mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Mike Johnson (Republican, LA) \u2014 2017-12-6

today I rise in strong support of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. prgtoken Our constitutional right to keep and bear arms should not be confined by State lines. Yet, currently, a person who has legally obtained a concealed carry permit in one State can be denied that right by simply crossing the State's border. prgtoken Consider my own home State of Louisiana. Our laws rightfully allow for licensed carrying of concealed firearms. I am a concealed carry permit holder myself. When a Louisianian leaves the State, however, our valid concealed carry handgun permit becomes void, absent an agreement from the State we may be in or traveling through. prgtoken The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act that we vote upon today ensures that law-abiding citizens with a concealed carry permit are not denied their Second Amendment right simply because they travel to other States. The Constitution should know no such bound. It does so while also recognizing States' rights by clearly noting that concealed carry holders must follow the law of each and every jurisdiction. prgtoken As a constitutional law attorney myself, it is critically important to me that the fundamental right of every law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms is protected; and, yes, this legislation is about preserving our God-given freedoms. It is about public safety, and it is about common sense. prgtoken As noted, our letter by 23 States attorneys general, including my own home State of Louisiana, affirms that concealed carry laws deter crime. As my friend and colleague, Sheriff Rutherford, just said here so well, he reminded us that law enforcement wants the good guys to be armed. prgtoken The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act protects our Second Amendment right, and I encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation. I want to thank Congressman Hudson for introducing H.R. 38 and Chairman Goodlatte for advancing this legislation through the House Judiciary Committee. I am proud to be a part of this historic legislation.
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Martha Roby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2017-12-6

I rise today in support of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. prgtoken , our Founders laid out certain rights in our Constitution, not to empower the government, but to empower the people. Certainly among the most fundamental of those rights we have as Americans is to keep and bear arms. prgtoken H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, simply ensures all law-abiding citizens who meet the requirements to obtain concealed carry permits in their home State can exercise the right to protect themselves in any State, provided that they obey the local concealed carry laws. prgtoken , some opponents of this bill claim that we are somehow making it easier for dangerous unqualified individuals to obtain and carry guns. That is absolutely not true. prgtoken If a citizen is currently prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm, this bill does nothing to change that. prgtoken On the other hand, , others will tell you that we are making it harder for law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment right. That is not true either. prgtoken H.R. 38 does nothing to infringe upon anyone's right to keep and bear arms. The bill simply ensures that our current National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is enforced and working properly. prgtoken Those of us who respect the Second Amendment and dedicate our careers to defending it will always fight to protect this fundamental right from those who would erode it. prgtoken , we also have a responsibility to uphold and enforce our current laws to ensure dangerous people can't obtain weapons. In fact, it is precisely because we want to preserve our Second Amendment right that we must ensure our criminal background check system works properly. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to support this bill in order to ensure that those who obtain a concealed carry permit in one State are able to enjoy the freedom in any State and to make sure our current background check system is working the way it was intended to work.
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2017-12-6

about a year ago, the American people voted for fundamental change in this country, and, last week, s in the Senate continued to deliver. We passed a plan to give Americans substantial tax relief. This legislation is exactly what people were asking for last November, and it is exactly what this country needs now. prgtoken Because of this plan, people will be able to keep a lot more of their hard-earned money. They are going to find that their taxes will be simpler and fairer. They are going to see our economy getting stronger and healthier. That is good news for our country, and it is, certainly, good news for the American people. This legislation was an important promise that s made, and it is a promise that s have kept. It is just the latest accomplishment that is helping Americans. prgtoken Another thing that the s are providing is tremendous relief from Washington regulations. I think that a lot of people lost track of exactly how much damage the and the administration did to the American economy. The administration added 285 major regulations during the course of the previous administration. Every one of them imposed a burden on Americans. The total cost of these rules was $122 billion per year. That was both the direct cost prgtoken in terms of money and also counting the time needed to fill out the paperwork that was created by these excessive rules. Twenty-one of these rules were actually finalized after the 2016 Presidential election. That is after the American people spoke and said that they wanted change. Yet President went straight on with piling more regulations onto the backs of the American people. prgtoken One of the first things that s in Congress did this year was to start striking down unnecessary, burdensome, costly regulations from the years. s wiped 15 of these major rules off the books. Major rules are rules that cost over $100 million in terms of the compliance cost, the actual cost, and the time cost. That is going to save Americans as much as $36 billion over time. prgtoken One of these rules was an important part of President 's war on coal. It was called the stream buffer rule. It was designed to shut down a lot of the coal mining that is going on in this country. It would have destroyed up to a third of the coal mining jobs in America. So we passed a congressional resolution that protected coal mining jobs and protected American energy independence. We struck down 14 regulations like this one in the first few months of this year. prgtoken In October, s blocked a 15th rule. This was the new regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The rule was written during the administration, and appointees at the agency finalized it last summer. This is the agency that has been in the news recently because it has been so out
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Thom Tillis (Republican, NC) \u2014 2017-12-6

the tax cuts we passed last week--whether they are in North Carolina or North Dakota, working families are going to benefit from them. Over the course of the next days and weeks that we negotiate with the House on a final package that will go to the President, we are going to hear all kinds of interesting claims made on the Senate floor. prgtoken I was presiding, , before you relieved me from the Chair, and I heard one of the speeches we are going to hear several times--we passed this tax bill so that we can actually now cut support for people who need the government safety net. That sounds absurd. It sounds absurd on several levels. No. 1, it is not a very kind thing to do. No. 2, it is not a very wise thing do. prgtoken Let me put in another claim. I can try to put them together. They are saying that we are passing a tax increase on working families in America. What they forget is the dot, dot, dot--maybe 7 or 8 years from now if we decide to raise taxes. Highly unlikely. But in the here and now and next year, after this tax bill gets passed, working families are going to get a tax cut. prgtoken How on Earth can you look at a standard deduction doubling--we are going from $6,000 to $12,000 per individual and $24,000 per family. What does the standard deduction mean? Some people may not understand it. It is pretty simple. That standard deduction means that money isn't going to get taxed. So we are increasing the number of people who will not pay taxes. prgtoken One of the brackets we haven't talked about, and I think we should, is the number of people who go to a zero tax bracket under the Senate plan and, to a large extent, under the House plan. Then we talk about the child tax prgtoken credit. Now let's talk about a working mother, a single mom with a child. The first $12,000 isn't going to be taxed, and then another $2,000 per child would not be taxed before you would even be subject to tax. That is the reality of this plan. It is not an increase in taxes. prgtoken Those who oppose this plan are trying to talk about a hypothetical possibility 7 or 8 years from now that I don't believe is going to happen. One of the reasons why I believe it is highly unlikely to happen is because we are going to have economic growth from this tax plan. prgtoken The way you get economic growth--you also have to recognize that in the United States, we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. When people are trying to set up shop today, they don't have to necessarily set up shop in the United States to do business in the United States; they go to the lowest cost jurisdiction. I don't fault a business for doing that. When I am confronted with maybe the desire to set up a business in, say, North Carolina or somewhere else in the United States, if it is going to cost me substantially more, of course I am going to make the business decision to go where I have the most resources necessary to pro
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, WV) \u2014 2017-12-6

I enjoyed hearing the remarks of my fellow Senator from Missouri. I wish Sam well in his next deployment as a military liaison, and I thank him, as well, for serving our country. Children's Health Insurance Program prgtoken I come to the floor today to talk about tax reform and its benefits for middle-class families across this Nation. First I wish to highlight a program that is critical to these families, especially children; that is, the State Children's Health Insurance Program or, as it is referred to across the Nation, CHIP. prgtoken For more than 20 years--and really since the very beginning, when I first began serving in the West Virginia House of Delegates--CHIP was one of the first programs for which I became a strong champion. That is because I understood how critical it was then for families in West Virginia and how critical it is now. prgtoken When I was in the State legislature in the nineties, I served on the committee charged with creating and implementing the State Children's Health Insurance Program. prgtoken My voting record on this issue has been very clear. As a Member of the House of Representatives and now in the U.S. Senate, I have voted numerous times to fund and expand the CHIP program. prgtoken In my State of West Virginia--a smaller State--22,000 children are in the West Virginia CHIP program. That includes over 10,000 families. It is essential for these working families. It is essential that we recognize that some working families are unable to get insurance. Maybe they can get it for the person who is working, or the spouse, but a lot of times it is prohibitive to get insurance for the children at the same time. That is where CHIP comes in. It is preventive. It is for sickness and illness. It has really helped to improve the health of our young people in the State of West Virginia. prgtoken I was pleased that the bill passed out of the Finance Committee with strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank them for their efforts. prgtoken I have also spoken with Leader McConnell, and he is very favorable about the need to reach a solution for this by year's end. Thousands of West Virginia families and children who rely on this program need to know that it is going to be there. We know we are running up against a funding deadline and expiration; we have already passed the expiration date. prgtoken So I look forward to working together with Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle to reauthorize CHIP and the CHIP program as soon as possible. That will be a good Christmas present. prgtoken , another issue I wish to speak about is a policy that I think will greatly benefit families in West Virginia and across this Nation; that is, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that we passed last week. I was very proud to vote for that--proud because I understand what this legislation can mean to the working families and so many people in our States. Today,
TAX REFORM
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2017-12-6

with the leadership of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady from Texas, the House has passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. prgtoken The tax cuts bill that the House s supported makes the Tax Code simpler and fairer, allows hardworking taxpayers to keep more of their own money they earn, and gives small businesses more room to grow and create jobs. prgtoken Our Senate colleagues deserve credit for listening to the people of the country and voting to pass tax cuts last week. Now we stand on the doorstep of history. As we move to conference committee, we have the chance to overhaul the antiquated and notoriously confusing Tax Code for the first time in a generation. prgtoken When the conference process is finished, the President will be able to sign a tax cut bill that serves the interests of American families and businesses rather than those of politicians and special interests. prgtoken As Paul Ryan has said, these opportunities come around only once in a generation, and now is the time for us to seize the moment. prgtoken In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget September the 11th in the global war on terrorism.
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Richard Hudson (Republican, NC) \u2014 2017-12-6

let me tell you a story. It is a story about an African-American single mother, two kids, living in south Philly. After twice being the victim of muggings, she decides to go out and legally purchase a firearm to protect herself, gets trained with her weapon, and applies for a concealed carry permit. prgtoken Sometime thereafter, she crossed the State line into New Jersey and, at a routine traffic stop, did exactly as she was trained; handed her driver's license and her concealed carry permit to the police officer and let him know that she had a pistol in her purse. prgtoken What she didn't know is that the State of New Jersey doesn't recognize the concealed carry permits of their neighbor in Pennsylvania. And so this poor single mother, who has never had a brush with the law, spent almost 50 days in jail and was looking at 10 years in prison. prgtoken Are you serious? We have to make sure that never happens again. prgtoken The other side today is going to argue that we are violating States' rights with this legislation; but Article IV, section 1, the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, says very clearly that every State should give the full faith and credit to the judicial proceedings and documents of every other State, and that Congress has a responsibility to determine how those documents will be recognized. prgtoken That is why a driver's license is recognized in every State. That is why, if I get married in North Carolina but I move to Arizona, I am not a single man again. They recognize that marriage. That is why divorce decrees are recognized in every State. The concealed carry permit should be recognized the same way. prgtoken But this is not trampling States' rights, because States can still determine what can be carried, where it can be carried. They can set any kind of limits they want about how weapons are carried in their municipalities or their States. prgtoken For example, if you visit the State of New York, they have a limit on the size of a magazine on a pistol. You have got to follow that law. If they want to set restrictions about places where you can't carry, even with this legislation, that law would have to be followed. The States retain this right, just like a driver's license. prgtoken The other side is also going to stand up and claim all kinds of doomsday scenarios about how we are going to increase crime; we are going to increase the number of weapons out there; we are going to turn the cities into the Wild West. prgtoken I find it ironic that we are being lectured to by people from big cities with a lot of gun control measures but have some of the worst crime in the Nation. They are worried about people coming from other places where we don't have crime. I think that is ironic. prgtoken But the truth is, over half the States already recognize permits from every other State; 19 States, in fact, already do this. States and municipalities, as I mentioned, retain the right to
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Bob Goodlatte (Republican, VA) \u2014 2017-12-6

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise in strong support of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. prgtoken , throughout my career in elected office, I have believed in and adhered to two fundamental principles regarding firearms policy: first, the right guaranteed to law-abiding Americans by the Second Amendment must be aggressively protected and preserved; second, the laws we have on the books need to be enforced to the fullest extent possible. The bipartisan bill before us today does both. prgtoken H.R. 38 ensures that law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment right does not end when they cross State lines. The bill allows law-abiding gun owners with valid State-issued concealed carry firearm permits or those who live in so-called constitutional carry States to carry a concealed firearm in any other State that also allows concealed carry. prgtoken We know that citizens who carry a concealed firearm are not only better prepared to act in their own self-defense, but also in the defense of others. Take, for instance, an incident that occurred just last November on a highway in Florida. Lee County Sheriff's Deputy Dean Bardes had just concluded a high-speed chase just off Interstate 75. As Deputy Bardes approached to apprehend the suspect, the suspect, Edward Strother, violently attacked Deputy Bardes. prgtoken A witness on the scene told reporters that the attacker ``just started punching him and hitting and hitting and hitting. I was afraid for the police officer. I thought he was going to kill him.'' prgtoken Fortunately for Deputy Bardes, Ashad Russell, a Florida concealed carry permit holder, was also watching the attack unfold. Mr. Russell pulled his gun and approached the altercation. He told Strother he would shoot him if he didn't stop beating the deputy. The State Attorney's Office said Strother ignored Russell's commands to stop beating the deputy, so Russell fired his gun three times, hitting and fatally wounding the assailant. Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott has hailed Russell as a hero. prgtoken Importantly, this bill also contains the Fix NICS Act of 2017. This is a bipartisan and bicameral measure. The Fix NICS Act takes steps to ensure that State and Federal agencies enter all relevant records into the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This bill will help ensure people who are legally prohibited from having guns, like those with violent felony convictions, do not obtain them. prgtoken The shooting at Virginia Tech and the church shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, and Sutherland Springs, Texas, are tragic reminders of what can happen when all relevant records are not entered into the system. prgtoken Our NICS system is only as good as the information within it. This important piece of legislation will ensure that more of the information already required to be uploaded to NICS under current law is actually placed in the NICS system. <|
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 38, CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Paul Mitchell (Republican, MI) \u2014 2017-12-6

I rise today in support of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, and the underlying rule. The Second Amendment right to bear arms must stand resolute, as should all our constitutional rights. This legislation simply affirms the right of law-abiding citizens to effectively exercise their right in other States as they do at home. prgtoken Forty-two States broadly recognize the right of law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns, and most States allow some form of concealed carry. State recognition of concealed carry licenses from other States is not uniform or consistent. Those who wish to carry a concealed weapon across State lines are subject to a confusing patchwork of State laws that make it difficult for law-abiding citizens to travel with a firearm without fear of prosecution. prgtoken , contrary to what critics would have you believe, this legislation does not upend State laws or expand access to firearms. States will still have the right and the ability to set specific conditions for residents to conceal carry, and individuals from other States must abide by those laws and rules when they carry in other States. prgtoken This legislation does not lessen limitations on gun purchases. If you are prohibited from purchasing a firearm now, they will continue to be prohibited from purchasing a firearm if this bill is passed. prgtoken If you can't legally own or carry a firearm today, this legislation will not allow you to do so after it is passed. prgtoken This legislation is about respecting our Constitution. Our other constitutional rights, like free speech, do not expire when you cross State lines. They are not restricted by State lines. So why should we also allow the Second Amendment to be limited by State lines? prgtoken Indeed, the core of the Second Amendment is self-defense, and the ability to carry a firearm outside your home is a critical component of that constitutional right. That is why 24 State attorney generals, including Michigan's attorney general, Bill Schuette, submitted letters supporting this legislation. They know, like I do, that this legislation is common sense. It prioritizes the rights of law-abiding citizens to conceal carry and the ability to travel freely from State to State without worrying about conflicting State laws and prosecution. prgtoken , each of us are required to take an oath of office here. In that oath, we swear to uphold and defend our Constitution--the Constitution of the United States. That is what this legislation exactly does. It makes sure our exercise of constitutional rights applies throughout the United States. prgtoken My colleague on the other side of the aisle questions proceeding with this legislation while funding for the Federal Government hangs in the balance in the next 72 hours. I agree. We must keep the lights on. We are all responsible for keeping the lights on. It isn't as if it is one side of the aisle or the other, and in the past