mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
BORDER SECURITY
James Lankford (Republican, OK) \u2014 2022-2-2

last weekend, I spent time down at the southwest border, an area the Presiding Officer is very familiar with. prgtoken This time, I was in the Rio Grande Valley. The Rio Grande Valley area has the highest area of illegal crossings across our entire 2,000-mile southwest border. In fact, it is interesting to be able to track just the movement across that border. prgtoken This is from 2014 to 2022. It is what has happened along this area of the border, just this one specific area, what is called the Rio Grande Valley area. It is around McAllen and Brownsville--that area. This shows, each year, what happens. prgtoken It starts in October, way down here with the numbers low. In some years, it came up, but just about every year, it went up and down. It was down significantly in November and December because, again, in Central America, they celebrate Christmas as well, and a lot of folks want to head back home, even, or be there. So immigration doesn't cross from south to north significantly in most years in October, November, December, January, except for this really odd line right here that seems really out of balance with all the rest of the lines from the last decade. prgtoken It is this line right here. This line is actually from last year. This line shows a number of 2 million people who illegally crossed our southwest border last year whom we know of--2 million. That is this line. prgtoken Typically, every other year, it is way down low when you get to October, November, December. That is over here. Here are the low months--but not this year. It has already started way up high. In fact, what is interesting is, for October, November, December, if you take any one of those months, there are as many people illegally crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley in October, November, or December as over the last 3 years in that month combined. prgtoken Let me run that past everybody again. If you take any month--October, November, December--there were higher illegal crossings that we know of than over the last 3 years combined in any year that we know of. prgtoken My fear is, as some people have said, we have a problem on our southern border. I actually believe the administration's policy is working exactly as they designed it to work--exactly. They created a structure in a system to allow as many people as possible to be able to cross our southern border, and it is working exactly. prgtoken Why would I say that? Well, in the first days of the Presidency, when you stop border wall construction, when you announce they are going to change dramatically every policy in how we are interdicting individuals, when they cancel all foreign agreements with Mexico and with Central America that are actually limiting the number of people there, and then you don't replace them with anything, you have got to know that this is what is going to happen. Then, a year later, when nothing has changed, this is w
REMEMBERING WAYNE STENEHJEM
John Hoeven (Republican, ND) \u2014 2022-2-2

today I would like to pay tribute to the late North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a dedicated public servant, a colleague, and a true friend. Attorney General Stenehjem spent four decades serving the people of North Dakota. He was a fierce advocate for the rule of law and the rights of North Dakotans. prgtoken His was a tremendous and impactful career that clearly demonstrated his devotion to our State, which he called home for the entirety of his life. Wayne was born in Mohall, ND. He graduated from the University of North Dakota and received his law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law. He is survived by his wife, Beth Bakke Stenehjem, and his son, Andrew, along with many other loved ones. prgtoken Wayne started his career in public service in the State legislature, where he served for 24 years, first as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives and then as a member of the North Dakota Senate. He then ran for the position of attorney general in 2000, the same year I was elected Governor and the first time either of us sought statewide office. I had the benefit of traveling much of the State with Wayne that year, where I came to know him as a solid, reliable individual with a tremendous sense of humor. prgtoken Wayne capped off his career in public office as our State's longest serving attorney general. Throughout my time as Governor and as a U.S. Senator, I had many opportunities to work with Wayne on keeping our communities safe, supporting our law enforcement officials, and protecting the rights of North Dakotans. He worked tirelessly to advance these important goals, and I will always be proud of our shared efforts in these matters. Moreover, I am grateful for our time together, both as colleagues and as friends. prgtoken He will be greatly missed and remembered well for the meaningful legacy he has left behind. Mikey and I send our sincerest condolences to Beth, Andrew, and the entire Stenehjem family.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3485, GLOBAL RESPECT ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4445, ENDING FORCED ARBITRATION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT OF 2021; PROVIDING FOR...
Michelle Fischbach (Republican, MN) \u2014 2022-2-2

. Madam , I thank the representative from North Carolina (Ms. Ross) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and such time as I may consume. prgtoken Madam , today we are being asked to discuss House Resolution 4445, a bill that will do nothing to bring justice to victims of sexual harassment, and it could be argued that it would make the process worse. We are also discussing H.R. 3485, a duplicative messaging bill on human rights. The most bizarre bill we are looking at today is the American concedes act. prgtoken This is yet another bill that was thrown together behind closed doors and with no bipartisan input, and now we are expected to hastily dig through this lengthy document on short notice. Luckily, it does not take long to see all that is wrong with this bill. prgtoken We are supposed to believe the intention of the bill is to counter China's economic aggression, but it does not even contain the word ``China'' in the title. This bill is actually just a long list of Progressive dream policies that have nothing to do with China at all. To illustrate, the words ``coral reef'' appears more times in this legislation than China does. prgtoken What is worse is that that bill contains certain policies that would help China because it will hurt American companies. The bill's $52 billion in subsidies for the semiconductor industry would allow for a chip company working with the Chinese Communist Party to be eligible for those funds. The bill that supposedly combats China's economic aggression could actually send taxpayer funds to subsidize CCP's semiconductor industry. prgtoken We could pass meaningful export and control policies. We could impose sanctions on the United Front Work Department, or even start with funding existing sanction enforcement at the Office of the Foreign Asset Control in the Treasury. prgtoken We could completely ban Federal funding for colleges and universities that host Confucius Institutes. Instead, we are here to consider a bill that may actually be more detrimental for America than it is for China. I have to highlight some of the contradictions in this bill that so perfectly sum up the hypocrisy of the House and the administration. prgtoken This bill includes the Reclaiming the Solar Supply Chain Act of 2021. My colleagues claim this will decrease energy reliance on China and will be better for the environment by subsidizing solar panel manufacturing. However, the left is also attacking domestic production of the minerals required to make these panels. prgtoken We saw this just last week when the administration canceled leases for a Minnesota company mining for critical minerals vital to domestic production of solar panels. The result is the U.S. is being forced to outsource these materials to China. China, who is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and uses inhumane labor practices. How can we reclaim the solar supply chain while outsou
SECURING THE SOUTHERN BORDER
Lauren Boebert (Republican, CO) \u2014 2022-2-2

. Madam , I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus. I thank him for leading on this issue and thank him for putting together a hearing yesterday so we could hear from people who are on the ground at the southern border. prgtoken It was so difficult to look these Border Patrol agents in the eye and hear their frustration, to hear their hearts cry, to say that they feel useless in their capacity, in their jobs. They said that they used to work all day and go home feeling like they had accomplished something. But since took office, that is no longer the case. Since January 20, when the so-called President of the United States canceled construction of the border wall, since then these men and women have felt like they are not providing a service to the American people. prgtoken When I was talking with these agents, one thing that they said was, This isn't a resource issue. We aren't here to ask for more money. We aren't here to ask for more personnel or more infrastructure. We just need policy. Policy solves this. Returning to the -era policies solves this. Canceling construction of a border wall and still continuing to pay out Federal contracts, $5 million each day, is not solving this problem. prgtoken Nearly 2 million illegal aliens coming into our country, and that is not even counting the hundreds of thousands of got-aways that are not included in that number. prgtoken Madam , I understand that this is a Special Order, but I think it would do you and your party a service if you would lift your head and pay attention to what is being said on the House floor of the United States of Representatives. Maybe that is too much trouble to ask of you, Madam , but we are here talking about real issues that are impacting America and you still continue to sit and ignore what I am saying. prgtoken I think that is very reflective of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have ignored what is going on at the southern border, who have ignored the children who are being trafficked by cartels, who have enriched the cartels, who have smuggled enough fentanyl to kill every American at least seven times over. prgtoken Madam , this should concern you. As a mother of four boys, this certainly concerns me, and all we need to do is implement policy to secure the southern border, allow our Border Patrol agents to do their jobs, have someone in the White House who will faithfully execute the law and uphold it. We are here to hold people accountable who are not doing those things. prgtoken Madam , let the Record show that you still have not glanced up one time to acknowledge this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in our country. prgtoken Chairman Perry, I thank you so much for yielding on this issue.
THE BIDEN CRISES
Glenn Grothman (Republican, WI) \u2014 2022-2-2

. Okay. I don't know why the public tolerates President 's energy policy. Okay. I think the policy is predicated on the idea that we have some new or booming pollution problem in this country, and that is just not true. prgtoken I particularly ask young people to pull up pictures of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or Los Angeles, California, 50 years ago, and you will see how much better things are than they were a relatively short period of time ago. The overall air pollution in this country in the last 40 years has fallen 73 percent. prgtoken Meanwhile, in the last 10 years, carbon dioxide, which everybody likes to talk about, has fallen 7 percent. At the same time, CO2 emissions in China went up 38 percent and, in India, they went up 56 percent. prgtoken Right now, what is going on is our European allies make it that much more expensive to produce any energy. Steel plants are flooding to India and China, and China isn't backing off. They are making 43 new coal-fired power plants, as we speak. prgtoken So what is the net result of chasing energy-related jobs out of this country and out of western Europe? It means the metal-producing foundries are headed to other countries with their jobs. And as the U.S. and Europe becomes economically weaker, those jobs go to higher polluting countries like India and China. And the clean countries with the clean air and clean water, like the United States, get penalized. prgtoken So it is time to treat U.S. as number one again; for President to change his energy policies; and get some more of that good air pollution-free or almost free plants in the United States, and not have the manufacturing done in the polluting countries of India and China.
Hunter Biden (Executive Calendar)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2022-2-2

this week, news reports made public a May 2019 subpoena from the Justice Department. That subpoena requested financial records relating to Hunter as part of the Department's criminal investigation into his activities. prgtoken Notably, that subpoena also requested records relating to James , Devon Archer, and Eric Schwerin. That subpoena sought records relating to companies that Senator Johnson and I discussed in our report. prgtoken If the reports are accurate, this subpoena is yet another stake in the heart of a totally unsubstantiated claim made by the liberal media and that the Grassley-Johnson report on was Russia disinformation. prgtoken Today, I come here to speak about a matter directly related to the recent news--specifically, the Justice Department's failure to answer fundamental questions related to Hunter's criminal investigation. prgtoken I have asked serious ethical questions of the Justice Department that the Department so far has refused to answer. In fact, the Department has actually publicly contradicted itself. prgtoken Just one example of contradiction: On May 31, 2021, Senator Johnson and I wrote to Attorney General Garland. Our letter noted that Hunter had a close association with Patrick Ho, an individual who is associated with the prgtoken communist Chinese Government and its intelligence services. Patrick Ho was also charged and convicted of international bribery and money laundering offenses relating to his work for companies connected to that communist regime. prgtoken After his arrest, his first call was reportedly to James , President 's brother. Hunter reportedly represented Patrick Ho for $1 million. prgtoken In our letter, we noted that a Justice Department Federal court filing said DOJ had FISA information on Patrick Ho. Not only did they possess this information, the Department informed the court that they intended to use it to prosecute that person. prgtoken Senator Johnson and I asked the Justice Department for that FISA information as well as FISA information for other Chinese nationals linked to Hunter . In response, I quote the Justice Department: Unfortunately, under the circumstances described in your letter, we aren't in a position to confirm the existence of the information that is sought (if it exists in the Department's possession). prgtoken Now, get that--``if it exists in the Department's possession.'' prgtoken Simply put, that is not a true and accurate statement unless the Department's statement to the Federal court in the Patrick Ho matter wasn't true and accurate. prgtoken So, then, as we naturally followed up, on November 15, 2021, we asked Attorney General Garland to explain the discrepancy. No response to this very day. prgtoken Both statements can't be true. Either the Department possesses the information or it doesn't possess the information. prgtoken So we can
Border Security (Executive Calendar)
Roy Blunt (Republican, MO) \u2014 2022-2-2

. The ability to secure your border--to follow my good friend from Ohio, the ability to secure your border is actually one of the fundamental responsibilities of a legitimate government. prgtoken Even former President , within the last few months, has looked at what was happening at the border, and I believe the word he used was ``unsustainable.'' We cannot continue to let this happen. It is a border crisis, whether the administration is willing to call it a border crisis or not. prgtoken There are drugs coming across, and I know my friend from Tennessee is going to talk about that, as the Senator from Ohio did. More than 2 million people were apprehended trying to cross the border last year. Of that number, more than 171,000 were unaccompanied children. The year before it had been 37,000. In 2020, it was 37,000 people. prgtoken It should have been a warning sign. Thirty-seven thousand children is bad enough, let alone 171,000--almost four times the number who came the year before. prgtoken We need to ask ourselves, what are we doing to encourage that? Why would parents let their children come or send their children or why would children come on their own to the border at the numbers of 171,000? prgtoken Obviously, we don't know exactly how many people actually entered the country illegally. So if 2 million people were apprehended entering the country, some of them may have been making repeat efforts to come into the country, but there is no real evidence that very many people get sent back, but let's assume some do. prgtoken So some of the apprehended people may have been multiple offenders, if you will, of trying to violate our law by coming in. I think it is more reasonable to believe that more people weren't apprehended than were apprehended multiple times, so we have a huge problem here. prgtoken The policies have already been discussed. Why would the number--just over 2,035,000 last year--be 272 percent greater than the year before? prgtoken Things happening in the countries they come from aren't different, substantially, than they were the year before. The weather is not in crisis in any way different than it was the year before. prgtoken So let's look at day 1 of the administration, where one of the first decisions is, we are going to stop building the barrier that is in the process of being built--not we are going to debate whether we should do more of it or not, but we are going to stop building the barrier that Congress has appropriated the money for, that the equipment has been bought for, that the necessary metal and fencing and other things have been bought for, and they are delivered, and after we get that up, let's decide if we need to do more. prgtoken I have never been of the view that every inch of the border needs to have a barrier, but I have always been of the view that a barrier or a fence or a wall, whatever you want to call it, has to be helpful, particularly if it has the technology
Border Security (Executive Calendar)
Roger Marshall (Republican, KS) \u2014 2022-2-2

it was just a couple weeks ago that President asked the Nation--he asked s: What are s for? prgtoken I want to make it clear tonight that I am for border security. I am for law and order. prgtoken I have been to the border three times in the past 4 to 5 years, and what I saw there was a crisis. And if I could, I just want to paint just for a minute what that crisis looks like. prgtoken Having been overseas doing medical mission work, I think I know a humanitarian, a health crisis when I see it, and this was a humanitarian crisis, a health crisis--thousands of people sleeping underneath a bridge. They just traveled across Mexico for days, maybe weeks, maybe months. prgtoken And as a physician, I looked out there, and what did I see? I saw people who were dehydrated, malnourishment, dehydration from diarrhea, from dysentery, scabies, tuberculosis. prgtoken The Border Patrol was overwhelmed. The doctors were overwhelmed, the nurses, the dentists--everybody was overwhelmed. That is what I would call a humanitarian crisis. prgtoken One of the biggest humanitarian crises going on, though, is human trafficking. As an obstetrician/gynecologist in Kansas, believe it or not, we would have to take care of young women who had been abused from human trafficking. Maybe they had chlamydia, maybe they were having a miscarriage, but I am just shocked at the amount of human trafficking going on across the border. prgtoken In fiscal year 2021, 145,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended at the southern border. And I want to emphasize, this is young girls and young boys that are being abused and sold into sex slavery. prgtoken Of that 145,000, about a third of the minors that were released to a sponsor we lost contact with. Are we turning children over to human trafficking? I think that is what we are all concerned about. prgtoken So I think certainly there is indeed a humanitarian crisis, a health crisis there. prgtoken Just to talk a little bit more about the border--and we will put that up here and renegotiate the microphone. prgtoken Look at the statistics from last year alone. Two million people were apprehended at the border last year--2 million people. Do you realize that there are 14 States in this country with less than 2 million people? prgtoken And beyond that, as I spoke with the Border Patrol there, they told me for every person they apprehend that two got across the lines, so probably an additional 4 million people came across, a total of 6 million. There are 30 States in our country with a population of 6 million people. prgtoken Furthermore, what we are doing is making the cartel rich. Again, what I was told by Texas Rangers and Border Patrol officers is the cartel is making $3,000 to $9,000 per person. And, of course, if it was some person maybe from the Middle East, a little bit harder to get across the border, they were getting $20 to $30,000 a person as well. prgtoken I haven't