{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2026-02-26-pt1-PgS714-2", "2026-02-26", 119, 2, null, null, "STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S714", "S715", "[{\"name\": \"Jim Banks\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "172 Cong. Rec. S714", "Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2026)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2026)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S714-S715]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                       STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS\n\n  Mr. BANKS. Mr. President, before we leave for the weekend, I wanted\nto take a moment and just come down to the floor and give the President\na lot of credit for a great State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.\n  It was my eighth State of the Union speech. I spent 8 years in the\nHouse, and this was now the second State of the Union speech I have\nheard as a U.S. Senator for Indiana.\n  It was truly the best State of the Union speech that I have ever\nheard. And it was especially special for me to have my younger\nbrother--10 years younger than I--Bradley Banks, from Columbia City, up\nin the Gallery in the House to watch the State of the Union speech. He,\ntoo, loves President Trump and what he stands for, and to have him be\nmy special guest was a special moment for me and for him to experience\na great speech as well.\n  As President Trump said 2 nights ago, the state of the Union is\nstrong, and that is thanks to President Trump and his great leadership.\nIt has been incredible to see what a difference just 1 year makes and\nwhat a difference President Trump has made in this first year of his\nsecond term, especially after 4 disastrous years with President Joe\nBiden in the White House.\n  President Trump listed a number of reasons why the state of the Union\nis strong, but just to name a few of those reasons and give President\nTrump a lot of credit: Because of him, our border is completely secure.\nWhat a night-and-day difference that is from what it was just a little\nover a year ago when President Trump came back into office. Inflation\nis at its lowest level in more than 5 years, thanks to President Trump.\nGas prices are down below $2.30 in most States. Incomes are rising\nagain. The stock market has set 53 alltime record highs since President\nTrump's election in 2024. Fentanyl moving into our country is down 56\npercent. The murder rate has had its single largest decline in American\nhistory. And America is respected on the world stage, perhaps unlike\never before, because of President Trump's incredible leadership.\n  As President Trump said at the State of the Union, our country is\nwinning again. I loved hearing that from him. It made me so proud to be\na U.S. Senator serving with President Trump in the White House once\nagain.\n  And while President Trump was celebrating our country, while he was\nsaying that we have ``achieved a transformation like no one has ever\nseen before and a turnaround for the ages,'' Republicans stood to\napplaud while Democrats sat in their seats. It was really shocking to\nsee Democrats refusing to stand up and cheer for American greatness. It\nwas shocking to me. I couldn't believe it.\n  While President Trump asked Congress to stand up and show support if\nthey agreed that ``the first duty of the American government is to\nprotect American citizens--not illegal aliens,'' the Democrats sat in\ntheir seats. They refused to stand up and cheer and stand with\nPresident Trump with all of us on the Republican side and agree to that\nsimple statement. None of them agreed--not a single one of them. Not a\nsingle Democrat in the House Chamber, House Members or Senators on the\n\n[[Page S715]]\n\nDemocratic side--none of them agreed that the American Government\nshould prioritize their own people above everyone else, especially\nthose who come here illegally--what a disgrace.\n  I will never forget that moment, standing and agreeing with President\nTrump and clapping and cheering in agreement with him that it is our\nfundamental duty--the first duty that we have in this government--to\nput our own citizens over those who come here illegally.\n  Democrats would rather be spectators to America's demise than\nchampions of American greatness. That is what it told me when I saw\nthem sitting in their seats and all of us standing in agreement and\ncheering for American greatness and what makes this country great as\nexpressed by President Trump.\n  President Trump urged Congress to pass the Delilah Law, which I\nintroduced in the Senate yesterday. What the bill does is it keeps our\nroads safe from illegal immigrant truckdrivers. Delilah, a beautiful 7-\nyear-old girl, up in the audience, in the Gallery, with her dad--when\nshe was 5 years old, she was hit by an illegal immigrant driving a\nsemitruck and seriously injured. She has made a remarkable recovery but\nis still injured to this day. When President Trump called on us to pass\nthe Delilah Law to stop illegals from driving on our roads and driving\na semitruck with a trailer, when he called on us to pass a simple,\ncommonsense bill to take CDLs away from illegal immigrants, Democrats\nonce again refused to stand up and acknowledge that that is the right\nthing to do, that that will save lives in our country by getting\nillegals out of semitrucks.\n  They couldn't stand and applaud for a lot of other things either. The\nPresident of the United States, in his speech, talked about lowering\nprescription drug prices. Republicans stood in agreement with him, and\nDemocrats sat on their hands. The President talked about no taxes on\ntips, a big part of our signature ``tax cuts for working families''\nbill that we passed last year.\n  I can remember distinctly on the campaign trail Democrats talking\nabout no taxes on tips, and then every one of them voted against it.\nAnd when President Trump championed it in his State of the Union\nspeech, Republicans stood in agreement and Democrats sat on their\nhands.\n  The President talked about passing the largest tax cut in American\nhistory for working class families, like yours and mine, a tax cut that\nis significant.\n  In Indiana right now, by the way, early tax returns for Hoosiers, a\n10.9-percent increase in those tax returns from a year before. That is\nreal. That is significant money in the pockets of hard-working Hoosier\nfamilies, people who go to factories every day or work in hourly wage\njobs, the real hard-working men and women that make my State and this\ncountry great.\n  When President Trump talked about that and how significant that is,\nRepublicans stood in agreement and cheered for it, and Democrats sat on\ntheir hands.\n  The President talked about banning radical transgender operations--\nagain, common sense. Republicans stood in agreement and cheered in\nsupport of President Trump's commonsense policies to protect our kids;\nDemocrats sat on their hands.\n  He talked about so many other issues. It was one issue after another\nthat puts the American people, the American workers, American families\nfirst and in a better position. Republicans stood in agreement;\nDemocrats sat on their hands.\n  As a son of a retired factory worker--my dad worked at Dana\nCorporation in Fort Wayne. He made axles. He got up early every\nmorning. Sometimes he worked the third shift, all night long. He\nbelonged to a union. He was a hard-working, union man all of his\nworking life at the factory and put food on the table, provided for our\nfamily.\n  As a son of a factory worker and the grandson of a union coal miner\nwho was an FDR Democrat, right--I mean, my grandpa, my family, they\nthought the Democrat Party represented the working man.\n  It is clear to me now that this is not my grandpa's Democrat Party.\n  My brother Bradley who works for the Columbia City Street Department,\ngets up every morning. He happens to have a CDL. He drives the\nsnowplow. He works hard to keep our small hometown in northeast Indiana\nclean and the streets taken care of.\n  He doesn't wake up like you and I do every day and think about\npolitics and what is going on in Washington, DC. He wakes up every day\nand thinks about working hard to provide for his family.\n  When he sat up in that Gallery on Tuesday night and watched this\nhistoric State of the Union speech--the longest State of the Union\nspeech ever, but the best State of the Union speech that I have ever\nseen--he couldn't believe it.\n  He had a view from the Gallery watching this speech, watching the\nPresident talk about how great our country is, putting people like him\nin a better position to take care of his family, and the Democrats sat\non their hands. They couldn't even cheer on the greatness of America\nand the good things that are happening in this country.\n  It is clear to me that the Democrats just can't handle the truth.\nThey can't handle the truth that 250 years after this Nation's\nfounding, we have so much to be proud of. We are proud of the gold\nmedal U.S. Olympic hockey team who brought golden glory back to the\nUnited States 46 years after the ``Miracle on Ice.''\n  We are proud of our heroic soldiers like CW5 Eric Slover and the 100-\nyear-old Navy fighter pilot CAPT Royce Williams, who both received the\nCongressional Medal of Honor during the State of the Union speech. What\na great moment for us to experience on the floor of the House on\nTuesday night.\n  We are proud that the greatest Nation in the history of the world\nwill celebrate its 250th birthday in just a few months. The state of\nour Union is strong because President Trump is putting Americans first.\n  Mr. President, 250 years after a small group of brave men founded the\ngreatest Nation on Earth, the United States remains the best and\nstrongest country ever. We are still a nation of builders, warriors,\nand champions; and thanks to President Trump, we are stronger than we\nhave ever been before.\n  That is worth getting out of your seat and standing and applauding\nand cheering and being in support of. I thought the President of the\nUnited States gave an incredible State of the Union speech. It was\ngreat. It made me very proud to be an American, and I am grateful for\nhis leadership.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2026-02-26-pt1-PgS714-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 16.7003080714494, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}