mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON SHOULD NOT BE CONFIRMED
Jody B. Hice (Republican, GA) \u2014 2022-4-1

I rise in objection to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's appointment to the Supreme Court. She is an activist, not a constitutionalist. prgtoken Repeatedly, she has reduced sentences for convicted child sex torturers and pornographers. One example, for an individual who deserved 10 years, she gave only 3 months of a sentence. prgtoken She was in favor of an extended buffer zone around abortion clinics in Massachusetts, which is a blatant attempt to limit the free speech rights of peaceful protesters who stand for life. prgtoken In her confirmation hearings, she would not even define the word ``woman,'' which is an indication of potential future attacks on religious liberties, among other things. prgtoken Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would ensure a radical leftwing agenda on the Supreme Court for decades to come. prgtoken America deserves better. America deserves a constitutional Justice on the Supreme Court. prgtoken I urge my Senators from Georgia and other Senators to vote ``no'' on her confirmation.
MARIJUANA OPPORTUNITY REINVESTMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT ACT
Jim Jordan (Republican, OH) \u2014 2022-4-1

I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken Record crime, record inflation, record gas prices, record number of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. prgtoken And what are doing today? Legalizing drugs; legalizing drugs and using American tax dollars to kick-start and prop up the marijuana industry. Wow. Such a deal for the American people. Every major urban area has increased crime, and are legalizing drugs and propping up the marijuana industry. prgtoken , 40-year high inflation. It hasn't been this high since 1982. We have some Members not even born then. Record inflation, and are focusing on legalizing drugs and kick-starting the marijuana industry. prgtoken Record gas prices, $6 gas in California; $4 gas everywhere else, and are legalizing drugs and helping the marijuana industry. prgtoken And, of course, 2 million illegal immigrants crossed our southern border in the last 14 months, and are legalizing drugs and helping the cannabis industry. prgtoken Oh, and by the way, we could be focused on this issue: We have a Justice Department that is treating parents as domestic terrorists, spying on moms and dads who simply show up at school board meetings. We know that is going on, putting a threat tag label on parents, this designation, this label, on moms and dads simply standing up for their kids. And are focused on legalizing drugs and helping the cannabis industry. prgtoken The majority leader said, Why are we dealing with this today? You know why they are dealing with this today? Because they can't deal with the real problems facing the American people. The left won't let them. You think the left is going to let them do what needs to be done to bring down gas prices? prgtoken We sat in a hearing a few months ago. One of our colleagues in that hearing--we had the CEO of the oil and gas company--he went down the line and said, Will you pledge today to decrease production? They want less oil and gas. Literally, he went down the list. I said, What do you want, $8 gas? And the truth is, they do. prgtoken The left will not let the do what needs to be done to the help the inflation problem, the energy problem, the illegal immigration problem on our southern border. So what do they do? They legalize drugs. prgtoken Wow. Wow. This is wrong, and everybody knows it. Let's focus on the thing that matters for--as the majority leader said--for middle-class families who are having to drive to work, pick their kids up at school, take their kids to Little League practice, spending four and five bucks a gallon to get them there and back. Let's focus on the things that matter. prgtoken , I urge a ``no'' vote.
HONORING THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN JAMES T. BELLEW
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (Republican, GA) \u2014 2022-4-1

I rise today to honor the life and service of Captain James T. Bellew. prgtoken Captain Bellew was tragically killed in a helicopter crash at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, earlier this week, on March 30. prgtoken He was a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, and entered the United States Army in 2017 as a medical service officer. In 2019, he became an aeromedical evacuation officer, and in 2020, he was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. prgtoken This sudden and tragic loss has dealt a heavy blow to the brigade, division, community, and his family. prgtoken During his service, Captain Bellew had successfully evacuated critically ill COVID-19 patients to better care across the country and was the top platoon leader in his company. He was decorated with the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other accolades. prgtoken Captain Bellew was a hero in its truest sense, and he will never be forgotten. prgtoken May God bless his family, friends, and fellow servicemembers, and may God bless our troops.
MARIJUANA OPPORTUNITY REINVESTMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT ACT
Cliff Bentz (Republican, OR) \u2014 2022-4-1

it is absolutely essential that any bill legalizing marijuana include significant funding for law enforcement which will be absolutely and predictably necessary to control the cartels that will flood into the farming areas such as southern Oregon. prgtoken Simply setting up a penalty, as this bill does, for failing to register will not work without the concurrent means of enforcement. Do not let the defunding-the-police thinking that currently is in this bill lead the Nation into the same ecological human and social disaster we now face in Oregon. prgtoken The bill fails to address impairment. It fails to address the ever- increasing potency of the drug. It fails to address the age at which marijuana could be legally used. prgtoken It fails to address the impact the bill's 5 percent and quickly rising to 8 percent gross receipts tax, when added to the State and local taxes, will have in driving the black market sources of marijuana. The Federal tax, when added in, will make legal marijuana almost 30 percent more expensive than that which is on the black market. prgtoken The bill fails to correctly clarify the differences between marijuana and hemp. This is essential if the hemp market is to be protected from the policies and regulations associated with marijuana. prgtoken This bill is the wrong approach. prgtoken We should be addressing the crises created by the administration, not passing an incomplete, inadequate, and damaging to our children and communities stimulus marijuana bill. prgtoken .
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Steve Scalise (Republican, LA) \u2014 2022-4-1

. But the gentleman was saying it wasn't bid on; the oil prgtoken companies didn't want to do it. They did. They wanted to invest in America. An environmental group went to block it and got a court to go along with them. The normal practice is the administration stands up for America and American policy and objects, and the administration refused to challenge it in the courts because they didn't want the lease sale to go forward. And the lease sale did not go forward. That is why no one bid on it, because there was no lease sale. prgtoken We fix that with these pieces of legislation we would like to bring to the floor, but we will continue this discussion. Hopefully, we can resolve it. We will continue pushing for it. prgtoken Madam , .
REALLOCATING EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE
J. French Hill (Republican, AR) \u2014 2022-4-1

. Madam , I rise today to bring attention to the attack on families in rural America by the administration in their reallocation of Emergency Rental Assistance funds. prgtoken As of March 31, unspent ERA funds from rural States, like my home State of Arkansas, are being taken and given to a handful of blue States, like New York, California, and New Jersey, who have already received and spent their own share of Emergency Rental Assistance funds. prgtoken As the Treasury claws back this money, this reallocation of funds will disproportionately affect rural America. The reallocation of ERA money is unfair and turns a blind eye to the needs of renters who have not received rental assistance simply because they live in rural areas of our country. prgtoken To stand up for rural Arkansans and Americans across the country, I have introduced the Protecting Rural Renters Act, which will prohibit the ERA funds originally promised to our rural areas from being reallocated elsewhere. prgtoken This act would simply remove the State allocations from the statutory claw-backs and effectively prevent these funds from being taken away from our rural citizens. This is in the best interests of our Nation.
MARIJUANA OPPORTUNITY REINVESTMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT ACT
Steven M. Palazzo (Republican, MS) \u2014 2022-4-1

I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken Our country is facing a national security crisis, an energy crisis, a border crisis, and an economic crisis, but here we are, voting on cannabis legislation. prgtoken How is this helping our constituents who are paying sky-high prices at the gas pump? How does this strengthen our military and help secure America? How does this address 's record-breaking surge of illegal immigrants at our southern border? How does this help us to leave a stronger, safer, more secure America for our children and our children's children? prgtoken Simple answer: It doesn't. prgtoken We are here today to vote to get America high. prgtoken In States with legalized marijuana, there are more marijuana-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations than any other category. prgtoken Patients in a study using marijuana to treat pain, anxiety, and depression failed to report improved symptoms, and the continued use of marijuana brought risk of addiction known as cannabis abuse disorder. prgtoken The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that about 30 percent of marijuana users have some form of use disorder. In Colorado, the 's home State and the leading State for legalizing marijuana, there was a 25 percent increase in CUD among 12- to 17-year-olds. prgtoken These are our children. Allowing children, who don't know how to rationalize long-term effects of drugs, to use a gateway drug for recreational or medicinal purposes is reckless, negligent, careless, and irresponsible. prgtoken The MORE Act does not responsibly end Federal prohibition of cannabis. The MORE Act does not end the war on drugs. All it does is poison our children and weaken our society. prgtoken This flawed legislation is not time sensitive, does not require consideration this week, and should not take priority over the various serious issues our country currently faces. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill and put our children first, not the dope dealers.
ISSUES OF THE DAY
Glenn Grothman (Republican, WI) \u2014 2022-4-1

. Madam , I have to make a plane, so I won't be here for the whole 30 minutes. It will be probably more like 15 minutes. prgtoken Before addressing the issues I wanted to talk about today, I want to one more time talk a little bit about vitamin D, because earlier today I talked to Dr. Amiez Dror from Israel about a study that he conducted. prgtoken The study is absolutely amazing. In Israel about 45 percent of the population is vitamin D deficient, and that is really deficient. By deficient, they mean less than 20 nanograms per milliliter. About 75 percent of the Israeli population has vitamin D less than 30 milligrams per nanoliter. prgtoken In any event, it wasn't a huge study, but he looked to see how people who had adequate levels of vitamin D performed once they came into the medical system compared to people who were under that 20 nanograms. He found people who were vitamin D deficient, which is almost half the Israeli population, were 14 times more likely to have severe or critical COVID than the people who were above 20 nanograms per milliliter. prgtoken As far as people who died, 25 percent of the people who were hospitalized and were vitamin D deficient died compared to only 2.3 percent of those who had adequate vitamin D. prgtoken Think about that. You are 11 times more likely to die, Madam , if you are vitamin D deficient. prgtoken When he looked at adequate prelevel hospitalization for vitamin D, it was a better predictor of how you would turn out than having COPD, having diabetes, or having congestive heart failure. Unbelievable what a great predictor it was. prgtoken Nevertheless, continued our kind of asleep public health establishment has still not talked about this like they could have. We recently went over 1 million deaths in the United States attributed to COVID, but we can't talk about the fact that--and he is not the only doctor who feels that way--you could have cut that number in half or maybe well time more than half, if out of the chute well before we had such things as vaccines, we knew about vitamin D being good for people back in April or May of 2020. prgtoken If they had spent some of these advertising dollars they spent on other things en masse or whatever, they could have, I believe, saved half the lives. I right now personally know nine people who have died of COVID, and I can't help but think how many of these people or which of those people would have survived if they had publicized the importance of taking vitamin D. prgtoken Now, of course, I also asked the doctor how much vitamin D you should take. He felt for people in good shape it would be 2,000 to 3,000 international units. prgtoken If you are overweight, because the fat cells absorb the vitamin D, you should take more, maybe 4,000 or more international units. prgtoken He points out that even if you are in the sun, one of the things that creates so many people in Israel to be vitamin D deficient is--as the United States--so
MARIJUANA OPPORTUNITY REINVESTMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT ACT
Andy Biggs (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2022-4-1

it is great to be here. I got a kick out of the gentleman from Tennessee showing his age. He is talking about pot when it was 2 percent THC. He is thinking pot is still this drug where people get goofy and they eat Cheetos and nacho cheese Doritos. prgtoken He is not talking about the 99 percent THC pot that is being sold in some of these States where they have legalized recreational pot. I think that is really fun and anachronistic; very good to go back and think about how things were in the late 1960s, early 1970s. prgtoken Let's talk about a Mother Jones article that I have before me where they are analyzing the use of pot, and they are talking about, hey, look, this is what happens, you start seeing paranoia and psychosis come in. They are referring to New Zealand studies, long-term longitudinal studies about the dangers of pot. prgtoken That is interesting. We are not going to even talk about that because we don't have time to talk about that because we are focusing here on descheduling marijuana. What that does is that incentivizes marijuana use and distribution. prgtoken But this bill is also reckless in its approach. It provides no limits on or requirements to clearly identify the potency of marijuana or its extracts or concentrates. In 1995, for instance, the THC concentration was about 4 percent on average. Today, it goes between 20 and 99 percent. prgtoken It also doesn't deal with what the Surgeon General says needs to be the case, that the minimum age limit should be age 25. This doesn't get into any age limit. It doesn't cover that, yet that is what the Surgeon General says. prgtoken In fact, the Surgeon General's advisory says the human brain continues to develop from birth into the mid 20s, vulnerable to the effects of addictive substances, I don't know, like marijuana. In fact, it goes on to say frequent marijuana use during adolescence is associated with changes in the areas of the brain involving attention, memory, decision-making, and motivation. prgtoken Adolescent marijuana use is associated with declines in IQ, school performance and attendance, and life satisfaction, increased rates of suicide attempts. prgtoken You know what this bill does? It is a lot of fun, folks. What it does is, it says you can distribute this, under Federal law anyway, you can distribute this to an 11-year-old kid. The 11-year-old kid is going to have marijuana, be able to use it. You can't do anything to them here for that, that is for sure. prgtoken What it does do is it creates a tax crime. It creates a tax crime. You get rid of your marijuana crime, it creates some tax crimes. We all know how great the Tax Code is for ease of use and understanding. prgtoken Section 3 of the bill removes marijuana from the schedule of the Controlled Substances Act. It would no longer be a Federal crime to possess or sell marijuana, including to 11 year olds. Section 5, however, puts it into the Tax Code. prgtoken I think there is
MARIJUANA OPPORTUNITY REINVESTMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT ACT
Burgess Owens (Republican, UT) \u2014 2022-4-1

I rise today to raise safety concerns that remain unaddressed in H.R. 3617, the Marijuana Reinvestment and Expungement Act--known as the MORE Act. I believe there are serious safety concerns to be addressed prior to this chamber advancing this legislation. prgtoken According to recent data, the safety impacts of cannabis legalization for adult recreational use should not be ignored. prgtoken A 2020 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study analyzed the impacts of legal adult recreational use of cannabis in Washington state. The AAA study concluded that the proportion of fatal-crash-involved drivers who were THC-positive approximately doubled from the level observed before the law went into effect. prgtoken Moreover, a series of studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that crash rates increased in some of my neighboring states and others after they legalized marijuana. California, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon, specifically, were the subjects of the IIHS evaluation. prgtoken Marijuana use impacts the psycho-motor skills of the people who use it, often resulting in slowed responses. As seen by these earlier data, this impacts how we drive, overall safety on our roadways, and may have other safety impacts as we relax the laws around cannabis. I have serious safety concerns, and I would like to see these issues addressed more directly before I can consider supporting such legislation. To this end, I am developing my own legislation to look at this issue in workplaces to ensure safe, impairment free operations, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to see it enacted.
HONORING WILLIAM FRANK CHAPMAN, JR.
H. Morgan Griffith (Republican, VA) \u2014 2022-4-1

. Madam , I rise in honor of William Frank Chapman, Jr. of Salem, Virginia, who passed away on March 20, 2022, at the age of 88. Frank served in the Armed Forces and was a businessman and active community leader. prgtoken Frank was born on January 25, 1934. He graduated from Andrew Lewis High School. He then attended Fork Union Military Academy and was recruited by North Carolina State University on scholarship to play football, which he did for two years before transferring to the University of Virginia to finish his education. prgtoken He served in the United States Navy before returning to Salem. Upon his homecoming, he founded and served as president of Chapman-Taney- Painter-Logan Insurance, Inc. and Bonding for many years. He later worked at Sherwood Memorial Park in operations. After his retirement, Frank dedicated much of his life to service to his community. prgtoken He and his friend, Burks Logan, worked as co-chairmen of a capital campaign for the Salem Museum and were honored as ``Hometown Heroes'' in 2012 by the Roanoker Magazine. He was a life member of the Salem Museum and Historical Society and served as president of the board for five years. prgtoken I had the pleasure of knowing Frank personally. He was a friend and fellow . I recall when I ran for the Virginia House of Delegates for the first time, he vowed to support me. But one of his close friends, with whom he had endured many hard times, decided to run against me. Frank approached me, hat in hand, to apologetically ask that I release him from his commitment. I respected his candor and loyalty. He was a true southern gentleman. prgtoken He faithfully served his community and party. He was a Trustee of the Virginia Agents Political Committee, a lifetime member of the Salem Rescue Squad, former state director of Salem Junior Chamber of Commerce, and former president of the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce. Frank also served on many committees at the First United Methodist Church in Salem, where he was a lifelong and third-generation member. prgtoken Frank was also an avid outdoorsman. In 1981, then-Governor John Dalton appointed him to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Commission to represent the sixth district. He served as vice-chairman from 1984 to 85. Frank also served as vice-chairman of the Catawba District of Boy Scouts of America. He was a member of the Salem Rotary Club and was recognized as a Paul Rotary Fellow in 2005. Throughout his life, he held many esteemed titles and leadership roles--all to serve, lead, and better his community. prgtoken Frank was predeceased in death by two wives, Billie Lee Bates Chapman and Page Clark Chapman; his parents, William Frank Chapman, Sr. and Wilma Cross Chapman; and a sister, Lula Cross Russell. prgtoken He is survived by his wife, Julie Stagg Chapman; three children, Lee Ann Chapman Critz and her husband, Blake, Frank Bates Chapman, and Catheri