because it is real to us. We live. We also understand complexity and order. We arrange our days, our clothes, our homes, our diet. God has created us with a sense of order.

Created. One only has to look at the complexity of the human eye to see a design. One cannot fathom the circulatory system, and organs, and all the things that make up life and not see the hand of a master designer. One cannot look at the miracle of birth and not see a clear designed creation.

A junkyard full of car parts does not self-produce a new car in any amount of time any more than a jumble of proteins make life by accident.

We have been fearfully and wonderfully made. When one considers all of the world, how it works together, how it is perfectly placed in our solar system, we can see God's hand. With slight deviation of the Earth's axis, we would be dead.

With just a few more miles closer proximity to the Sun, we would be burned to death. With just a few more miles away from the Sun, we would freeze to death. We are not some accident, some purposeless blob of proteins that has no meaning. Nature speaks to God's hand. We see the grandeur of a designer all around us. The giver of life, God himself. But what of His Son, Jesus Christ? The Gospel of John explains:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All

things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was

made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the

light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the

darkness did not comprehend it . . . That was the true Light

which gives light to every man coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,

and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His

own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them

He gave the right to become children of God, to those who

believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the

will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And

the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His

glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full

of grace and truth.

But why? Why did God's Son have to come into the world? When God created man and woman, He created us with choices. He gave simple instruction, but the choice was still Adam's to make. God did not create a robot. He created a human soul. Adam, the first man, chose to disobey God in that simple but uneasy choice. That choice gave us sin, the knowledge of good and evil.

Paul tells us in Romans 5:12 that because of this choice:

Through one man sin entered the world, and death through

sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

Sin perpetuated from that moment into all mankind. We see it ourselves if we take the time to consider it. We do not have to teach a child how to do wrong. It comes naturally, with the arching of the back, and the shouting of the word ``no'' as one of those first uttered.

As they mature, we labor to teach them to do what is right, guided by the conscience that God has placed into us. Why do we feel guilty when we do things wrong? Romans tells us that God wrote that moral law into our hearts, a conscience. We were created with it. We are unique among living creatures in this way. We have a soul. We get a basic sense of God's moral right and wrong, yet, we fail that standard because of our sinful nature.

We fall short. We don't want to, but we do. We want to do what is right, but often, we make a different choice because of our sinful nature. Because of this failing to meet God's standard as He created us, we are unable, by ourselves, to fix it.

For a time, God communicated through His word and His prophets the need to make an atonement for our shortcomings, to cleanse our sins by sacrifices. Christ came to be the final and total sacrifice, erasing the sin in our lives, if we would receive it. Christ's birth was the fix. But how?

God, as the master programmer, if you think in modern vernacular, made us perfect. But we became corrupted with a sin virus that we voluntarily put in, ignoring the warnings. Once a perfect operating system, now we were destined to crash and eventually destroy ourselves. Jesus would become the fix, the patch, the update, to take away the sin virus and to make us whole again before God. But the fix would not be automatic. It has to be installed voluntarily in our hearts.

When Christ came into the world, He did not come by Adam's seed. Christ could not become the fix patched to a sinful, virus-corrupted operating system. Instead, God sent His Son to be born of a virgin-- Mary--bypassing Adam's seed and the sinful nature that would come with it. Christ became flesh and dwelt among us. Fully God, yet becoming flesh, acquainted with all our frailties, but not corrupted through Adam's seed. If He could be obedient even unto death, ultimately embodied in a death on the cross, then His sacrifice would be available to all who would receive it as a new operating system for life.

Paul tells us in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5.18 says:

Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to

all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's

righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in

justification of life.

That is why Christ came.

Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder,

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty

God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be

no end.

Christ tells us in John 3:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten

Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but

have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the

world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him

might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but

he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has

not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And

this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the

world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because

their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the

light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds shall be

exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that

his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in

God.

Christ makes a direct appeal to us when He says: ``Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.''

We come by making a simple, voluntary confession. Paul tells us in Romans 10:9:

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe

in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will

be saved.

Harry Truman was correct when he said that in the love of God and the love of man will be found the solution to all the ills that afflict the world today. As much as we may wish to make our Nation strong, it will never happen without observing the truth in Proverbs 14:36:

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any

people.

In a world of strife, we could use some peace and encouragement. Christ said:

These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you may have

peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good

cheer, I have overcome the world.

In a world of hatred and suffering, we could use some love.

Jesus said: ``This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.''

In a world that tells us there is no hope, we can find it in Christ's commitment to us. Romans 5:3 through 6:

Tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance,

character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint

us, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts

by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were

still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the

ungodly.

It started 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.

Luke 2:11: ``For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.''

As I close my service in Congress in what may perhaps be the last time I am privileged to speak in this august Chamber, I am grateful for the privilege to have done so and to the Oklahomans who made that possible. As I bring to a close more than three-and-one-half decades of military and public service to our Nation, I do it with a simple prayer that you may find the true meaning of Christmas: of hope, of salvation, and of celebration.

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

Mr. Speaker, he was a soldier who had given 45 years of service to his country. 222 years ago, this month, he crafted a farewell address to the Nation. In it, he made no attempt to recount his time as a businessman, warrior, lawmaker, founder, Framer, battlefield commander, or President of a United States that he, more than any other, helped to create.

Instead, George Washington, chose to offer ``disinterested warnings of a parting friend,'' which he felt were, important to the permanency of our felicity as a people.

Leaders today departing public service might recount their personal journey and thank those who shared some of their path. Washington's final words were nothing of the sort. He chose, instead, to look far into the future and address all of us, the future. None of us can know it. We get occasional glimpses of it by talking to older people, those a little further down the road.

From them, we gain wisdom and counsel. Yet, sadly, each generation imagines that it faces unprecedented problems only to dismiss the counsels of the generation or two before them. We find it tough to absorb the Wisdom of Solomon when he stated, ``There is nothing new under the Sun.'' Another way to put it is this: Times change, people don't.

Taking this truth, what would George Washington say to us if he were here today? What counsels would he give our Nation? What relevance would it have? Fortunately, in this gleaming alabaster city that bears his name, we have rich archives to continue to hear from George Washington. Whether we are wise enough to heed Washington, is another matter altogether.

Surprisingly, he gave no recommendation for us to love liberty, as liberty is in the very fiber of the human race, and was certainly heightened among the early Americans whose efforts had recently secured it. Instead, Washington made a vital observation while trying to give future Americans a heads-up. Here it is: Liberty does not secure independence.

Washington knew a fallen mankind would flourish in liberty, and as such, Americans would be enticed to reduce and erode our independence for temporary gain or perceived future benefit. Instead of liberty, he identified unity as the essential factor to retain American independence.

At first ponder, this seems counterintuitive. After all, unified efforts require a certain accommodation to one another for greater good, necessitating an occasional deferential voluntary reduction in one's personal liberty.

Unity achieves result without reducing liberty through power, pen, statute, or sword. For these reasons, Washington told America that unity was the, ``main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.''

Even after 242 years as a Republic, we still embody this idea in our national motto: e pluribus unum, a Latin phrase meaning, out of many-- one.

We see it in our pledge, with terms like ``one Nation,'' ``indivisible,'' but what of our behavior today? We still, on occasion, employ the words, but we deploy actions that could better be described as e pluribus pluribus. One hyphenated nation and divisible.

Washington warned of it: ``But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth . . . that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think . . . of it as . . . your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.''

Washington's words today read like stinging rebuke to all Americans. Instead of guarding our institutions jealously with cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment, we in these august Chambers across every aisle allow disruption to displace discourse, polarization to pass for politics, and resistance to replace result.

Mr. Speaker, we stand condemned, but not irredeemable. Like any first step, admitting the problem is the path to recovery. How did we allow these congressional Chambers to suffer such infiltration? Our own history contains sharp lessons of discord, the loss of our own lawmakers by caning and shooting--sometimes by our own selves; a preference for conflict over Constitution, and a division so great that we ended up destroying each other on America's fields and farms from Gettysburg to Vicksburg.

Washington's warnings went unheeded a mere 100 years after he gave them. We self-corrected, but only after great harm to ourselves. It has been 150 years since we nearly destroyed each other. Are we on any more secure a path? It would appear from our treatment of each other and our view of our own Nation's future that we are tempted to walk an old path. If that be the case, then taking counsel from George Washington might be a timely exercise.

With regard to unity, we must realize we are all in the ship of state together. Crashing it on the rocks as we fight each other for control of the helm will deny any safe harbor we wish to obtain. Washington believed that we must view our unity as a sacred tie that links together the various parts.

``Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name `American,' which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have a common cause fought in triumph together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings and successes. . . . your union ought to be considered as a main prop to your liberty, and that the love of one ought to endear you to the preservatio of the other.''

If the unity of our people be the main prop of our liberty, what was it that George Washington believed would knock out that prop?

Warning number one and number two from George Washington, Geographical and Party Disunion: Washington believed, ``a government for the whole is indispensable.'' When various parts of the country come to feel that they are more important than the others, they will ``acquire influence within particular districts to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.''

Disregarding government for some regional or geographical preference to suit our own interest is a sure way to erode our unity. Washington's view of our government was to show ``Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty.''

Washington believed that the Constitution and its authentic amending was an act by the people upon themselves, and that every American would naturally have an obligation to obey the established government for the experiment even to work.

``All obstructions to the execution of the laws . . . designs to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and a fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the Nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.''

Washington foresaw that geographical interests could coalesce around party preferences, with urban and rural, coastal and inland, northern and southern, eastern and western, forming the basis by which we would try to empower ourselves with party faction to obtain the interests of one rather than the interests of all.

For our government to work for the whole Nation, he encouraged us to ``remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions.''

For example, we understand that it takes time for a child to become an adult, or that an adult, in time, must master his or her skills and experience to succeed in work or creativity. Yet, somehow, we imagine that the difficult things of government can be solved in months, when in the natural flow of life, it takes years and decades to secure true accomplishment.

Even if we were able to accept this wisdom, we find ourselves provoked to what Washington called, ``the spirit of revenge'' among parties as one faction would alternate domination over the other. Washington warned that it was, ``natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetuated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.''

Washington warned that party faction would always distract public cooperation, weakening our government's ability to function. Loyalty to party over the Nation would, in his phrases, agitate communities, kindle animosity, foment occasional riot and insurrection, and open the door for foreign influence and corruption to weaken the Nation.

He also warned of those using patriotism and liberty as their justification to stress the Nation, rising in their deep conviction with the spirit of party and urgency. Admitting that there would be some indulgence for this, if not favor, he warned that such a spirit was not to be encouraged.

He called upon all Americans to not fan these embers as they were ``a fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.''

Warning number three, The Encroachment of National Leaders: Washington warned that national leaders ``to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another . . . The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism . . . If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.''

Warning number four, Religious Abandonment: For all of Washington's warnings about political and party faction, his remedy was very clear. So clear, in fact, that its absence, he said, would guarantee that our Nation would lack human rights.

``Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are dispensable supports. . . . Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. . . . virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. Who . . . can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?''

Warning number five, Public Debt and Weakened Defense: Washington had much to say about public credit. He believed it should be used as sparingly as possible. He also believed one sure way to preserve the national treasury would be to promote peace, but also to fund the government on time. Proper funding would secure the Nation, preventing greater cost to repel danger and burden the Nation with debt. Toward all national debts, Washington reminded all Americans that it took revenue to pay them.

``The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts, there must be revenue; that to have revenue, there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant.''

For these reasons, Washington warned that our motives must be decisive in the expense of government and to choose wisely the objects that we should fund. To ignore this would weaken our Nation as a whole.

Warning number six, Entangling and Favored Alliances: Washington's view of foreign policy was to: ``Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened nation, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.''

Washington believed good morality would naturally create good foreign policy, fairness, and impartiality. He urged to treat all nations equally, initially. He warned that adverse relations with nations would result in poor policy and unnecessary conflict. Unnecessary favor to particular nations might pull us into conflict with some other where we may have had no quarrel at all.

Washington was passionate here: ``Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial.''

His final warning, warning number seven, Partiality in Commerce: Washington instructed: ``The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.''

Washington believed strong relations could be built upon commerce, keeping us in a fair and neutral position, preventing entanglement in disputes between other nations. He urged to steer clear of permanent alliances, but, rather, that ``we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.''

Washington argued commerce should be equal and impartial, neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors; to consult the natural course of things; to handle gently the natural streams of commerce; to force nothing; to define the rights of our merchants; to enter upon agreements in a temporary fashion, recognizing that from time to time such commerce could be abandoned or modified as needs and circumstances might dictate.

Washington foresaw that, if we expected disinterested favors from other nations without an equal benefit, there would be an accounting. He warned: ``There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.''

George Washington had no illusions that his warnings would endure to control the Nation's passions. He did hope, however, they ``may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.''

So where do we stand, Mr. Speaker, as a nation in these areas of warning?

How are we doing on geographical and party disunion?

We stand guilty of it. The average American citizen has only been to 8 of her 50 States, and our national leaders and our own people disrespect our Nation's Capitol as a swamp.

We see coastal cities referring to interior rural towns as ``flyover country,'' not realizing that nearly all of their food comes from it, while rural areas declaring coastal regions would not be missed if they simply fell into the ocean, not realizing that these areas represent the bulk of national trade and economy.

We see Americans electing the most polarized to the left or to the right, sending them to work in Washington, D.C., wondering why they can't get along to get things done when they get here.

We see elected leaders calling for disruption and resistance rather than discourse and result.

We see chairs thrown through campus windows because we cannot abide free speech.

We see history expunged because we cannot abide free thought.

We have abandoned accommodation, bypassed toleration, encouraged isolation, organized intimidation, and are set to pursue a path to castigation.

What is next? Elimination of our Republic?

We must get reacquainted as Americans with unity, with the idea that the Nation comes before region, before party, before self. A republic is a mutual enterprise. We must relearn how to keep it.

How are we doing on Washington's warning of national leaders encroaching on each other's branch of government or each other's business?

We complain of judges legislating from benches while we judge from our legislatures.

We see executive branches move by power of decree rather than by power of consent.

We see people ignore Federal authority while demanding Federal aid.

We have eroded respected institutions as elected leaders abandon civil conduct in hearings, confusing disruption, disrespect, and division somehow with democracy. We have deluded ourselves that rudeness is now a form of representation.

If we cannot respect these hallowed institutions that we ourselves, as Americans, control, how can we possibly receive respect in return from our fellow citizens as we look to lead government?

If we spent as much effort to watch our own lanes and make government business efficient rather than inflammatory, we might just restore some respect to the greatest constitutional republic that has ever existed. And, Mr. Speaker, it starts with us.

And how about Washington's warning on expecting morality without religion?

We have traded accommodation for castigation, abandoning the very religious principles adorning all 13 of our original State constitutions, our own Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

Every Chamber, hall, ceiling, nook, and corner of our Capitol is adorned with these foundational beliefs. In this very Chamber, ``In God We Trust'' is over the Speaker's podium, and 97 percent of the Members of Congress claim these principles in their personal beliefs. Why then have we become silent on free exercise of religion guaranteed in our Constitution?

We have imagined that we can show respect without being respectful.

We have encouraged and exchanged truth for a lie and now wonder why people are so uncivil to one another, and why we have faded hope, unclear vision, purpose, or reason to be a force for good in the world as a United States.

Contrary to Washington's warning, we imagine we can have morality without the free exercise of religion. We foolishly believe we can fix moral problems with political solutions. I am of the belief we need to ask God's forgiveness.

What of Washington's warning on public debt, $20 trillion and counting?

We demand thrift from each other but not from ourselves in our personal pocketbooks. The problem is so great today, but not greater than our people if we lead by our individual examples.

We, the nationally elected leaders, are a reflection of America as a whole. Until Americans demand fiscal discipline in themselves, it will be a long wait to expect it from those whom we elect.

We, the people, have put ourselves into this situation by making demands of government to pay for all of our shortcomings. At some point, that payment becomes due. We must ask less from the government and more from ourselves, solving our problems locally, together, without an invitation for government control.

What of Washington's warning on alliances and trade?

Rather than a fair and bilateral approach to nations, we have entangled ourselves in multinational permanent agreements on trade, without the vision to think that the circumstances may change.

We have pledged long-term favored status by treaty as opposed to short-term agreements and objectives. We have a moral obligation to honor the agreements we have enjoined, but we would do well to heed Washington's counsel to approach foreign relations commercially and have as little political connection to them as possible.

Mr. Speaker, George Washington's counsel is sorely needed today. We stand guilty in all seven of his warnings. We are guilty but not irredeemable. Americans have a history of self-correction. Unfortunately, it often comes with some great distress or disaster. We can and must heed Washington's warnings now and correct by choice rather than by circumstance.

As a combat infantryman, a warrior, returning home from more than two decades of personal service, who now has a political life, I have asked myself this question:

How did we as Americans allow our voice to be co-opted by self- proclaimed cynics and critics on both sides of the political spectrum who have divided our great Nation?

When did American zeal for innovation, sweat, and determination become replaced with intimidation, threat, and extermination of meaningful dialogue by pathetic keyboard commandos eating their bags of Cheese Puffs while sunken into their couches?

America has never been built on the labor and counsel of cynics and critics. Americans, we need to wake up. It is time to rekindle that spirit that united our country, ended enslavement, enriched our land, advanced our arts and sciences, granted women's suffrage, protested inequality, and protected the defenseless.

Americans know the difference between what is evil and what is good.

The question we must now ask is whether we will unite and continue to live free or continue to attack ourselves, give way to cynicism, and watch America's liberty and place in the world die.

Thank God America is still full of men and women who know it is not the cynic and critic who dig the ditch, teach the child, inspire the solutions, or create the future.

It is time for Americans to put America before self again, to inspire, to lead, to unify, and to sacrifice. It starts with each of us sacrificing a few things, sacrifice doubt, sacrifice anxiety, sacrifice cynicism.

America cannot allow warriors like me to come home from a decade of fighting and war to see our Republic overcome by the self-indulgent, the divisive, and the visionless.

As visionary as we Americans and lovers of liberty claim to be, we will make little headway if our only answers to our friends and neighbors are mere sideline snipes about what is wrong with this country.

Are we so shortsighted that we cannot accommodate dialogue, exchange ideas, and show some deference and respect to one another and rebuild our Nation?

It is time for the American people to embrace what is right about our wonderful country, not what is wrong with it. Let us heed Washington's warnings and get to work.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4917) to amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to provide testimonial subpoena authority, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of my bill, H.R. 4917, the IG Subpoena Authority Act. H.R. 4917 would provide inspectors general the authority to subpoena contractors, grant recipients, and former Federal employees for testimony necessary for their investigations.

Inspectors general perform a critical role in the performance of the Federal Government by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. In fiscal year 2016 alone, Federal inspectors general identified potential savings of over $45 billion. Nearly half of those savings were identified in the course of the IG's investigative work.

Congress, the American people, and the agencies themselves rely on inspectors general reviews to find areas for improved efficiency and effectiveness, but those reviews are limited by the IG's inability to compel contractors and former employees to cooperate. The IG Subpoena Authority Act gives inspectors general a much-needed tool to fulfill their investigative function under the Inspector General Act.

To effectively identify waste, fraud, and abuse, IGs should be able to conduct a thorough and complete investigation. To conduct a thorough and complete investigation, however, IGs need to be able to talk to the people involved.

Unfortunately, inspectors general haven't always been able to obtain testimony from those key individuals. They collect testimony from Federal employees, but sometimes the employees resign or retire before the inspectors general can review them. In fact, the IG community has informed us of many cases that went cold when witnesses left the agencies or refused to testify voluntarily.

This bill seeks to address these gaps in the evidentiary record by permitting IGs to subpoena the testimony of witnesses during the course of an audit or investigation. The bill establishes procedures to ensure the authority is not abused.

To prevent abuse, inspectors general must get approval from a subpoena review panel that will be made up of three other inspectors general. The review panel must approve or deny the subpoena request within 10 days of the request being filed.

Further, if a subpoena request is approved by the panel, the requesting IG must notify the Attorney General of the pending subpoena. The Attorney General is then able to review the subpoena and may object to its issuance if it will interfere with an ongoing Department of Justice investigation. An IG must complete all of these steps prior to issuing the subpoena.

A version of this bill already passed the House once before. Last Congress, the committee worked on a bipartisan, bicameral basis to enact the Inspector General Empowerment Act. When it first passed the House, the Inspector General Empowerment Act included testimonial subpoena authority for IGs. Although the provision did not make it into law, I hope that changes this year.

I would like to thank the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, especially the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who chairs the Council, and Peace Corps Inspector General Kathy Buller, who chairs its Legislation Committee, for their work in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from Ms. Buller supporting the legislation.

Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and

Efficiency,

June 7, 2018.

Hon. Trey Gowdy,

Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Elijah Cummings,

Ranking Member, House Committee on Oversight and Government

Reform, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Steve Russell,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Gowdy, Ranking Member Cummings, and

Representative Russell: We appreciate your efforts to address

the Inspector General (IG) community's long-standing interest

in obtaining testimonial subpoena authority (TSA) for all IGs

and would like to outline our views on H.R. 4917, the IG

Subpoena Authority Act. For many years, the Legislation

Committee of the Council of the Inspectors General on

Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) has included TSA among its

legislative priorities.

The authority in H.R. 4917 would assist government

oversight by providing a critical tool to address fraud,

waste, and abuse by authorizing all IGs to subpoena the

attendance and testimony of certain witnesses, as necessary,

to fulfill the functions of the Inspector General Act of

1978, as amended (IG Act). CIGIE supports the language in the

bill aligning the scope of TSA with the IG's existing

documentary subpoena authority, found in Section 6(a)(4) of

the IG Act. While requiring that any subpoena be necessary in

the performance of IG work, the language does not limit who

may be subpoenaed, other than with respect to current Federal

employees (as they are already generally required to

cooperate with OIGs).

Congress has already granted some IGs TSA under the IG Act

or through other laws. The Department of Defense Office of

Inspector General (DOD OIG) was provided TSA under Section

1042 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010,

codified at Section 8(i) of the IG Act. As noted in the

Congressional record, DOD OIG has used this authority

judiciously and sparingly. The Department of Health and Human

Services OIG also has testimonial subpoena power in certain

circumstances. Moreover, IGs overseeing appropriations under

the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 received

TSA to be exercised through the now-sunsetted Recovery

Accountability and Transparency Board.

Following the practice of those IGs who already have or had

TSA, CIGIE is committed to ensuring that the authority will

be used appropriately and fairly. In short, CIGIE echoes

Ranking Member Cummings's belief that IGs would ``act

responsibly and use this authority only when absolutely

necessary,'' and that appropriate safeguards provide checks

on potential abuse.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I would like to thank my Democratic colleagues for their support and thoughtful dialogue, particularly the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright), who sponsored this bill with me.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, one of the chief complaints of the American people is that we can't hold our government accountable. This bill goes a long way to correct that.

In the future, no longer will people be able to simply walk away from agencies and duties in government without any accounting. We have built in the safeguards, and we have worked in a bipartisan way, so that we can achieve that aim.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.