Speeches

January 19, 2018

Are All Men Created Equal, Or Are Some More Equal Than Others?

Mr. President, today hundreds of thousands of Americans from all walks of life will participate in the 45th annual March for Life. Why do these citizens march, year after year? It certainly isn’t for their health. Or for the media coverage. No, these Americans march on behalf of those who cannot.

January 17, 2018

FISA 702 Reauthorization

Mr. President, Our Founding Fathers knew what it was like to live in a dangerous world. When America was founded it was threatened by foreign adversaries. Its military might was feeble compared to the great powers of that time. And yet, the Founders insisted on a Constitution that protected Americans’ civil liberties.

January 4, 2018

Speech in Memory of President Thomas S. Monson

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life of a remarkable man: Thomas S. Monson, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On Tuesday night, at age 90, President Monson was called home by his Heavenly Father. I expect his reunion with his wife Frances was a joyous occasion, and I am confident that reunion provides comfort to his three children and eight grandchildren.

December 14, 2017

Net Neutrality Regulation

Mr. President, Earlier today the FCC voted to reverse a major impediment to a free and open Internet: The Title Two Internet regulations that were imposed under President Obama in 2015. These regulations are commonly called “Net Neutrality,” so for the sake of convenience that is what I’ll call them.

October 23, 2017

We Need Reform, Not Bailouts

Mr. President, as we speak our brothers and sisters in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Texas are recovering from a string of devastating hurricanes. Over one hundred people have lost their lives because of these storms. Many more are struggling to get by day to day.

October 4, 2017

Executive Abuse of the Antiquities Act

We are here to talk about executive abuses of the Antiquities Act. All told, presidents have used this law to cordon off tens of millions of acres of public land from recreation and economic activity—and they have done this with shockingly little regard for the actual Americans who work and live near these areas.

September 14, 2017

Due Process Guarantee Act

Mr. President, I would like to speak for a few minutes about a bipartisan amendment I have offered to the NDAA, the Due Process Guarantee Act. Alexander Hamilton, writing in Federalist 84, called arbitrary imprisonment one of the [QUOTE] “favorite and most formidable instruments” of tyrants.

September 13, 2017

North Korea’s Quiet Crimes

Hello and good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here with you all. I’d like to extend my thanks to Michael Green and the Center for Strategic and International Studies for hosting this important event, and to the Embassy of Japan for inviting me to speak.

September 12, 2017

Reasserting Congress’s Role in Declaring War

“A decade later, the Founders included a safeguard in the Constitution so that “civil power”—in other words, the people and their representatives—would play an important role in matters of war and peace.”

September 7, 2017

Against Religious Tests

But at a minimum, this body can do its part by respecting the constitutional rights of citizens who come before it. Lest we forget, we work for them, not the other way around. I trust my colleagues, Republican, Democrat, and independent, will take this to heart. Because religious freedom puts all Americans on the same footing.