RNC Women

With a simple step yesterday, the new Republican majority in the U.S. House showed that things are no longer business as usual in Congress. 

For the first time in the history of the institution, the Constitution was read aloud on the floor of the U.S. House.  From the preamble to the Bill of Rights and through all of the amendments, our nation’s founding document was read aloud by members of Congress from both parties. 

A hallmark of the Pelosi Congress was its effort to enact its policy goals by any means necessary, and whether the programs were constitutional or not.  The most egregious example is the federal takeover of health care that dictates that individual citizens purchase health insurance, a product, from a private company.  Already, a federal district judge has ruled this provision of ObamaCare unconstitutional and more than 20 states have joined legal challenges against the federal takeover. 

Preventing these kinds of abuses is the reason it was so important to have the Constitution read aloud in Congress yesterday – and it is the reason that the new Republican leadership requires each new bill introduced to include a statement explaining from which part of the Constitution the legislation would gain its authority. 

For too long under the Pelosi Congress the Constitution was viewed as a roadblock to get around rather than the foundation of the rights and liberties we enjoy as Americans.  By having the Constitution read on the floor of the House, the new Republican majority showed they will respect our nation’s founding document.  Through their actions over the next two years, they will show they mean to put that respect into action to protect the freedoms of every American.