Floor Speeches

North Dakota Sens. John Hoeven (R) and Heidi Heitkamp (D) warned their colleagues not to support a farm bill amendment that would change subsidies for sugar farmers.

“This [sugar] program is critical to the compromise of the farm bill itself,” Heitkamp said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Let the bill stay intact.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday said the House would continue to investigate the growing list of scandals plaguing the Obama administration, and said it would do so because people "deserve the truth."

"We have a responsibility to the American people to provide oversight of the Executive Branch," Boehner said in rare remarks on the House floor. "And I think Americans understand, and our colleagues understand, that the American people deserve the truth."

"Whether it's Benghazi, whether it's the IRS, whether it's the Justice Department investigating journalists, the Congress of the United States and the American people need to know what the truth is, to hold this administration accountable. Those of us in public office understand that our job is to serve the American people, not the other way around."

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) on Tuesday said the ongoing scandal about the government's scrutiny of conservative groups shows that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has an 'insatiable appetite' for gathering names.

"Conservative groups, and only conservative groups, seeking to organize under Section 501 were subjected to pages of intrusive and irrelevant questions, but with a common theme: Give us the names," McClintock said on the House floor.

Freshman Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) on Tuesday marked Harvey Milk day, which is tomorrow, by reading a famous speech on the House floor from Milk, the first openly gay person to win election in California.

Takano, the first openly gay non-white member of Congress in U.S. history, recalled Milk's comments that the election of gay people helps bring hope to gay children across the country.

"Two days after I was elected, I got a phone call, and the voice was quite young," Takano said as he read Milk's speech. "It was from Altoona, Pa. And the person said, 'Thanks.'

Putting politics aside, Senate leaders offered their condolences Tuesday to the families that have lost loved ones in the Oklahoma tornado.

“Our hearts go out to the families who’s loved ones were lost,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the House farm bill cuts to food stamps, also called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), could not pass in the Senate.

“We shouldn’t be cutting federal nutrition programs,” Brown said Monday. “[The Senate] bill cuts $4 billion from SNAP and that’s already $4 billion too much. … The House’s $20 billion in SNAP cuts won’t pass muster in the Senate and certainly won’t get my support.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) applauded the bipartisan work of the Senate Agriculture Committee for passing out a farm bill, which the Senate will begin considering at 3 p.m. Monday.

“American farmers are counting on us but so is the economy,” Reid said on the Senate floor Monday. “To keep America and farms strong the Congress must pass a strong farm bill.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he thinks President Obama made a mistake Thursday by not saying directly that no one in the White House was aware of the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“I have tremendous respect for the office of the president,” Rubio said moments after Obama held a press conference. “[But] I think the president today potentially made a mistake in a comment he made.”

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) urged his colleagues Thursday to support a bill he introduced, which would eliminate oil exports from Iran by expanding U.S. production.

The Iran Sanctions Implementation Act, S. 965, would require President Obama to expand U.S. domestic oil production on federal lands to offset Iran’s oil exports to the international community.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee demanded that the Treasury Inspector General investigate the “inappropriate harassment of conservative groups” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“No one should be intimidated by the government into shutting up as part of our political process,” McConnell said Thursday. “And that’s why the Republican members of the Finance Committee are sending a letter today to Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration requesting investigation into this very issue. Because, without this sort of inquiry, we may never have confirmed the inappropriate harassment of conservative groups that was going on at the IRS for two years.”