The following are remarks by Wash. Rep. Jim McDermott on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 28, 2007.
Mr. Speaker:
It is time for a new exit strategy, one that removes the vice president of the United States from office, voluntarily if he chooses, but by impeachment if he stonewalls.
The time has come for the vice president to go. Our nation and our national security interests at home and abroad cannot afford to have this vice president one heartbeat away from the presidency.
As it stands now, the vice president's damage to U.S. interests, security, system of government and our position at home and abroad will take years to overcome.
As my constituents in the state of Washington's 7th Congressional District know, I have struggled mightily with this matter for a long time. In grave matters facing our nation, I believe conscience and a deep respect for our system of government should guide our actions and words.
I didn't hesitate to speak truth to power before the invasion of Iraq, despite the bitter partisan attacks that I knew would follow.
I have no doubt that I'll be targeted for a new round of shelling after these remarks.
The intent of this administration, and this vice president, has been to silence all dissent, and it always happens the same way...relentless attacks until people ask themselves "do I want to subject myself to that kind of hell if I speak out?"
Fear is what kept this administration in office in 2004, and fear is the only public discourse this administration understands - and practices. Why debate when you can dictate?
Why follow the law when you act like you are above the law?
For months, I have believed that impeachment was a dire course of action. Over these same months, I have seen the vice president repeatedly drive our nation into increasingly dire situations, in Iraq, in Iran, and within our own country as he tramples over the Constitution like it is a doormat.
For months, I have considered if America would best be served by bringing forth articles of impeachment against the vice president. I kept asking myself: Is the vice president's conduct that dire, because impeachment is the closest thing there is to internment on political death row.
The Founders intended impeachment to be used when those running the government forgot they worked for the people. And, the Founders intended impeachment to be used when those running government acted as if they were above the law.
When you look at the record, you have to conclude that the vice president has placed himself above the law.
He holds himself accountable only to special interests, who meet with him in secret, with no record kept of who was there, what was discussed or what promises the vice president made.
For the last four years, the vice president has refused to allow routine office inspections by a federal agency regarding the safe handling of America's secrets. The vice president defies the Information Security Oversight Agency claiming that he is not part of the executive branch of government.
When a sitting vice president claims that he is not part of the executive branch of government to which he was elected, it is time to remove him from office.
The vice president holds himself accountable to no one. He ordered the Secret Service to destroy visitor logs. As we have learned in the Washington Post, the vice president has circumvented every check and balance inside the White House to force through his own agenda: to spy on Americans through illegal wiretaps, creating the Gulag Guantanamo and subverting civil liberties and free speech at every turn.
Since the president permits this flagrant disregard for the Constitution, it is up to the Congress to act and defend the American people.
With each new revelation, America has seen only glints of what has been happening in total secrecy.
For all that we don't know, this much we do know: the vice president holds himself above the law. And, it is time for the Congress to enforce the law. I believe the evidence is overwhelming and articles of impeachment against the vice president should be drawn up.
The vice president likes to say the military option is on the table. Tonight it is time to say the impeachment option is on the table. I'm adding my name to H.R. 333, calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.
For the good of the nation, the vice president could leave office immediately. Call it a medical condition; call it a political condition; call it what it is - the departure of a person who forgot that he works for the American people.
Mr. Vice President, resign or face impeachment.
Thank you.
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