What they said. What they meant.

Plain-language translations from Congress.

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Senate

Legislative Session

Official Congressional Record ↗

Chuck Grassley

Republican
“I want the government to spend money on Social Security. The government should do something. The country has a lot of debt. If the government spends too much it could be very bad. The government should do something now. I want a bipartisan agreement to spend money on Social Security.”
Our translation 89% shorter

John Thune

Republican
“I want this bill to pass. It will help the President put pressure on Russia and Iran. Russia is fighting a war. They get money from oil and gas sales. China buys a lot of oil and gas from Russia. The bill will put tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas. It will also sanction people and banks that help Russia sell oil and gas. This will make it harder for Russia to pay for the war. Lindsey Graham worked hard on this bill. He was a good man. I want to honor him by passing this bill.”
Our translation 84% shorter

John Barrasso

Republican
“I want to honor Lindsey Graham. He worked on a bill to put pressure on Russia and Iran. Russia is fighting a war. They get money from oil and gas sales. The bill will make it harder for Russia to pay for the war. It will also sanction Iran. I want to pass this bill to honor Lindsey Graham. It will make our country safer and our enemies weaker. Russia and Iran only respond to strength. We must pass this bill now.”
Our translation 90% shorter

Dan Sullivan

Republican
“I want to honor Lindsey Graham. He worked on a bill to put pressure on Russia and Iran. We should pass that bill. But we also need to fund our military. The other side is blocking the bill to fund our military. Lindsey Graham would not block that bill. We need to fund our military and help our troops. The other side is not helping our troops. That is wrong. We need to work together to fund our military and help our troops. That is what Lindsey Graham would want.”
Our translation 94% shorter

Eric Schmitt

Republican
“I object to this mass amnesty bill. It would turn temporary status into permanent status with green cards and citizenship. It would even let people who were deported apply to return. But what about the impact on Americans? What about wages, housing, schools, hospitals? The Democrats don't care about the Americans who put them in office. They just want to flood the labor market and dilute American citizenship. There's nothing compassionate about that. I reject it completely. I stand with the American people.”
Our translation 92% shorter