By: Burnam H.C.R. No. 154
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The elemental source for initiating congressional
impeachment proceedings is found in The Constitution, Jefferson's
Manual, and Rules of the United States House of Representatives;
Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice
authorizes federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by
joint
resolution of a state or territorial legislature as a matter of
privilege; and
WHEREAS, Precedent for employing this authority is
well-established and documented in Hinds' Precedents of the House
of Representatives of the United States; one such entry relates
to a
1903 joint resolution passed by the Florida state legislature
requesting that the U.S. Congress impeach U.S. District Judge
Charles Swayne that resulted in a senate trial; and
WHEREAS, Invoking this authority, the people of the state
of
Texas charge that President George W. Bush has violated the
United
States Constitution and other federal law and abused the power of
his office to the extreme detriment of the country and the
interests
of its citizens, actions that constitute high crimes and
misdemeanors; and
WHEREAS, President Bush conspired with others to defraud
the
United States of America by intentionally misleading the congress
and the nation regarding an Iraqi threat to the American people
to
justify a war in direct defiance of the United Nations Security
Council and in violation of Section 371, Title 18, United States
Code; in so doing, President Bush and members of his
administration: 1) overstated the offensive capabilities of
Iraq,
including that country's supposed possession of weapons of mass
destruction, and manipulated and distorted intelligence relating
to Iraq's weapons program during a plenary session of the United
Nations and in direct contradiction to evidence gathered by
international weapons inspectors; 2) manipulated public opinion
by
repeatedly and erroneously linking Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi
government with the terrorist organization responsible for the
attacks of September 11, 2001, al Qaeda; and 3) manipulated
public
opinion by stating in the State of the Union Address that Saddam
Hussein had sought "significant quantities of uranium from
Africa,"
despite confirmation from the Central Intelligence Agency and
officials from foreign governments that the documents supporting
these claims were forged; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration's decision to invade Iraq
in
2003 was an unnecessarily reckless endeavor; while Saddam Hussein
was a despotic leader who had used chemical weapons against Iran,
as
well as the Kurdish and Shia people, and required prudent and
efficacious attention by the United States and the international
community in order to maintain peace and stability in the Middle
East, the invasion of Iraq, in fact, necessitated the removal of
United Nations weapons inspectors who were on the ground in Iraq
and
uninhibited from performing their job of monitoring Iraq's
weapons
of mass destruction capabilities; in fact, during the 11 years
before the invasion, the United States enforced a no-fly zone
over
60 percent of Iraq's airspace, significantly restricting the
country's military movement and activity throughout its
territory;
and
WHEREAS, Indeed, Iraq posed no threat to the territory or
people of the United States, yet the 2003 invasion of Iraq has
resulted in the deaths of more than 3,200 American soldiers and a
reported 59,000 Iraqi civilians, over 23,000 wounded American
soldiers, and severely diminished American military readiness;
the
fiscal cost of the war will reach $500 billion by the end of
2007;
and
WHEREAS, In addition, to meet the needed manpower to
execute
the invasion, President Bush has federalized and deployed members
of the Texas National Guard overseas, thereby subverting the
power
granted to congress under Section 8, Article 1, United States
Constitution, to call "forth the militia to execute the laws of
the
Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions"; regrettably,
the illegal deployment of the Texas National Guard deprives the
state of its primary mechanism for defense and emergency
response,
needlessly jeopardizing the safety of Texans; and
WHEREAS, Under the guise of the war on terror, the Bush
Administration has held American citizens and citizens of other
sovereign nations without charge or trial; despite these
secretive
detentions, the United States has been embarrassed by revelations
of torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and evidence
suggests that President Bush has authorized the use of similar
acts
of torture in the interrogation of detainees in American
facilities
around the world; and
WHEREAS, These detentions are clear violations of
international and federal law; as a signatory to the Geneva
Conventions, the United States is bound to provisions of Article
13
requiring that "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely
treated . . ." and Article 17 stating that "no physical or mental
torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on
prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind
whatever"; and
WHEREAS, Furthermore, the War Crimes Act of 1996 provides
that a person who acts in breach of the Geneva Conventions has
committed a war crime and is subject to punishment under federal
law; similarly, Article VI of the United States Constitution
provides that ". . . all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law
of the land . . . ."; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration's defiance of the Geneva
Conventions has potentially threatened the lives and well-being
of
American soldiers captured as prisoners of war in future
conflicts;
likewise, the Bush Administration's defiance of international law
has tarnished the United States' reputation as a country founded
on
principles of human rights and diminished America's integrity and
influence in the international community; and
WHEREAS, In an effort to further manipulate public opinion
relating to the justification for the Iraq war, the Bush
Administration leaked classified information, knowingly revealing
the identities of covert U.S. intelligence agents and exposing
them
to potential harm and retribution; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration's breaches of law are not
limited to international affairs, having similarly violated the
public trust by suppressing scientific information and altering
government documents relating to the causes and effects of global
warming with the intention of deceiving the American public; and
WHEREAS, President Bush's illegal actions have also
undermined the balance of power between the branches of
government;
in clear violation of the Fourth Amendment, President Bush has
publicly admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to
contravene provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act
of 1978, specifically authorizing the agency to spy on American
citizens without securing a search warrant; and
WHEREAS, President Bush has also subverted congressional
authority with regard to domestic policy by filing hundreds of
signing statements that declare the administration's official
legal interpretation of legislation passed by congress; in more
than 750 instances, the president has asserted an authority to
ignore numerous sections of the bills he has signed into law,
including legislation relating to military rules and regulations,
affirmative-action provisions, requirements that congress be told
about immigration services problems, "whistle-blower" protections
for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against
political
interference in federally funded research; and
WHEREAS, Moreover, President Bush has overtly undermined
the
authority of congress; the Bush Administration has undermined
specific provisions of the Clean Air Act by changing
Environmental
Protection Agency rules to allow older power plants, refineries,
and factories to upgrade their facilities without installing
newer,
more advanced pollution control technologies, thereby increasing
the amount of pollution and threatening the health of all
Americans; and
WHEREAS, In order to secure passage of the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Modernization, and Improvement Act of 2003,
the
Bush Administration knowingly misled congress regarding the cost
of
the bill by providing a $400 billion cost estimate to lawmakers
while government documents revealed the true cost was calculated
by
administration officials to exceed $500 billion; be it
RESOLVED, That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas
submit the charges contained herein to the United States House of
Representatives under the authority of Section 603 of The
Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the United States
House of Representatives; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the charges contained herein constitute
proof
that the president of the United States has wilfully violated his
oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
of
the United States; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That George W. Bush, if found guilty of the
charges
contained herein, should be removed from office and disqualified
to
hold any other office in the United States.
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This is not a resolution that has passed here, but the fact that it is
even being discussed in what is arguably the *most* pro-Bush state is
remarkable.
It is certain to fail without *much* discussion though.
xponent
10 States With Similar Resolutions Now Maru
rob
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