“I want to pass this bill. It will keep spending money. It will keep giving special treatment to imports from Africa. It will keep charging customs fees. The other parts of the bill are not important. We should pass it.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from Congress.
Recent debates
8 latest topics
Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026
13 statements
Moment of Silence in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of September 11
2 statements
Honoring Former U.S. Representative Charles Hatcher of Georgia
2 statements
Recognizing Firefighters from California's Third Congressional District
17 statements
Saluting White Plains Beautification Foundation
2 statements
Celebrating Rural Lawyer Julie Bear
4 statements
Operation Midway Blitz Anniversary
2 statements
Catherine Watts Celebrates 100th Birthday
4 statements
House of Representatives
Agoa Extension Act
“I want this bill to pass so the government can claim it is helping families. I don't like that opponents slow it down.”
“I want this bill to pass to keep the government open. I don't like some parts of the previous bill. This bill stops bad things. It gives money for many programs. It stops money for border patrol and ICE. It stops the President from controlling money. I want to protect Congress' power over spending. This bill is not a replacement for full funding. We need to pass full funding bills. I want to stop political appointees from controlling money. We need to help people with high costs.”
“I don't want the government to shut down. A shut down is bad. It hurt people before. I want a short funding bill to keep the government open. This bill will fund many programs. It will avoid a shut down before the election. I want full funding bills. I don't want last year's shut down to happen again. I want to avoid a shut down. I want to protect the government funding. We need to pass full funding bills. We need to avoid a shut down.”
“I want this funding bill to pass. It will keep the government open. I don't like temporary funding bills. But we need this one. I'm happy it doesn't fund a war. The other side's policies are bad. They make things cost more. I want more government spending to help people. I want to pass full funding bills. The Senate hasn't passed bills. I want them to. We should work together to pass big funding bills. That will help Americans. We need to avoid a shut down.”
“I want this bill to pass. It will keep the government open. The bill has trade policies for Africa and Haiti. These policies help our country's economy and security. Africa has minerals we need. China wants those minerals. We should not let China get them. We need secure supply chains not controlled by China. Our policies will help Haiti too. Haiti is close to the US. We want Haiti to be stable. That will be good for our security. Our policies for Africa and Haiti need updates. This bill gives us time to make those updates.”
“I want this bill to pass. It is better than the old bill from before August. The other side tried to give the President too much power over money. This bill stops that. We need to pass more funding bills. This bill lets us work on that.”
“I want to pass this bill. We need to work together to pass more bills. The Senate needs to help. They need to pass bills too. We have to work together. We did it before. We can do it again. We need to pass bills to help people. This bill is a step in the right direction. Let's pass this bill and keep working.”