{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dean.house.gov/2019/12/rep-dean-offers-remarks-impeachment-markup", "Rep. Dean Offers Remarks at Impeachment Markup", "2019-12-12", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Madeleine Dean", "D000631", "dean.house.gov", "dean", "https://dean.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "At yesterday's Judiciary Committee markup of impeachment articles against President Trump, Rep. Dean offered the following statement:\n\n\"As members of Congress, we are entrusted with a generational duty \u2013 a duty to ensure that we leave our grandchildren with a Constitution as strong \u2014 or even stronger \u2014 than our predecessors gave us.\n\nI want to tell you about a conversation that took place the week of July 25th. But not the one you\u2019re thinking of.\n\nThis was a quiet moment between a leader and me \u2013 just a Freshman \u2013 on the floor of the House. I sought out Elijah Cummings, and sat down next to him. He looked up into the Gallery and said, \u201cMadeleine, 300 years from now, your ancestors will remember you were here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are here only a short while; make sure what you do here matters!\u201d\n\n* * *\n\nAs First Corinthians tells us, \u201cFor now we see through a glass, darkly.\u201d\n\nMonths later, I am beginning to see \u201cface to face\u201d \u2014 what our recently departed Chairman Cummings meant: What we do here today will matter for generations.\n\nHe saw a broader horizon.\n\n* * *\n\nNow this immense Constitutional responsibility vested in us by our founding fathers requires us to decide whether President Donald J. Trump has purposefully and perilously abused the power entrusted to him By the People.\n\nThe evidence shows the President\u2019s wrongdoings are as clear as they are dangerous.\n\nHe has abused his power as President for personal gain \u2014 including his corrupt scheme to win re-election,\n\nHe has betrayed our nation and his oath by asking foreign governments to interfere in our elections,\n\nWhen he was caught, he obstructed Congress, blocking our Constitutional investigation at every turn \u2014 telling executive branch agencies and witnesses to defy subpoenas,\n\nAnd even in the midst of this investigation, he called on a third foreign power to interfere in the coming election.\n\nThe President\u2019s ongoing pattern of conduct threatens our most precious rights as Americans. The right to choose our own leaders and hold them accountable.\n\nIn George Washington\u2019s farewell address he warned against \"the insidious wiles of foreign influence ... the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.\"\n\nWe cannot allow this President to reach his hands \u2013 and the hands of foreign leaders \u2013 into our ballot boxes. Because for us to maintain our faith in this country \u2013 the democratic process is as important as the result.\n\n* * *\n\nSome have suggested that our actions \u2013 this historic call for impeachment \u2013 are based in dislike, or even hatred, of a single man.\n\nThey are not.\n\nToday is not about punishment or hate. It is about love. Love of country. It\u2019s about protecting this country \u2013 and our precious Constitution \u2013 for all the Americans yet to come.\n\nNo one wishes to be where we are today \u2014 but this is where we are called to be.\n\nToday is about the Congressional oath I swore \u2014 we all swore \u2014 to \u201cwell and faithfully discharge the duties of this office.\u201d\n\n* * *\n\nMy favorite uncle Walter was a Catholic priest. Years after his death, I swore my oath of office on Walter\u2019s Bible. My first grandchild, Aubrey, age 7, held it from below, as I placed my hand and bore \u201ctrue faith and allegiance\u201d to the Constitution.\n\nWalter\u2019s daily prayer washed over me: \u201cMay God grant success to the work of our hands.\u201d\n\nI remember the gravity of that moment \u2014 of accepting the mantle from those who came before us \u2014 and striving to protect the promise of the Constitution for the generations who have yet to inherit it.\n\nIt is in our hands now.\n\nMany people have walked these hallowed halls. Few of us remember their names. Some day, we too will be gone and forgotten. Yet what we do here will not. It will matter for decades and centuries to come. It will matter to my children and grandchildren \u2014 and to yours.\n\nIt will matter to a democracy battle-tested and hard-won \u2013 and yet only as strong as those willing to stand up and defend it. To defend the aspirations and constitutional promise of our country.\n\nThese are the moments that define us \u2013 that determine whether the United States of America will become less free, or more perfect.\n\nThat grand horizon is in our hands now. May God grant us success. Our forefathers demand it \u2014 and our granddaughters deserve it.\n\nIt is for these reasons that I support these articles of impeachment.\n\nAnd with that I yield, Mr. Chairman.\"\n\n* * *", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:45:33Z"]], "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://dean.house.gov/2019/12/rep-dean-offers-remarks-impeachment-markup"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8337898179888725, "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"}