# Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/House/Counting Electoral Votes/Pennsylvania Objection Debate/Boyle Speech

​Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, tonight, we will not be picking the President, for the people did that on November 3. Rather, tonight, in this House, we will decide whether American democracy survives. Let us be under no illusion. These are the stakes. If this objection succeeds and the will of 7 million Pennsylvania voters is cast aside, it will be the end of our representative democracy.
Now, there is no reasonable debate about what happened in this election in Pennsylvania. Seven million Pennsylvanians voted. Joe Biden won by over 81,000 votes. This was certified in 67 counties by bipartisan local-elected officials, including Republicans. And every single court, whether the judge is a Democrat or a Republican, has reaffirmed this outcome.
The objectors, however, claim we do not know the will of the people because the election in Pennsylvania was somehow conducted corruptly. Much of their objection centers around the State law passed in 2019 known as Act 77 that gives voters the option of expanded mail-in voting. Objectors are alleging that this law was somehow a brilliant plot by Democrats to disadvantage Republicans and rig elections. This is laughable.
Here are the facts. Act 77 was a Republican-led effort in a Republican-controlled legislature. Literally, every single Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate voted for it. And in the statehouse, the vote among Republicans was 105–2.
Here is what the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House had to say about Act 77: This bill does not benefit one party or the other or any one candidate or single election. It serves to preserve the integrity of every election and lift the voice of every voter in the Commonwealth.
So there is no question as to the facts surrounding this election. They are as clear as they are overwhelming. The only question that remains is this: Will this House reaffirm our fidelity to our democracy, or will we end it?
I must concede, Madam Speaker, I have been naive about one subject. I always just assumed our democracy would naturally endure, almost as if it was predestined, I never even questioned it until the last several years.
Two centuries ago, one of our Founding Fathers cautioned against this notion. John Adams wrote, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
I now realize the wisdom of his words. Never again will I take for granted our democracy. It must be jealously defended by every generation. Always.
But, Madam Speaker, despite the alarm, I feel that our democracy has been brought to this breaking point, as we have seen today. Nonetheless, I still maintain hope.
Growing up in Philadelphia, raised in an immigrant family, I was often brought down to visit the historic sights. Every summer, without fail, we would spend a day seeing Independence Hall, Congress Hall, the Liberty Bell.
It was at Independence Hall where our Nation was declared free and our Constitution born. At the Constitutional Convention, the oldest and most widely accomplished delegate was Benjamin Franklin, one of our greatest Founding Fathers and my city’s greatest citizen.
On the final day, as the last delegates were signing the Constitution, Franklin pointed to the painted Sun on the back of the Convention chair. Observing the painters had found it difficult to distinguish a rising Sun from a setting Sun, Franklin went on to say:
I have often, during the course of this session, looked at that Sun without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now, at length, I have the happiness to know it is a rising Sun.
Madam Speaker, on a day like today, when a mob has stormed the Capitol, and some Members are threatening the core of our democracy, it can be hard to tell whether for American democracy the Sun is rising or setting. But I maintain my faith that tonight, by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress, we will uphold the will of “We the People,” and our democracy will live.