mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
REPEALING THE AUTHORIZATIONS FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ-- Continued
Ted Cruz (Republican, TX) \u2014 2023-3-28

there is no responsibility we have as Members of Congress more serious than protecting the men and women who defend this Nation. We are facing a national security crisis due to and his administration, which have repeatedly been unwilling to act against repeated hostilities from the nation of Iran. They have looked repeatedly for excuses to justify that inaction. prgtoken Now, I want to be clear. I am not where some Members of this body are who want to maintain this authorization for use of military force. I want to vote to repeal this authorization for use of military force. The Iraq war was a long time ago, and I believe the Iraq war was a mistake at the time it was fought. I would be enthusiastic about Congress reasserting its war-making and war-declaring power by repealing the AUMF. prgtoken But, at the same time, I don't want the repeal of the AUMF to be used as an excuse by the administration to roll over and do nothing if and when Iran attacks and murders American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in the Middle East. And this is not hypothetical. prgtoken Just last week, General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the House that from January 2021 until last week, there were 78 attacks against American forces in the Middle East by Iranian-linked fighters--78. The administration responded 3 times; 75 of them went unresponded. Tragically, but predictably, appeasement doesn't work. prgtoken On Thursday morning, the CENTCOM Commander was testifying in front of the House. Here on the floor of the Senate, we were debating this very issue of the AUMF and Iranian aggression. We now know that, at 6:30 in the morning eastern time on Thursday, Iran attacked U.S. forces, murdered a U.S. citizen--a U.S. contractor--and wounded six other Americans. That happened at 6:30 in the morning eastern time on Thursday. prgtoken The Presiding Officer didn't know that on Thursday. I didn't know that on Thursday. None of us knew that on Thursday. Why? Because the administration kept it a secret for 12 hours because they didn't want to tell the Senate, while we were debating this issue, that an American had just been murdered by Iran. That is disgraceful. The Presiding Officer should be angry about it; I should be angry about it. prgtoken My amendment is very simple. My amendment restates that under article II of the Constitution, the President has the authority to defend U.S. troops and to respond to Iranian aggression. prgtoken The opponent of this bill, my friend Senator Kaine, will speak shortly. What he said to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was that the amendment is unnecessary; that article II already does that. Well, good. If it is unnecessary, then the ought to support my amendment and add it. Because I will tell you what it will get: If we add this amendment, I will vote yes on the AUMF repeal. If we don't add this amendment,
REPEALING THE AUTHORIZATIONS FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ-- Continued
Josh Hawley (Republican, MO) \u2014 2023-3-28

this body has spent to date $113 billion on the war in Ukraine and counting. Yet we do not have any direct oversight of any of the money that is being spent. prgtoken My amendment is very simple. Let's create 1 government watchdog--not 2, not 3, not 20; 1 government watchdog--to oversee every cent that is spent on Ukraine and to report back to this Congress and to the American people as to how their hard-earned money is being spent. prgtoken Currently, there are dozens of reporting requirements. There are multiple bureaucrats who are involved. prgtoken Listen, we learned this the hard way in Afghanistan, where, after years of lack of oversight, billions of dollars wasted, and, tragically, many lives lost, this body finally created a special inspector general to oversee the Afghanistan effort and reporting requirements, to report back to the public on what we knew and were learning. That is what we should do in this case. prgtoken I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment.
LOWER ENERGY COSTS ACT
Dan Newhouse (Republican, WA) \u2014 2023-3-28

. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this important issue. prgtoken , I rise today to talk about something that affects every single person, not only in this room but in our entire country. You need it to turn on the lights. You need it to drive your car. For my folks back home in central Washington, it is how you run your farm, your business, and your home. prgtoken Recently, the cost of that energy has gone through the roof. For years now, the administration has been telling the Nation that global markets are complex and that there are dynamics that are out of our control that contributed to the highest gas prices since 2008 and spiking global oil prices. prgtoken We know better. This administration has effectively shut down all future energy and resource development, has created one of the most hostile environments for energy and resource producers, and continues to take actions prgtoken every single day to further their Green New Deal agenda. They should absolutely be held responsible for the burden now placed on the American people, who are struggling to make ends meet. prgtoken While it is very clear to me, just as I know it is clear to my constituents, that President and this administration are failing to display the leadership America needs and deserves, there is a silver lining here. That is H.R. 1. prgtoken The Lower Energy Costs Act will finally get government out of the way of the American people. It will put an end to serial litigants stopping energy projects. It will cut through the endless red tape our producers face. It will unleash American energy to lower the cost for every American. prgtoken This is what we need, and it is what the American people deserve.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION OF THE 175TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAILY STANDARD
Robert E. Latta (Republican, OH) \u2014 2023-3-28

I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 175th anniversary of The Daily Standard, a newspaper located in Celina, Ohio, and the Fifth Congressional District. prgtoken The Daily Standard was founded in 1848, and its readership includes residents of communities throughout Mercer County and beyond. The Daily Standard works diligently to keep our communities informed on a wide and varied range of issues. For 175 years, The Daily Standard has been a consistent and reliable source of news, delivering local, state, and national updates to the residents of Northwest Ohio. prgtoken Again, it is a privilege to celebrate and pay special tribute to The Daily Standard, and its diligent staff, for 175 years in the newspaper business. Here is to 175 more.
LOWER ENERGY COSTS ACT
Robert J. Wittman (Republican, VA) \u2014 2023-3-28

I rise in support today of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. prgtoken Since coming into office, the administration has taken steps to depress domestic energy production, causing prices to skyrocket and making America reliant on our adversaries for energy. prgtoken From heating our homes to filling our gas tanks, Americans have been burdened with historically high energy prices. With growing global demand predicted year after year, we must pass laws that will make America energy independent. prgtoken H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, is crucial in restarting our onshore and offshore leasing program. It also incentivizes the production of domestic minerals that are essential for national security and sustainable energy projects. prgtoken My colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about all this electrification. prgtoken , do you know what needs electrification? Copper. prgtoken Do you know what the other side has done? They have started to ban copper mines. prgtoken I don't know how you make this happen unless, I guess, they want us to buy copper from China. It makes sense to me: Buy copper from China and be reliant on people who don't like us. prgtoken You can see the production here, . Look at Chinese copper production. Look at United States copper production. prgtoken I know what the other side wants. They want us to be reliant on China. prgtoken Modernizing our Federal regulations needs to happen so we prevent projects from being in endless litigation. prgtoken , let's do the things that are sustainable and necessary for our economy and that are necessary to making sure that we are energy independent. prgtoken H.R. 1 incentivizes an all-of-the-above energy approach. This legislation promotes domestic sources of materials critical to renewable energy while maintaining robust environmental standards. prgtoken American energy is the cleanest in the world. We can and we must produce our own energy in an efficient, clean, and safe way for Americans. We can do that. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 1 to eliminate red tape and promote affordable domestic energy production.
LOWER ENERGY COSTS ACT
Chuck Edwards (Republican, NC) \u2014 2023-3-28

. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, to lower energy costs. United States energy independence is critical to meeting domestic demand, and growing needs from the rest of the world. prgtoken Rather than pulling out all of the stops to keep domestic production moving forward to meet this increased demand, the administration has instead begged the OPEC cartel to boost their output, culminating in a failed appeal from President to the Saudi Crown Prince in July of last year. To me, this is exactly why we are here in support of H.R. 1 today. prgtoken As a result of the historic increases in inflation under the administration, the average American family is spending an extra $395 to purchase the same monthly necessities as they did a year ago. prgtoken In November 2022, one in six families were behind on utility bills, and we are not out of the woods yet as natural gas prices rose over 14 percent just last month. This is especially concerning as 47 percent of U.S. households use natural gas to heat their homes. prgtoken The Lower Energy Costs Act seeks to reverse the troubling energy policy strategy that the administration has carried out, and it prioritizes American energy dominance ahead of misguided Green New Deal-style policies. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the Lower Energy Costs Act.
LOWER ENERGY COSTS ACT
Thomas P. Tiffany (Republican, WI) \u2014 2023-3-28

. Madam Chair, on January 20, 2021, President declared war on American energy when he shut down the Keystone XL pipeline. Today, we begin the process to lower energy costs. This is the first stroke of what I hope are many bills to come forward to get energy costs under control for the American people. prgtoken Let's go back over the past couple of years of this Congress and what President did. They passed things like the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. They passed a bill called the infrastructure bill. prgtoken What were those bills really and some of the others from the last Congress? prgtoken They were the Green New Deal. You, the American public, know now what the Green New Deal will do to you. prgtoken Let's talk about my district a little bit. Propane, which is a primary heating source for many of us in northern Wisconsin, we paid 80 cents a gallon in the summer of 2020 to fill our tanks. We paid $2 a gallon--2\1/2\ times as much--to heat our homes just a couple of years after the previous administration had left office. prgtoken Think about the Ford Motor Company, an iconic company here in America. They lost $2 billion on the electric vehicle segment of their business. I can tell you that contractors, loggers, and farmers are not going to drive a Ford Lightning in northern Wisconsin when it is 25 degrees below zero because it does not work. prgtoken I think about Vilas County, where they were going to apply to repair a road under the infrastructure bill. It would have cost $1.5 million using Federal money. I talked to a local contractor. Without the Federal permitting requirements, they could build it for half of that, $750,000. prgtoken One of the key provisions of this is the reform of NEPA. It does not change environmental standards. It just makes it easier to get projects done. It is time to reduce that red tape here in America on the American people and on American job creators. prgtoken Madam Chair, what is this all about at the end of the day? This is about whether you choose America or you choose Communist China. prgtoken Is this going to be a 21st century of the American people just like the 20th century was? It was one of the greatest centuries the people of this world had ever seen, when a country that was founded on liberty, freedom, and opportunity was ascendant, and we stood astride the world. prgtoken Are we going to do that in the 21st century? Bills like this are how we are going to make the 21st century an American century rather than a Communist Chinese century. prgtoken Let's lower energy costs and ensure job security, economic security, and national security for the American people.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
James Lankford (Republican, OK) \u2014 2023-3-28

I wanted to be able to come back to the floor to talk about the SOIL Act. The SOIL Act is a bill that I introduced last year that deals with Chinese ownership of land in the United States. prgtoken Since I have introduced this bill, several of my colleagues here in this room have also introduced other bills that are similar to it. Good. That means people are paying attention to this and the conversation is starting. I am all for as many ideas as we can get out here on how to be able to solve this because the most basic principle that we have right now is, if we miss an obvious trend that is happening here, it is to our economic peril. prgtoken This chart has just a very simple number on it. In 2020, Chinese entities owned almost 200,000 acres of land in the United States. One year later, they are at almost 400,000 acres in the United States--in 1 year. This is from 2020 to 2021. This trend is happening all over the country, and we are certainly seeing it in my State of Oklahoma. prgtoken When I travel around my State, I hear people talk about the border; I hear people talk about the economy; and I often will hear people say: Hey, there is a lot of foreign ownership going into land right now in Oklahoma, and it is dramatically affecting the price of real estate, the price of agricultural land but also what is happening on that land. prgtoken Now, my State may be a little bit different than some others or it may be that the same thing is happening in your State. prgtoken About half a decade ago, my State did medical marijuana legalization. It was a decision of the voters of my State to be able to say they want to get access to medical marijuana for those who need it. The problem is that Chinese entities and Chinese criminal organizations and Mexican cartels immediately flooded the market in our State, and we have seen a rapid rise in marijuana in our State, much of it done in the illegal market. It is not just happening for the ``medical'' side in our State; it is being distributed all over the country from my State. prgtoken Just a few months ago, I was looking on different worldwide news sources and was shocked to see in the BBC News headlines for that day a story about my State on the global news headlines about a group of Chinese nationals who were shot execution-style in a grow operation in Oklahoma. The individual who executed them was on the run and then was arrested in Florida a couple of days later. He was also a Chinese national. prgtoken Chinese criminal organizations have moved into my State in mass numbers. The year after marijuana was legalized in my State for ``medical'' purposes, we had more land sales to foreign entities in Oklahoma than any other State in America as Chinese criminal organizations and Mexican cartels immediately moved in to be able to set up shop in distribution nationwide. prgtoken Many people said they didn't think it was legal for foreign entities to be able to ow
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2023-3-28

providing for the common defense is one of the core responsibilities of the Federal Government. It is, in fact, a primary reason why the Federal Government exists. In fact, the Constitution states: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion. prgtoken So how do we do that? How do we protect our Nation and ensure that Americans can live in peace and safety? The answer can be summed up in one word: ``strength.'' prgtoken As Ronald Reagan said, ``We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.'' Or to put it in the words of another President, our first, speaking 200 years earlier, ``To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.'' That is from President George Washington. prgtoken We secure peace by maintaining our strength. So what does that mean in practice? At its most basic level, of course, it means maintaining a strong military and national intelligence apparatus. It means ensuring that our military is well-funded, sufficiently manned, and fully equipped to meet current and future threats. Unfortunately, we are not doing the best job at that right now. prgtoken We have military services that are struggling to meet recruiting targets. There is a persistent pilot shortage, and in a number of cases, we have too few mission-capable aircraft. Under the President's budget, Navy ships would be retired faster than we can replace them in our limited shipyards. War-gaming analysis suggests we would run out of certain long-range and precision munitions in conflicts with a great power much sooner than any American should be comfortable with. On top of that, last month, the spectacle of a Chinese spy balloon flying over U.S. military bases made it clear that there has been an alarming gap in NORAD's--the North American Aerospace Defense Command--monitoring of U.S. airspace. prgtoken Our current situation isn't being helped by the fact that the President is deemphasizing investment in our military. The budget he just introduced for next year requests a massive hike in nondefense spending compared to a mere 3.2-percent increase for defense. prgtoken In fact, the supposed increase in defense spending isn't really an increase at all. The increase the President is proposing fails to keep pace with current levels of inflation, which means that his defense spending hike is really a defense spending cut--and not for the first time. prgtoken In November of 2018, the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission released a report warning that our readiness had eroded to the point where we might struggle to win a war against a major power like Russia or China. The Commission noted that we would be especially vulnerable if we were ever called on to fight a war on two fronts. <
BIDEN ENERGY CRISIS AFFECTS FAMILIES
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2023-3-28

every day, American families experience the failed policies of and . prgtoken On the day was sworn in, the average price of gas was $2.39. Today, it is $3.44, 44 percent higher. The war on energy resulted in a high cost of over $5 last year. prgtoken During the same period, the first week of his Presidency, killed the Keystone pipeline, which would supply 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada, with the mining equipment in Alberta using Michelin tires made in South Carolina. prgtoken The idiotic war on fossil fuels subverts science and common sense, and it causes dependence on China for batteries, panels, blades, by . prgtoken This week, House s have all-of-the-above legislation to reduce inflation, create jobs, and return America to energy independence with the innovative bill by Congressman Jeff Duncan of South Carolina. prgtoken In conclusion, God bless our troops, who successfully protected America for 20 years in the global war on terrorism as it continues, sadly, moving from the Afghanistan safe haven to America. prgtoken Our sympathies to the families of Nashville and Mississippi.
LOWER ENERGY COSTS ACT
David Rouzer (Republican, NC) \u2014 2023-3-28

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I have listened to some comments from my friends on the other side, and I am just going to share some examples of how section 401 of the Clean Water Act has been weaponized. Some of these I touched on a little earlier, and some of these have yet to be stated, as far as I know. prgtoken In Oregon, a proposed liquified natural gas pipeline and export terminal, which would have had the capability to liquefy over 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, was blocked by that State. The reason? After giving the project applicants the runaround, Oregon denied the certification, citing incomplete information given to the State. prgtoken Once again, that was a project that was estimated to have generated up to $100 million in revenue annually, blocked, just like that. prgtoken Despite FERC finding that the project's plan for environmental mitigation and impact minimization was satisfactory, Oregon denied certification based on reasons outside the scope of the CWA, the Clean Water Act. prgtoken My second example here comes from a proposed natural gas pipeline's 37-mile extension that New York denied. The project would have added enough additional natural gas per day to meet the needs of approximately 2.3 million homes in a region where demand for natural gas is at an all-time high. Additionally, the project would add an estimated $327.2 million to the region's economy. prgtoken Again, in this case, FERC concluded that any long-term effects would be limited to air quality and noise and that all project effects would be reduced to less than significant levels. prgtoken Once again, the State forced the project applicants to come back multiple times with more documents, continuing to move the goalposts each time. prgtoken When the State finally gave a straight reason for denying the project, they nominally cited ``indirect effects on water resources,'' but none of these were provisions of the Clean Water Act section 401. prgtoken Those are just a couple of examples of how water quality wasn't even an issue. It was other aspects. They were just using the loopholes in the statute to achieve their end. prgtoken , .