mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
State of the Union Address (Executive Session)
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2023-2-9

13 percent of the American people believe the state of our Union is strong--13 percent. Just 16 percent say they are better off financially today than they were 2 years ago. But on Tuesday night, it took President the most words in the history of the State of the Union to declare that everything is actually going swimmingly and he doesn't plan to change a thing. prgtoken To working families, who have been crushed by historic inflation because of his policies, President offered to cut a few dollars off the fees of concert tickets and hotel stays they can't afford anyway. To Americans who are worried that he just let a Chinese spy balloon surveil our country from coast to coast, the President described his slow and unsteady reaction as a big success. To a country that is already teetering on the brink of recession because of him, President proposed even more gigantic new tax hikes. To the American people who are frightened and curious about surging violent crime, President took aim at the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding citizens and implied that taxpayers need to pay for even more welfare spending before we can expect people not to commit murder. prgtoken The President paid lip service to the obscene quantities of foreign fentanyl that flow across our open borders and kill our people, but his main border proposal was to dangle the prospect of amnesty for people who come here illegally. prgtoken He repeated his broken promise not to sign tax hikes that hit the middle class when he has already hiked taxes on American jobs and American energy. prgtoken The country got to hear a lecture about treating political opponents with respect from the President who lied about State voting laws and compared half the country to Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis and a lecture about our democratic institutions from the President who endorsed permanently breaking the Senate so that his party could grab more power. prgtoken President expressed not one ounce of contrition or accountability prgtoken for the failures that have hurt families, cost his party the House, and left only 16 percent of Americans better off financially now than they were on Inauguration Day. prgtoken And the President's thin and paltry discussion of his failing foreign policy was downright alarming. Europe is in the grip of the continent's worst violent conflict since World War II. China is gaining as the largest strategic threat to American security since the Soviet Union. The Taliban has reinstated their oppressive regime and safe terrorist haven that America and our allies chased out more than two decades ago. prgtoken North Korea continues to modernize its nuclear and missile programs, making steady progress toward the leader's goal of being able to deliver Armageddon to our doorstep. prgtoken The Iranian regime continues to advance its own WMD programs while sponsoring terror campaigns all across the Middle E
DISAPPROVING THE ACTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COUNCIL IN APPROVING THE REVISED CRIMINAL CODE ACT OF 2022
Anthony D’Esposito (Republican, NY) \u2014 2023-2-9

I stand here today in staunch opposition to the disastrous new criminal justice reform act passed by the D.C. Council. prgtoken If enacted, the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 would effectively prevent the local justice system from keeping criminals off of our streets, all while D.C. grapples with a crime wave. prgtoken You see, sir, this is not a lecture. As a matter of fact, I spent a career proudly wearing the uniform. I have stood the line between good and evil. I have interrogated criminals. I have consoled victims. prgtoken In Washington, D.C from February 2022 to February 2023, homicides have increased 17 percent; motor vehicle theft is up 76 percent; total property crime is up 24 percent. Every crime has a victim. Every victim has a story. prgtoken Instead of working to stop crime, the D.C. Council chooses to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for all crimes, except first degree murder, as part of the RCCA. prgtoken This misguided legislation also reduces maximum penalties for violent crimes such as burglaries, carjackings, and robberies. prgtoken The D.C. Council is empowering criminals, empowering criminals at the expense of the public, which is why I stand in absolute opposition to their newest soft-on-crime plan. prgtoken To say that we are targeting the people of D.C using them as ``pinatas,'' how do you think the victims feel? Sadly, this procriminal agenda has found its way into many other American cities and States, including my home State of New York. prgtoken In fact, the D.C. law mirrors New York State's disastrous cashless bail laws implemented by New York State . Cashless bail allows criminals to commit crimes and be back out on the streets in record time to commit more crimes and wreak havoc on more victims. prgtoken We have seen it recently in my own district, where illegal immigrants robbed a store, were released without bail, and failed to report to their court date afterward. prgtoken This progressive playbook on justice reform endangers the public, treats criminals with kid gloves, and poses a serious risk to the future of American cities and, most importantly, our Nation's Capital. prgtoken Instead of enabling criminals to escape punishment for their crimes, we should empower judges and juries to impose responsible penalties for crimes committed.
CLOTURE MOTION
Lisa Murkowski (Republican, AK) \u2014 2023-2-9

I was in Utqiagvik, AK, also known as Barrow, AK. It is the northernmost community in the United States. I was there for what some describe as a Messenger Feast. The Inupiat word is ``Kivgiq.'' And it really was a reunion, a glorious family reunion, where the communities of the North Slope region, all eight communities and actually neighbors from Canada, gather together during the winter to celebrate family, to celebrate community. It is an extraordinary sharing. prgtoken It is very similar to the sharing that they have during the summer months, when the communities come together to celebrate the whale harvest, the Nalukataq, yet another extraordinary family-type reunion but one of a sharing in a region that is built on a culture of sharing--sharing of subsistence foods, sharing of resources--and that is what I want to focus my comments on today, the resources within the North Slope region. prgtoken As I was preparing to leave Utqiagvik on Sunday morning to go back to Anchorage, I was at the hotel and visiting prgtoken with people who were gathered there for coffee. And as one gentleman was leaving, he said: Lisa, I think there are just two things that we need you to do. We need you to make sure that you protect our whale quotas so we can continue to provide for the sustenance of the people in this region, and we need for you to ensure that Willow is opened up for oil production so that we can continue our lifestyle. prgtoken Some might suggest that there is some inconsistency between this culture of a traditional subsistence lifestyle and the harvest of a whale to feed entire communities and the production of oil in the Arctic region. And I would suggest that it is not only absolutely not inconsistent but absolutely compatible because it is with the sharing of these resources that the people of the North are able to have much of what we enjoy in other parts of America today: the opportunity to see our kids educated, the opportunity for healthcare, the opportunity to be safe in our communities, the opportunity to have economies. prgtoken So I am here today to speak in strongest possible terms of the Willow Master Development Project within the National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska. We just refer to it as the NPR-A. And what I hope to do, along with my colleague Senator Sullivan, is to further educate Members of the Senate and really people around the country about this project by explaining how it will help to benefit the nearly 11,000 Alaskan Native people and residents who call the North Slope home, how it will support good-paying union jobs, how it will reduce our energy imports from, quite honestly, some of the worst regimes in the world, and why its approval is both necessary and prudent. prgtoken And I want to start with a little bit of background just to put Willow in context. Our NPR-A is a Federal petroleum reserve. It is a Federal petroleum reserve. Its lands were explicitly designated bac
CLOTURE MOTION
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2023-2-9

I want to thank my good friend from the great State of Mississippi, who has been a fantastic leader on the Armed Services Committee, a fantastic leader on so many of these important national security topics. He and I share a very strong, similar, identical view on the importance of Taiwan, and we all need to be doing that. So I want to thank my good friend Senator Wicker from Mississippi for his leadership on this and so many other issues. Willow Project prgtoken , I also want to thank my good friend from Alaska, Senator Murkowski, who was just on the floor of the U.S. Senate talking about the importance of the Willow Project not just to Alaska but to America. She and I are going to be down here on the floor a lot in the next several weeks. I was here last week talking about this project. prgtoken Now, for those of you who haven't watched, a quick recap of the Willow Project: a very large-scale oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, so not a controversial area at all. It is not like ANWR or some of the other areas in our State. prgtoken NPRA, as we call it in Alaska, was set aside by the Federal Government decades ago for oil and gas development because we need oil and gas. We need it. Some people out there don't think we do, but we do. And if we need it, we should do it in America. prgtoken Just a quick, little summary of some of the key aspects of this: 2,500 jobs to build this. It is ready to build tomorrow. We have permission. It is completely shovel-ready. Seventy-five percent of those jobs will be union jobs, building trades jobs. It is one of the top priorities of unions. I will talk about that. Peak production: Almost 200,000 barrels a day--highest environmental standards in the world, by far; lowest greenhouse gas emissions of a major energy project in the world, by far; billions in revenues from the Federal Government, from State government, for local governments in Alaska, and broad-base support from every group in Alaska you can imagine. prgtoken So that is the Willow Project. We got the final EIS last week. And the administration is still kind of saying: Maybe we are going to narrow this so much that we are going to kill it. prgtoken I am going to talk about that. That would be unbelievable. I have tried to work with this administration and, certainly, Senator Murkowski has. We have made this the No. 1 issue from the Alaska delegation ever since stepped into office on day one. prgtoken I personally raised this with the President, every Cabinet official. Willow is No. 1. If you want cooperation from the Alaska delegation, you have to work with us. We are there. We are almost there. But I want to talk about some of what happened last week because our good friends in the media, who love to write about this story, Willow, because they hate the project, they are biased in the project. So when the EIS cam
CONDEMNING THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY'S USE OF A HIGH-ALTITUDE SURVEILLANCE BALLOON OVER UNITED STATES TERRITORY AS A BRAZEN VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES SOVEREIGNTY
Young Kim (Republican, CA) \u2014 2023-2-9

I thank Chairman McCaul for yielding and for his leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee. prgtoken , I rise in strong support of this resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territory as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty and international norms. prgtoken The balloon has been shot down, and I thank those who bravely completed the mission. prgtoken However, many questions remain, and intelligence reports show what we all knew: This was neither a coincidence nor something to be taken lightly. prgtoken This surveillance balloon was part of a larger program by the CCP that has collected information on military assets in Indo-Pacific countries like Taiwan, Japan, India, and the Philippines. prgtoken We all know that this balloon does not even scratch the surface of the CCP's surveillance capabilities. Millions of Americans are spied upon every single day through TikTok and other state-affiliated applications and technologies. prgtoken Whether in airspace or cyberspace, we cannot allow the CCP to spy on us. We cannot allow the CCP to threaten our way of life and the American Dream. prgtoken The time to project strength is now. We must defend our airspace, send a strong signal to the CCP that this behavior will not be tolerated, and equip our allies with the tools they need to deter and defend against CCP's aggression. prgtoken As the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee chair, I am committed to getting answers from the administration about when they knew the CCP's balloon was entering the U.S. airspace and what they know about the CCP balloon program. prgtoken We need to ensure the United States responds to this type of aggression with strong, decisive action from our leaders.
CLOTURE MOTION
Roger F. Wicker (Republican, MS) \u2014 2023-2-9

seven centuries ago, a Chinese novelist wrote: The Empire long divided must unite; long united, must divide. Thus, it has ever been. prgtoken These are the opening words from the Chinese classic novel ``Romance of the Three Kingdoms.'' Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping have drawn inspirations and quoted passages from this classic because the enduring prominence in the Chinese imagination can be traced back for centuries. They describe the long rhythm of Chinese history--a period of civil war and chaos followed by a period of stability. Now, after a century of perceived humiliation, the Chinese Communist Party believes it is destined to be whole and powerful again. prgtoken That is what makes China's current ambition to ``unify,'' as they put it, prgtoken even more troubling. Just as Vladimir Putin seeks to use violence to reconstitute what he considers the old Soviet empire, the Chinese Communist Party has made it its mission to ``reunite'' all those it considers Chinese, including those who have gained freedom and liberty, like the people of Taiwan. The Taiwanese people want no part of Beijing's communist vision, and they fully reject the idea that Beijing should impose its will on its neighbors. prgtoken Some may think Beijing has been hiding and biding its time, but, in fact, it has for decades been active and aggressive in expanding its claims of sovereignty and territory. In the last 60 years, China almost risked a nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union, fought a war with Vietnam, and engaged in multiple bloody skirmishes with India as recently as last month to assert their territorial claim. Today, it continues to make egregious territorial claims in the South and East China Sea, all in the name of expanding the reach of the Chinese Communist Party. prgtoken Americans saw firsthand President Xi's disregard for our own sovereignty over the past week, as a Chinese spy balloon violated U.S. airspace uncontested for several days--just the latest in Beijing's string of provocative actions. prgtoken To see his plans for Taiwan, look no further than Xi Jinping's brutal repression of the people of Hong Kong. He continues to trample the freedoms they long enjoyed and indeed were promised by the Chinese Communist Party. We should have known that the idea of ``one country, two systems'' was always incompatible with the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. prgtoken Taiwan is the missing piece in President Xi's puzzle. Without Taiwan, Xi Jinping, who wants to be remembered as one of the great emperors of Chinese history, will have failed. And make no mistake, he cannot accept a free Taiwan because Taiwan, situated 90 miles off the Chinese coast, is living proof that freedom and democracy can thrive in a Chinese-speaking nation. Taiwan is a powerful advertisement for liberty to the 1.4 billion people who suffer under the communist police state. For this reason more than any other,
American Energy (Executive Calendar)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2023-2-9

I come to the floor today to talk about the administration's war on American energy. prgtoken Over the last 2 years, 's energy policies seem to have been based on two principles. One is restricting American energy production, and the second, regrettably, is a policy that benefits China. prgtoken Time and again, 's energy policies have hurt America and have helped China. On 's first day in office, he shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and I think he did it for spite. It would have brought 800,000 barrels of oil to this country every single day. prgtoken then stopped all new energy leases on Federal land, and in Wyoming we have a lot of Federal land. He did it in a way that was blatantly illegal. A Federal judge actually ordered to follow the law, to sell energy leases. prgtoken Follow the law, . prgtoken As of today, has leased fewer acres of Federal land for energy than any President in modern times, and he raised the royalty rate for oil and gas development on Federal lands. Now, this is the fee that the government collects for energy that is produced on Federal lands. He raised it by half, and he did it overnight. These higher fees will get passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, and--oh, by the way--people are noticing the price at the pump is going up-- again. prgtoken also raised taxes on natural gas by billions of dollars. He raised taxes on coal by $1 billion as well. As a nation today, we are still producing about 2 million barrels of oil less than was projected we would be producing every day, a number of years ago, before the pandemic. prgtoken With lower production and higher taxes, it is no wonder that energy prices have been painful for the American people--punishing for the American people--who are just trying to make ends meet. Working families have lost nearly $3,000 specifically because of 's radical leftwing energy policy. We are paying a lot more than that for additional causes of inflation, but on energy alone, it has been about $3,000 more than they should have spent in a normal situation. prgtoken And who have been the big winners under all of this? Well, regrettably, it has been China. We are really less independent, less competitive, and more dependent on China. This is compared to the day that took office. I am going to give you a couple of examples. prgtoken First, ended America's role in helping developing countries--other developing countries--explore for energy. Many countries are very poor, but they do have massive energy resources. They just need some help in getting to use them. Millions of people could have benefited and been lifted out of poverty if we had helped them use the energy that they already had. prgtoken stubbornly refuses. As a result, now these countries that need money to develop their energy resources--what are they do
CONGRATULATING SERBIA ON ITS STATEHOOD DAY
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2023-2-10

as a member of the Serbian Caucus, I offer my congratulations to Serbia on its Statehood Day, February 15th. prgtoken Statehood Day is celebrated in Serbia every year on this day to commemorate the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 which evolved into the Serbian revolution against Ottoman rule. These events eventually resulted in Serbia's independence in 1835. prgtoken On the same day, February 15, in 1835, the first Serbian constitution was adopted in Kragujevac. I am grateful that this day is also the 142nd anniversary of formal relations between the United States and Serbia. prgtoken The U.S. and Serbia have a long history of partnership including serving side by side during World War II. prgtoken Former President took historic steps to negotiate a normalization agreement between Serbia and Kosovo and I remain optimistic that this agreement will achieve even more progress in the future. prgtoken God bless the United States of America and God bless the people of Serbia.
RECOGNIZING TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE JANE NELSON
Michael C. Burgess (Republican, TX) \u2014 2023-2-10

I rise today to honor the storied public service of State Senator Jane Nelson. Senator Nelson retired from serving the people of North Texas in the Texas State Senate after a historic 30-year career, making her the longest-serving in the Texas State Senate. She served as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and was the first woman in Texas legislative history to chair a standing budget-writing committee. Before becoming Chairman of the Finance Committee, she was the longest-serving Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. She even authored three consecutive balanced budgets--a feat, if accomplished in Washington, D.C would be of great benefit to our country. prgtoken Her legislative accomplishments are far too numerous to name and speak for themselves. Senator Nelson displayed a tireless commitment to her constituents and conservative values throughout her time in the state legislature. Senator Nelson is a businesswoman, former teacher, and proud mother and grandmother who was never afraid to tackle issues that matter the most to Texans. prgtoken Senator Nelson is truly committed to public service. She has a proven track record and a deep understanding of state government. Because of this, Governor Abbott appointed her to serve as Texas Secretary of State. In her new role, I know she will work hard to ensure that elections in Texas are fair and have accurate, timely results. prgtoken On top of her years of public service, Senator Nelson remained active in the North Texas community. While raising her children in Denton County, she founded adult literacy programs, served in the PTA, and volunteered in her community. prgtoken I am honored to know Jane Nelson and call her my neighbor and friend. I congratulate Jane on her retirement from the Texas Senate. A job well done. I know she will continue to deliver results for the great people of Texas in her new chapter of Public Service.
HONORING THE 2023 FLORIDA TEACHER OF THE YEAR MELISSA ANNE MATZ
Aaron Bean (Republican, FL) \u2014 2023-2-10

as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, I rise today to honor the 2023 Florida Teacher of the Year, Melissa Anne Matz. A resident of Clay County and constituent of Florida's 4th Congressional District, Melissa was chosen from almost 185,000 public schoolteachers throughout the great State of Florida. prgtoken In addition to teaching seventh grade math at Lakeside Junior High School, Ms. Matz has served as the head of the entire math department since 2015. Additionally, she has gone above and beyond while serving as the chairperson for Lakeside's School Advisory Committee and a leadership team member. prgtoken Ms. Matz now serves as the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador for Education, where she helps to raise public awareness for the outstanding teachers in Florida. As the 2023 Teacher of the Year, she will receive an award from the Florida Department of Education, a tuition waiver to pursue a graduate degree, and a two-year Florida College scholarship to present to a student of her choice. prgtoken Ms. Matz's commitment to her students, the community, and the State of Florida will have a lasting impact on a future generation of leaders ready to take on the world's challenges. My colleagues and I on the Committee on Education and Workforce are inspired by the work of this exceptional educator. prgtoken , I ask that all of my colleagues in Congress join me in honoring the 2023 Florida Teacher of the Year, Ms. Melissa Anne Matz.