mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
OBJECTION TO COUNTING OF PENNSYLVANIA ELECTORAL VOTES
Mazie K. Hirono (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2021-1-6

it has been hard, at times, to find the words to describe the full harm that has inflicted on our country. We can spend hours dissecting how his policies have made us less safe and less healthy, but his Presidency has also been a profound moral failure. prgtoken Let me tell you a story. A few years ago, a father from Hawaii joined me at one of my talk-story sessions in my office, and he asked me a question that struck me hard at that time and has stuck with me until today. He said: How can I tell my son that lying is not OK when the President of the United States lies every single day? I struggled to answer his question then, and I am not sure I could offer an adequate answer now. prgtoken But this conversation remains a clear example of how we do not live in normal times. How is it normal as we and the world watched in horror as an angry mob stormed the U.S. Capitol? Blood was shed. People were hurt. Vandalism occurred. prgtoken It is not normal when we have a President who lies every single day. And even in the face of this vandalism, this mob, he really doesn't have much to say except: I love you. You should go home now. prgtoken It is not normal when, in the middle of a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 350,000 Americans, which is nearly the combined population of the islands of Maui and the Big Island, we have a President who only seems to care about spreading conspiracies to undermine confidence in our elections and our democracy. prgtoken It is not normal when duly elected Senators who took an oath to uphold the Constitution pull a stunt to try and nullify millions of votes in six States so that can remain President. I call this effort a stunt because it is doomed to fail. prgtoken We have a strong bipartisan majority, as noted in the vote that we just took, in both Chambers of Congress who reject this stunt, and courts have ruled against and his allies in more than 60 cases. prgtoken So whenever this farce ends, the result will be the same: will have lost the election, and will become the 46th President of the United States. prgtoken You can tell a lot about a person from the way they handle defeat. The way has handled defeat says a lot about who he is. Watching so many of our colleagues indulge the President tells us a lot about them too. prgtoken We don't have to look back very far in history to find examples of candidates who lost tough races but demonstrated their character in defeat. Our colleague Senator Romney graciously conceded his defeat to President in noting: At a time like this, we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work, and we citizens also have to rise to the occasion. prgtoken And in 2000, during an election with substantial irregularities and partisan intervention from the Supreme Court, A
DEFENDING OUR DEMOCRACY
Mike Levin (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , for the first time since 1814, the United States Capitol Building was breached by an angry mob. More than 200 years ago, it was British troops. This time it was domestic terrorists, inspired and encouraged by President . prgtoken I started the day prepared to uphold my oath of office--an oath I took this past Sunday at the launch of the 117th Congress to ``support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'' prgtoken I planned to uphold that oath by voting to certify the results of the Electoral College, and we are getting back to our work and certifying and as our next President and Vice President. We will do that work thanks to the efforts and bravery of the Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies who have intervened. While there will be many questions about how this security breach occurred, I am incredibly grateful for the men and women who risked their lives to keep us safe today. prgtoken As for the domestic terrorists who sought to overthrow our democracy, they must be prosecuted. Their leader must be removed from office as soon as possible and their enablers in Congress must be held responsible for their role in this catastrophe. prgtoken Despite 81 million votes for President-elect and Vice President-elect , multiple recounts, and more than 60 failed lawsuits challenging the election results, many of my colleagues followed 's lead and pushed outlandish conspiracy theories and baseless claims of voter fraud without any evidence, entirely void of reality. prgtoken Many Congressional s are seeking to overturn the results of a free and fair election because they don't like the results. They didn't realize--or didn't care--that their actions could result in a violent coup attempt. That's exactly what happened today. prgtoken The question now is a vital one: where does our country go from here? prgtoken For many decades, we have had passionate but peaceful political disagreements--a shining beacon of democracy. We Americans do not support insurrection or mob rule. In short, we are so much better than this. prgtoken We are now at a crossroads in our great nation's history, a moment where we see two divergent paths in front of us. We can continue down a path of hyper-partisanship, divisiveness, and democratic decay, or we can try to heal our country. We can come together to reject the violence we saw today and recommit to upholding the values that unite us as Americans: democracy, justice, and equality. It is paramount that we choose the right path. prgtoken I hope my colleagues who insist on continuing this charade, understand that their actions will be remembered as among the most shameful in our nation's history. Generations of Americans to come will learn of their attempt to undermine the democratic institutions our country was founded upon. prgtoken To thos
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Raúl M. Grijalva (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado for yielding time. prgtoken I will be very brief, Madam . There is really nothing left to say. This challenge brought by Members of this House, Members from this House from Arizona and a Senator from Texas, the whole discussion today, this challenge to the 11 electoral votes that are designated for President and Vice President , the discussion today proves there is no merit to denying those electoral votes. There is no legal standing. The courts have proven that in Arizona time and time again. There is no precedent. There was no constitutional violation. prgtoken But we are here today, Madam , because of one man and those who are desperate to please him. prgtoken So what do we have to show for this process today? Fear, a lockdown, violence, and, regrettably and sadly, death, arrests, present and real danger, threats, an assault on our institution, this House, this Congress, and the very democracy that we practice here. prgtoken And to what end? What did we accomplish? prgtoken The reality is that the challenges will be defeated. Come January 20, President and Vice President will be the President and Vice President of the United States. prgtoken So what have we accomplished? To further divide this Nation? To continue to fan the same rhetoric of division and us versus them? To paralyze and dismantle our democracy? Is that what we attempted to accomplish today? prgtoken The mob that attacked this institution, I hold no Member specifically responsible for that madness that was around us, but we do share a responsibility, my friends, to end it. It is past time to accept reality, to reaffirm our democracy and move on. prgtoken I would urge my colleagues from Arizona who filed this challenge to withdraw their challenge to this, to Arizona and to the electors that have been chosen to give their 11 votes to the winners in that election. prgtoken But if that doesn't happen, then I would urge my colleagues to reject this challenge and defend all voters, defend the voters of Arizona and that democracy that we practice daily in the representation of our constituents. That is what is at stake today.
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Adam B. Schiff (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , 80 years ago today, Franklin Roosevelt delivered his third inaugural address. ``Every realist knows,'' he said, ``that the democratic way of life at this moment is being directly assailed in every part of the world--assailed either by arms, or by the secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who would seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations still at peace.'' prgtoken Today, the principal threat to our democracy comes from a different but also poisonous propaganda of those who seek to destroy our unity and promote discord. prgtoken According to this propaganda, America cannot conduct a free or fair election. Our elections are rigged and doomed. prgtoken According to this propaganda, the voters can no longer decide who shall be President. The Congress must decide for them. prgtoken At a time when our Nation faces an unprecedented health crisis, with thousands dying every day, with Americans struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head, who are we to say that the man America chose to lead us out of this calamity shall not take office? prgtoken The coronavirus will claim more American lives than all of the casualties in World War II. To meet that moment will require unity, not discord; will require an abiding faith in our country, in our democracy, in our government's ability to function and provide for the needs of its citizens. prgtoken The Members of this body cannot continue to challenge the merits of an election that was fairly conducted and overwhelmingly won by . It must stop. prgtoken Look at the damage that was wrought in this House today, to this country today. Is that not enough? prgtoken Roosevelt said: ``This Nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women. . . . Our strength,'' he concluded ``is our unity of purpose.'' prgtoken Let us unite once again in defense of the greatest hope of freedom- loving people around the world, this precious democracy. prgtoken Madam , from Maryland (Mr. Raskin).
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Jamie Raskin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , I thank you first and all my dear beloved colleagues for your love and tenderness, which my family and I will never forget. prgtoken Abraham Lincoln, whose name is a comfort to us all, said: ``We have got the best government the world ever knew.'' prgtoken It is best because the first three words of the Constitution tell us who governs here: We the People. prgtoken Watch this proceeding today and tell the world with pride, as Lincoln did, about the brilliant meaning and promise of our country. Our Government belongs to the people. prgtoken As President Ford said: Here the people rule. prgtoken Today we are in the people's House to complete the people's process for choosing the people's President. We assemble into joint session for a solemn purpose that we have all sworn a sacred oath to faithfully discharge. The 12th Amendment obligates each and every one of us to count the electoral votes to recognize the will of the people in the 2020 Presidential election. prgtoken We are not here, Madam , to vote for the candidate we want. We are here to recognize the candidate the people actually voted for in the States. prgtoken Madam , the 2020 election is over and the people have spoken. received more than 80 million votes. Seven million more than President . A number larger than any other President has received in U.S. history. The sweeping popular victory translated into an electoral college victory of 306-232, a margin which President pronounced a landslide when he won by those exact same numbers in 2016. prgtoken So now we count the electoral votes that were just delivered to us in the beautiful mahogany cases brought by those hardworking Senate pages. These mahogany cases contain only the 538 electoral votes that were sent in by the States, not the 159 million ballots that were cast by our constituents. Those were counted 2 months ago by hundreds of thousands of election officials and poll workers across America who risked their health and even their lives in the time of COVID to deliver what our Department of Homeland Security called the most secure election in American history. Many of these officials have endured threats of retribution, violence, and even death just for doing their jobs. prgtoken Just as the popular vote was for , so was the electoral vote. On December 15, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized it. ``The electoral college has spoken,'' the Senator said from the Senate floor. ``Today I want to congratulate President-elect .'' prgtoken Yet, we have seen escalating attacks on our election with unfounded claims of fraud and corruption. More than 60 lawsuits have been brought to date seeking to overturn the results. They have failed repeatedly and they have failed spectacularly. prgtoken Every objection we hear today maligning our States and their officials--both and --has been litigated, adjudicated, and obliterated in both Federa
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Mr. Vice President, I can only think of two times in American history that individuals laid siege to our Capitol, stormed our sacred civic spaces, and tried to upend and overrun this government. One was in the War of 1812, and the other one was today. prgtoken What is interesting about the parallel between the two is they both were waving flags to a sole sovereign, to an individual, surrendering democratic principles to the cult of personality. One was a monarch in England, and the other were the flags I saw all over our Capitol, including in the hallways and in this room, to a single person named . prgtoken The sad difference between these two times is one was yet another nation in the history of our country that tried to challenge the United States of America, but this time, we brought this hell upon ourselves. prgtoken My colleague from Texas said that this was a moment where there were unprecedented allegations of voter fraud. Yes, that is true. They were unprecedented when the President, before the election even happened, said: If I lose this election, then the election was rigged. prgtoken That is unprecedented. It is unprecedented that, before the night of the counting of the vote was even done, that he called it rigged. It is unprecedented that he is fanning the flames of conspiracy theory to create a smokescreen in this Nation to cover what he is trying to do, which is undermine our democratic principles. prgtoken But it is not just that. The shame of this day is it is being aided and abetted by good Americans who are falling prey, who are choosing over truth, who are surrendering to the passion of lies as opposed to standing up and speaking truth to power, who are trying to fundraise off of the shame of conspiracy theories as opposed to doing the incalculably valuable, patriotic thing: to speak truth to our Nation. Our democracy is wounded, and I saw it when I saw pictures of yet another insurgency, of a flag of another group of Americans who tried to challenge our Nation. I saw the flag of the Confederacy there. prgtoken What will we do? How will we confront this shame? How will we confront this dark second time in American history? I pray that we remember a Georgian and his words. All I can say is we must, in spirit, join together like those Georgians on a bridge called the Edmund Pettus, who joined hands, who were called threats to our democracy, who were called outrageous epithets when they sought to expand our democracy, to save it, to heal it--when they joined arm in arm and said what we should say now, commit ourselves to that ideal, that together, we shall overcome. (Applause.)
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2021-1-6

I rise tonight to defend the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania--to defend the more than 6.9 million voters who voted in this election--and to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this attempt to disenfranchise the voters of Pennsylvania based upon a lie, a falsehood. That same lie sowed the seeds of today's violence and today's lawlessness here in the Capitol. prgtoken One of my constituents, Susan, from Lehigh Valley--the community of our State where Senator Toomey lives--recently wrote to my office and, perhaps, said it best: We cannot allow ANYBODY to overturn the legal votes of the citizens of Pennsylvania. This would be the ultimate destruction of our democracy. prgtoken Susan had it right. We cannot allow ``ANYBODY''--and she put that word in all caps--to overturn the legal votes of the people of our State. prgtoken Let me address the allegation regarding the Pennsylvania Constitution and the general assembly and somehow that the general assembly didn't have the authority to enact ``no excuse mail-in voting''--that process--for the people of our State. prgtoken First, the law in question, Act 77, was passed in 2019 and was implemented without any serious question as to its constitutionality. The law was passed by a -controlled general assembly, house and senate. It was only after the 2020 election, when it became clear that President-Elect won Pennsylvania by a little more than 80,000 votes, that some politicians in our State decided to challenge the constitutionality of the law. prgtoken Second, Act 77 is plainly constitutional. My colleagues allege that the State constitution requires in-person voting except under limited circumstances. This is not true. While Pennsylvania lays out specific situations in which absentee voting is required, there is no in-person requirement in our State constitution. The constitution sets a floor, not a ceiling, for this type of voting. prgtoken Third, apart from the argument made by my colleague, there is bipartisan agreement across our State--at the local, State, and Federal levels--that our election was fair, secure, and lawful. On Monday, my colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Toomey, wrote in an op-ed: ``The evidence is overwhelming that won this election.'' prgtoken There is simply no evidence to justify the outrageous claims of widespread voter fraud or election irregularities that have been suggested by those seeking to overturn the election. There have been 60 cases in court after court, all throughout our State and throughout the country, including in the Supreme Court, that have dealt with this bizarre argument that we know is based upon that lie. prgtoken In one court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Judge Bibas, appointed by President , wrote: The campaign's claims have no merit. The United States has free and fair elections, which are the
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Ruben Gallego (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , I am the proud son of immigrants. Growing up, I heard stories about parties, prgtoken politicians, and Presidents invalidating elections when the people took power for themselves. That is why, when I joined the Marine Corps, the most sacred part of my oath was to protect the Constitution of the United States. prgtoken I never thought I would have to do that on the floor of Congress, but here we are. The people have spoken, and the power of the people, the Constitution, will be preserved. prgtoken Madam , I left my youth, I left my sanity, I left it all in Iraq for this country because there is this one precious idea that we all had, that we all believed: that this country was going to protect everyone's individual rights, that you were going to be able to vote, that you were going to be able to preserve democracy and pass it on as a legacy, as an inheritance to every American. prgtoken But today--today--there was treason in this House. Today, there were traitors in this House. prgtoken So I am not asking my colleagues to help me and stop this objection to Arizona; I am asking you to get off all these objections. It is time for you to save your soul. It is time for you to save your country. prgtoken That man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will forget you. He will use you and he will dump you to the side, but what will be left will be the stain--the stain--on democracy that you are engaging in right now. prgtoken Listen to yourselves. I consider most of you very smart, believe it or not, but the idea that we would rig an election for the President but not preserve the congressional seats for all of our friends that we just lost in the last election is absurd. prgtoken The idea that we would help Vice President win but wouldn't make sure that we got enough Senators in the Senate for us to pass a full agenda is absurd. prgtoken The idea that there was somehow nefarious border registration in Arizona that tipped the scale when, during that same time of border registration, there were more registered voters that were s than is absurd. prgtoken You are better than this. Many of you did serve, many of you have never served, but there is an opportunity and a time for courage. I hope you never have to face fire or bullets or bombs for your country, but right now--right now--this country is asking you to be better. Right now, this country is asking you to show courage. prgtoken That man will leave. Your soul will stay with you for the rest of your life. prgtoken You owe it to democracy. You owe it to the hundreds and thousands of men and women that have sacrificed their life. prgtoken You know better. You are better. Be the good American. Be the American you want. Preserve this democracy; reject this movement; and stop this terrorism that is happening from the White House.