Rep. Sarah Elfreth from Elfreth’s Facebook page
Thousands of No King protesters on Saturday afternoon in Columbia’s Symphony Woods heard speeches and music before sign-waving along Little Patuxent Parkway in downtown Columbia.
Here is an edited version of what Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a 37-year-old freshman congresswoman representing Howard County and northern Anne Arundel County, told the crowd:
“Give yourselves a round of applause. This is what democracy looks like.
” I went to the State of the Union a couple weeks ago, and believe me, sitting there was more painful than what you saw on television. It was rough.
I did an interview with a young woman right before him, and she had a shirt on that said ‘Democracy is a group project’. I love that T-shirt. Because I think that’s what today is all about.
Now, I have been your congresswoman for the last 15 months. And it’s a privilege. It’s an honor. It’s been the longest decade of my life in Washington. And I don’t need to tell you all of the evils, because you are informed neighbors. But let me just give you a couple of the low lights, because they’ve been particularly important this week, as I’ve been in Washington,
I was at the Capitol till midnight last night. As we all know, this president has taken a sledgehammer to our civil service and our federal workers. Raise your hand if you are, or you know someone who’s a federal employee doing the work on behalf of the American people. Please know that you’re not going to hear a thank you from this White House, but you’re going to hear a thank you from me and our senators, Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks. Thank you.
Because you are not doing that work for yourselves. You were doing that work not just for your neighbors. You’re doing that work on behalf of the entire American people.
War with Iran
Now let’s talk about this war. And I call it a war, because I’m on the Armed Services Committee, y’all, and I spend a lot of time in classified briefings. We have gotten zero answers behind closed doors as to their plan, or even if they had a plan going into this cluster — there are children here, so I’m not gonna finish that word. There is no plan, and it is an illegal, extra-constitutional war, and he has completely ignored the Congress in what he is doing, and he is sending American servicemen and women into harm’s way without the consent of Congress, without the consent of the American people.
I was in the Capitol till midnight last night because as you know, in the minority, we only have so many tools to fight back, but one of those tools is holding up the budgets of agencies that are out of control. And for the last 41 days, we have said, hell no, to funding ICE and Border Patrol. We recognize the work of hardworking TSA agents, hardworking FEMA employees, cybersecurity employees, who deserve to get paid in this moment. So when the Senate did its job and sent us a compromise that funded those hardworking employees without giving another dime to ICE, we could have done the right thing yesterday.
But the Republican rubber-stamp House — instead of doing the right thing and working with Democrats to get that compromise bill across the finish line — the GOP caved to Andy Harris yesterday. [Crowd boos] Instead, we spent all day debating a bullshit bill. I’m sorry, I’m tired and cranky right now, y’all. Debating and passing a continuing resolution that is another blank check to ICE.
The agency that is being weaponized in our neighborhoods and across this country against our black and brown neighbors and American citizens, they are extrajudicial at this point.
We cannot this without you
I have a huge responsibility on your behalf in Washington. I do not take that lightly. I have not missed a single vote in 15 months. But when I tell you we are human beings, the state delegation, your county council, and myself. I mean that we have important roles, but we cannot do our jobs without you.
So I’m so grateful that you’re here today. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is the 250th year of the founding of this nation, that we are at this pivotal moment. We are at this crisis. And it’s been said many times today that our founders actually planned for this moment in time.
They knew that this could happen, that we could have a dictator in the White House, because they experienced it in their own time, and they built a system where they put the people’s House as Article One. If [Rep.] Jamie Raskin were here, he would tell you, the Article on the Congress is the first among equal branches of government for a reason. Because we are the direct representatives of all of you in Congress, and they gave us the power of the purse. They gave us the power to declare war and not to declare war. They gave us the checks and the balances that are needed in this moment. Instead, my Republican rubber-stamp colleagues are failing at that critical constitutional role and responsibility. But we can do something about it.
And that’s why I’m grateful that you’re here. In this 250th anniversary, I wanted to remember the foundational idea, the radical idea that we were founded under — which is self determination. Self determination. Which means that we each have a role to play in how we get out of this crisis.
220 days till election
And so I’m just gonna ask you all right here, who has plans to vote in November? All right, that was an easy one. Are you ready for the next one? Because it’s not just about voting, I’m so grateful you all showed up today. But we have 220 days to get this done. to turn this stuff around. So raise your hand, you got to plan to volunteer before November. I’m not asking for a lot, everybody. We have candidates running for office, up and down the ballot.
I’m gonna spend a lot of my time in Pennsylvania. We have four seats to flip in Pennsylvania. Those four seats are the majority, our path to making Jamie Raskin chair of the Judiciary Committee. To bring an article of impeachment against a tyrant in the world.
But we can’t do that without you. So I’m gonna ask you for three days between now and November. Three of 220, to knock on doors, here, or in Pennsylvania, Virginia. Three days to make phone calls, three days to volunteer for an organization, or a ballot initiative, or a candidate that you care about. This is a group project. We’re gonna do everything we can, but I can’t do it without you.
So I’m so grateful that you’re here. I’m so grateful if this is the start, not the end of the participation for the thousands of people here, and the millions of people across this country today, No Kings. We need you.
Please, please, please, keep showing up now and for the next 220. It doesn’t happen on its own, unfortunately. We talked about the pendulum swinging. But the pendulum will not swing unless we push it. So we need every single one of you for the next 220 days. It’s an honor where I have to represent you in Washington. Thank you, and I’ll see you on the campaign trail.
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