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Democrats Outraged Over Renaming Bill
00:15:27
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unidentified
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wherever you get your podcasts. | |
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| On the Hill, the Republican-led House passed legislation renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. | ||
| That legislation introduced by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene passed on a party-line vote of 211 to 206. | ||
| That bill now heads to the Senate. | ||
| Here's a look at the debate leading up to its passage. | ||
| I rise in support of H.R. 276, sponsored by Congresswoman Greene of Georgia. | ||
| Throughout the history of the United States, the executive branch has renamed our public lands and waters. | ||
| This legislation codifies a portion of President Trump's Executive Order 14172, which directed the Board on Geographic Names to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. | ||
| President Trump signed this executive order on his first day in office. | ||
| Enacting this legislation will help make President Trump's historic action permanent and ensure consistency in references to laws, maps, regulations, and records of the United States. | ||
| The Gulf of America is critical to the United States because of its energy resources and ecological significance. | ||
| This renaming symbolizes Republicans' commitment to putting America first and honors the Gulf of America's important role in unleashing American energy and our nation's return to greatness. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman reserves. | |
| Gentlemen from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| When I call this a deeply unserious bill, I think I'm probably being charitable. | ||
| It is unserious, and it comes from a Republican majority that is either unable or unwilling to do the real work of Congress. | ||
| In the first disastrous hundred days of President Trump's second term in office, we have seen him sow chaos and distraction in every direction. | ||
| This deeply corrupt and unhinged leader has put his biggest campaign donor and the wealthiest man in the world in charge of slashing programs that millions of Americans depend on, from food assistance to nuclear safety to disaster response, all in the name of quote-unquote efficiency. | ||
| They have indiscriminately fired thousands of federal workers like this is some dystopian reboot of the apprentice, except in this episode, they're filling the government with unqualified sycophants, and they're running around firing meteorologists and health experts and emergency responders, people who keep our government running. | ||
| And today, in the face of all of that, all of this chaos that our Republican colleagues don't want to talk about, at least we're hearing them engage in some debate over this unserious bill about renaming the Gulf of Mexico, which I suppose is an improvement because for the past couple of weeks in the markup hearings on their disastrous budget reconciliation bill, they've been unwilling to debate it all. | ||
| It's just been silence from our Republicans as they move through one of the most reckless bills in American history, the same silence as they duck their constituents by canceling town halls and avoiding media inquiries. | ||
| So instead of debating that very important and destructive legislation, they are speaking up today about this deeply unserious bill to rename a body of water. | ||
| We wish that our Republican colleagues would join us in asking the question that's on more and more Americans' mind: what the heck is going on? | ||
| This administration is not draining the swamp. | ||
| They're torching the country. | ||
| The global economy is in chaos. | ||
| We are teetering on the brink of recession. | ||
| Administration officials are telling us we should perhaps prepare to ration dolls and toys this Christmas, and yet they want to debate renaming the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| You know, Congress that more and more appears to just be a joke is now advancing a bill that literally started off as a joke. | ||
| That's right, the first person to publicly suggest the name change was not Donald Trump or the author of this bill. | ||
| It was comedian Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central. | ||
| It was a joke back when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was happening. | ||
| And you remember, folks, that 11 people died in that disaster. | ||
| Entire ecosystems collapsed. | ||
| The Louisiana coast was wrecked, along with industries and livelihoods that depend on that Gulf Coast ecosystem, all devastated. | ||
| And Colbert used the fake name Gulf of America to satirize the absurdity of oil-soaked nationalism. | ||
| And now here we are, 15 years later, in a Congress that apparently thinks they have no real work to do, turning a late-night punchline into the legislative business of the United States House. | ||
| Look, I would love to say this is just a one-off, but it fits a disturbing trend. | ||
| Again and again, this majority keeps replacing science with slogans, governance with grievance, and policymaking with cheap performance art. | ||
| The truth is, this bill won't fix a single problem. | ||
| It does absolutely nothing to help the Gulf Coast. | ||
| It won't create a single job. | ||
| It's not going to fix our climate crisis. | ||
| It's just dumb. | ||
| The only thing this bill will do is waste time and your taxpayer dollars to stroke the ego of a guy who sharpied a hurricane map on live TV. | ||
| Now, in committee, I offered an amendment that would actually advance the value of efficiency. | ||
| Because, you know, if this is all about stroking the ego of one man, if it's all about cultish sycophancy, why do it in a piecemeal way with all these individual bills to put his face on Mount Rushmore and on the $100 bill? | ||
| We actually have legislation from folks across the aisle to do all these things, to rename Dulles Airport, to do national holidays. | ||
| Why not go all the way? | ||
| We know that's where this is all heading anyway, since everything is in service of one man's fragile ego. | ||
| So why not rename the entire planet Planet Trump? | ||
| At least that would be efficient. | ||
| We would hurry up and get to the inevitable outcome of where this Republican Congress is taking us. | ||
| But look, if you like this unserious bill, there's another deal for you because Eric and Don Jr. are selling Gulf of America hats on their website for 50 bucks a pop. | ||
| One hat even says Gulf of America, yet another Trump development. | ||
| And the sales pitch for one includes, and I quote, as seen on President Donald J. Trump. | ||
| And get your meme coin while you're at it. | ||
| And remember, all of these griffs are for a limited time. | ||
| They won't last much longer. | ||
| The American people deserve much, much better, folks. | ||
| A recent Fox News poll, yes, Fox, showed that a big majority opposes the name change for the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| 67%. | ||
| Americans know a joke when they see one, even if this Republican Congress doesn't. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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Reserves. | |
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman from Arkansas. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia, the lead sponsor of this legislation, Ms. Green. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentlewoman from Georgia is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'm honored to be here today in front of the American people as we debate the merits of the Gulf of America Act. | ||
| This would rename the body of water formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. | ||
| This is such an important thing to do for the American people. | ||
| The American people deserve pride in their country and they deserve pride in the waters that we own, that we protect with our military and our Coast Guard and all of the businesses that prosper along these waters. | ||
| But Democrats today are outraged. | ||
| They're outraged because they love the cartels more than any other people in the world, more than the American people. | ||
| They spent the past four years funding and voting for policies that ripped our borders open and allowed our country to be invaded by millions and millions of people. | ||
| Drugs and fentanyl that murdered over 300 Americans every single day. | ||
| Human trafficking, child sex trafficking, terrorists, and millions of people that we have no idea where they are in the interior of this country. | ||
| Democrats are outraged today because they are America last and they hate anything that would give the American people pride. | ||
| The Gulf of America is one of the most important things that we can do this Congress. | ||
| This is an executive order written by the President of the United States, which, by the way, is president today because the American people rose up and voted against a Democrat Party that was completely America last. | ||
| Section one of the executive order lays out the purpose and policy and directive stating, it is the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. | ||
| The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our nation's rich past. | ||
| Americans have watched Congress week in and week out rename post offices. | ||
| Democrats vote for it all the time. | ||
| Democrats aren't afraid to rename anything. | ||
| They've been renaming military bases because they hate our history and hate our heritage. | ||
| This is also the same Democrat Party that cheered when their ground troops, Antifa, and radical rioters went throughout American cities and tore down statues like Lincoln and Washington. | ||
| The Democrat Party doesn't want to preserve America's rich history or promote pride in our country, our lands, our people, our businesses, and yes, our waters, the Gulf of America. | ||
| The Democrat Party wants to remain the best business partner to the cartels that they've ever had. | ||
| It's the cartels that have been enriched by tens of billions of dollars because of Democrat policies, and they'll continue to protect them and fight for them. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
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unidentified
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General from Arkansas. | |
| I reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman Reserves, Gentleman from California. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Well, the gentlelady from Georgia is right about one thing. | ||
| Democrats are outraged. | ||
| Because as this president is crashing the global economy, careening us into recession, destroying retirement plans and 401ks, driving up costs for American families on everything from cars to eggs to now us being told we may have to ration toys and dolls this Christmas, as all of that is happening. | ||
| He's using Congress's Article I Trade and Commerce Authority to do it. | ||
| And what do you hear from Republicans across the aisle about this thing that is wrecking the lives of so many American families? | ||
| Nothing, worse than nothing. | ||
| They've tied their own hands with a gimmicky bill that they passed to create a false legislative day that never ends so that they can't even invoke Congress's Article I trade authority and put some sensible sideboards on this trade and tariff policy. | ||
| It is madness. | ||
| So the gentlelady is right. | ||
| We are outraged. | ||
| And I would like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from Maryland, Stenny Hoyer, to talk about it. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for three minutes. | |
| Live from Washington, D.C., Saturday Night Live. | ||
| You can't make this up. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in perplexion. | ||
| I first want to say how much respect I have for Mr. Westerman. | ||
| He is my dear friend and one of our best members. | ||
| My, my, my. | ||
| Doing a lot of work this time, Bruce. | ||
| Is this infantile bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico really this House's top priority? | ||
| I heard the gentlelady say it's going to solve all the problems, of course, if we name it the Gulf of America. | ||
| Golly day, why didn't we think of that? | ||
| The economy is shrinking for the first time since COVID-19. | ||
| Costs are going up. | ||
| I think Saturday Night Live just called me. | ||
| They won me on. | ||
| Costs are going up. | ||
| Small businesses are going under. | ||
| American families are worried they won't be able to keep the lights on, keep food on the table, and keep the roof on their head. | ||
| They're happy about, of course, Gulf of America. | ||
| That'll do it. | ||
| Millions of Americans risk losing their health insurance if Republicans' Medicaid cuts go through. | ||
| Yet Republicans think this juvenile legislation is the best use of this House's time. | ||
| This is the only thing we're doing today, folks. | ||
| What a sick joke this is. | ||
| Republicans worry about 400-year-old words on a map. | ||
| I worry about families in every community in America who's struggling to get by. | ||
| This bill is obviously a distraction, a joke. | ||
| Where is Trump's one big, beautiful bill that we keep hearing so much about? | ||
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Wasting Time on Trivial Matters
00:15:29
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| The one that cuts taxes for the wealthiest among us, threatens health care for millions, and pulls the rug out from underworking Americans. | ||
| The majority still hasn't been able to put it on the floor. | ||
| That's how divided, dysfunctional, and divisive they are. | ||
| My dear friend, the late Elijah Cummings, with whom some of you serve, said, we're better than this. | ||
| The American people are counting on us to be better than this. | ||
| We ought to be debating legislation to bring down costs, to pay our debts, to fix our broken immigration system. | ||
| Instead, MAGA Republicans waste our time with this childish dribble. | ||
| Not only that, they give it a prime spot on the floor schedule. | ||
| This is the only thing we're doing for America today, renaming the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| May I have one more minute? | ||
| I'll yield the gentleman a minute. | ||
| Renaming the Gulf of Mexico, as if that's going to solve the problems. | ||
| Very frankly, my self-confidence in America does not need that. | ||
| I don't need Canada to be the 51st state. | ||
| I don't need to invade Greenland. | ||
| And I don't need the Gulf of America to have confidence in the greatest country on earth. | ||
| Are we so small? | ||
| Do we feel so belittled by the rest of the world that we have to do this silly, silly, silly step? | ||
| We are made smaller. | ||
| Hear me. | ||
| We are made smaller by this effort. | ||
| Vote rationally. | ||
| That'll be a no. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman Reserves. | |
| Gentlemen from Arkansas. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman Reserves. | |
| Gentleman from California. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield now two minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida who represents the Gulf and may have some wisdom to share with us about this subject. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Florida is recognized. | ||
| Well, I thank the Ranking Member for yielding the time, and I rise in opposition to this farcical bill, and I thought I'd share what I'm hearing from my neighbors across the Gulf Coast. | ||
| They want policymakers in Washington, D.C. to tackle the cost of living. | ||
| And during this Congress, the Republican-led Congress, there has not been one bill brought to the floor of the House, and here we are in May to lower the cost of living for families along the Gulf Coast and all across America. | ||
| In fact, what the Republicans have been focusing on is a massive tax giveaway to billionaires like Elon Musk while they rip away health care from millions of Americans. | ||
| And in Florida, we have about 4.6 million Floridians that rely on the Affordable Care Act for their health care, and about 3.9 million Floridians who rely on Medicaid. | ||
| These are the family members we love the most, kids with complex conditions, seniors in skilled nursing, seniors that want to live in dignity in their homes with the home health aid. | ||
| But their priority, is it to make people's lives easier, to make people's lives better? | ||
| No, it's been totally focused on how you rip that away, make people's lives more expensive. | ||
| It also means for the Gulf Coast, we are still reeling from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, just like other parts of the country, in Georgia and North Carolina. | ||
| We don't need Elon Musk creating turmoil and firing civil servants and public servants who are helping us rebuild. | ||
| We do not need the Trump administration making people's lives harder to rebuild and to afford to stay in their homes. | ||
| We're preparing for another hurricane season and folks along the Gulf Coast need a national weather service that is functional, that can warn us about the threats ahead. | ||
| We need the hurricane hunters out in the Gulf telling us how severe the storms are going to be. | ||
| But the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress seem to be turning away from the people along the Gulf Coast and all across America to understand the threats of a warming climate. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman's time has expired. | |
| Yield the gentlelady 30 seconds. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Huffman. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Because you started this with saying that Gulf of America started as a joke. | ||
| This is not a joke to the people I represent. | ||
| They want help. | ||
| They want help with the cost of living, and it seems like the Republicans are doing the last, that's the last priority on their list. | ||
| Instead, they want to give a massive tax giveaway to the wealthy and the well-connected, while people really need help with their pocketbooks. | ||
| They need help. | ||
| They want to retain their health care. | ||
| want to make sure that the ocean waters are free of pollution. | ||
| The EPA and all of the Trump administration initiatives are to take the... | ||
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unidentified
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The gentlewoman's time has expired. | |
| Please vote no and focus on what's important. | ||
| Thank the gentlelady and the Mr. Speaker. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman from California Reserves, gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, just earlier this week, this very committee spent 14 hours in a markup on our reconciliation plans that are part of the big beautiful bill. | ||
| 14 hours to make America energy dominant. | ||
| 14 hours to unleash American resources and American jobs. | ||
| Those 14 hours were mainly spent hearing 121 Democrat amendments to undermine that bill. | ||
| 121 times, they wanted to undermine America's energy. | ||
| They wanted to undermine America's ability to mine our own products. | ||
| They wanted to undermine America's ability to manage our forests and our resources and take care of this country. | ||
| Now, there are a lot of bills that come to this floor to rename things, and they may not be the most important bills, but usually they go on a suspension vote because both sides agree that we can do renaming. | ||
| But this one, it got elevated to a much higher level, so here we are under a rule bill debating whether or not we call the Gulf of current Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America or if we leave it as it is. | ||
| Our friends across the aisle want to, they have one objective, to undermine everything, everything we want to do to make America first, and this is no exception. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman reserves. | |
| Gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield three minutes to the gentlelady from Southern California, Ms. Rivas. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member, for yielding to me. | ||
| There are many issues that we could be talking about today, like lowering the cost of living, protecting Medicaid and Social Security, protecting immigrant communities. | ||
| But no, House Republicans are prioritizing Trump's vanity project, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, like that's going to help Americans with their cost of living. | ||
| Millions of Americans are struggling because of Trump's policies that are tanking our economy and raising the cost of living. | ||
| And the Republicans in this chamber have yet to put forth anything that addresses their issues. | ||
| I'm disappointed that House Republicans blocked my amendment to this bill that would actually help working families across the country. | ||
| My amendment would require the official name change to not take effect until the Department of Interior can prove that this bill would lower food prices, including the price of eggs, spurn economic growth, create jobs, and lower the unemployment rate. | ||
| But the Republicans voted it down in committee and blocked it from getting to the floor today. | ||
| That shows where their priorities are. | ||
| It was not just the House Republicans who opposed helping working families. | ||
| The Trump White House also hated this amendment and sent out a statement of opposition. | ||
| They went to Fox News to complain that we're doing our job to serve the people. | ||
| Call me crazy, but I believe that the work we do in Congress should improve the lives of the American people. | ||
| As a congresswoman proudly representing the San Fernando Valley in California, I believe that the true test of how we are as a country is how we treat our most vulnerable. | ||
| And this bill fails that test. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this ridiculous bill. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman from California Reserves, the gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, our friends across the aisle want to talk about being serious, but when we marked up this legislation in committee, here are some of the serious amendments that they put out. | ||
| Number one, they wanted to rename it not the Gulf of America, but the Gulf of Hellene after a hurricane. | ||
| That wasn't good enough, so they decided to file an amendment to name it the Gulf of America Should Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. | ||
| That's real serious. | ||
| And they also, as my friend already mentioned, they wanted to take this bill, and it was obviously not germane. | ||
| They wanted to rename the planet Planet Trump. | ||
| So that's how serious they are in their debate. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, gentleman from California is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. McAziner. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, we're here today debating and wasting time on a ridiculous bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico when the American people want us to be focused on real issues that impact their lives. | ||
| Prices are still too high. | ||
| Donald Trump's tariffs are making it worse. | ||
| The stock market is tanking. | ||
| People are losing their savings. | ||
| And in the midst of all of this, the Republican majority isn't focused on trying to solve the problems that everyday people care about. | ||
| Instead, they are focused on stroking the ego of one man, Donald Trump, the man who they would make king. | ||
| And so we are wasting time today, an entire legislative day where this is the only bill that's being debated so that our Republican colleagues can get up and show their fealty to Donald Trump instead of the voters who elected us who expect us to be focused on them. | ||
| But there's another reason that Republicans are wasting time on this bill, which, by the way, 70% of the American people oppose, is because they want to distract us from what else they are trying to do. | ||
| They are working on a bill right now that would give trillions of dollars of tax cuts to billionaires like Elon Musk by cutting health care for working people. | ||
| They don't want to talk about that. | ||
| That part they only talk about behind closed doors while they distract the media, the American people, and their own members with this nonsense bill about the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the American people are smarter than this. | ||
| They are smarter than our Republican colleagues give them credit for. | ||
| 70% of the American people reject this nonsense bill, and this Congress should as well. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman from California Reserves, the gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I left out one of the other amendments my colleagues across the aisle filed. | ||
| They wanted to rename the Gulf the Gulf of Ignorance. | ||
| Now, I don't know where they came up with that one. | ||
| I know they oppose offshore oil and gas production. | ||
| I know they oppose American energy independence. | ||
| I know they have a special affinity for fish that aren't in the Gulf and attack recreational fishermen in their endeavor to go out and spend time with their family and catch fish. | ||
| But I don't know what part of the Gulf that they think is so ignorant that they wanted to rename the Gulf the Gulf of Ignorance. | ||
| you can look it up. | ||
| They filed that amendment and we obviously voted it down. | ||
| You know, they had no problem renaming the Canning Caucus Room the Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room. | ||
| It's not like this is the first thing that's ever been renamed in this Congress, but we will go ahead and have our debate and they can vent their frustration on the Republicans and really on our country as they can continue. | ||
| But I will reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, gentlemen from California is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield two minutes to the gentleman from California, Mr. Cisneros. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you very much to my generous colleague for allowing me to speak today. | ||
| You know, as members of Congress, we are elected to champion the voices of our people and pass legislation to make their lives better. | ||
| Instead, House Republicans are using this position to introduce a nonsense bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| The Gulf has been known as the Gulf of Mexico since the 16th century. | ||
| Why are they making a big deal out of this now? | ||
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unidentified
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Because they want to stroke the ego of Donald Trump. | |
| Back home in California, my constituents are concerned about putting food on the table. | ||
| They're feeling crushed by high rent and afraid that they won't be able to buy a home one day. | ||
| They're worried about how they can afford how they can afford health care once these Medicaid cuts take effect. | ||
| Seniors are scared their Social Security checks are going to dry up. | ||
| But Republicans want to focus on renaming a body of water thousands of miles away from where we are today. | ||
| Instead of addressing the things that actually matter to people back home, House Republicans are trying to distract us from the harmful policies they are forcing on all of us. | ||
| This does nothing to improve the lives of our constituents. | ||
| It does nothing to make our country safer, lower cost, help parents feed their kids, or give our seniors the support they deserve. | ||
| This is a waste of time, and it's a disgrace to the people who elected us to serve in this body. | ||
| So thank you very much, and I yield the balance of my time. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman from California Reserves, gentlemen from Arkansas is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentlelady from Georgia. | ||
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unidentified
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Gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It's so important for the American people to hear this debate back and forth between what Democrats have to say and what Republicans have to say. | ||
|
Democrats And Drug Cartels
00:03:04
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| The American people rose up in a historic election in November of 2024, and they told Washington, D.C. they have had enough of the Democrat embrace and love affair of the cartels in Mexico. | ||
| But Democrats today are fighting to keep the Gulf of America named the Gulf of Mexico because the cartels are their business partners. | ||
| They fight for the cartels so much that they call an MS-13 gang member that had two deportation orders that was deported to El Salvador, the country of his citizenship. | ||
| They call him a Maryland man, and they fight for him so hard that they sent senators and House members went down to fight for him, not for the American people. | ||
| The drug crisis in America is the fault of the open border policies and the love affair between Democrats and cartels. | ||
| Drug trafficking across the Gulf of America is a serious issue. | ||
| The Gulf serves as a maritime corridor of trafficking operations with drugs like cocaine, marijuana, fentanyl, a poison that murders Americans, methamphetamine, and heroin being transported via fishing boats, private vessels, and commercial maritime routes. | ||
| It's our great United States Coast Guard that defends the waters of the Gulf of America. | ||
| Since January 20th, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard has seized 101,415 pounds of cocaine, 10,743 pounds of marijuana, and operations targeting maritime drug trafficking, including in the Gulf of America. | ||
| On April 30th, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tampa offloaded pounds of cocaine and marijuana worth an estimated $12.3 million at Port Everglades, Florida, seized during operations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America. | ||
| It's the cartels that use the Gulf of America to invade our country with drugs, human trafficking, and child sex trafficking. | ||
| It's our great Coast Guard and our Navy that defend the land, our people's land, our states, our businesses, and our country from the cartels. | ||
| You would think this would be the easiest vote that the United States House of Representatives could take, because after all, everybody in here swore an oath to defend our Constitution and to defend our laws and our land. | ||
| Oh, but no, the Democrats can't do it because we had four years of Democrat control where our borders were wide open and the American people are fed up with it. | ||
|
Debating Gulf Renaming?
00:04:36
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| The American people are tired of being torn down and served by America-last policies and politicians that absolutely hate the American people and love the cartels. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, the gentleman from California, is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You know, the most encouraging thing so far in the debate on this bill is that the only speaker in support that the Republicans have offered is the gentlelady from Georgia. | ||
| That's it. | ||
| And that, I think, is hopeful because it suggests that maybe there's still a little bit of dignity somewhere in the Republican conference. | ||
| I guess we'll see in a few minutes when we start voting on this bill that is an insult to any serious member of Congress, certainly an insult to the American people, and a giant middle finger to the rest of the world. | ||
| With that, I yield a magic minute to our fantastic Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I also thank the distinguished gentleman, my good friend from the great state of California for his tremendous leadership and for pushing back against this bill. | ||
| I urge a strong no against this silly, small-minded, and sycophantic piece of legislation. | ||
| When the American people woke up this morning, they could reasonably ask the question, what are their elected representatives on the floor of the House of Representatives going to be debating? | ||
| In an environment where the Trump tariffs are costing them thousands of dollars more per year, Republicans are crashing the economy in real time. | ||
| Costs are being raised on hardworking American taxpayers, and Republicans are driving us toward a painful recession. | ||
| What might members of Congress under this temporary Republican majority be debating on the floor today? | ||
| Would it be legislation about the economy, something about health care, anything about Social Security, perhaps something on public safety, maybe national security matters, anything to bring to life the American dream for hardworking American taxpayers? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| What Republicans have decided to spend this entire legislative day doing is to debate a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| Now, in some ways, I guess the American people can be thankful because this week, what Republicans were going to try and do was visit upon the American people the largest Medicaid cut in American history. | ||
| And because Republicans are on the run, they were forced to take that hearing down. | ||
| That battle is not over. | ||
| So in the absence of their ability to actually jam up hardworking American taxpayers, instead of focusing on things that would make a difference in the lives of the American people, we are here on the House floor, more than 400 years after the fact, debating legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| And it turns out there's a lot more foolishness than this particular bill. | ||
| Apparently, it's not enough simply to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| Republicans have introduced an act of Congress to express support for the designation of the first ever Gulf of America Day. | ||
| That ingenious piece of legislation was introduced by Representative Mark Alfred of Missouri. | ||
|
Republican Airport Renaming Bills
00:02:45
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| At a time when Americans are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, when we are grappling with the high cost of living, don't worry, Republicans have a solution. | ||
| Congressman Brandon Gale of Texas has your back with a bill to require the $100 note to include a portrait of Donald J. Trump. | ||
| No thank you. | ||
| Not to be outdone, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina has the Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act. | ||
| Really? | ||
| Hard pass. | ||
| Flight travel has become more dangerous. | ||
| We have an air traffic control crisis ongoing this week at a major airport in the Northeast, central to a lot of the commerce and the functioning of the economy, an economy that Republicans are breaking in real time. | ||
| What would be the Republican response to the situation in our skies? | ||
| Representative Addison McDowell of the great state of North Carolina has a bill to designate Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as the Donald J. Trump International Airport. | ||
| Did Virginia even vote for Donald Trump? | ||
| Families are confronting thousands of dollars more per year in higher costs thanks to Donald Trump's reckless tariffs. | ||
| And instead of pushing back the president and Congress asserting our constitutional authority as it relates to tariffs and trade in the best interests of the American people, no, Republicans have a different approach. | ||
| Here's this gem from Representative Anna Paulina Luna of the great state of Florida. | ||
| She's got legislation to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on Mount Rushmore. | ||
|
Serious Issues Ahead
00:07:15
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| Are we living in the times of King Nebuchadnezzar? | ||
| What are we doing, folks? | ||
| There are serious issues that the American people want us to confront. | ||
| From the very beginning of this Congress, Democrats have said we will work with anyone to lower the high cost of living, to secure the border, to fix our broken immigration system, to protect communities, to stand up for the health care, the safety, the well-being, the national security of the American people. | ||
| Republicans have no agenda other than the toxic agenda connected to their big, ugly bill that they are trying to jam down the throats of the American people. | ||
| And so when they have to run away from that and push it back, this is what we're left with. | ||
| Renaming the Gulf of Mexico, which 70% of the American people reject. | ||
| That's according to Fox News. | ||
| That bastion of progressive politics. | ||
| And so I'm here strongly urging a no vote against this small-minded, silly, and sycophantic bill. | ||
| And I can say without hesitation, reservation, or need for clarification that America is not down with MTG. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from California Reserves, gentlemen from Arkansas is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, a lot of accusations have been made about serious legislation, about working, about the things that have happened since this new administration has come into office. | ||
| But I would like to recap some of the things that have happened since this new administration has come into office. | ||
| Number one, they've spent a lot of time reversing a lot of bad executive orders that the previous administration put in place, executive orders that did put America last. | ||
| Now we have an administration that's working every day to put America first. | ||
| We've also seen Congress take many actions on Congressional Review Acts to undo bad rules that the previous administration put in place. | ||
| And don't believe the accusation that Republicans aren't working. | ||
| We have 11 committees that have reconciliation instructions, and eight of those committees have marked up those instructions already. | ||
| Instructions on a big, beautiful bill to put America first and to create national security, to use our resources at home to allow people in America to have a job and a career where they can raise families and grow communities. | ||
| We're working on policies where to avoid a $4 to $5 trillion tax increase on every American. | ||
| There's a lot of work taking place. | ||
| And I'm afraid, or I'm not really afraid. | ||
| I believe my friends across the aisle are concerned about a piece of legislation that's going to make a huge difference. | ||
| A piece of legislation that's going to reverse the destructive policies that their party has put in place over many years. | ||
| A piece of legislation that's going to focus on getting our fiscal house in order, on letting Americans keep more of their hard-earned income, on letting us develop our resources here at home to become less dependent on China, less dependent on Middle Eastern oil, and all those things that over the years have been eroded away from our American economy and from Americans. | ||
| So if they want to complain about renaming the Gulf the Gulf of America, they can complain about that all day. | ||
| But it gives them something to do other than to talk to Americans about the real policies that Republicans are looking at putting in place rather than making up scare tactics, which is their normal playbook, to take anything that happens and say, oh, they're going to cut Social Security, they're going to cut Medicare. | ||
| You can't even touch Social Security and budget reconciliation. | ||
| They know that. | ||
| They know that can't happen in budget reconciliation, yet they still put those scare tactics out. | ||
| They talk about what bills are going to do before bill text has been released. | ||
| It's because they're on the defensive to protect the big government that Democrats have created over time while Republicans want to put government back closer to the people, take power out of Washington, D.C., and truly put America first. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, gentlemen from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield two minutes from the gentlelady to the gentlelady from Oregon, Dr. Dexter. | ||
| Gentlelady is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to this ridiculous bill. | ||
| Let's be honest. | ||
| This bill, along with the executive order it reinforces, is absurd. | ||
| It's unserious, ineffective, and beneath the dignity of this institution. | ||
| Changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico won't change the fact to the world that they will keep calling it exactly what it is, the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| But this isn't just about a name. | ||
| It's about an administration using the power of the federal government to bully the press, going so far as to ban reporters from the Oval Office for refusing to go along with this charade. | ||
| So then let's call that for what it is, an assault on free speech. | ||
| Our courts have stood up against these attacks, but we can't ignore the chilling message this sends to journalists everywhere. | ||
| If you don't fall in line, you'll be punished. | ||
| That, my friends, is a page right out of the authoritarian playbook. | ||
| Americans didn't ask for this, and they didn't vote for this. | ||
| They are struggling with real challenges, putting food on the table, accessing health care, rebuilding after disasters. | ||
| And yet here we are wasting time on political theater instead of working to actually help them. | ||
| In the United States, we're constitutionally guaranteed the right to challenge power, to speak truth to it, and to laugh when our leaders make ridiculous claims. | ||
| That's not disrespect. | ||
| It's critical for a healthy democracy. | ||
| That's why I offered an amendment to this bill, an amendment Republicans refused to even take up. | ||
| My amendment would have made it absolutely clear that nothing in this bill could be used to censor the press or authorize retaliation against news organizations for using accurate names. | ||
|
Names Matter
00:03:37
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| This administration may have no regard for the Constitution, but Congress must. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to remember this and to vote against this bill. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| I thank the gentlelady and reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman in reserves. | |
| The gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentlelady from Georgia, Ms. Green, for three minutes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlelady is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Names matter, and the Democrats know that. | ||
| Parents take a lot of time when they think about what to name a child that they're happy to welcome in the world because they have pride and they're proud to welcome their new baby in the world, and that's why they take pride in the name that they name their child. | ||
| And as we rename the Gulf the Gulf of America, we are also taking pride in those waters. | ||
| There are an estimated half a million businesses operating along the Gulf Coast. | ||
| The Gulf is a major economic hub, particularly for oil and gas production. | ||
| And as the people of Spain woke up in darkness for the second time this week because of the climate hoax and the climate agenda, it's the Democrats that pursued those same policies the past four years. | ||
| They hate oil and gas. | ||
| They want America to be plunged into darkness just like Spain has been because of those lies. | ||
| The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reports that the Gulf is the nation's primary source for oil and gas, generating about 97% of all U.S. OCS oil and gas production. | ||
| Other significant industries include water transportation and leisure, hospitality. | ||
| Offshore drilling also plays a crucial role in that region, contributing to about 14.6% of the nation's crude oil and 2.3% of its gas. | ||
| And it's our great U.S. Coast Guard Navy that defend these waters. | ||
| You see, the American people aren't afraid of renaming the Gulf the Gulf of America because the American people want to take pride in our land and our waters once again. | ||
| And as Democrats feign an outrage today at the president and his executive order and our great audacity to rename the Gulf the Gulf of America, it was the Democrats who first tried to rename an institution after Donald Trump. | ||
| In 2024, Rep Connolly tried to rename a prison after Donald Trump, and that happened while the Democrats were waging lawfare like this country has never seen before and should never see again, as they were trying to lock up President Donald Trump and put him in prison for the rest of his life for lies and attacks and purely for politics. | ||
| You see, it's the Democrats that are constantly feigning outrage over everything the Republicans are trying to do for the American people, and the American people will no longer tolerate. | ||
| And they told us that in November of 2024. | ||
| It's a great honor to rename the Gulf the Gulf of America. | ||
|
Reserves Close Requests
00:07:56
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| This is an honor not only here in Congress, but for the President of the United States and for the American people. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Lady Yields. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, the gentleman from California, is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I have no further requests for time, and we're prepared to close. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Reserves. | |
| The gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | ||
| We have no further requests for time, and we're prepared to close our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman reserves. | |
| The gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You know, I think it says a lot that as we have wasted the last hour of Congress's time on a deeply unserious bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans have offered just one speaker in support of this preposterous piece of legislation, this monumental disaster, this insult to the American people, and this giant middle finger to the rest of the world. | ||
| The only speaker to speak in support of this was the gentlelady from Georgia. | ||
| And I think that just tells us an awful lot today. | ||
| You know, the American people think that Congress should do real work, and there's plenty of real work to be done. | ||
| Americans are watching their 401ks in free fall from this president's reckless tariff games, tariff chaos that is happening by using Congress's Article I Trade and Commerce Authority. | ||
| And what is this Congress doing about it? | ||
| Worse than nothing, they've tied their own hands because in their government funding bill, they created the gimmick of a never-ending legislative day to prevent them from using their emergency authorities to put some sensible sideboards on Donald Trump's tariff madness. | ||
| In the district right next to mine in Napa County, the Trump administration abruptly canceled a $50 million wildfire prevention grant just four months after one of the deadliest wildfires in California history. | ||
| And that's been the story throughout the West. | ||
| Critical funding, a critical need for firefighters and for projects that make us safer from wildfire in total chaos or canceled because of this madness with Elon Musk and Doge and an unhinged president. | ||
| And what do we hear from our colleagues across the aisle? | ||
| Nothing. | ||
| We get bills like this to rename the Gulf of Mexico. | ||
| Tribal communities are being hammered around the country. | ||
| Food insecurity programs are being defunded. | ||
| Education programs frozen. | ||
| Health care resources slashed. | ||
| And all the while, the administration continues to fire essential agency scientists, public servants, en masse, and this Republican Congress shrugs. | ||
| The majority is wasting time on an ego-driven rebrand, a performative stunt rooted in President Trump's imperial edict absurdly titled, Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness. | ||
| You know, this is so obviously what authoritarians through history have done. | ||
| They do things like call for parades on their own birthday or rename things or do other stunts to distract the American people from the way they're lining their own pockets and taking away fundamental rights. | ||
| And this Republican Congress appears to be perfectly fine with that. | ||
| You know, a new CNN national poll shows the majority of Americans believe Congress is not doing enough to check this president's actions. | ||
| Nearly half say the current administration is weakening our democracy, our economy, and our global standing. | ||
| And this bill really is exhibit A. We're not just renaming a Gulf, we're drowning public trust in what this institution is supposed to do: serve the people, solve problems, defend democracy. | ||
| And yes, this bill has been called a joke more than once in committee. | ||
| I even offered an amendment to rename the entire planet Trump just to underscore the absurdity of their sycophantic bootlicking. | ||
| But now, after seeing this bill advanced not only through committee, but all the way through to the House floor for a final vote, it's getting a little bit harder to laugh because it's not a joke anymore. | ||
| It's a case study in misplaced priorities. | ||
| When you start erasing or changing phrases like climate change, equity, or disadvantaged communities from government websites, when you ban them from scientific reports, you're not just playing word games, you're dismantling our capacity to even name the problems we face, let alone fix them. | ||
| But we're renaming bodies of water. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we're about to open the roll. | ||
| And as we watch the red and green light up on the big board, I think it's going to be a pretty good proxy for which members of Congress still think that we should be doing serious work, that we should be reclaiming our Article I responsibilities under the Constitution, that we should have a little bit of dignity in the face of a deeply unserious bill that has wasted our time, | ||
| and which members of Congress are simply bending the knee to Donald Trump and stroking one man's ego in everything they do. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Arkansas is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, as we wrap up this so-called debate today, I want to remind everyone of something that you're not seeing on the news every day like you were several months ago, and that's hordes coming across our southern border. | ||
| I want to remind people of how much the illegal drugs and human trafficking have stopped on our southern border. | ||
| And I remind people of that because it was just a few weeks ago that President Trump stood in this chamber, he addressed a joint session of Congress, and he said something that I think was the most important thing he said that night. | ||
| He said, come to find out, we didn't really need different laws. | ||
| We just needed a different leadership. | ||
| And this debate, as my friends would maybe like to call it debate, has been nothing but an attack on President Trump. | ||
| They're using this piece of legislation to go at President Trump. | ||
| And I want to remind everybody of something President Trump has said many times. | ||
| He said, they're coming after me because I'm standing up for you. | ||
| And that's exactly what's happening today. | ||
| They're coming after this piece of legislation, equating it to President Trump because he's standing up for the American people. | ||
| This legislation before us simply follows through on a day one executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. | ||
| I thank Congresswoman Green for advancing it, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And the House went on to pass that measure to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. | |
| The party line vote was 211 to 206. | ||
| The measure directs the Interior Secretary to update the Gulf's name on all federal documents and maps. | ||
| Congressman Don Bacon was the only Republican to vote against the legislation, which now heads to the Senate. | ||
|
C-SPAN's Congressional Directory
00:01:46
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|
unidentified
|
Looking to contact your members of Congress? | |
| Well, C-SPAN is making it easy for you with our 2025 Congressional Directory. | ||
| Get essential contact information for government officials all in one place. | ||
| This compact spiral-bound guide contains bio and contact information for every House and Senate member of the 119th Congress, contact information on congressional committees, the President's Cabinet, federal agencies, and state governors. | ||
| The Congressional Directory costs $32.95 plus shipping and handling, and every purchase helps support C-SPAN's non-profit operations. | ||
| Scan the code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to order your copy today. | ||
| As Mike said before, I happened to listen to him. | ||
| He was on C-SPAN 1. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's a big upgrade, right? | |
| But I've read about it in the history books. | ||
| I've seen the C-SPAN footage. | ||
| If it's a really good idea, present it in public view on C-SPAN. | ||
| Every single time I tuned in on TikTok or C-SPAN or YouTube or anything, there were tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people watching. | ||
| I went home after the speech and I turned on C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I was on C-SPAN just this week. | |
| To the American people, now is the time to tune in to C-SPAN. | ||
| They had something $2.50 a gallon. | ||
| I saw on television a little while ago in between my watching my great friends on C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
|
C-SPAN is televising this right now live. | |