Articles

Democrats are sounding like the boy who cried wolf with constant calls for impeachment

By Representative Kevin Hern

Tulsa, January 29, 2020
On the day of the impeachment vote, I stood on the House floor and said I was ashamed of how low our historic chamber has fallen. Today, after the dust has settled, I’m just as disappointed that Democrats have chosen to spend most of the 116th Congress engaging in political posturing rather than enacting prudent policy. We, as the legislative branch of the United States, have a sacred responsibility to the American people. The House of Representatives came up short – very short.

I know we can do better because I’ve seen it. I remember the pride I felt when we passed the SCORE for Small Business Act, which empowered small business owners by encouraging entrepreneurship. This was my first bill, and it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support (389-8). I was inspired by how Congress came together for the good of the American people. I remember thinking, “This is how Congress is supposed to work.”

Unfortunately, I barely recognized Congress during the impeachment proceedings. It looked very different from the Congress that passed my legislation just a month prior. Cordial, calm committee hearings turned into a hastily executed inquisition. It was nothing more than a poorly-masked attempt to undermine the results of the 2016 American Presidential Election. That much was proven true when House Democrats demanded unprecedented control over the Senate proceedings – indicative of a non-existent case against the President.

This was not the impartial process we were promised. Before this debacle even started, Nancy Pelosi maintained that impeachment would not happen “unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.” The Democrats went down that path anyways, and they didn’t just divide our country – they divided Congress as well.

When I’m home in Oklahoma, very rarely are constituents still asking me about impeachment. They’re asking what Congress is doing to reform our broken healthcare system, what work am I doing to lower drug prices, and when will we start paying down our national debt? The American people don’t want a Congress fixated on relitigating a settled impeachment case; they want a Congress that works to improve the lives of our citizens.

Nevertheless, an alarming percentage of my colleagues continue to blaze forward on impeachment. This week while attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Speaker Pelosi, instead of focusing on international security, chose to dispute the United States Senate’s ‘not guilty’ verdicts on impeachment and lament that the Senate trial was illegitimate. She went as far to say that Donald Trump was “not vindicated”.

Speaker Pelosi is not alone. Just last Thursday, Representative (and former Democratic Presidential candidate) Eric Swalwell alluded to an additional impeachment case against the President during an interview on CNN. Senator (and Democratic Presidential candidate) Elizabeth Warren, who childishly mocked the integrity of Chief Justice John Roberts during the trial, is now calling for the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr.

These repetitive calls for impeachment are beginning to sound like the boy who cried wolf. I was hoping that Democrats would be able to put this political stunt behind them, but that has yet to happen. Their tactics remain typical of a party that has spent the last three years trying to overturn the results of the 2016 election.

The President has been vindicated after years of endless accusations and investigations. He has been acquitted for life.

Now that impeachment is behind us, we need to get back to serving the American people and doing the work they elected us to do.

To my colleagues: the country is watching us, waiting for our next move. We have a lot to get done, so let’s get started.

It’s time for the House of Representatives to get back to work.