{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://byrne.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/byrne-amendment-exposes-democrat-impeachment-hypocrisy", "Byrne Amendment Exposes Democrat Impeachment Hypocrisy", "2019-12-18", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Bradley Byrne", "B001289", "byrne.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL) gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of Representatives today on his amendment to the articles of impeachment saying, based upon the Democrat majority's standard in pursuing impeachment against President Donald Trump, they should have written articles of impeachment against President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for their actions during the House investigations into the Obama Administration's Fast and Furious program. His full remarks as prepared are below.\nCongressman Byrne said: Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying resolution to impeach President Trump.\nWhen the framers granted the House the power to impeach, they feared that it would be abused. Today, those fears are realized. In record speed, this majority has assembled hearsay, speculation, and presumptions for the purpose of overturning the 2016 election. \nWe are not here today, days before Christmas, because the Majority has assembled a case against President Trump. No, we are here today because the Democrat Majority believes getting impeachment done now will provide their vulnerable members time to distance themselves from their vote. But, I assure you, Mr. Speaker, the American people are watching!\nMany of my colleagues have, from day one, rejected the people's choice of President Trump. But, another President will come along more to the Majority's liking. Our actions here today will be remembered and will set the standard.\nThe second article of impeachment seeks to remove President Trump for failure to produce certain requested witnesses and documents. But, as the Majority knows, every President in history has asserted Executive Privilege!\nThe House has a legal avenue to challenge the President, the courts. But the Majority has skipped that step, showing that this is about impeachment as fast as possible, however possible!\nMost of my friends on the other side of the aisle had no problem backing President Obama when he stonewalled this House for years to block our quest to find out the truth in the Fast and Furious Investigation. That is why I filed an amendment to the resolution, rejected by the Rules Committee, saying, based upon the Democrat majority's standard, they should have written articles of impeachment against President Obama and Eric Holder!\nI wish my colleagues would think about the standard being set. I predict that they will very soon regret it.\nI yield back.\nCongressman Byrne's amendment, the only amendment offered to these historic articles of impeachment, would strike language alleging President Trump attempted to undermine investigations and replace it with language stating the president acted consistently with the previous administration's behavior during congressional probes.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://byrne.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/byrne-amendment-exposes-democrat-impeachment-hypocrisy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8084308356046677, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}