Sara Jacobs Calls For Update To Insurrection Act To 'Prevent An Abuse Of Power' From Trump Administration

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During a House Armed Services Committee markup meeting before the Congressional recess, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) spoke about the deployment of military personnel on civilians.

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00:00We will now consider log number 5534 by Mr. Deluzio. For what purposes gentlemen

00:07seek recognition? Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. Will the clerk

00:11please distribute the amendment without objection. The reading of the amendment

00:15is dispensed with. I reserve a point of order against the amendment. The gentleman

00:18is now recognized to explain his amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This

00:21amendment is to update the Insurrection Act, dating back to 1807, and because of

00:26issues with waivers, I will ultimately withdraw. But before then, I'll yield two

00:30minutes to the gentlelady from California, Ms. Jacobs. Thank you, Congressman Deluzio.

00:36In Los Angeles, we've seen excessive force, questionable detentions, intimidation

00:40tactics, and legal rights violations by our military. And that's just a glimpse of

00:45what we could see nationwide if President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act and

00:49turns U.S. troops on civilians. Now, right now, the statute is vague, archaic, and ripe

00:54for abuse. Our amendment fixes that. It narrows and clarifies the criteria for the

00:59domestic deployment of military troops for law enforcement purposes. It

01:03specifies that the use of the military is a last resort and is authorized only if

01:07the use of civilian law enforcement authorities would be insufficient. It

01:11clarifies that the law cannot be used to suspend habeas corpus, impose martial law, or

01:17deputize private militias to act as soldiers, and it requires a justification for

01:22the use of this law and consultation with Congress prior to its invocation and

01:26explicit congressional authorization if it is used for longer than one week. These

01:30are simple, thoughtful fixes to respect the rights of the American people and

01:34prevent an abuse of power. I sincerely wish we were able to truly debate this

01:39crucial issue tonight. And if we had been, I would have strongly urged all of my

01:42colleagues to support this critical amendment needed to protect our democracy

01:46regardless of which party you're in. Because honestly, without real reforms on the

01:50insurrection act, it feels like we are all just rearranging the jet chairs on the

01:54Titanic all night tonight, instead of addressing the actual issues at hand. So

01:58unfortunately, we are not able to do that, and I thank my colleague Mr. Deluzio for

02:03yielding time, and I yield back to him. I thank the general lady, as I said, Mr.

02:06Chairman, because of a lack of waiver, we'll be withdrawing, and I yield back to the

02:10chairman. The gentleman withdraws his amendment. We will now consider log

02:15number 5297R1 by Mr. Deluzio of Pennsylvania. For what purposes gentlemen seek

02:23recognition? I have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman. Will the clerk please

02:26distribute the amendment without objection. The reading of the amendment is dispensed

02:29with. I reserve a order against the amendment. The gentleman from Pennsylvania is

02:32recognized to describe his amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be brief, and this

02:35amendment is an easy one, and we'll welcome colleagues in both parties here to work

02:39with me in the future on this. This is about giving the Pentagon and the

02:42secretary more of a say, more of an ability to weigh in when we see mergers and

02:47acquisitions that could harm competition in our defense industrial base. I think

02:51there is broad agreement here that we need more competition in our defense

02:55industrial base. We need new entrants and new companies coming into the

02:58defense industrial base, and we need to make sure that there aren't transactions

03:02that are reducing competition. Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain the waiver we

03:06would need from the Financial Services Committee, but I think this is a place we can

03:09work together. I look forward to doing that. Because of that lack of waiver, Mr.

03:13Chairman, I withdraw the amendment. I yield back. Chair, thanks the gentleman for

03:16withdrawing his amendment.

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