Freshman Rep. Burgess Owens laid into Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee for opposing a rules amendment that would have had the committee open up meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance.
“15 seconds to show our kids that … we can agree to disagree, but we love our country enough to at least stand and represent our flag,” Owens said. “Let’s stand, let’s pledge our flag … and then we will be an example of what unity looks like.”
“15 seconds to show our kids that…we can agree to disagree, but we love our country enough to at least stand and represent our flag.
Let’s stand, let’s pledge our flag…and then we will be an example of what unity looks like.” –@RepBurgessOwens pic.twitter.com/wUPPuN5DdB
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) February 4, 2021
Owens said that when he played in the NFL, he would tear up while listening to the national anthem before games, unlike “guys making $50 million today” who will “not stand for the flag because they’ve been taught by their adults not to love our nation.”
Owens urged Democratic lawmakers to make the committee an example of leadership and show “what unity looks like” by “saying the words that bring our country together, put our hand on our hearts and meaning it.”
The new lawmaker’s comments were not warmly received by Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who questioned Owens’s objection to certifying the 2020 election results ahead of the Jan 6. Capitol riot.
“I was just going to ask him how he voted after a violent mob attacked the Capitol to hunt down members of Congress, to hang [Vice President] Mike Pence, to assassinate [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi to stop us from undertaking our constitutional responsibilities as part of the peaceful transfer of power — more than 100 officers seriously injured, brain injuries, head trauma,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries took issue with Owens questioning fellow lawmakers’ patriotism, saying that Owens voted for a “big lie.”
“And you want to sit here and lecture us about patriotism?” Jeffries said. “When you voted to object to an election that you know Joe Biden won and perpetrated the ‘big lie?’”
“The notion of you coming here lecturing us on your first day before this committee [by saying], ‘It’s not about words, it’s about actions,’” Jeffries continued. “You know what, explain your actions on Jan. [6th] when you supported an insurrection.”
Jeffries added that it was unpatriotic of Owens to provide aid and comfort to a “violent insurrection incited by the former president of the United States of America.”
But Owens fired back, asking Jeffries if it was an insurrection in 2016 when multiple Democrats objected to former President Donald Trump’s election victory.
“No, it was not,” Owens said.
But Jeffries argued the situations weren’t the same, as this year’s objections led to spilled “American blood.”
“A violent insurrection resulted in the spilling of American blood. People died. The Capitol was desecrated,” Jeffries said. “Urine and feces were left behind. The Confederate flag was bandied about. That didn’t even happen in this Capitol during the Civil War. … That’s undemocratic.”
Later, a Republican colleague yielded Owens more time so that he could continue his point. He used the time to tell fellow lawmakers that he was a descendant of slaves and grew up in the Jim Crow South, giving him an appreciation for defending the right to due process and avoiding mob rule, which Owens said Trump was not afforded during the latest impeachment proceedings in the House.
“We cannot become a body that does not give due process, and of all people, the Black community should know that better than anybody else,” Owens said.
The GOP motion to require the Pledge of Allegiance was defeated on a party-line vote, 21-16.
