mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
Tom Cole (Republican, OK) \u2014 2023-11-6

such time as I may consume. prgtoken My friend is certainly correct, I voted against the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, and I did so for a very good reason. It didn't pay for itself. There have been three previous transportation bills in my time here, two under President . I voted for those because they paid for themselves. prgtoken My friends worry about rising costs. They should worry about rising costs. It is their reckless spending that sparked the worst inflation in 40 years and the highest interest rates in 20 years. When they are concerned about housing costs, just look in the mirror. prgtoken That is not just me saying that. Go back and look at all the ic economists that criticized the passage of the so-called American Rescue Plan where my friends injected $1.9 trillion into the economy at a time when we were growing at over 6 percent and rapidly recovering. prgtoken We do have problems with what it costs. Nobody in my son's lifetime-- he is 41 years old--ever paid 8 percent interest rates, but my friends got us there. It didn't take them long to do it, either. prgtoken The record deficits we are running are why we are having to make some of these reductions. The income to the Federal Government is actually higher than it has been in quite some time. It is higher on a percentage basis, it is higher in actual totals, but you can't continue to spend at these rates. That is what caused inflation. That is what drove up housing prices. That is why we are passing this legislation, to try and begin to responsibly fund important programs as opposed to just throwing money at problems and leaving the American people to deal with the bill in terms of higher costs, higher inflation, and more expensive housing. prgtoken Mr. Chair, .
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2023-11-6

I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for yielding. prgtoken , one of the components in this legislation has to do with the California high-speed rail line which was originally bonded for $9.9 billion in 2008. The high-speed rail would run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and the projected total cost was deemed to be around $33 billion that the voters of California were sold when this was placed on the ballot. They would fund $9.9 billion of it. The rest would come from the private sector, seeing that it would be such a great investment and they would make a lot of money at that. The completion date would be 2020. prgtoken As I look at the calendar, we are already 3 years behind the 2020 date. As well, they have been looking for more money because they have fallen way short. The silence has been deafening from the private investors who have not come in on that because they know it is a money loser. prgtoken So what do we have? prgtoken Instead, California keeps coming begging to the Federal Government for more and more funds. They were able to scoop up about $3 billion soon after the stimulus act. prgtoken Do you remember that one, Mr. Chair, back in 2009, look for the shovel-ready projects? prgtoken So they were able to scoop that up. They took that money because the other States who initially took that money gave it back because they weren't going to make high-speed rail work in their States for anywhere near the right price. prgtoken Here we are, at least 3 years after the initial date, and projections now are somewhere around 2035. They are just now chipping away at the Central Valley portion that would run from about Merced to Bakersfield and end in an almond orchard out there somewhere. prgtoken They are running out of funding, so they keep coming back to the Federal Government for more. They got $3 billion of ARRA funding back then, and they have since passed a carbon tax in California, where they auction off carbon credit rights in order to prop this up even more. prgtoken They are coming to us once again. They are $28 billion short of just fulfilling the Central Valley portion, not the whole $33 billion that voters were sold many years ago. It is going to end up being about $128 billion at current projections. prgtoken Mr. Chair, we have to stop throwing money down this rathole. Initially, they tried to tell us it would be a million jobs, back when I was in the State legislature. They finally admitted after 3 years that they meant a million job-years. I guess that means 5,000 workers working for 20 years or something like that, or 200 years. Some crazy number would mean a million job-years. prgtoken By the time you would actually take this rail, which is going to be electrified from San Francisco to San Jose, you would have to switch trains. You may well have to switch trains around here somewhere, too. You could take Southwest from San Francisco to L.A be on the beach,
Israel (Executive Session)
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2023-11-6

as Israel continues to root out the Hamas terrorists who savaged innocent civilians on October 7, the political left here in America appears to be engaged in a loud public debate with itself over how, exactly, to differentiate indiscriminate slaughter and lawful self-defense. prgtoken Last week, an especially radical House repeated to her followers a call to eliminate the Jewish State ``from the river to the sea.'' Then she attempted to explain away the undeniably genocidal connotation of this longstanding anti-Israel slogan as ``peaceful coexistence.'' prgtoken Apparently, Jews can live in peace with Palestinians as long as they vacate Israel. prgtoken Unfortunately, the shameful moral equivalence that has been creeping across elite and influential corners of the left has now been embraced by a former Commander in Chief. Just a few prgtoken days ago, President used the same breath to express his horror at both Hamas violence and a supposed Israeli ``occupation'' of Gaza. In reality, the only force that has occupied Gaza since 2007 is Hamas, not Israel. prgtoken The former President also said ``all of us are complicit to some degree.'' That is simply false. Responsibility lies with the terrorists. prgtoken So perhaps President has forgotten the bloody campaign to defeat ISIS over which he presided or the destruction of cities like Mosul and Raqqa in pursuit of medieval Islamic tyrants who terrorized innocent civilians. prgtoken I don't recall President doubting the righteousness of American efforts to support local partners in rooting out terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Where is that moral clarity in the face of Hamas? prgtoken Unfortunately, that brings me to the growing number of many of our Senate colleagues who have called for a ceasefire in today's terrorist war. I would remind our colleagues that Israel had negotiated a ceasefire with Hamas over the summer, and we all saw where that led on October 7. Returning to any such arrangement right now would be amnesty for these butchers--the butchers of innocent Israelis and Gazans alike. prgtoken Once again, let's remember who the aggressor is. Hamas is blocking citizens from leaving Gaza City. Hamas has intentionally put its weapons caches inside schools, hospitals, and mosques, and its firing positions in the midst of civilian populations. Hamas has poured countless billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance into its terror tunnels. prgtoken These people are not freedom fighters. They do not want peaceful coexistence. They are savages--savages--cut from the same cloth as ISIS and al-Qaida. There is no room for moral equivalency. The distinction between good and evil here is blindingly obvious. prgtoken Fortunately, some do recognize this. The Vice Chancellor of Germany, a member of his country's Green Party, didn't have any trouble finding the moral clarity this moment requires. In an address to the nation last week, he
Cloture Motion (Executive Session)
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2023-11-6

. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott). prgtoken Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven) would have voted ``nay.''
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Richard McCormick (Republican, GA) \u2014 2023-11-6

pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House. prgtoken The form of the resolution is as follows: prgtoken H. Res. 845 censuring Representative Rashida Tlaib for promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. prgtoken Whereas, Israel has existed on its lands for millennia, and the United States played a critical role in returning Israel to those lands in 1948 immediately following the Holocaust and in recognition of its rights to exist as an indelible signal of our solidarity with the Jewish people; prgtoken Whereas, Israel is a critical ally to the American people and to our strategic national security interests in the Middle East; prgtoken Whereas, the people of Israel, including American citizens, were brutally attacked on October 7, 2023, by Hamas; prgtoken Whereas, Representative Rashida Tlaib, within 24 hours of the October 7 barbaric attack on Jewish citizens in the State of Israel, representing the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, defended the brutal rapes, murders, beheadings, and kidnappings, including of Americans, by Hamas as justified resistance to the apartheid state; prgtoken Whereas, Representative Tlaib's October 8 statement claimed that Hamas' October 7 attack on the Jewish people was partly attributable to the United States security aid provided to Israel which ignores the fact that the Iron Dome, a codeveloped air defense system, saved lives that day by intercepting rockets launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian targets; prgtoken Whereas, on October 18, 2023, Representative Tlaib continued to knowingly spread the false narrative that Israel intentionally bombed the Al Ahli Arab hospital on October 17 after United States intelligence, Israeli intelligence, and President assessed with high confidence that Israel did not cause the explosion; prgtoken Whereas, on November 3, 2023, Representative Tlaib published on social media a video containing the phrase ``from the river to the sea'' which is widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the State of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea; prgtoken Whereas, Representative Tlaib doubled down on this call to violence by falsely describing ``from the river to the sea'' as ``an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence'' despite it clearly entailing Israel's destruction and the denial of its fundamental right to exist; and prgtoken Whereas, Representative Tlaib has repeatedly displayed conduct entirely unbecoming of a Member of the House of Representatives by calling for the destruction of the State of Israel and dangerously promoting false narratives regarding a brutal, large-scale terrorist attack against civilian targets inside
Judicial Nominations (Executive Session)
Marsha Blackburn (Republican, TN) \u2014 2023-11-6

. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee considered several of President 's recent judicial appointments. prgtoken I would have thought that they would have figured out by now that they hit rock bottom a few months ago with some of these nominees that are not out of the mainstream, but they really are far left. prgtoken Here are some examples: Nancy Abudu, she endorsed political violence against conservatives; Todd Edelman used his authority to release a known criminal who then went on to participate in the murder of a child; Marian Gaston opposed residence restrictions for convicted child sex offenders; and DeAndrea Benjamin released violent criminals on bond, only to watch them offend again. prgtoken But not to be outdone, the White House has continued this trend with Seth Aframe's nomination to the First Circuit. The White House and Senate don't have a great track record when it comes to putting a nominee forward for this seat. prgtoken Back in February, I came to the floor to oppose Michael Delaney's nomination to the First Circuit bench. You will remember that Mr. Delaney threatened to expose a 15-year-old sexual assault survivor if she came forward with her story. That is right--he threatened to expose a 15-year-old sexual assault survivor if she went public. prgtoken Well, that was a shameful debacle. Everyone saw it. You would think the President's team would have learned their lessons. But I think we were wrong on that, because out of all the talented attorneys and judges that are in the State of New Hampshire, the President has nominated Seth Aframe, who is disturbingly similar to Mr. Delaney in his disregard for victims. prgtoken I want to walk you through two of the cases that Mr. Aframe prosecuted. And these cases are things that should disqualify him from ever having a seat on the Federal bench. prgtoken Now, the first case that we will go to is U.S. v. Carpentino. This involved a criminal defendant guilty of extreme sexual violence against a 14-year-old girl with a hearing impairment. prgtoken Now, this defendant kidnapped this precious child and took her to an abandoned motel in Vermont, and he raped her. This defendant had just been released from a 13-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting minors in particularly violent ways. In one case, he smothered a little girl with a pillow while he raped her. This is a violent repeat offender. prgtoken There was no doubt this person was a clear and present danger to the community. Despite all of this, Mr. Aframe, as the prosecutor in this case, recommended a sentence far below the probation officer's suggested guidelines. Can you even imagine hearing this? And then saying: Let's go light on this guy. Let's go light. Let's go easy on him. prgtoken Now, what we have learned is that it is clear that Mr. Aframe wanted the low sentence. And I will tell you why, and I am going to use his own words. prgtoken And I think when the Presiding Officer
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
Scott Perry (Republican, PA) \u2014 2023-11-6

. Mr. Chair, this amendment reduces the funding level for the National Surface Transportation and Innovation Finance Bureau to the fiscal year 2022 level, saving $6.75 million. prgtoken This office was created by the FAST Act solely to help entities apply for Federal subsidies for transportation projects. It has become so complicated, and there are so many different programs, that now we have to have an entity that navigates interested parties through it. prgtoken In fiscal year 2022, this program was funded at $3.8 million. In this House bill, just 2 years later, it is funded at $10.55 million. prgtoken Let's think about that. We are lending out so much money from the taxpayers that we need to use taxpayer dollars to create an office to assist people looking to take those loans. prgtoken This office is supposed to streamline and improve the application process for DOT's credit assistance programs, according to the Department of Transportation website. These programs, which include TIFIA and RRIF credit assistance programs, have very favorable terms for the borrower. Unfortunately, they have unfavorable terms for the taxpayer. prgtoken , .
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Joni Ernst (Republican, IA) \u2014 2023-11-6

as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Iowa small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to recognize Brannon Monument Company of Dubuque, IA, as the Senate Small Business of the Week. prgtoken Brannon Monument Company was founded by Henry Kies in 1926 as Kies Monument in Dubuque, IA. In 1961, Vince and Mary Lou Brannon bought Kies Monument and shortly thereafter changed the name to Brannon Monument Company. In 1991, Vince and Mary Lou's son Michael Brannon started working at the company. Michael purchased the family business from his parents in 1993 with his wife Stasia and moved the company in 1996 to a larger location. Brannon Monument Company prgtoken moved again in 2021 to a new location and now includes Novak and Brannon Monuments in Marion, IA, and Manchester Monument Company in Manchester, IA. Vince Brannon passed away in 2004, leaving behind a legacy of hard work, service, and dedication to the Dubuque community. prgtoken Brannon Monument Company has been instrumental in building memorials to honor our Nation's veterans. They were a key partner in the construction of the Dubuque Veterans Memorial Plaza, which honors Dubuque veterans who fought in major military conflicts. On July 4, 2019, the Buchanan County Veterans Memorial opened with members of the Brannon family in attendance for the dedication. Brannon Monument Company has been involved in building veteran memorials in Central City and Kolona, IA, as well as Platteville, WI. prgtoken In addition to providing memorials, Brannon Monument Company is also actively involved in the Dubuque community. Michael and Stasia Brannon are famous in the Dubuque community for their yearly Halloween decorations that were covered by the local newspaper. Michael is a member of the Monument Builders of North America, where he served as president from 1999 until 2000. He has also been a member and served as the president of the Monument Builders of Iowa. Brannon Monument Company has been involved with local philanthropic efforts in the Dubuque community, including Rotary International, Mercy Service Club, Alzheimer's Association, Oldorf Hospice House, and the Boys and Girls Club. In 2023, Brannon Monument Company celebrated its 97th business anniversary. prgtoken Brannon Monument Company's commitment to providing high-quality memorials in northeast Iowa is clear. I want to congratulate Michael and Stasia Brannon, Mary Lou Brannon, and the entire team at Brannon Monument Company for their dedication to the Dubuque community. I look forward to seeing their continued growth and success in Iowa.
Israel (Executive Session)
John Cornyn (Republican, TX) \u2014 2023-11-6

today, the United States is facing perhaps the greatest range of security threats both here at home and abroad that we have seen in a long time. Here at home, of course, our southern border has become a major security liability that is being exploited by terrorists, drug traffickers, and, of course, human smugglers. In the Middle East, our close ally Israel is defending its right to exist following a brutal and unprovoked attack by the terrorist group Hamas. In Europe, Ukraine continues to defend itself in the wake of Russia's unprovoked invasion, which was nearly 2 years ago. In the Indo-Pacific, China's aggressive, belligerent behavior has threatened the stability of the entire region and the future of Taiwan. So there is a lot at stake, and the eyes of the world are firmly on the United States of America. prgtoken You know, I know sometimes people say: Well, we don't want the United States to be the world's policeman. And certainly that is true. But the fact is that there is no other nation that can actually lead the democracies in the world to a greater path of security and safety. We know that when the United States does not lead, then that is perceived as a sign of weakness and a lack of resolution, and that, I think, has contributed to where we find ourselves today with this tremendous array of diverse threats. prgtoken So there is a lot at stake, and the eyes of the world are on the United States. Terrorists and dictators, from Kim Jong Un to President Xi in China, to Vladimir Putin, to the Supreme Leader in Iran--all of them are watching to see how the United States responds when our friends and our allies become victims of authoritarian aggression. Will we brush these conflicts aside as meaningless, regional quarrels or will we lock arms with our friends and allies and commit to defeating evil in all its forms? prgtoken I am glad that the overwhelming consensus in Congress is that the only possible option is to respond with strength. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill to strengthen America's support for Israel while cutting wasteful government spending. That legislation provided $14.3 billion in aid to Israel. prgtoken I am disappointed that President , first thing out of the chute, threatened to veto the bill. Senator Schumer went so far as to call it a joke. So $14.3 billion for Israel while it is under perhaps an existential threat by Iran and its proxies, and the majority leader of the U.S. Senate calls that $14.3 billion a joke? I don't think there is anything funny about the strong desire that most of us have to support our ally while protecting the long-term financial health of our country. prgtoken The Nation's debt has skyrocketed over the last few years and now exceeds $33.6 trillion. The interest on that debt alone will cost American taxpayers more than $677 billion this year alone. Increasingly, we are seeing the amount of money we have to pay t