mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2021-- Continued
Roger Marshall (Republican, KS) \u2014 2022-6-14

this past Saturday, I got to spend the whole morning with the East Central Kansas Model T Club back home. I even got to take a joy ride in a 1921 Model T. Among many stories, I learned Americans were paying only 21 cents a gallon when this car was made. And it wasn't until 1975, 54 years later, that gas had doubled from that price, jumping from 39 to 53 cents--54 years it took to double. prgtoken I don't have to remind anyone that, thanks to our President's energy policies and his reckless spending, he accomplished a doubling in less than 2 years. As we all know, gas is now over $5 a gallon, if you can believe it or not. We are seeing record prices that have gone now 16 days in a row without a single downtick. prgtoken And this is why I am here today to ask for unanimous consent to pass the Gas Prices Relief Act, which would bar any Federal agency from finalizing any rule or regulation that would make it harder to produce American fuels. prgtoken My legislation would send the right signal to American producers and investors. It would show them that the Congress sees the problem and that we are ready to address it. It would set us on a course to bring down prices at the pump, not with more reckless spending and more regulations, but by getting out of the way of American production and allowing them to power the world without more needlessly restrictive rules. prgtoken With this more than doubling of price, many families back home are telling me they are paying $50, up to $100 a week more for gasoline. And that is $2- to $400 a month, in case you are adding it up. And on top of that, their monthly utility bills have doubled. prgtoken I am sure this administration will propose more reckless spending to fix that problem, too. Unfortunately, -flation is impacting many Kansas families to the tune of $6- to $700 a month. That is over $7,000 a year. prgtoken Now, why the increase, you might ask. Now, I am not an economist, but it looks to me like if you increase the regulations on a process, on a business, that is a surefire way to decrease the prgtoken supply. And as we all know, our President and his policies are ramping up regulations at every step of the American oil and gas business, all the while begging for help from other nations. Indeed, he is fulfilling his campaign promises to destroy American oil and gas. prgtoken Now, one more thought. As history teaches us, along with reckless spending, energy is always a leading indicator of inflation. If we don't get our arms around this energy crisis and reckless spending, we will never slow down inflation. But it appears our President and his party disagree with this, or else, simply stated, they don't care. Or maybe they want these high prices. It just seems like yesterday I was filling my truck up back home for less than $2 a gallon, and now, again, it is over $5 a gallon across most of the Nation. prgtoken Rising energy prices add inflationary pr
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2022-6-14

I come to the floor to tell my colleagues about a bill I am introducing today to encourage savings. To set the stage for the necessity of that bill, I am going to speak for a minute about the obstacles that this administration's economic policies--particularly inflation--have put in that give need for such legislation. prgtoken On Friday, we learned that inflation surged to 8.6 percent, a new 40- year high for inflation. Inflation is the No. 1 concern that I hear from Iowans as I do my 99-county tour throughout the State over the course of a year. I hear how rising prices, particularly for food and energy, are cutting into budgets, making it difficult to make ends meet. prgtoken Moreover, I hear from Iowans who are concerned that inflation is eating into their savings. That gets to the purpose of the legislation I am going to soon talk about. This is particularly true for seniors who are living on fixed budgets and are dependent on their savings and investment income to keep their heads above water. prgtoken Yet President and congressional continue to ignore the damage done by their reckless tax-and-spending agenda. Sadly, their solution for inflation is just more of the same old ic tax-and- spend agenda. We still hear rumors that there may be some version of Build Back Better. Just think. If that original version of Build Back Better had passed, we would have had another $4.5 trillion in additional spending feeding the fires of inflation. Thank God for 50 s and Senator Manchin that that has not happened. prgtoken Several have argued for hiking taxes to combat inflation. However, their proposed tax hikes on job creators would suppress business investment, lowering productivity. This would be counterproductive at a time when consumers' demands far outpace supply. We need more production, not less, to combat unchecked inflation. prgtoken Moreover, the proposed ic tax hikes would be passed on to the middle class in the form of lower wages and higher prices. These tax hikes would further squeeze a middle class that is already enduring the worst of inflation. prgtoken I just complimented Senator Manchin for putting a stop to Build Back Better. When it comes to some of the original tax policies we have heard from the , we can thank Senator Sinema, another , for stepping in and bringing at least some common sense to tax policy, even though it wasn't a complete change of that tax policy. Raising taxes on job creation isn't the only misguided tax proposal. While many consumer products are in short supply, ill-conceived ic proposals are not. prgtoken In addition to reckless tax hikes on businesses broadly, have proposed providing consumer gas rebates, forgiving student loan debt, imposing windfall profit taxes on oil and gas, and implementing price controls. None of these proposals would help tamp down inflation. Instead,
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2543, FEDERAL RESERVE RACIAL AND ECONOMIC EQUITY ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2773, RECOVERING AMERICA'S WILDLIFE ACT OF 2021; AND PROVIDING FOR...
Michelle Fischbach (Republican, MN) \u2014 2022-6-14

. Madam , and friend from Pennsylvania for yielding me the time. prgtoken Madam , I would like to start off by saying that I am going to specifically talk about H.R. 7606. Many of the bills included in that bill, in H.R. 7606, I supported and helped introduce. The Butcher Block Act, year-round E-15, and the PRECISE Act are all pieces of legislation I have long supported and are included in this package. prgtoken I find it stunning that my colleagues in the majority after many months of sitting on these thoughtful, bipartisan bills are finally bringing them forward attached to a poison pill that is duplicative and unnecessary. prgtoken Perhaps most disappointing is that this bill is being advertised as an immediate solution to skyrocketing food and fuel prices. But many of these bills are simply codifications of existing programs or duplicative of other efforts all packaged with a feel-good title. prgtoken Let me be clear. These will not address the underlying drivers of inflation or increasing input costs. If the majority were serious about bringing down the cost of our food and fuel, they would check their incessant spending habits far beyond the Federal Government's means. They would roll back the administration's regulatory war on agriculture. prgtoken But that is not what this bill does. prgtoken Madam , the Packers and Stockyards Division already has enforcement tools at their disposal to address uncompetitive behavior in the meatpacking sector. However, by the Packers and Stockyards Division's own estimates, the agency is chronically understaffed and underfunded. If my colleagues were serious about combating uncompetitive behavior in the meatpacking industry, they would have included robust resources to enhance enforcement under the Packers and Stockyard Act. prgtoken This legislation is unfunded and creates an unnecessary and duplicative special investigator appointed by an administration that blames rising costs of goods and services on everyone but themselves and is empowered with nearly unlimited authority to harass market participants when convenient for the politics of this administration. prgtoken Further, the Department of Justice has already been in the process of investigating meatpackers with respect to this exact issue. prgtoken I would ask my colleague if they have yet to receive any update regarding this effort? And if so, what can we expect from it? I know many of my colleagues and I have been seeking an update for months to no avail. Absent such investigation, it is inappropriate for this bill to move forward. prgtoken Much of this package does have bipartisan support, but when I asked why the majority didn't focus on the bills with strong bipartisan consensus, I was essentially told that this is the package, this is what the majority wants. The message to me was, Take it or leave it. This shows, once again, the majority's unwillingness to work in a bipar
RECOVERING AMERICA'S WILDLIFE ACT OF 2021
Bruce Westerman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2022-6-14

I will point out that even though there is a reporting requirement in the legislation, once you approve mandatory, permanent spending, then Congress loses our leverage. Creating a permanent program doesn't bode well for oversight from Congress. Programs that were mentioned like Pittman-Robinson, think about the land and water conservation fund, all of those had dedicated funding streams. This funding is coming straight out of the Treasury. It is coming out of our kids' and our grandkids' piggy banks. prgtoken , I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Bentz).
PUTTING AMERICANS LAST
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2022-6-14

as the 4-day tour occurs inside the Capitol on January 6, where a loaded, biased committee attempts to parse the words of the President on the day, we have many other crises to deal with in this country that are directly affecting and harming the American people, their ability to do their basic day-to-day operation of their homes, get to their jobs, get their kids to school. prgtoken So what are we doing? What are we doing? Chasing January 6. Look at our border right now, where under the current policies, we are attracting the largest caravan ever of illegal aliens heading toward our border. The idea that we are going to get rid of title 42 or just the general porosity of the border anyway. It has been a giant magnet ever since January 20, 2021, when this President came in and started shredding our border policy. prgtoken We had success under President , where we had the best control of the border we had in quite a while, with approximately 450 additional miles of rebuilt or new fence that was very effective in those zones. prgtoken So what do we have now? We have warehouses and stacks and pallets of fence material, millions of dollars' worth of it, lying about on our southern border being stored instead of installed. prgtoken We heard some chatter here a couple months ago from the administration, well, maybe we should just go ahead and put up those additional pieces there where there are some obvious gaps. prgtoken I had a chance to visit Yuma, Arizona a few weeks ago. It was pretty incredible because there would be miles of fence, but there would be these gaps occasionally, and that is where people would pour through illegally. Amazing. prgtoken We could rectify that by just filling a lot of the gaps, thereby making our Customs and Border Patrol job much easier by being able to focus on fewer areas instead of wide-open spaces or gaps all along our border. prgtoken But, no, it seems to be about some other agenda. 15,000 people possibly will crowd the border here soon under the idea that we are going to possibly let title 42 go. Thankfully, two different courts have stopped that. prgtoken So what are we doing? The terrorists come across our border really almost unchecked. They capture a handful of them, but how many are getting by that get away? We don't know that. Are they starting cells right here in our country? Why not? prgtoken As we know, in April, there were over 230,000 encounters, they call them, at the southern border. That is the highest in U.S. history for one month. Why is this? Because we have a giant magnet, again, turned on by this administration saying, come on across. You only need to have a sliver of an excuse for asylum. prgtoken The asylum law needs to be changed if that is how they are going to enforce it because it has to be for a true threat. You also have to seek asylum in the country closest to you, if you are an asylum seeker and that is what you are really after, but
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE
Darin LaHood (Republican, IL) \u2014 2022-6-14

I was recorded as ``nay,'' but I intended to vote ``yea'' on rollcall No. 267. Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress Amodei (Balderson) Bustos (Mrvan) Carter (TX) (Weber (TX)) Correa (Huffman) Crist (Wasserman Schultz) Davids (KS) (Neguse) Davis, Danny K. (Beyer) Deutch (Rice (NY)) Evans (Beyer) Gonzalez (OH) (Meijer) Granger (Weber (TX)) Johnson (GA) (Manning) Johnson (TX) (Jeffries) Kahele (Mrvan) Kelly (IL) (Neguse) Khanna (Watson Coleman) Lamb (Blunt Rochester) Lawrence (Stevens) Lawson (FL) (Wasserman Schultz) Lynch (Langevin) Mace (Carter (GA)) McEachin (Beyer) Meeks (Jeffries) Moore (WI) (Beyer) Nadler (Pallone) Newman (Beyer) O'Halleran (Schrader) Palazzo (Fleischmann) Payne (Pallone) Peters (Jeffries) Pingree (Wasserman Schultz) Price (NC) (Manning) Rice (SC) (Meijer) Schneider (Stevens) Stanton (Huffman) Suozzi (Beyer) Taylor (Van Duyne) Tenney (Jackson) Titus (Pallone) Walorski (Bucshon) Waters (Takano) Wilson (FL) (Neguse)
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2022-6-14

the latest inflation numbers came out on Friday, and it has become par for the course in the economy that they weren't pretty. prgtoken Inflation hit 8.6 percent in May, the worst inflation since December of 1981. Grocery prices increased nearly 12 percent on average. Eggs were up 32 percent; chicken was up 17 percent; milk was up 15 percent; and the list goes on and on. prgtoken Gas prices were up 48 percent. Since President took office, the price of gas has more than doubled. Gas is at $5 a gallon, and the price of diesel, so essential to our Nation's farmers and ranchers, is even worse. The problem is, there is no end in sight. JPMorgan estimates that gas prices could exceed $6 a gallon by August. Other energy costs have also increased with electricity up 12 percent and utility gas service up 30 percent. prgtoken By one estimate, inflation is costing American households $460 per month. That is right: $460 per month. It is no surprise that in a recent poll, 83 percent of respondents--83 percent--describe the state of the economy as ``poor'' or ``not so good'' or that just 27 percent said they have a good chance of improving their standard of living. prgtoken President likes to talk about creating ``an economy that works for working families.'' Well, I have news for the President. This economy is not working for working families. Working families can't absorb an additional $460 a month. They have to cut back. They have to put off needed car repairs or eliminate a family vacation or cut down on milk for their kids. The President said the other day that ``[the economy] is strong as can be but for inflation, but for gas and food.'' prgtoken But for gas and food? Well, I have to tell you, gas and food prices are two pretty essential economic measures for families. prgtoken Moms and dads wondering how they can afford to fill up their cars to get to work or get their kids to baseball practice don't care how good the President says the economy is when the price of a tank of gas has more than doubled since the President took office. prgtoken I guess we can at least be glad the and the President have finally started acknowledging our inflation crisis. For months last year, as inflation climbed, the administration dismissed those concerns. Even as it became more and more clear that we had a long-term problem on our hands, the President and congressional spent their time focusing not on solutions to our inflation crisis but on a massive spending spree almost guaranteed to make our inflation problem worse. prgtoken That is right. Let's remember how we got here. When President took office, inflation was at 1.4 percent, well within the Fed's target inflation rate of 2 percent. And it might have stayed there had not decided to pass a massive and partisan $1.9 trillion spending spree under the guise of COVID relief mere weeks after the Congress had passed a fi
HONORING AND CELEBRATING THE 230TH ANNIVERSARY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE
Diana Harshbarger (Republican, TN) \u2014 2022-6-14

. Madam , I rise to recognize the historic celebration of Jefferson County's 230th anniversary. On June 11, 1792, Governor William Blount, by ordinance formed Jefferson County, originally a part of North Carolina. Later, when Tennessee became a state in 1796, Jefferson County became a part of the state and three other counties have since been fanned out of the original land of Jefferson County. prgtoken On July 23, 1792, the first County Court of Jefferson County was organized at the home of Jeremiah Mathews, and the county court selected a distinguished committee to locate a county seat which became Dandridge, in honor of President George Washington's wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington; America's first, First Lady. prgtoken The famed frontiersman Davy Crockett found his way to Jefferson County and in 1806 was married to Polly Finley at the Finley's homeplace after meeting at a harvest dance and the folk hero sold his rifle in 1806 to post a marriage bond. He and Polly had two children while in Jefferson County and lived here until 1811. Davy Crockett also served two terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1827 to 1831. prgtoken This beautiful county is nestled at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and is home to 2 TVA lakes and both Cherokee Dam and Douglas Dam were built in record time to support the WWII emergency. prgtoken Home to Carson-Newman University, Beans, the world's largest supplier of baked beans, along with many other notable businesses and industries, century farms, and five incorporated cities or towns including Dandridge, Jefferson City, New Market, White Pine, and Baneberry. Jefferson County is home of the Patriots of Jefferson County High School in beautiful Dumplin Valley and continues to be a great place to live, work, and raise a family.
SUPREME COURT POLICE PARITY ACT OF 2022
Jim Jordan (Republican, OH) \u2014 2022-6-14

. Madam , a talking point? The left is telling people where Justice Barrett's kids go to school. That is not a talking point, that is a fact. That is one of the craziest things I have heard said on this floor. prgtoken A talking point? Every single Senator voted for this package. That includes . Every single one. prgtoken A talking point? You have got to be kidding me. prgtoken They are reporting where a Supreme Court Justice's kids go to school, where her family goes to church, her daily routine, and the left calls it a talking point? prgtoken Madam , I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2022-6-14

. A few months ago, from this desk, I talked about the results of a recall election in San Francisco. In February, a multilingual, multiethnic coalition in San Francisco stood up for common sense and rejected three members of the far-left school board who had prioritized woke lunacy over the basics of education. prgtoken Well, last week, these same fed-up citizens provided a sequel. Even the deep-blue Bay area decided they had had enough--enough--with their radical-left district attorney--a prosecutor in name only--who had become nationally famous for running a soft-on-crime experiment. prgtoken As deaths from drug overdoses skyrocketed, his office chose to almost entirely stop prosecuting drug dealing. Burglaries shot up 50 percent. Chain stores had to close locations because of rampant shoplifting. One person who had been arrested five times in 6 months in 2020 was let out every time--every single time--until he killed two women with a stolen car. Liberals actually bragged about how they had cut down incarceration rates, even as disorder swallowed up more and more of the city. prgtoken The citizens were fed up--fed up--with being the far-left's guinea pigs. They flocked to the ballot box, and they voted for change. prgtoken This phenomenon is not only playing out in San Francisco, it is nationwide--nationwide. For years, the far left has zeroed in on local prosecutors and district attorneys as juicy opportunities to make America radically softer on crime. prgtoken According to recent news reports, for example, one far-left billionaire donated more than $1 million each to the political campaigns of soft-on-crime prosecutors in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. According to one group's analysis, the army of soft-on-crime prosecutors supported by this one donor--this one donor--and his networks oversees as much as 20 percent of the Nation's entire population. prgtoken Once in office, many of these prosecutors set about abusing their authority by basically unilaterally decriminalizing various crimes that neither voters nor legislators have actually decriminalized in reality. As the attorney general of Virginia put it recently, ``Instead of trying to change the law . . . these groups are electing prosecutors who simply ignore it.'' prgtoken As this liberal campaign has been playing out at the State and local level, we have seen violent crime surge all across the country. Here are just a few recent news reports. prgtoken From Minnesota: ``Robberies, assaults, and gun crimes are causing waves of anxiety and fear among suburban residents across the Twin Cities.'' prgtoken From Colorado: ``Since the beginning of the pandemic . . . murders had gone up 47 percent, some types of property crime had nearly doubled, and [the] seizures of fentanyl and methamphetamine had quadrupled'' in just the last year. prgtoken Atlanta ``saw a 30-year record in homicides last year [in 2021],'' and 2022 has been looking actual