'I'm Completely Astounded': Jim McGovern Tears Into House Republicans For Attacking The ICC

6 months ago

During debate on the House floor, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) decried House Republicans' MilCon Appropriations package and laid into a proposal that would heavily sanction the International Criminal Court.

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Transcript

00:00 So, now let me get to the rule here. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to be managing this rule.

00:09 And I'm glad that I'm allowed to speak on the floor again. As you remember, I was silenced

00:16 two weeks ago for simply speaking the truth. That's right, I was muzzled from that very

00:21 rostrum for daring to recite facts. And I can think of at least 34 new facts that could

00:29 get my words taken down today. But I won't go there because I want to be allowed to say

00:33 a few things without being cancelled by the Republican majority for the high crime of

00:38 merely speaking the truth. This rule contains two bills, both of which I think are lousy.

00:47 First is the House Republicans' Military Construction Appropriations Proposal for Fiscal

00:52 Year 2025. This should be one of the least controversial funding bills Congress passes

00:59 each year. But this year, House Republicans are loading their funding bills with more

01:05 culture war nonsense. The same attacks on abortion access, attacks on the LGBTQ+ community,

01:13 attacks on diversity and inclusion efforts. We are talking about more narrow-minded, hateful

01:18 MAGA writers that inject partisan politics into what should be a bipartisan bill. This

01:25 bill also holds the VA back from protecting struggling veterans who may pose a danger

01:31 to themselves or others. It would hamper efforts to prevent veterans from dying by suicide.

01:38 And this bill zeroes out funding for climate change and resilience projects, something

01:43 that will jeopardize our national security because it means our military installations

01:47 will not be prepared for the realities of the climate crisis. And at the end of the

01:53 day, this funding bill is full of poison pills that endanger our national security and threaten

01:58 the quality of life for veterans, those who serve, and their families. Again, this should

02:05 have been easy. This should have been a bipartisan bill where there'd be very little debate

02:12 or little dissension, and they turned it into this horrific culture war bill filled with

02:18 things that, quite frankly, are very divisive and have no business being in the military

02:24 construction appropriations bill. Second on the agenda is H.R. 8282, a bill that imposes

02:31 sanctions on the good people who work for the International Criminal Court and their

02:36 families. Now, I know members have a variety of thoughts on this measure, but frankly,

02:42 I think this is a bad, bad bill. The idea that the ICC is some evil institution is totally

02:49 contrary to fact. The International Criminal Court is an important institution, and it

02:57 is not in America's moral or strategic interest to attack the court for doing its job. You

03:04 know, the U.S. recognizes the jurisdiction and the legitimacy of the ICC and cooperates

03:10 with the ICC in cases ranging from Sudan to Russia to the Lord's Resistance Army led

03:16 by Joseph Kony. Fundamentally, this bill says that human rights don't matter. In fact,

03:22 it totally undermines the rules-based international order that America helped build. Now, let

03:28 me be clear. I am already being challenged to explain U.S. double standards every time

03:34 I meet with representatives of foreign governments. And when I meet with human rights advocates

03:39 from abroad, they are gutted, first, by the brutality and the inhumanity of the war in

03:44 Gaza, and second, by America's inexplicable abandonment of its commitment to human rights

03:50 and justice for all. What better gift to China or Russia, our most significant adversaries,

03:56 than for us to undermine the international rule of law and gut institutions of accountability

04:02 that helped the U.S. create and work to consolidate for more than 75 years? What better gift than

04:12 to say, yes, it's just fine to ignore or redefine human rights and international humanitarian

04:17 law for reasons of political convenience? What should our reaction be? First, we should

04:24 read the evidence contained in the ICC filing. Second, we should wait for the judges to actually

04:30 rule on the warrant applications. We don't know what their decision will be. And when

04:35 it comes down, if we disagree with it, we can say so. What is not okay is to attack

04:41 the court's existence or threaten its personnel and their families and their families. Republicans

04:49 are already doing that in New York. It's wrong there, and it's wrong here. Finally, we should

04:56 insist on credible, independent investigations of the crimes the ICC has alleged, which include,

05:03 by the way, the unspeakable crimes committed by Hamas on October 7th. Surely, I hope everybody

05:10 here supports the ICC's effort to hold Hamas accountable. We should also recognize the

05:17 ICC's action for what it is. It's an urgent attempt at prevention. The ICC is urging Israel

05:24 to change course and to stop the carnage against Palestinian civilians. It is calling upon

05:29 the independent Israeli judiciary to investigate these alleged crimes and follow the evidence,

05:36 no matter where it leads, before the worst unimaginable criminal charges become inevitable.

05:42 Should this bill pass, it would completely isolate us internationally, including and

05:47 especially from our closest allies. It would deepen accusations of hypocrisy that have

05:53 already caused a mind-boggling level of damage to the reputation of the United States, our

05:59 diplomacy, and the entire range of our soft power capabilities. And I am just completely

06:05 astounded by how little my Republican colleagues seem to even care about the massive ramifications

06:11 of this bill. No hearing. No hearing at all. No witnesses. No markup. No nothing. The Republican

06:20 who testified last night in the Rules Committee had no clue what was even in the bill. He

06:26 told us he wasn't on the Committee of Jurisdiction, but he is. He didn't even know what the text

06:32 of the bill was because the text kept on changing multiple times. Is that how you conduct business

06:39 in the people's house? My Republican colleagues have turned this place into a joke. They are

06:45 making a complete and total mockery of the committee process. And on top of it all, we

06:53 have another closed rule. Another closed rule. How pathetic. How pathetic. I mean, I get

07:02 it. You may not care about the implications of some of the things that my friends say

07:06 or what they bring on the floor, but at least try to go through the motions. You know, at

07:11 least let's have a hearing. Let's have witnesses. Make believe like you care about the facts

07:17 and that you're serious about legislating. Again, it's sad that this is the process that

07:23 brings this bill to the floor. And with that, I reserve my time.

'I'm Completely Astounded': Jim McGovern Tears Into House Republicans For Attacking The ICC

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