mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Roger Marshall (Republican, KS) \u2014 2023-9-13

I am proud to stand in the gap. I am proud to stand in this foxhole with my friends and my colleagues and with the ic whip from Illinois, Senator Durbin, and my friend Senator Welch from Vermont. prgtoken The ic whip is right. The Senate has to choose. Who are we going to listen to? Are we going to listen to Wall Street, or are we going to listen to the folks back home? prgtoken Across Kansas, everyone is feeling the impacts of inflation. Family budgets are being stretched to the absolute limit, with little room for error. So you can imagine the shock in Kansans' eyes when I tell them, this year, they will spend over $1,000 in hidden credit prgtoken card swipe fees--which is really a tax. These swipe fees are really just another additional tax--in this case, a 2- to 4-percent tax paid to Wall Street--on top of every purchase you make. prgtoken These fees are baked into nearly every purchase you make, whether it is your morning coffee--that Starbucks cup of coffee that you are paying $7, $8 for, you are going to send 2 percent more, 3 percent, 4 percent more to Wall Street. When you stop and fill up your gas tank-- again, $50, $100 of gas--you are going to spend 2 or 3 percent, sending that to Wall Street. On school supplies, shopping, groceries, every time you swipe your card--every time--the Visa and Mastercard duopoly and Wall Street megabanks line their pockets. prgtoken , I rise today with a clear message to Wall Street: Enough is enough. prgtoken And before you feel sorry for these multibillion-dollar industries, I want to remind everyone that on top of the nearly $100 billion in fees Americans pay to Wall Street, these banks charge an average of 25 percent interest to consumers. The average consumer in America carries a balance of over $1,000 every month--25 percent interest. Back home, we would call that highway robbery. prgtoken At a time when Kansans are facing the highest inflation prices in 40 years, small businesses are fighting to keep their losses and their costs low while Wall Street plots their next payday, announcing, as the whip said, that they are doubling down and hiking up their fees on merchants and consumers yet again this fall. prgtoken Now, I, for one, am not going to stand for the massive wealthy corporations price-gouging small businesses at every turn. In fact, as I speak, swipe fees here in America are a staggering seven times higher than those in the European Union. Americans are paying seven times more for this swipe fee than the folks in the European Union are. prgtoken Now, that is not a trivial difference. That is a canyon-size gap. Why should our small businesses and, by extension, our consumers bear such a disproportionate burden to our friends in the EU? Are payments seven times more secure in America than in the rest of the world? Of course not. Is the Visa-Mastercard duopoly providing American consumers seven times the value and c
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2023-9-13

I want to associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from Iowa and just say that it is long overdue that this institution gets back to regular order when it comes to processing appropriation bills. If you look at the way that you govern a country and have as much spending and debt on an annual basis as this country does, you need to do it in a way that reflects each individual bill being considered so that individual Senators--not just those on the Appropriations Committee but those in the entire Senate--have an opportunity to have their voices heard. prgtoken In the last few years, we have ended up with, as the Senator from Iowa pointed out, a huge omnibus spending bill at the end of the year put together, cobbled together, by a bunch of people in a back room. That is not the way to run a government, a government of this size and scope, with as many moving parts as we have. We need the oversight that comes with the annual appropriations process, and we need the fiscal responsibility and restraint, hopefully, that comes with a regular appropriations process. prgtoken So I would echo that and am pleased that the Senate Appropriations Committee has reported the bills out to the floor of the Senate. I would hope, now, that the ic leader will ensure that that is job No. 1; that is, taking up these bills and passing them in a way that reflects not only the will of our constituents, which is to have more visibility and transparency and accountability when it comes to government spending, but also a way that reflects the rights and the prerogatives that their elected representatives have to consider these things in the light of day and to have their voices heard whether they serve on the Appropriations Committee or not. School Hunting and Archery Program Funding prgtoken , since taking office, President has not hesitated to use the power of the modern regulatory state to advance his far-left agenda, at times in contravention of the clear intent of Congress. prgtoken Take his recent decision to cancel oil and gas leases in Alaska in defiance of congressional direction or his radical interpretation and implementation of the Green New Deal provisions of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which has left one of the bill's ic authors deeply frustrated with the White House. prgtoken But today I want to talk about another instance of Presidential overreach, and that is the administration's decision to use the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to deny Federal funding to school hunting and archery programs. The provision of the bill the administration is citing as justification for its decision denied Federal funding for training or arming teachers and school resource officers. It was not intended to prevent hunting safety training or deny students the opportunity to participate in archery programs. In fact, neither hunting nor archery is ever
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, WV) \u2014 2023-9-13

Monday marked 22 years since the 9/11 terrorist prgtoken attacks on our Nation. Although we are now over two decades removed from one of the greatest tragedies in our Nation's history, the memories remain in our minds as if it had just happened yesterday. We will never forget. prgtoken Many of us were here that day, including me, and I certainly will never forget that awful horrible tragic day. Those horrific events in New York City and Washington, DC, and Shanksville, PA, forever changed the national security of the United States of America. Our Nation banded together, and we supported one another as we rebuilt and recovered. prgtoken As part of our collective response, we saw the beginnings of the Global War on Terror. Together, with the help of our allies, we made significant progress in countering violent extremism and eliminating the territorial gains that the Islamic State had made. prgtoken While this threat still remains today, we made progress in diminishing the ability of terrorists to harm Americans. Now we are again seeing the landscape of our national security shift as we are facing a new challenge of rising threats from nations like Russia and China. prgtoken Putin's unwarranted aggression has created a large-scale ground war in the European continent--something that was really nearly unthinkable just a few short years ago. prgtoken Adding to that, we are witnessing the unprecedented buildup of the Chinese military state. Make no mistake, those Chinese military investments were made with U.S. capabilities in mind. prgtoken Nations that directly oppose U.S. values and interests are beginning to create an uneasy closeness with one another. Just yesterday, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, pledged ``full and unconditional support'' for Russia's Vladimir Putin. And we don't know what the behind-the- scenes conversations were or the tradeoffs that were made. prgtoken This is something that we must monitor closely, and it demands a collective and united response. The growing threat from China was something that I discussed with the United States Indo-Pacific Command leaders when I met with them over August. This is a real threat and underscores the importance of working with our allies in this region. prgtoken Our allies in the Indo-Pacific area are very important when it comes to both deterrence efforts and facilitating U.S. operations in the event of a crisis or conflict. That cooperation is a key piece in our ability to protect the power that the United States has led with. prgtoken The AUKUS agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States further cements this relationship and ensures that we will become even more interoperable with our allies in the Indo- Pacific. prgtoken We need to maintain a strong military posture in this region and bolster our cybersecurity and technological abilities to ensure that our Nation and our allies will be ready for any and all threats t
ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2023-9-13

as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, I am grateful to recognize the third anniversary of the successful Abraham Accords on September 15. prgtoken Under the leadership of President , this historic agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and later Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan represents the most significant step toward a stable and positive Arab-Israeli relationship in modern history. prgtoken It marked the first public normalization of relations between an Arab country and Israel since Jordan in 1994. prgtoken In June, I led the bipartisan U.S.-Israel Partnership and Abraham Accords Enhancement Act of 2023, which reauthorizes key cooperative programs between the United States and Israel and fosters the utilization of existing programs to help expand the Abraham Accords. prgtoken Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Morocco in earthquake recovery. prgtoken In conclusion, God bless our troops who successfully protected America for 20 years as the global war on terrorism continues moving from the Afghanistan safe haven to America with the open borders.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2023-9-13

as I outlined yesterday, the Senate's pending business on appropriations is tremendously important to America's farmers, to our veterans, and to the future of our airports, roads, bridges, and ports. My home State of Kentucky is certainly no exception. prgtoken The Commonwealth is home to a host of important and overdue infrastructure projects. As a transportation and logistics hub, my home State boasts an impressive network of roads, ports, railroads, and waterways that keep our economy and the American people literally on the move. Overhauling this infrastructure strengthens the essential link folks in Kentucky have to the rest of the Nation while making those transit resources faster, more efficient, and more reliable for everyone. prgtoken I am also proud of Kentucky's diverse agriculture industry, made up of over 75,000 farms, an overwhelming majority of which are family- owned and family-operated. Kentucky's rural communities understand the importance of efforts like expanding rural broadband deployment and protecting livestock from diseases that can financially devastate small family farms. prgtoken Certainly, our work in the coming days will also impact Kentucky's Army installations and National Guard facilities. Investments in military construction ensure our brave men and women in uniform have access to the world-class training facilities they need to defend our country. Maintaining Kentucky's premier fighting forces is critical to deterring aggression from our adversaries and protecting American strength. prgtoken So, as the Senate continues to make progress on regular order appropriations, I am pleased to see Kentucky take center stage in solving some of the real issues that face our people. National Security prgtoken , America's defense industrial base is in the middle of a historic transformation. This is something s have been working toward literally for years. It is good news for America's national security. In fact, it is essential for our strategic prgtoken competition with communist China; and, today, I would like to talk a bit more about what exactly is making this urgent progress possible. prgtoken Over the past year and a half, the lethal U.S. aid helping Ukraine defend its sovereignty and degrade Russia's military has consisted, in large part, of aging weapons stocks that were sitting in our own arsenal--in many cases, literally collecting dust. prgtoken The security assistance money appropriated ``for Ukraine'' isn't just buying weapons for Ukraine; it is also replenishing and modernizing America's own arsenal, and the vast majority of it is going to American defense manufacturers. This includes funding to expand production lines of munitions needed by the U.S. military as well as vulnerable allies in both Asia and Europe that want and need American weapons. That is tens of billions of dollars directly supporting tens of th
SAVING THE REPUBLIC
Clay Higgins (Republican, LA) \u2014 2023-9-13

Congressman Good, and I appreciate the words of wisdom of my colleague Ralph Norman. prgtoken , let me begin with an uplifting statement. God is still on the throne, and we, his humble children, have a responsibility to be worthy of his love and grace and the anointing of what it is to be an American citizen. prgtoken Every generation of Americans has risen to face the challenge and threat that our Nation has endured now 240 years. prgtoken In our generation, one of the most insidious threats that we face is the degree of debt that we have allowed, in my generation, our Nation to assume. We now face a $33 trillion debt. That is $33,000 billion. prgtoken , if this body were to balance the budget--which is our goal, by the way. It is why we are here tonight addressing this Chamber and the Nation that we love, standing shoulder to shoulder with each other so that our words are forever inscribed on the historical record of our country, that some stood to fight for the future of our Republic, to restore fiscal sanity to this body. prgtoken Were this body to produce a balanced budget and we were to run a $1 billion surplus, , it would require 33,000 years to address a $33 trillion debt with a $1 billion surplus, and 1 billion is 1,000 million. prgtoken Every American has imagined, well, what would I do if I had a million dollars? I would pay off my house, settle my debts, take care of my family, build mother-in-law a house. I would set aside some money for my children and my grandchildren. I would bring generational growth to my family if I won the lottery and had a million dollars. prgtoken In this town, we throw around trillions like it is nothing. Every dollar that we spend in deficit every year is put upon our grandchildren. Is this reflective of anointed value that our prgtoken Lord has bestowed upon us as American citizens? prgtoken As we stand beneath the glory, , of one flag, we are ultimately one people. The challenge of this generation and this body and this majority party, this Party, an honor that I wield not upon my lapel but within my heart of what it is to be a conservative constitutionalist American citizen, I stand in the body that is responsible to correct course that our Nation has taken up. prgtoken , it was 1980 before America had accumulated $1 trillion of debt. Since then, we have added $32 trillion of debt. prgtoken It took 200 years to accumulate $1 trillion of debt, and now we have $33 trillion. It is unsustainable, so we are demanding a correction of course because our Nation is headed precipitously to a fiscal cliff beyond which we may never recover as a Nation. prgtoken We love our country enough that we are willing to stand and fight for the future of our Republic. If it makes some of my colleagues uncomfortable, oh, well. prgtoken If you are willing to participate in the change of spending trajectory that this generation is required to produce
HONORING THE DISTINGUISHED MILITARY SERVICE OF SENIOR CHIEF PETTY OFFICER PAUL HONEA
Diana Harshbarger (Republican, TN) \u2014 2023-9-13

I rise today to honor Vietnam Era Veteran, Senior Chief Petty Officer Paul Honea of Chuckey, Tennessee for his distinguished service in the United States Navy. prgtoken Senior Chief Honea served in stations across the globe, including Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean. He also protected our Nation's homeland, serving on bases in San Diego (CA), Naples (Italy), Norfolk (VA), Charleston (SC), Louisville (KY), and Raleigh (NC)--to name a few. prgtoken Senior Chief Honea began his esteemed military career in 1974, where he found his passion as an Optical Repairman. During his tenure, the Senior Chief repaired not only U.S. Navy ships, but also restored local churches and orphanages while on deployment overseas. In 1994, Senior Chief Honea ended his accomplished military career of 20 years. prgtoken Following his retirement, together with his wife, Senior Chief Honea commissioned the inaugural Navy Junior R.O.T.C. Program at Sullivan East High School in Bluff City, where he educated aspiring students for another 3 years. prgtoken Please join me in thanking American patriot, Senior Chief Petty Officer Paul Honea, for his commitment and honorable service to our great country.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jerry Moran (Republican, KS) \u2014 2023-9-13

it was a few weeks back that I was on the Senate floor visiting with my colleagues about the Federal Reserve's response to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, and I again am here today, this time to, in more specific terms, indicate there needs to be a pause in any new banking regulations until an independent investigation of the Fed's response to the failure at Silicon Valley Bank. prgtoken I asked for and would again reiterate the importance of an independent review and indicate that that review should be done prior to the enactment of new capital requirements in order to ensure that these new regulations are properly tailored. Led by a nonpartisan financial expert uninvolved in the Federal response, an independent investigation would allow a clear picture of what reforms are truly necessary. Instead, new capital requirements are largely based upon the Fed's ``holistic review,'' the origins of which are vague at best. prgtoken Regulators have now proposed a host of new requirements and rules for midsized banks to conform to the same capital standards of the country's largest lenders. Lumping regional lenders in with global, systemically important banks ignores the congressional intent laid out in the bipartisan piece of legislation S. 2155. Independent oversight might reveal these regulations to be an overprescribed or plainly unnecessary response to SVB's failure. prgtoken While some measured regulations may be in order, implementing new capital requirements on healthy, well-run financial institutions will do little to prevent a similar crisis. Healthy levels of capital are necessary for strong banks and their ability to lend, but the lack of attention paid to downstream effects of higher capital requirements in the proposal is concerning. This is a sentiment that is shared--my sentiment, and it is shared by multiple Federal Reserve Board Governors. prgtoken Meaningful oversight from regulators requires objectivity and must be done without having a predetermined outcome in mind. It should come as no surprise that the Fed's remedy does virtually nothing to address the root cause of recent bank failures, poor bank management, and lacks supervision. Instead, I worry that the regulations set in motion will serve as an opportunity for regulators to push a preestablished regulatory agenda that will dry up lending. prgtoken It is widely acknowledged that the increase in capital requirements go hand in hand with a reduction in credit availability, and with interest rates near a 20-year peak, access to credit for families and businesses is already shrinking. prgtoken The draft proposal from the Federal Reserve would drive up the cost of home ownership for low-income households, underserved borrowers, and those unable to afford large downpayments. Affordable housing is in short supply, and with midsized lenders forced to pull back on home loans, mortgage lending will continue to be pushed outside th
RECOGNIZING TY WHITE AS ARIZONA'S 2023 TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Juan Ciscomani (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2023-9-13

I rise today to recognize Arizona's 2023 Teacher of the Year, Mr. Ty White, a chemistry teacher at Wilcox High School in Wilcox, Arizona. prgtoken Mr. White, known for his dedication to his students in and out of the classroom, embodies all that a parent wants to see in their children's teachers. prgtoken He serves as a founding board member of InSimEd, a nonprofit that helps students participate in STEM-related experiential learning opportunities. He also sponsors other initiatives at Wilcox High School aimed at finding ways for his students to gain real world industry experiences. prgtoken Mr. White has been widely honored by other organizations across the country, including being recognized as the 2023 National Rural Education Association's National Teacher of the Year, the Air and Space Force Association's Arizona Teacher of the Year, and the first runner- up for the Air and Space Force Association's National Teacher of the Year. prgtoken His commitment to the next generation is unmatched. I am incredibly proud to have him in our district. I know his students will walk away from his class and the programs he runs with lifelong lessons. prgtoken Because of his tireless efforts, people in my district are developing an interest in STEM fields and growing their love for learning. prgtoken , I am honored to represent Ty White and the committed educators like him. Congratulations to Mr. White on this well-deserved recognition.
IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY NEEDED TO COMPLETE INVESTIGATIONS
Burgess Owens (Republican, UT) \u2014 2023-9-13

I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for yielding me the time. prgtoken I rise today in full support of House s' formal impeachment inquiry into President . prgtoken Seven months ago, House s returned oversight to the people's House. We have worked consistently day after day to make your government more accountable as promised in our Commitment to America. prgtoken Since January, concerning and credible allegations against President have emerged, including abuse of power, obstruction of justice, corrupt foreign business dealings, and influence-pedaling schemes that led to tens of millions of dollars in the pockets of several members of the family--so far $20 million in profits to a family that has nothing to do with our government at this point. prgtoken I think we can all agree Americans deserve accountability from our President. Our impeachment inquiry is not a political ploy--it is an opportunity for Congress to continue its duty, digging into the potential of corruption and bringing facts to light. prgtoken The evidence is very troubling. Our witnesses have testified about President 's involvement in phone calls, interactions, and dinners that resulted in significant financial gains to his son and his son's business partners. prgtoken The Treasury Department alone has flagged more than 150 transactions involving the family and other business associates as suspicious activity by U.S. banks. prgtoken Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the family. prgtoken There is evidence that President used his official office to coordinate with Hunter 's business partners regarding Hunter's role with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. prgtoken These actions, and more, raise serious questions about the integrity of our highest office. Our government serves the interests of all Americans, not just a select few. prgtoken Rest assured, House s will follow the evidence wherever it leads, and the truth will come to light. prgtoken I thank the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Johnson, for yielding and for bringing this team together tonight.