Date: 1998-12-18
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Well. I want to tell my colleagues that our military fighting men want the Congress to carry on their constitutional responsibility every day. That is why we are here. As my colleagues know. maybe we ought to be debating right after thig issue how we support our military and give them more arms and more people to make sure they can win that battle. We cannot sacrifice what is right to do. what is easy. As my colleagues know. when I was a POW. we did some things that were tough to do. This is a tough thing to do. but it is the right thing to do. and I suggest we continue with this impeachment process. Mr. Speaker. the duty of the President of the United States is to preserve. protect and defend our Constitution. For over two hundred years we have sent our fathers. brothers. sons. mothers and daughters to war to do just that. Many of them never returned. They gave their lives for a better America. They believed that America is greater than one person. one life. They gave their lives to ensure that America and our Constitution remain safe and that our way of life would not perish. They knewwith death--came honor. trust. loyalty and respect. They knew their death meant freedom to the millions of Americans who would come after them. Many of those who died were my friends. I spent 29 years in the Air Force. fought in two wars and was a prisoner of war for nearly 7 years in Vietnam. I love this great nation. And I would defend it again because America and our ideals are worth dying for. When I left Vietnam there was an inscription scrawled on one of the prison walls which read: "freedom has a taste to those who fought and almost died that the protected will never know." The President is the one person who must hold these words and actions in the highest regard. The President is our moral leader. His picture hangs in classrooms throughout America. The President is our symbol of freedom. The President is the Commander in Chief. the chief law enforcement officer. and the leader of the free world. When the President stands before God. puts his hand on the Bible and takes an oath to uphold the Constitution and lawfully carry out the duties of his officehe is promising to put the people and the Nation before his own interests. I believe this President violated the laws and the beliefs he swore to uphold. Instead of following the law. respecting the American peoples values and honoring his office. he chose to lie. cover up and evade the truth. His actions have made a mockery of the people who fought for this country. the Constitution and the laws we live under. It is clear from the evidence that this President committed perjury. It is clear from the evidence that this President obstructed justice. It is clear from the evidence that this President abused the power of his office. He systematically used his office and staff to protect his own personal interests. Instead of truth and forgiveness he hid behind legalistic jargon. And now. because of the Presidents actions. Congress must act as dictated by the Constitution. We cannot sacrifice what is right to do what is easy. During those awful years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. there were many times that I and my fellow prisoners could have taken the ..easy" way out. We could have told the enemy our military secrets. or we could have betrayed one another. That would have been the "easiest" thing to do to stop the daily torture we endured. If we had just given up a few military secrets or betrayed a fellow soldier. we could have avoided starvation. been released much earlier. and not missed all those years of our lives with our families and children. But we never did. Even through all the daily torture. beatings and starvation. we never once considered taking the "easy" way out. and now we must endure these hardships. uphold our Constitution and protect America. When we. in Congress. raised our right hands and took our oaths of office. we promised to make the difficult decisions. We have come to the end of a very long and winding road. Long and winding--not because of anything Congress has done. but rather because President Clinton has walked us down it by his own actions. The President has diminished his office in the eyes of the Nation. and more dangerously. in the eyes of the world. The President is the chief law enforcement official of this country. If you lose respect for him. you lose respect for the law. I would just say. again. to the American people. that this is not a choice about doing what is easy. This is a choice between what is right and what is wrong under our Constitution and the rule of law. Lets be clear: the President lied to us. He pointed his finger at us. looked us in the eye and lied to us. over and over again. We must make a stand and saywe are a nation of laws and no one is above the law. So. I will vote to impeach the President. The Constitution demands it and the country deserves no less. Thank you. Mr. Speaker.