mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
BIDEN ENERGY CRISIS
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2021-12-9

. Madam , incredibly, President said Tuesday: ``We're making progress.'' And ``American people are paying their fair share for gas.'' prgtoken However, the reality is Americans are paying 61 percent more for gas, and home heating oil costs will jump 54 percent. prgtoken The disastrous agenda has put America in an energy crisis. He killed the Keystone pipeline with 11,000 jobs lost. And executive orders have paused new oil and gas leasing, costing over 1 million jobs. Annual inflation is the highest in 40 years, destroying jobs. prgtoken The elite think they are better than everyone, and they believe voters and media are ignorant to accept $4.5 trillion ``costs zero dollars.'' prgtoken In conclusion, God bless our troops who have successfully protected America for 20 years, as the global war on terrorism now is moving from the Afghanistan safe haven to America. prgtoken Congratulations, Norma and John Jett and Roxanne Wilson on their new grandson born yesterday, Hunter Taylor Wilson, Jr of West Columbia, South Carolina.
THE DANGERS FACING OUR COUNTRY
Chip Roy (Republican, TX) \u2014 2021-12-9

. Would it surprise the gentleman that it was May of 2016, the last time that an amendment was offered on the floor of this body in open debate? prgtoken Now, to be clear, that is an assessment of leadership in both parties. But how on earth can we actually solve the problems, I would ask the , if we don't come down and sit at this table, stop looking up at the C-SPAN cameras and just sit around this table and start with a budget--like any family or any business--and say, Here is how much money we have. Here is how we can responsibly spend for the betterment of the people. Have disagreements about what those priorities are and make choices. prgtoken When was the last time that we have done that? It is a rhetorical question, but I know one data point is that May of 2016 was the last time that any Member of this body was able to walk on to this floor and offer an amendment that wasn't precooked up in the Committee on Rules previously and already set up by the leadership structure of either party. prgtoken Would the gentleman agree that that is no way for the people's House to operate?
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2021-12-9

. Thank you, Senator Durbin, and thank you, Senators Durbin and Lee, for bringing some common sense to the principles of checks and balances of government. prgtoken In this particular case, it is not checks and balances between the legislative branch and the executive branch so much as it is injecting another level of checks on abusive authority within the executive branch. prgtoken So I strongly support this act and the bipartisan work of you two Senators to bring greater accountability to the attorneys at the Department of Justice. prgtoken Congress created the inspectors general to be independent. They don't just investigate whatever their Agency or Congress might want them to; the law says that inspectors general shine a light on waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal Agencies. Sometimes transparency is very uncomfortable, but it is extremely necessary. prgtoken You are not going to get real accountability if you have an Agency's employees policing themselves. Right now, the only folks who can investigate the Justice Department attorneys are other Justice Department attorneys. This system erodes public trust and creates clear conflict of interest. prgtoken For example, the Justice Department attorneys reviewed the plea agreement given to serial child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. I note that many of my colleagues here found that internal review ``substantively inadequate.'' Those are words from my colleagues. Had the inspector general conducted the review, he might have gotten somewhere with it, just like he did with the behavior of FBI agents in the Larry Nassar case. What if we had left that investigation to the FBI to police itself? prgtoken This is why the Justice Department inspector general has identified as the Agency's No. 1 top management challenge ``strengthening public trust'' in the Justice Department. One way to fix that is to make sure the independent inspector general has the same authority over all Department employees. Why do FBI analysts and DEA agents require more independent scrutiny than Department attorneys? This is so simple that even a lawyer could get this. prgtoken I heard rumors that my friend Senator Cotton may be objecting to this--a person I agree with 90 percent of the time. It seems to be very uncharacteristic. He and I believe alike that there are two ways of doing business in the United States: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness or let the bureaucrats run everything. And I know Senator Cotton is a person who doesn't think bureaucrats should run everything. In this case, nothing is reviewable by people who make a decision not to produce this. That is the height of irresponsibility. prgtoken .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Joni Ernst (Republican, IA) \u2014 2021-12-9

I am glad to be on the floor today, joined by my colleague Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Lindsey Graham. prgtoken We all saw and remember the horrific images from this past summer when Afghanistan fell into the hands of a brutal Taliban regime. It was a difficult time for many of us, especially our veterans, our Gold Star families, and the families of the 13 servicemembers we lost during that disastrous exit, including the family of Marine Cpl Daegan William- Tyeler Page of Red Oak, IA, my hometown. prgtoken These heroes must never be forgotten. While the tragic exit from Afghanistan may have moved off of the front pages, and while it may not be top of mind for many Americans here at home, the devastating situation in Afghanistan is all too real for the hundreds of American citizens and allies who were left behind. prgtoken The reality is, right now, U.S. citizens, green card holders, and SIV-eligible Afghans are still stranded behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. prgtoken I am furious over the mishandling of this administration's exit from Afghanistan. It was a disaster from start to finish. Now, America has a duty and an obligation to get these people home or brought to safety, plain and simple. prgtoken To those who are stranded in Afghanistan today, my message to you is clear: I have not forgotten you. America has not forgotten you. prgtoken As my colleagues pointed out already, we are trying to find ways to remind Congress, the administration, and the public of those Americans who are still stranded in the country and the importance of taking action to get them home. prgtoken As a way to remind those around that our fellow Americans are still stranded and that we need to get them home, I am encouraging Iowans and all Americans to join me, to join Senators Graham and Blumenthal in wearing a green ribbon this holiday season. prgtoken We must ensure that America does not forget those who this administration has left behind. prgtoken I am proud to join my colleagues today, and s, to ensure we keep the pressure on and to get these people, including our fellow Americans, home at last. We cannot and we will not let them be forgotten. prgtoken to Senator Blumenthal.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Roy Blunt (Republican, MO) \u2014 2021-12-9

. I think we are a little beyond our time on this side, but I am grateful for my friend from Rhode Island who is willing to let me have a chance to make the points I wanted to make. And I think, as is often the case here, many of them have already been made and were just made pretty well by Senator Portman, certainly, in the spending bill he was talking about and the tax bill that he was talking about. prgtoken We keep hearing that a majority of all Americans like these programs; that if they could just know what was in the bill, they would like the bill. We are going to have some time now over the next few weeks, I am confident, to talk about what is in the bill. These are programs that are supposed to make life better for everyday Americans. Things like paid family leave, I am sure would be helpful in many, many cases. prgtoken But what the Senator from Ohio was just talking about, you know, four times what this bill would spend on paid family leave it pays on tax cuts for the wealthiest families. prgtoken When people begin to look at that, they are going to have to wonder, how is that priority established to where prgtoken the second biggest spending item in the entire bill would be tax cuts for the wealthiest families in America--$230 billion of that $1.7 trillion is tax cuts for those families. The deductibility of State and local taxes goes from $10,000 as a cap to $80,000 as a cap. prgtoken Let me just repeat what I think I just heard, which was that 70 percent of this tax break--70 percent of that entire $230 billion--goes to the top 5 percent of all taxpayers; 94 percent goes to the top 20 percent; and 85 percent goes to the top 10 percent. prgtoken Those are pretty big numbers in a bill that is supposed to make life easier for everyday American challenges. prgtoken Now, I am sure the top 5 percent of all taxpayers have their own challenges. I am also sure they are different than my challenges, but they are not the challenges that everyday Americans face. It is pretty amazing, I think, in all the discussion of what this bill is designed to do, that that is what would happen. Vaccine Mandate prgtoken , let me talk about one other topic as I make way here for the Senator from Rhode Island. I want to talk a little bit about the vaccine mandate and what I am hearing about that. prgtoken Yesterday, in a vote in the Senate on the Congressional Review Act, which is when we have an opportunity to look at regulations proposed by the administration, 52 Senators from both parties--Senators from both parties made up that 52--voted not to go forward with this mandate. prgtoken It is very possible to be pro-vaccine and not pro-mandate. I am pro- vaccine. Over and over again, I have recommended to my friends and my family that you get the first shot and, now, if you are available for the booster shot after you have had either one or two of the other shots, to get that one too. The v
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2021-12-9

I come to the floor today to talk about the threat that is posed by communist China. prgtoken China's economy has grown sevenfold in just the last two decades. China already has a million members in terms of active-duty soldiers. China also has the largest navy in the world. That is right--it is now larger than ours, and the Chinese military is not stopping. China plans to build more than 100 new ships in the next 8 years, and in those same 8 years, China is also building about 300 missile silos and plans to have 1,000 nuclear missiles. Several times this year, China has tested hypersonic weapons capable of use around the world. At the same time, the world has witnessed increasing Chinese aggression. China's goal is unmistakable: It truly wants to become the world's one dominant power. prgtoken Since day 1, the administration has been caught flatfooted as President has been soft on China. This is no surprise given the fact that has been soft on China for 50 years. When he was Vice President, he said: A rising China is a positive . . . development, not only for China but for America and the world writ large. prgtoken During his run for President, Candidate said China was not a threat to the United States. During his announcement speech when he was announcing he was going to be a candidate for President, he said: They're not bad folks. They're not competition for us. prgtoken should tell that to the working families in factory towns who have been put out of business by communist China. He should tell that to the families who lost loved ones to fentanyl and other opioids made in China. He should tell that to the Uighurs and ethnic minorities persecuted and used as slave labor by the Communist Party. prgtoken I have to tell you, leaders on both sides of the aisle here have been shocked by those comments by then-candidate for President . Many recognize the danger posed by communist China. Regrettably, our President, , is not one of them. prgtoken On issue after issue, the administration's policies are only making China stronger, and at the same time, that makes America weaker. I want to just mention a few. prgtoken President 's first budget proposed to basically supersize the Government of the United States--huge budget increases in every government Agency you can think of except for two. The two were Defense and Homeland Security. prgtoken His political appointees at the Pentagon seem more focused on climate change and ``dissident ideologies'' and vaccine mandates than on security threats to our Nation. prgtoken While China's military is growing, ours is going broke and ours is going woke. That is the difference fundamentally today. prgtoken has stopped America's policy of helping developing countries use fossil fuels to eliminate poverty and grow their economies. Who are these other countrie
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Rob Portman (Republican, OH) \u2014 2021-12-9

I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Indiana. What he didn't have under that Christmas tree or in the stocking was a lump of coal because I guess a lump of coal is not something we would find in Build Back Better. Even though there is a lot of stuff in there that is really bad for our economy right now, bad for our families, bad for our workers. And when you think about it, right now, we are in a time of high inflation, supply chain difficulties, record levels of debt and deficit, and an uncertain economy due largely to the uncertainty regarding COVID and particularly this variant, the Omicron. prgtoken So this is not a time for us to be putting forward a massive new spending bill and a massive new tax increase on the American economy. In fact, it is the time for us to retrench a little bit and try to help to get back to where we were before COVID-19. prgtoken Remember, that was the time when after the 2017 tax reforms, we had a great economy, by any measure. And it was an opportunity time. It was the lowest poverty rate in the history of our country since we started keeping track in the 1950s. prgtoken As of February, just before going into the COVID-19 period, February 2020, we had 19 straight months of wage gain of over 3 percent. By the way, that was over inflation because inflation was so low. So people were feeling it. They were actually getting a wage increase. In my State of Ohio, that was the first time in probably a decade and a half. prgtoken Now, it is just the opposite. Wages are actually down when you take inflation into account. And inflation is high, as everyone feared because we have dumped so much on the demand side of the economy, and the supply side is restricted, in part, because of what has happened with COVID, and it creates this inflation. This was warned by not just s like myself, but back in March, when President and the put $1.9 trillion into this economy--the most ever, the biggest bill ever--it was Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, and NEC, National Economic Council, Chair under President , who said: You know, this is going to stoke inflation. It is going to overheat the economy. prgtoken And that is exactly what it did. prgtoken So we have this high inflation. We have these record levels of debt and deficit. We are talking about extending the debt limit right now, and people think the number is going to be--just to extend it for about a year--over $2 trillion; meaning that we are spending so much more than we are taking in. And yet there is this discussion that somehow before Christmas we are going to put forward this Build Back Better legislation that we just talked about. prgtoken It is not building back America better. Unfortunately, it is building us worse off than we were and adding to inflation, adding to the supply chain difficulties, adding to the debt and deficits at record leve
REFLECTING ON AND HONORING THE ACTIONS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE HONORABLE ROBERT J. DOLE
Jake LaTurner (Republican, KS) \u2014 2021-12-9

. Madam , I rise today to honor, remember, and celebrate the life of a true American hero who was the very personification of service. prgtoken I am proud and humbled to stand in for the over 700,000 Kansans in my district who wish they could be in the Capitol today to pay tribute to Senator Bob Dole. prgtoken Senator Dole grew up in a small town called Russell, Kansas, at a time when many hardworking families were being burdened by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The Doles were not immune to these hardships, living in their basement so they could rent out the top of their house to make ends meet. prgtoken Bob Dole attended the University of Kansas where he was a star athlete playing under the famous Phog Allen on the Jayhawks basketball team and began his service when he enlisted in the Army. prgtoken Like many of the Greatest Generation, Bob Dole dropped everything at the age of 21 when he was called to Active Duty and shipped off to Italy to fight for freedom across the world. prgtoken Toward the end of the war, Senator Dole was struck in the upper back and right arm by shrapnel from a German shell while fighting in the mountains of northern Italy and was paralyzed from the neck down. He was sent to the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he met some fellow soldiers who would have an impact on the rest of his life. prgtoken They ended up calling themselves the Percy Jones Alumni Caucus, which consisted of Senator Dole; the ward's ranking officer Colonel Philip Hart, who later became Senator Phil Hart; and a longtime friend of Bob Dole, Daniel Inouye, who represented Hawaii in the United States Senate. prgtoken Many doctors, like Dr. Kelikian of Chicago, and medical professionals prgtoken thought Senator Dole wouldn't survive his injuries, and if he did, they thought he would never walk again. But he proved them wrong. prgtoken The hospital was turned into a Federal building and renamed the Hart- Dole-Inouye Federal Center in 2003. Senator Dole spent the rest of his life fighting for veterans and those who served our Nation and was instrumental in making the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C a reality. prgtoken After being awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his selfless service in World War II, Senator Dole served in the Kansas statehouse and as county attorney before being elected to the House of Representatives where he served for 8 years. He then moved across the Capitol to represent all Kansans in the United States Senate for almost three decades, serving as majority leader twice and then becoming the nominee for President in 1996. prgtoken Senator Dole was a giant in Congress. He fought to preserve freedom and democracy while also working across the aisle to champion legislation that has impacted millions of Americans from all walks of life. prgtoken Many Americans know and recognize his major legislative achievements such as the America
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Tom Cotton (Republican, AR) \u2014 2021-12-9

I oppose passage of the Inspector General Act. This bill or similar versions of it have been around for at least a decade now. To my knowledge, the Judiciary Committee hasn't had a hearing on this specific issue--certainly hasn't had one this year. prgtoken As my colleagues have said, this bill has bipartisan support, and they have a principled position on the bill. The Senator from Illinois pointed out that he supports the bill now that Merrick Garland is the Attorney General, just like the Senator from Utah supported it when Bill Barr was the Attorney General, just like the Senator from Iowa supported it when Bill Barr was the Attorney General. So it is true it has bipartisan support. Bipartisanship can cut another way as well. prgtoken To my knowledge, every Attorney General, both ic and , has opposed this bill since the very beginning of the inspector general for the Department of Justice. prgtoken Both the Senator from Illinois and the Senator from Utah used the word ``loophole''--a loophole that an inspector general can't investigate attorneys in the Department of Justice. That implies it was an unintended consequence. That simply is not the case. prgtoken In 1988, when Congress created the inspector general for the Department of Justice, Congress had detailed negotiations with the Department of Justice under the leadership of Attorney General Thornburgh, and they reached a compromise to keep investigations of allegations of attorney professional misconduct within the responsibility of the Office of Professional Responsibility. prgtoken In 2007, Eric Holder--not someone whom I usually cite as an authority--after he had been the Deputy Attorney General, called an earlier version of this bill ``deleterious and unnecessary,'' and he said he ``believe[s] strongly'' that it ``would create additional opportunities for improper political concerns to influence law enforcement decisions.'' In other words, Eric Holder thought the bill would compound the problem it purported to address. prgtoken In 2017, the Department of Justice once again articulated similar concerns with the bill. prgtoken Just yesterday, I can relay, the esteemed Judge Michael Mukasey--also a former Attorney General--said that he opposed the expansion of inspector general authority into allegations of attorney professional misconduct, which has always been handled competently by the Office of Professional Responsibility. Judge Mukasey also relayed that he would be happy to testify at a hearing at a later date on such legislation. prgtoken I share some of those same concerns raised about this bill, and I think at the very least we should have a hearing on what would be a significant change in the way the Department polices allegations of attorney misconduct to study its relevance and its impact. prgtoken I want to note that the Office of Professional Responsibility historically has conducted its investigations with int