Floor Speeches

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Thursday morning that Republicans will not agree to a House-Senate budget conference as long as Democrats insist on pressing for a tax hike in those talks.

"We remain committed to addressing the problems of budget, but will not do so while there is an insistence that a prerequisite is raising taxes," Cantor said on the House floor.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he would reintroduce his bill later this week to prevent China from manipulating its currency.

“How can we win the future when our manufacturers can’t win contracts because China doesn’t play fair?” Brown said. “In many ways China and so many of our trading partners practice trade according to their national interest. Yet we in the United States practice trade according to some economics textbook that has been out of print for the last 20 years.”

Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged their colleagues Tuesday evening to join them in calling for “fair and free” elections in Iran.

“I hope colleagues will join in support for our resolution calling for free and fair elections and condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Blumenthal said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expressed concern Tuesday that U.S. corporations are using the Senate immigration reform bill to drive down wages.

“Corporations are exploiting young people from abroad to work low-paying jobs within the United States,” Sanders said on the Senate floor. “Instead of raising wages to attract U.S. workers, these corporations are bringing in these people from other countries.

“I think that is wrong.”

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said on the House floor he is still hopeful that the House and Senate can reach a budget deal that mitigates the effects of the sequester, even as Democrats openly doubted this can happen.

"It's my sincere hope that there will soon be a budget compromise that will undo the harmful sequestration law and give us a single, common, top-line allocation that we can work with the Senate to pass all of the funding of the government," Rogers said during floor debate.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that some of his Republican colleagues, who call themselves Reagan Republicans, were not following the former president's example by objecting to a budget conference committee.

“Others objecting will be saying they’re Reagan Republicans. Well, I was here when Reagan was president,” McCain said on the Senate floor. “Ronald Reagan’s record is very clear. … I don’t think [he] would have disagreed that we should have a budget.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday ObamaCare is a driving reason for higher student loan rates.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) got choked up Monday when talking about his colleague Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-N.J.) death.

Lautenberg died Monday morning at age 89 of viral pneumonia.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) proposed “four grand principles” to guide the United States toward clean energy independence.

“We will likely have a cheap sustainable supply of energy if we let the free market work,” Alexander said in a floor speech Monday. “Cheaper and more reliable energy is in our grasp.”

Rep. James Bridenstine (R-Okla.) said Monday on the House floor that the scandals plaguing the Obama administration demonstrate President Obama's "dishonesty, incompetence, vengefulness and lack of moral compass," but said removing Obama would leave an even worse person in charge: Vice President Joe Biden.

"The President's dishonesty, incompetence, vengefulness and lack of moral compass lead many to suggest that he is not fit to lead," Bridenstine said on the House floor. "The only problem is that his Vice President is equally unfit and even more embarrassing."