Replies

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kennedy
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thank you madam chair mr secretary
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welcome
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um
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i i agree with you by the way
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for what it’s worth about getting
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the money out on the streets
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literally
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um
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see i’m looking at your budget here your
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current budget’s 12.5 billion dollars
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you’re asking for 14.2
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billion does that sound about right
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that’s a
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14 increase one point you want an extra
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1.7 billion dollars
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okay
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um explain to me why the american people
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would be better off giving you 1.7
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billion dollars
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than taking that 1.7 billion dollars and
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spending it on infrastructure i did a
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little math
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and for
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1.7 billion dollars we can
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we can resurface a four-lane highway
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from washington denver
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so why we why the american people better
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off giving you more money than
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putting it on infrastructure well thank
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you very much senator and thank you for
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the question um
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it’s a great question uh and i think the
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way i would
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think about it is the 1.7 billion dollar
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increase to my to the budget my budget
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is an investment infrastructure as well
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it’s an infrastructure
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infrastructure investment as well it’s
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an infrastructure in the investment in
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the american worker in in this country
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it’s an opportunity for us to look at uh
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as i think about the department of labor
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do you believe every exp excuse me if
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interrupted i’m sorry mr secretary we
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don’t have much time you believe that
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every expenditure by the by by the
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federal government is an investment
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what’s the difference between an
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investment and an expenditure an
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investment is an investment in the
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future of workers and expenditure is an
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expenditure in building a bridge okay
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well if you you have a union background
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which i respect and admire
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um um
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if we took 1.7 billion dollars that you
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say you need you need more
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to run your department and we spent that
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on infrastructure that’s going to create
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a lot of union jobs isn’t it it’s going
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to create a lot of jobs but we’re also
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not going to be able to educate the
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workforce that needs those new jobs
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they’re going to be created off of that
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infrastructure investment of new bridges
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but they’re already educated the people
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building the roads are already educated
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they’re good at what they do well
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senator reid just mentioned of
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an issue around literacy in this country
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so again it’s an investment in helping
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people to be able to be retrained and
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trained in the jobs of the future i i i
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come out of construction i work
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construction as well the construction
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industry that i worked on in the in the
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in the early 90s and late 90s is
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different than the construction industry
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of today yes let me stop you for a
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second i i don’t want to get too far
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afield here
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into a history of the construction
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industry i used to work construction too
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um
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let me be sure to understand what you’re
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saying when my constituents call me and
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they say look
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uh
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you’re being asked to raise taxes to pay
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for infrastructure
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why instead of putting 1.7 billion
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dollars in extra taxes on us
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why’d you give 1.7 billion dollars to
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the department of labor why didn’t you
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use that for infrastructure
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am i just supposed to say because the
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department
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of labor says they’re going to make an
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investment
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what metrics are you going to use this
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time next year to be able to prove to
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this congress
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that your investment paid off then
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better than 1.7 billion dollars in
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infrastructure before answer let me just
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quickly go back to the tax question i
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think the beauty for your constituents
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is that the infrastructure bills that uh
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that’s being negotiated right now
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does not raise taxes on the average
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american who earns under four hundred
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thousand dollars so the average
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american’s not paying for that that’s
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that’s that’s not true
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okay well we will that’s not why i get
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to agree to disagree let me move on
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because i’ve got one minute left and i
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like to stay within my time does your
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does your agency conduct surveys
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as far as
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employee services any surveys we do yes
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okay do you pay people
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pay the people who do the surveys no to
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to take the survey i actually don’t know
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the answer to that
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well here here’s what i’m asking i’m not
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i don’t know i don’t know i need your
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help finding something out one of my
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constituents got this in the mail it’s a
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letter i know it’s not under your your
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jurisdiction from the bureau census
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bureau and and they asked him to fill
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out a form
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on children’s health
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and he opened it up
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and look what fell out
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five dollar bill
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and there’s no reference in the letter
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to the five dollars in cash he got from
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the federal government what’s this all
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about i have no idea
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i’ll can you help me find out i will
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help you find out i took i didn’t get
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one of those letters well i i filled out
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my
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my census uh my my survey i want five
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bucks
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and i understand that the bottom
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administration is also sending people 40
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gift cards i doubt that’s from the buy
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administration but i will look i looked
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it up it’s on the internet it must be
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true
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i will look into it via my friend would
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you i promise thank you mr secretary all
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right sir
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senator shaheen well thank you man
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president
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thank you mr president
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gosh mr president i wish i didn’t have
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to
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to give this
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give this talk
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i think it’s a
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it’s a bipartisan observation that uh
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unfortunately
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americans are paying
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a lot more
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for just about everything
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i asked my staff to put together
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some inflation numbers
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and they’re just breathtaking
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uh gasoline up 50
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rental cars up
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two point 49
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percent
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you need a used car or truck
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they’re up twenty six percent
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a turkey twenty point two percent bacon
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twenty point two percent beef 20.1
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pork chops 15.9 percent
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bedroom furniture
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12
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higher than last year
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eggs 11.6
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up
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televisions up 10 percent frozen fruits
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and vegetables
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up seven and a half percent chicken up
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eight point eight percent
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shoes up eight percent
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baby food up eight percent
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children’s clothes up six
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seven point six percent and i could keep
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going
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unbelievable
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now
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mr president i believe in calling them
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like i see them
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i think most fair-minded americans know
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that president biden is responsible for
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this inflation
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you uh you don’t have to be einstein’s
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cousin to figure that out
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but put the politics aside the shame of
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all this is that the burden
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of these price increases
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are falling on the backs of the american
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people
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and while
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washington is obsessed with the politics
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of it
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the american people and the people in my
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state have to bear the cost
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a lot of people mr president as you well
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know just can’t afford to pay
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50 percent more to fill up their gas
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tanks
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they can’t afford to go to have to stop
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and go arrange a bank loan
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to go to the gas station
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or to the grocery store
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and unfortunately for americans in my
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state and your state
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and across the country
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here with winter coming on the cost of
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heating homes is also going up
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just in time for temperatures to fall
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so the cost of heating is going up and
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the temperatures are going now
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a lot of families gonna have to shell
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out up to 30 percent more
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for natural gas
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than they did this past year
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ask them if their income went up 30
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percent
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um
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as our days grow shorter
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the economic landscape unfortunately is
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getting darker thanksgiving is just
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around the corner
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it’s a cherished american holiday
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but even the holiday that americans
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observe in order to count our blessings
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is coming with new hardships
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according to the new york times mr
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president
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thanksgiving
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2021 and i quote
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could be the most expensive meal
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in the history of the holiday
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as i just mentioned uh a few seconds ago
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frozen turkey’s going to set you back 20
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more than it did last year if you want
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to enjoy you want you like gravy with
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your with your turkey
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well get ready to pay 7 more for gravy
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um maybe you don’t eat meat maybe you’re
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a vegan
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well unfortunately frozen vegetables are
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also gonna cost you about seven to seven
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and a half percent more
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and the high prices only apply if you
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can find the food in the supermarkets
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some of the some of these food products
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you can’t find
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you can’t even find on goo with google
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there’s no guarantee that the cranberry
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sauce
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and the sweet potatoes will be in stock
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come dinner time
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now this is america
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this is 2021.
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this isn’t the soviet union
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30 40 50 years ago my god
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washington ought to hide his head and a
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bag
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now the official general inflation rate
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is 6.2 percent higher
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than it was last october
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and that happens to be the largest
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increase
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in over 30 years
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but we all know and i can tell you
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real people in the real world who go to
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the grocery store in the clothing store
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and pay their insurance bill
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and go try to buy an automobile know
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that it’s not 6.2 percent it is a lot
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higher
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now i need to ask a question though
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are you really surprised
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are you really surprised that prices are
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rising when the biden administration is
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printing money
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when the bad administration is exploding
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our debt
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when the body administration is
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forfeiting america’s energy independence
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when the bible administration is paying
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people to watch netflix
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instead of to produce the goods we need
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when the body administration is ignoring
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gridlock in our supply chain
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american people aren’t surprised
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for months
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for months the white house has turned
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gaslighting americans about the
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inflation crisis into an art
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form madam president
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white house officials pretend inflation
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if you ask them oh it’s just temporary
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it’s just a temporary problem temporary
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a rat’s rear end
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it’s actually a soul-crushing
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job-killing tax
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on working americans
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that’s what inflation is
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every time you go to the grocery store
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your taxes go up
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and inflation hits lower income and
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middle-income families the hardest
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the hardest
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and anyone who doesn’t believe that
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should ask secretary kerry whether
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fuel prices have grounded
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his private jet of course not
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he’s rich
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he’s got a private jet
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he doesn’t feel it
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you know who feels it
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the moms and dads in this country who
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get up every day and go to work and obey
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them all and pay their taxes and try to
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do the right thing by their kids and try
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to save a little money for retirement
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that’s who pays this tax
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that the economists call inflation
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and this this inflation
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didn’t just appear out of nowhere
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i mean any economist with a pulse knows
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where this inflation came from
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inflation comes from too much money
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chasing too few goods
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and when you have an administration as
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we do with the buy demonstration that
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spends money like it was golly dirt
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whose mantra is we can’t possibly spend
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enough taxpayer money there’s just
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enough hour not enough hours in the day
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of course you’re going to have inflation
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of course you’re going to have inflation
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now
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what’s president biden doing about it
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well i’ve
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noticed the the the biden administration
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when it comes to economics and other
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areas as well they never make the same
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mistake twice
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they make it five or six times just to
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be sure
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so how’s the body administration going
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to deal with this economic cancer
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of inflation
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which kill which is killing the american
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people
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their ideas let’s go
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fire let’s go pass a spending orgy bill
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they call it reconciliation
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of epic epic proportions
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chop for chock full of welfare blowouts
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when we can’t afford the social programs
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we have now
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are you kidding me
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are you
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kidding me
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and a white outfit house official
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claimed earlier this week that the
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president’s
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he calls it 1.75 trillion
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bill it’s going to end up we all know
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being a lot more than that he says it
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will actually
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reduce inflation
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right and those aren’t hogs in the hog
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lot
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just wait
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the fact is
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and unless
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you were in the
16:07
in the quad playing frisbee dear an econ
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101 you know this is the truth
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the fact is that massive government
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spending
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has kept workers on the sidelines and
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has fueled inflation
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but the only comfort
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the permanent washington types are
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sending to folks gathered around an
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historically expensive thanksgiving
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table
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is that more
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not less more of the same same insane
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policies are coming down the pipeline
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through what the president calls the
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buildback better bill
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and i think most americans call
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the bill
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back broker bill have you looked at the
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bill
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i went i i’ve looked at the house bill
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i’ve started reading it
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i’m probably going to go broke just
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reading the thing
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now neil socialists love this bill they
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love it like the devil loves sin
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but the american people aren’t going to
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love it
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louisianians aren’t going to love it
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louisianians love their families
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and they just want to provide for them
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especially at thanksgiving and at
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christmas
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and they can’t do it with inflation
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raging
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this thanksgiving
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what many americans what most americans
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need the most
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is relief
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not just relief
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from inflation
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but relief from bad leadership
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now i want my friends in the white house
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to know that i am
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genuinely interested in working with
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them to solve america’s inflation
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problem
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but you’re not going to do it by
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spending more money
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you’re not going to do it by throwing
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gasoline on fire
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the first rule is to do no harm
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do no harm
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and by that i mean that my democratic
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friends
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should stop trying to ram this
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multi-trillion dollar tax and spend bill
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through congress
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and they should stop it for two reasons
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americans don’t want it
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and americans can’t afford it
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so
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this thanksgiving madam president and i
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hope you have a good one
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i hope my democratic friends will give
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up
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on tying millstones
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around the neck
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of the american economy
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i hope they will give up fueling
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inflation
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with another extremist
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spending orgy bill
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and if they would do that
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if they would just do that
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americans could sit down to eat next
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thursday and give thanks
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that compassion and common sense
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have finally prevailed in washington d.c
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where frankly on most issues
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common sense is illegal
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madam president i suggest the absence of
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a quorum
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the clerk will call the role
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is baldwin