OUR COUNTRY FACES A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

OUR COUNTRY FACES A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2720-H2721] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] OUR COUNTRY FACES A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS (Mr. Larson of Connecticut was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, good morning. This is a great day for the Larson and Messier family. My granddaughter Soleil Audrey Messier turns 1 year old today. She is the sunshine of our lives and a bundle of joy. We wish her and her mom a happy birth day. Mr. Speaker, also on her birthday, I come to the floor as a concerned Member of this body and note that we are in a constitutional crisis, a constitutional crisis where this administration is currently ignoring the rule of law. The President of the United States treats the Constitution as though it is a mere suggestion and that he is above the law. Article I of the Constitution means little to him. Mr. Speaker, fortunately, there are citizens in this country who care deeply about this. I am honored to have such a citizen who is one of my constituents, the renowned, legendary, and iconic Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader is coming to Washington, D.C., on April 8, along with Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer and authority on the Constitution. I will be holding meetings open to staff and open to people here in the Rayburn Building on this campus to talk about governmental accountability. Ralph Nader has long been a voice throughout his history of public service since he first published ``Unsafe at Any Speed,'' where he went after the automobile industry because of what they were doing to the American people and citizens. He has been a voice, and I have to read this, Mr. Speaker: An author, lecturer, attorney, political activist, and in 2006 he was cited by The Atlantic as one of the 100 Most Influential Figures in American History. {time} 1115 Time magazine called him ``the U.S.'s toughest customer.'' The New York Times has said of him that Nader stands apart because he is moved beyond social criticism to effective political action--beyond criticism to effective political action. In 1974, a survey conducted by the U.S. News & World Report rated him the fourth most influential person in the United States. I am proud to have him as a constituent. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Nader along with Bruce Fein will be discussing articles on government and corporate accountability on April 8. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Nader also gets up and says every day that there can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship. That is so true. We just heard Mr. Comer over here talking before about the need for bringing forward whistleblowers. Yet, on the Committee on Ways and Means, we have been asking for the whistleblowers who have said that every person, including all the viewers here today, Social Security information has been stolen and placed in an insecure cloud--not one whistleblower, but two. Who brought them forward? The Trump Judiciary Department, the judicial branch of the Trump administration. I listened to Mr. Comer call for whistleblowers coming forward in Minnesota and California. How about right here in the United States Congress, we hold accountable people who are looking at every Member of Congress' 435 districts, all of their data and information. The public should be outraged. We should be demanding that they come before us as we have. Instead, we voted yesterday, once again, to alleviate resolutions of inquiry, the minority's choice to get answers. [[Page H2721]] The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bentz). Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President. ____________________