{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=579", "\u201cI\u2019m here to solve problems, I don\u2019t have time for politics\u201d: Hern rips Democrats\u2019 theatrics", "2022-06-15", "2022", "2022-06", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Kevin Hern", "H001082", "hern.house.gov", "hern", "https://hern.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) blasted Democrats for wasting time with theatrics and partisan games during a Ways and Means Committee hearing today.\n\nDuring the hearing, Democrats pushed a new entitlement program, while Rep. Hern argued against creating a new programs when there are currently 92 separate programs for low-income Americans, more than 30 of which are accessible and beneficial for women and mothers.\n\nExcerpts from Rep. Hern\u2019s remarks:\n\nThere are a lot of struggling people in America. As my colleague said a minute ago, we just have a difference in the delivery of how we get to where we're needing to go. We talk about giving subsidies on childcare, but what we saw when the childcare tax credit came out in 2017 is that the increase in childcare [costs] went up enormously because now a lot of [childcare service providers] knew they were guaranteed payments. It's much like forgiving student debt... There is no incentive to ever lower the cost again.\n\n\u2026\n\nThere are ninety-two programs, federally-backed programs, that we fund every year with one-trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Now, you wouldn't believe that, I'm sure, I didn't believe that when I got here. Ninety-two. And we're wanting to add another one... I\u2019m not hearing you all argue for a continuous hand out; you just need a hand up when times are bad\u2026 That\u2019s what makes us great as America, that we can all get together, regardless of party, regardless of politics and theatrics and that we can help each other up. That\u2019s what makes us special wouldn\u2019t you agree? That\u2019s what makes us special. But you don\u2019t know about those [existing] programs because we don\u2019t think that\u2019s enough. One of the biggest battles we\u2019ve fought in America today is who is going to be better for you: your community or the federal government here in Washington, DC... Washington, DC, [became] so powerful that you had to come up here to ask us for help; that\u2019s not the way it\u2019s supposed to be. We should help you, and the best place to make that happen is in your communities. Your faith-based organizations, your businesses.\n\n\u2026\n\nThe largest retailer in the United States told me this morning, that of the goods that we buy \u2013 energy, gasoline, food \u2013 our actual inflation for those making fifty thousand a year and less is fifteen to twenty one percent. That\u2019s what you\u2019re feeling. You have no money left over to do anything. You\u2019re working extra jobs to pay for the inflation. It\u2019s just a fact. It\u2019s not political, it\u2019s what it is. Now we can argue did it start just in February with the Ukrainian War or was it [before that] with bad policy? That\u2019s another hearing.\n\n\u2026\n\nOne of the things that changed the direction in my life is\u2026 I learned how to get a drafting degree because I knew I had to be different from my family and get educated. I\u2019m the only one of five kids that got a high school diploma and I went on to get an engineering degree and an MBA. But the point being is that I\u2019m here to solve problems. I don\u2019t have time for the politics\u2026 There are thirty programs in America today that would help you all, if we would just step back and work together to get those programs directed to you instead of trying to sit up here and fight on something the Democrats could pass on their own. They have a majority in the House of Representatives, they don\u2019t need this Committee or us as Republicans. This is theatrics, we got to stop it.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:39:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=579"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.203496940433979, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}