mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Steny H. Hoyer (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , it is a sad day in America. It is a wrenching day in America. It is a day in which our words and our actions have had consequences of a very, very negative nature. We ought to watch our words and think what it may mean to some. prgtoken My remarks were written before the tragic, dangerous, and unacceptable actions--and ``unacceptable'' is such a tame word. My remarks started with, ``Madam , the American people today are witnessing one of the greatest challenges to our democracy in its 244- year history.'' prgtoken Little did I know that this Capitol would be attacked by the enemy within. I was here on 9/11 when we were attacked by the enemy without. prgtoken We need to all work together to tame and reduce the anger and, yes, the hate that some stoke. What some--not all, Madam , but some-- in this House and this Senate are doing today will not change the outcome of the election, which is the clear and insurmountable victory of President-elect and Vice-President-elect . Instead, all they will accomplish is to further the dangerous divisions. prgtoken This was written before this Capitol was assaulted, before this democracy was put aside by thousands, encouraged by the Commander in Chief. prgtoken Instead, all they will accomplish is to further the dangerous divisions, as I said, among our people and energize conspiracy theories stoked by our foreign adversaries, which seek to erode America's confidence in our democracy and our system of free and fair elections. prgtoken I was here in 2000. I was strongly in favor of Al Gore for President, and my candidate got more votes than the other candidate. His name was , of course. And one of the saddest days was January 20th of 2001 when our candidate, who won the election, in my view, was not elected. But it was also one of the proudest moments of my career because the greatest power on Earth passed peacefully from Bill Clinton to . prgtoken Not a shot was fired. Nobody assaulted this Caucus or this Congress or this Chamber. Because we were not disappointed? No. Because we were not angry? No. Because we believe in democracy. We believe in ``We the people.'' prgtoken One of the speakers, I think it was the Senator from Texas, expressed: We are here for the people. prgtoken If those were the people, we are in a lot of trouble. prgtoken Our electoral system, our democratic system, however, did not break under the strains of the misinformation, the claims of fraud, which court after court after court have dismissed out of hand, not because there was a little evidence, but because there was no evidence. prgtoken That is why we are the longest-lasting constitutional democracy in the world. I hope all of us in this body are proud of that and understand why that is the case. Because, as Dick Gephardt said on this floor many years ago, democracy is a substitute for war to resolve differences. It proved once more the ever-beating strong heart
COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
Michael F. Doyle (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , nearly 7 million Pennsylvanians showed up to vote in the 2020 elections. They cast their votes for and s up and down the ballot, including the entire U.S. House delegation, the entire State house, half of the State senate, and other State and local races. prgtoken Since the election, there have been allegations of widespread election fraud in Pennsylvania; but, remarkably, the 20 suits filed by the campaign, Pennsylvania s, and others challenging the results in Pennsylvania have never claimed that there was voter fraud. prgtoken Perhaps that is because attorneys could lose their licenses when they make unsubstantiated claims in court. That is where the rubber really meets the road. prgtoken So if these lawsuits didn't claim election fraud, what did they claim? prgtoken Most of the legal challenges to the Presidential election in Pennsylvania question relatively small numbers of ballots that were allegedly tainted by technical violations. Even assuming that all of these ballots had been cast for , throwing them out wouldn't have changed the result of the election. prgtoken Now, one exception is the lawsuit filed by one of our colleagues from Pennsylvania, Kelly v. Commonwealth, which would have thrown out all the mail-in votes cast in the 2020 general election on the grounds that Act 77, the State law allowing those votes, was unconstitutional. That suit would have disenfranchised 2\1/2\ million Pennsylvanians. Let's let that sink in, 2\1/2\ million Pennsylvanians would have had their votes nullified. prgtoken Now, I want to provide my colleagues with some background about the State law at the heart of this challenge. In 2019, the - controlled State legislature approved Act 77, a bipartisan bill to reform the State's election laws, which instituted no-excuse mail balloting. Act 77 was supported almost unanimously by s in the State House and State Senate. In fact, it was unanimous in the State Senate and all but two s in the State House. prgtoken Moreover, once this Act was passed, Act 77 had a 120-day period where challenges could be filed against the Act if people thought it was unconstitutional. Well, 4 months went by, nobody files a challenge. On June 3, Pennsylvania had their primary under this new system. Nobody challenged the primary election. It was only challenged in November, when s didn't get the result they wanted at the top of the ticket. Not surprisingly, this case was dismissed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. prgtoken Another exception is Texas v. Pennsylvania. They asked the court to reject the results of the Pennsylvania Presidential contest in Pennsylvania and several other States, disenfranchising tens of millions of the voters. Seven members of the Pennsylvania U.S. House delegation signed the U.S. House brief in support o
OBJECTION TO COUNTING OF PENNSYLVANIA ELECTORAL VOTES
Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2021-1-6

more than 350,000 of our loved ones have died from a terrible disease. Small businesses have gone under, never to reopen. Millions have lost their jobs, and too many families don't know how they are going to pay the rent or put groceries on the table. prgtoken It is tough out there, but Americans are fighters, and despite all the challenges, in November they did what Americans do when they are unhappy with their leadership--they voted for change. They turned their backs on a sitting President who fans the flames of hatred while bodies pile up in the morgue. Instead, they elected a new President who wants to save lives, to save our economy, and to save our democracy. prgtoken Even as the pandemic raged, Americans showed up for democracy. States worked overtime to set up safe systems, ballot drop boxes, early voting, and gallons of hand sanitizer. Voters mailed their ballots earlier, put on masks, and stood in line at the polls. The election of 2020 shattered voting records. prgtoken So here we are on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the aftermath of a historic election held in the middle of a pandemic. People are suffering, and we should be working to get them the help they need. Instead, we are here because wants to overturn the results of that election. The s objecting to the results of this election will be judged by history, but the rest of us will be judged as well. prgtoken It is our responsibility to stand up for our democracy even while other Senators work to undermine it. prgtoken Losing is hard. I ran for President myself. It was a hard-fought primary, but won and I lost. I am not the only one to live through that; a number of Senators in this room have run for President. None of us was successful, and when we lost, we conceded and we got out of the race because that is how democracy works. None of us lied about the results. We didn't throw temper tantrums. We didn't tell our allies in Congress or the States to overturn the results. We didn't feed poisonous propaganda to our supporters. We didn't urge people to march on State capitals or to descend on Washington. We accepted the will of the voters. prgtoken And it is not just us; it is everyone who has run for President since the beginning of America. Only once in America's history have the people who lost tried to burn down our democracy on the way out. They caused a civil war that nearly destroyed our Nation. prgtoken Make no mistake, the violence we witnessed in this Chamber today was the direct result of the poisonous lies that repeated again and again for more than 2 months. His words have consequences. Our democracy has been grievously injured by this lying coward. prgtoken This effort to subvert our democracy is not merely one last Presidential tantrum. This effort is designed to knock out the basic pillar on which democracy is founded: the idea that the voters--not the sitting President
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Chris Van Hollen (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Thank you, . The mob violence and attack we saw on our Capitol today should be a wake-up call to each and every one of us of what happens when we fail to come together, not as and s but each of us as Americans, to stand up to a President who time and again has shown contempt for our democracy, contempt for our Constitution. prgtoken Today, here on the Capitol, we witnessed people taking down an American flag and putting up a flag. That is not democracy in the United States of America. prgtoken As every Senator who has spoken has mentioned, we have for hundreds of years had a peaceful transfer of power. Nobody likes to lose, and supporters of the losing candidate are always disappointed. What is different this time? prgtoken We all know what is different this time. We have a President who, as the Senator from New Jersey said, even before a vote was cast, that if he didn't win the election, it was going to be a fraud and every day since then has perpetrated that lie. prgtoken We have a President who just today criticized the very loyal Vice President, who is presiding right now, urging him to disregard his responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States in order to reinstall as President; the same person who got on the phone to the secretary of state in Georgia and threatened him to change the results of the election. prgtoken , I read something this week I never thought I would read in a newspaper in the United States of America. It was an op-ed by all the living former Secretaries of Defense, including Secretaries Rumsfeld, , and Mattis, warning--warning--the country about our tradition of peaceful transfer of power and that it would be inappropriate for the military to take sides in the United States of America. We talk to the world about how we want to promote democracy and our values, and right here at home too many are undermining those values. prgtoken , could not do this alone. He could only do it if he is aided and abetted by individuals prgtoken who are willing to perpetrate those lies and those conspiracies, and that is why it is so important that we as and s and Senators stand up together--stand up together and tell the truth. You know when you go into a court of law, like those 60 cases, you are testifying under penalty of perjury. That is very different than here in the House and the Senate, and in all those 60 cases, under penalty of perjury, there was no evidence of widespread fraud. So it should be easy for us all together to tell the truth. prgtoken On January 20, will be sworn in as the next President of the United States. He has said he wants to bring the country together. He has said he wants to bring and s together to do some of the pressing business of this country, to defeat this pandemic, to get the economy going again, to face chal
CHALLENGE TO THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2021-1-6

I first would like to say I appreciate the words of our leader, Senator Schumer, as well as Senator McConnell's call for a higher calling. prgtoken January 6 is not typically a day of historical significance for our country. For centuries, this day is simply the day that we receive each State's certified electoral votes, and it has come and gone without much fanfare. prgtoken In fact, this is only the third time in 120 years that the Senate has gathered to debate an objection, and as Senator Cruz well knows, both times these objections were resoundingly defeated. The last time the vote was 74 to 1. prgtoken Why? Because Senators have long believed that they should not mess around with the will of the people. They have understood the words of our great former colleague John McCain from the State of Arizona, who once said that nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself. prgtoken In this case, my colleagues, our cause, despite our political differences, is to preserve our American democracy, to preserve our Republic because, as someone once said long ago, it is a republic if you can keep it. prgtoken Now, I appreciate all my ic and colleagues who have joined our ranks of coup fighters, who have stood up for our democracy, who stand tall for our Republic, and who believe in an ideal greater than ourselves, larger than our political parties. That ideal is America. prgtoken And Senator Cruz, he knows this: On January 20, and will be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States. He knows that President-Elect won more votes than any President in history and more than 7 million more votes than President . prgtoken Despite the unfounded conspiracy theories Senator Cruz tells, he knows that high-ranking officials in President 's own Homeland Security Department have concluded that the 2020 election was ``the most secure in American history.'' prgtoken If he wants to improve the numbers in his own party that he just mentioned of people believing in our elections, maybe he should start consulting with them or maybe he should start consulting with former Attorney General Barr, who said that he has found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. prgtoken We don't have to go back to 1877, my colleagues. Senator Cruz knows that 80 judges, including conservative judges, including judges confirmed in this Chamber, nominated by President , have thrown out these lawsuits, calling them baseless, inadequate, and contrary both to the plain meaning of the constitutional text and common sense. prgtoken And he knows that all 10 living Defense Secretaries, including both of 's Defense Secretaries--, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen--he knows that all of these leaders have come together to say that these scurrilous attacks on our democracy must stop and we must allow for a peaceful tr
REGARDING JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS TO COUNT ELECTORAL BALLOTS
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Madam , as a senior member of the House Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee; Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, and the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus, I rise today to offer thoughts and reflections on the congressional responsibility to bear witness to the counting of electoral votes to determine formally the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States and on the campaign and election that brought us to this day. prgtoken The outcome of that count is not in doubt and has not been since November 7, 2020, when it became clear that ic candidates and had won the states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona to become the 46th President and 59th Vice- President of the United States, earning 306 electoral votes, 36 more than the 270 needed for election. prgtoken The results in those states, as well as every other state that chose presidential electors on November 3, 2020, has been certified and wherever necessary upheld against legal challenge by the courts in the affected states. prgtoken On December 14, 2020, presidential electors met in their respective state capitols to cast their votes for President and Vice-President, with the documentary and video evidence clearly demonstrating that the / ticket was the clear and unassailable choice of the Electoral College. prgtoken The counting of the electors' ballot today will ratify the outcome that has been foretold for months and only those with the most conspiratorial mindset and the willing suspension of disbelief, like the current occupant of the White House and his band of acolytes consisting of 140 Members of the House and 12 U.S. senators, could persist in the delusion that the vox populi, the voice of the people, has not spoken clearly and definitively. prgtoken Madam , the / ticket won the national popular vote going away, by more than 7 million votes, 81.3 million to 74.2 million. prgtoken Their victory was so sweeping that it won the majority of states, including five states won four years ago by the loser, including Georgia, which a ic candidate had not won since 1992, and Arizona, which last voted ic in 1996. prgtoken This day is not like its counterpart of 2001, when the determination of the winner hung in the balance on the outcome of the contest in Florida, where 537 votes out of 5.82 million votes cast separated the candidates and the U.S. Supreme Court halted the vote recount ordered by the Supreme Court of Florida, thus leaving reasonable persons to question who was the true winner of that state's decisive 25 electoral votes. prgtoken This day is not like 2005, where the outcome hinged on the 18 electoral votes of Ohio, and where state officials refused to count provisional ballots and engaged in other tactics alleged to be taken to suppress the votes of raci
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Mitt Romney (Republican, UT) \u2014 2021-1-6

. Today was heartbreaking, and I was shaken to the core as I thought about the people I have met in China and Russia and Afghanistan and Iraq and other places who yearn for freedom and who look to this building and these shores as a place of hope. I saw the images being broadcasted around the world, and it breaks my heart. prgtoken I have 25 grandchildren. Many of them were watching TV, thinking about this building, and whether their grandpa was OK. I knew I was OK. I must tell you, as well, that I am proud to serve with these men and women. This is an extraordinary group of people. I am proud to be a Member of the U.S. Senate and meet with people of integrity as we do here today. prgtoken Now, we gather due to a selfish man's injured pride and the outrage of his prgtoken supporters, whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past 2 months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection that was incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate and democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. Fairly or not, they will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode of American history. That will be their legacy. prgtoken I salute Senators Lankford and Loeffler and Braun and Daines and, I am sure, others who, in light of today's outrage, have withdrawn their objections. For any who remain insistent on an audit in order to satisfy the many people who believe the election was stolen, I would offer this perspective: No congressional audit is ever going to convince these voters, particularly when the President will continue to say that the election was stolen. The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. (Applause, Senators rising.) prgtoken That is the burden. That is the duty of leadership. The truth is that President-Elect won the election, and President lost. I had that experience myself. It is no fun. (Laughter.) prgtoken Scores of courts, the President's own Attorney General, and State elections officials, both and , have reached that unequivocal decision. prgtoken In light of today's sad circumstances, I ask my colleague: Do we weigh our own political fortunes more heavily than we weigh the strength of our Republic, the strength of our democracy, and the cause of freedom? What is the weight of personal acclaim compared to the weight of conscience? prgtoken Leader McConnell said that the vote today is the most important in his 36 years of public service. Think of that after his authorizing two wars and voting against two impeachments. He said that not because the vote reveals something about the election but because this vote reveals something about us. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Kelly Loeffler (Republican, GA) \u2014 2021-1-6

when I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now, in good conscience, object to the certification of these electors. prgtoken The violence, the lawlessness, and siege of the Halls of Congress are abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect: the sanctity of the American democratic process. And I thank law enforcement for keeping us safe. prgtoken I believe that there were last-minute changes to the November 2020 election process and serious irregularities that resulted in too many Americans losing confidence not only in the integrity of our elections but in the power of the ballot as a tool of democracy. Too many Americans are frustrated at what they see as an unfair system. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for the events that took place in these Chambers today, and I pray that America never suffers such a dark day again. prgtoken Though the fate of this vote is clear, the future of the American people's faith in the core institution of this democracy remains uncertain. We as a body must turn our focus to protecting the integrity of our elections and restoring every American's faith that their voice and their vote matter. prgtoken America is a divided country with serious differences, but it is still the greatest country on Earth. There can be no disagreement that upholding democracy is the only path to preserving our Republic. prgtoken . (Applause.)