mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Nomination of Thomas J. Vilsack (Executive Session)
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2021-2-23

I wanted to talk a little bit about the vote I just took here with regard to our Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary Vilsack, who is now the new Secretary or on his way to becoming the new Secretary. prgtoken You know, what I have tried to do when looking at nominees is I typically kind of look at three different questions: Do they have experience for the job, the experience necessary for the job, do they have views that I believe will help the country and in particular help my State, and do they care about the people they will be impacting? So that is a bit of a three-part test. prgtoken I have tried to work with a lot of the new nominees in the administration. I voted for a number of them, most of them. As a matter of fact, I introduced Secretary Austin at his confirmation hearing. I got to know him many years ago when I was a marine and he was an Army officer, a two-star general. prgtoken You know, I will say to my friends, colleagues, constituents back home who say: Hey, Senator, you know, when the administration put forward their nominees, you usually had kind of a party-line vote. prgtoken A lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, my ic friends, would vote no, no, no, no. prgtoken Why don't you do that? prgtoken Well, I don't think it is good for the country; that is why I don't do that. I am against some but I have been supportive of many, and I am not sure the way in which it worked with the previous administration was best for our Nation. prgtoken So certainly Secretary Vilsack passes the first two parts of that test I was talking about. Clearly he has the experience. He was the Secretary of Ag for 8 years under President and Vice President . Certainly he has views particularly with regard to farm country. You saw the strong vote he had there with regard to helping the ag sector. I am sure he is a patriot, of course. He cares about our country. But it was the third question--does he care about the people he will be impacting?--that I have had some serious hesitation on. prgtoken , I will talk a little bit about, you know, a lot of our different economies throughout the country. Our States have been hit hard by this pandemic. I would say that my State's economy has been hit really hard. When you look at what drives a lot of the Alaska economy: the energy sector, oil, gas, mining, the tourism sector, the fisheries, commercial fishery sector--I like to call Alaska the superpower of seafood. Over 60 percent of all seafood harvested in America comes from the waters of the great State of Alaska, the most sustainable, best managed fishery probably in the world but a huge driver of our economy. prgtoken Also, there is the issue of access to our lands. Sixty-six percent of Alaska is Federal land. We need access to help have a strong economy. It is an issue that the Presiding Officer probably doesn't have to worry about, being from Connecticut,
Introductory Statement on S. 391
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2021-2-23

I come to the floor to reintroduce a bill that didn't get passed last Congress, a bill that deals with safety in our schools, a bill aimed at the disasters that come when schoolchildren are killed by shooters and to deal with this problem through a program that the Secret Service has had for decades and asking the Secret Service to see what they can do to apply the principles of that program to stop mass killings at our schools. prgtoken Three years ago, on February 14, 2018, an unspeakable tragedy occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. In less than 4 minutes, 14 students and 3 staff members were killed, and, consequently, their families' and friends' lives were shattered forever by such a senseless act. prgtoken Today, along with my colleagues Senators Rubio and Scott of Florida, Senators Cortez Masto, Collins, Manchin, and Hassan, I am proud to reintroduce legislation that will proactively mitigate threats of violence on school campuses by reauthorizing and expanding the U.S. Secret Service's program called the National Threat Assessment Center. prgtoken The National Threat Assessment Center studies targeted violence and prgtoken develops best practices and training to identify and manage threats before they result in violence like we saw at that school 3 years ago. prgtoken The bill establishes a Safe School Initiative, a national program on school violence prevention, that will include expanded research on school violence. Most importantly, this legislation allows the Secret Service to directly equip communities and schools with training and best practices on recognizing and preventing school violence. prgtoken This bill, which I hope will help us to recognize the signs of a potential attack way long before such an attack occurs, carries the namesake of those it couldn't save, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mascot, so this bill is called the EAGLES Act because that is the mascot of that school. prgtoken Two years ago, the Secret Service conducted a review of school shootings and made a very pivotal finding: All attackers exhibited concerning behaviors prior to engaging in an act of violence. In other words, it should be easy to identify these people, and, if identified, intervention is possible. So had these signs been recognized at an early enough stage, these attacks could have been stopped. prgtoken In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018, Congress took steps to protect schools and to prevent gun violence, including the passage of the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act, which provided funding to schools to strengthen their infrastructure to make it more difficult for shooters to enter schools. prgtoken At that same time, we passed the Fix NICS Act, a law which penalizes Federal agencies that fail to comply with legal requirements to report dangerous individuals and violent criminals to the National Instant Criminal Backgroun
HONORING THE LIFE OF LUKE LETLOW
August Pfluger (Republican, TX) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I rise today to honor the life and legacy of my friend, Luke Letlow. prgtoken Luke and I spoke many times as we both prepared to enter Congress, and we shared the privilege of both representing districts that are centered around a couple of very important things, faith, family and agriculture. I looked forward to serving with him and working together to better the lives of our farmers and our ranchers across the district and across the entire country. prgtoken Luke led a life of public service to the good people in the great State of Louisiana from a young age, beginning as a young college graduate serving on the staff of Congressman John Cooksey, the Representative of Louisiana's Fifth District at that time. prgtoken He went on to serve the people in multiple capacities before launching a successful Congressional bid of his own. prgtoken He was a man of faith in Jesus Christ, and he lived his life in accordance with His guiding principles. There is no way for us to know the thousands of lives that he had already touched before he entered into a plan to run for Congress, and how many lives he touched in those years of service, and the countless others who were blessed just by knowing him. prgtoken There was nothing that he loved more than serving others and primarily, his love of being a husband and a father, a husband to his wife, Julia, and a father to their two children, Jeremiah and Jacqueline, something that his legacy will live on forever in our hearts. prgtoken Today, we give glory to God for his life and pause to reflect on that legacy which will live on through Julia, Jeremiah, and Jacqueline. My prayers are with all of them. prgtoken His passing is a tremendous loss to this U.S. Congress, to the State of Louisiana and, more importantly, to his family and friends who loved him and cherished him.
DANGER OF GENDER IDENTITY POLITICS
Vicky Hartzler (Republican, MO) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Thank you, Dr. Green. That is excellent. ``Biology is not bigotry.'' It seems like common sense, but we are not talking about common sense with the Equality Act. And that is why we are here tonight, to let the American people know about the ramifications, the very serious, permanent ramifications of this bill. prgtoken Madam , from Texas (Mr. Babin), another doctor, who I am proud to be joined by, who is a dentist from Texas. prgtoken Please share your thoughts about this bill and what it is going to mean to Americans.
HONORING THE LIFE OF LUKE LETLOW
Steve Scalise (Republican, LA) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I thank my friend from Louisiana for yielding. prgtoken Madam , it is with a heavy heart that I stand here today to pay tribute to Luke Letlow. Just like earlier tonight when we stood out on the steps of the Capitol to pay respects to the 500,000 people who we have lost from COVID-19, Luke, unfortunately, is in that number. He is not somebody you would have expected. He was young, healthy, and he had his whole life in front of him. prgtoken He had already lived a rich life. He had already left such a powerful impact on people in the right kind of way, like my colleague, Congressman Graves, talked about. He had a big heart, Madam . He had a servant's heart. prgtoken Luke was the kind of person who you want to get into public service to do it for the right reasons, to actually believe in something and want to make people's lives better. prgtoken When he would go through the rural communities of his district--which is a prgtoken very rural district--he would just talk to people, strike up conversations. He would want to hear their stories and he would want to help people. He had a lot of opportunities to do that, Madam . prgtoken He started working for Congressman John Cooksey out of college at Louisiana Tech. He had already garnished a desire for public service. prgtoken After he worked for Congressman Cooksey, I met him in 2004, when he was working on the campaign of my predecessor, Bobby Jindal, who got elected to Congress. Luke served with him there. When Bobby got elected Governor, Luke went to serve with him in the State to make our State a better place. prgtoken And then when Ralph Abraham came to Congress, Luke spent the last 6 years working for Ralph as his chief of staff, going around the rural parts of that district in northeast Louisiana, just reaching out, finding out about people. prgtoken He was very much into genealogy. He wanted to know not just about people, but about their history, where they came from, what made people tick, and how he could keep making a difference. prgtoken Ultimately, when Ralph retired, Luke made that decision to run. And he didn't make that decision alone. His lovely wife, Julia, was all in. They were a family that was a partnership. They were a true love story of two people who cared deeply about each other and who cared deeply about their young children: young Jeremiah; and young Jacqueline, who we also grieve for. prgtoken It is heartbreaking when you think of the promise and what was lost, what we as colleagues lost. You hear members of his own freshman class who never got to serve with him--some have might not even met with him, just knew about him or heard about him--and miss him. That is the kind of person who Luke Letlow was. prgtoken I got to talk to Luke a lot in those last few days and in the last few weeks before he even got COVID. He was so excited to come up here and get sworn in as a Member of Congress and to start helping people in a different way. <|p
REMEMBERING RUSH LIMBAUGH
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I rise tonight in sadness to acknowledge and commemorate the loss of an American icon, Rush Limbaugh, who, since 1985, extolled the virtues of conservatism on radio. prgtoken Starting in Sacramento, California, for the first 3 years, 1985 to 1988, he was within range of my tractor and my pickup out in the fields, where I was working at the time. He was really a breath of fresh air for radio, for a different type of talk and a different style. prgtoken I know he inspired millions around the country during his many years on radio. With his loss, he won't be replaced. He surely led the way for many others to take on that mantle, but nobody will do it quite like Rush Limbaugh. He did so well at it, and he touched so many that he was even recognized about 1 year ago right here in this Chamber by President with the Medal of Freedom, one of the highest honors anybody can receive. prgtoken Mr. Limbaugh may be controversial to some, but he was always coming from truly a humble heart to try to get a message out to what America was about, his love for this country, and a love for its ideals. prgtoken So I know that many will miss him, and I am glad to be honored to help touch on his legacy here tonight.
REMEMBERING MEL RICHARD ANTONEN
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2021-2-23

I would like to include in the Record the following obituary for Mel Antonen, a native South Dakotan and longtime Major League Baseball reporter for USA Today and elsewhere, who passed away on January 30, 2021. He is honored by Charles Raasch, also a native South Dakotan, of USA Today with an obituary upon his death. I extend my deepest sympathy to the Antonen family. prgtoken The material follows: Mel Antonen, family man, friend to the world, and renowned sports journalist, died Saturday of a rare acute auto-immune disease and complications from COVID-19. He was a longtime USA TODAY Sports and MASN-TV baseball reporter who covered nearly three dozen World Series. In a half century in journalism, he reveled and excelled in telling others' stories. He was 64. Mel Richard Antonen's own story became the best of all. It began in the tiny town of Lake Norden, South Dakota, on Aug. 25, 1956, when he was the third of four children born to Ray and Valda Antonen. Lake Norden is 225 miles from the nearest major league ballpark and has never been populated with more than 550 people, but on soft summer evenings fans from counties away congregate at Memorial Park to watch a new episode of South Dakota's storied amateur baseball history. Its pull never left him even as he walked, as a sports journalist, on Boston's hallowed Fenway Park with the late Yankees Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio, or sat in a pre-game spring training dugout with another Hall of Fame member, Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew, weeks before Killebrew died in 2011. The Antonen family has promoted amateur baseball in Lake Norden for decades. Mel loved to tell how his father, Ray over the years brought to the tiny hometown a series of barnstorming pros, including the legendary Satchel Paige and Cy Young Award winner Jim Perry, to play at Memorial Park. On the mornings of home games throughout his childhood and beyond, Mel, his father and siblings would groom the field, with the rising corn and soybean fields ritually marking the progression of summer beyond the left-field fence. ``I love baseball because it always brings me home,'' Antonen said at his induction to South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. ``A baseball park in my mind is a home. It doesn't matter if it's next to a cornfield, as it is in Lake Norden, or if it is next to a rumbling subway, in New York.'' At USA TODAY, and later as an analyst for MASN, the network that covers the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, Antonen ``was a very good storyteller who went far beyond balls and strikes and the score of the game,'' said his retired USA TODAY Sports editor Henry Freeman. Dan Connolly was among the reporters in the Washington-
JOSEPH HAYNE RAINEY MEMORIAL POST OFFICE BUILDING
Nancy Mace (Republican, SC) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I have no further speakers and am prepared to close. prgtoken It is a real honor to be here today, and the distinguished whip is correct that this is long overdue, to recognize Joseph Rainey and his accomplishments. prgtoken He fought tirelessly for civil rights and education and opportunity. He fought for freedom for every working American in this country. To be here today in Black History Month to recognize his legacy and his legend, he will not be forgotten, and we ensure that today. prgtoken I hope that future generations of South Carolinians and Americans across the country can be inspired by his courageous leadership here in this House. I urge my colleagues to support this bill today. prgtoken Madam , .
IN RECOGNITION OF RUDENE McCOY'S 92ND BIRTHDAY
Mike Rogers (Republican, AL) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I ask for the House's attention to recognize Mrs. Rudene McCoy. Mrs. McCoy turned 92 on December 21, 2020. prgtoken Rudene was born in Chambers County, the daughter of L. L. and Ruby Aaron. She was raised in Lanett and is a graduate of Lanett High School. Rudene earned her B.S. degree in nursing from the University of Georgia. prgtoken Rudene had a tremendous career as a registered nurse in the area of cardiology. She was mentored by renowned cardiologist, Dr. Robert Copeland, and served as his chief cardiac nurse for over 30 years. Based on her outstanding patient care, she was named Chambers County Nurse of the Year and received numerous accolades from the Georgia Heart Clinic. prgtoken In addition to her profession, Rudene was devout in her support of her family, church and the City of Lanett. She is a life-long member of the United Methodist Church of Lanett where she taught Sunday School, served on Administrative Board and was named Woman of the Year. Rudene also co-chaired the Centennial Committee that planned and prepared Lanett's 100-year celebration in 1995. prgtoken Rudene has been known as First Lady and First Mother of the City of Lanett. Her husband, Pete, was a longtime Councilman and Mayor for the City. Her son Kyle is the current Mayor of Lanett; her daughter Valerie is a registered nurse like Rudene; and her son Skip is the County Attorney for Chambers County. prgtoken Madam , please join me in recognizing Rudene for her service to the people of Lanett and Chambers County and join me in wishing her a very happy 92nd birthday.
Coronavirus (Executive Calendar)
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2021-2-23

millions of American kids in the public school system have been robbed of a year, and counting, of anything resembling a proper education. It has been a historically tough year. That is why Americans are so excited our Nation appears to be approaching a major turning point. prgtoken Here are just a few recent headlines: A U.S. Vaccine Surge Is Coming, With Millions of Doses Promised prgtoken Another headline: America's vaccine rollout has been among the best in the world prgtoken Another headline: CDC finds scant spread of coronavirus in schools with precautions in place prgtoken Here is one from my home State: COVID-19 cases plummet in Kentucky nursing homes, a key target for the vaccine prgtoken So let's take a look at the economy: U.S. Retail Sales Surprise With Sharpest Advance in Seven Months Blue-Collar Jobs Boom as COVID-19 Boosts Housing, E- Commerce Demand prgtoken Another headline: Consumer Demand Snaps Back. Factories Can't Keep Up. prgtoken To be clear, this isn't over. The battle is not won yet. But the day is approaching when we will be able to end this defensive crouch and safely reclaim our normal lives. prgtoken Last year the Senate built the largest peacetime fiscal expansion in American history. We spent $4 trillion on five overwhelmingly bipartisan packages. The most recent became law just 2 months ago. Funding for hospitals and providers kept our healthcare system above water. The Paycheck Protection Program saved Main Street small businesses. Direct relief and extra unemployment aid helped working families endure the shutdown. Operation Warp Speed laid the groundwork for our historic sprint toward vaccinations. prgtoken These were strong, bipartisan policies, targeted to what families specifically needed to wage the war, but today are steamrolling ahead with a massive spending plan on a completely partisan basis. It did not receive a single House vote in committee yesterday because their partisan plan is not targeted toward helping Americans reclaim their lives and their country from this invader. Instead, here is what it is: a combination of miscellaneous, non-COVID-related, liberal wish-list items and the kinds of bandaid policies that make a defensive crouch slightly less painful but don't help get us back on offense. prgtoken Let's take a look at K-12 schooling. Until very recently, the new administration's own scientists had been crystal clear. Earlier this month, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said: There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen. prgtoken A major CDC study found in-person schooling does not--not--fuel community transmission. prgtoken Last month, Dr. Fauci said: It's less likely for a child to get infected in the school setting than if they were just in the community. prgtoken But Big Labor special interes
CONFIRMATION OF LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD
Rand Paul (Republican, KY) \u2014 2021-2-23

in times of conflict and peace, nations should discuss and resolve disputes. We cannot expect to achieve peace without effort and dialogue. The post of Ambassador to the United Nations is a position where engagement is of the utmost importance. Throughout Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield's 35-year tenure at the State Department, under both s and , she developed a long track record of engaging diplomatically with other countries through a very unique approach. Based on Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield's career, I believe she will tackle international challenges and engage with friends and adversaries, alike, and I support her nomination.
DANGER OF GENDER IDENTITY POLITICS
Brian Babin (Republican, TX) \u2014 2021-2-23

. Madam , I thank my distinguished colleague from Missouri for this opportunity. prgtoken Madam , I rise today in objection to the so-called Equality Act. Once again, under the guise of equality, the left is prioritizing its radical agenda over religious freedom, the well-being of children, and the safety of women and girls. prgtoken As the father of three daughters and the grandfather of nine granddaughters, I am outraged at the assault that this bill launches on women in sports. And furthermore, as a healthcare practitioner, I am infuriated at its blatant attack on the conscience rights and religious freedoms of those in the healthcare industry. prgtoken This bill is not about preventing discrimination in medical treatment, it is about forcing medical professionals to abandon their conscience rights and medical judgment to comply with the left's extreme views on gender. prgtoken The Equality Act would prohibit physicians from counseling children with gender dysphoria. Instead, they would be required to administer dangerous medical treatments, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. prgtoken This mandate contradicts science. Increasingly, we are finding that these treatments compound these children's confusion rather than solving it. The catastrophic effects leave children physically and psychological scarred and often render them sterile. It is nothing short of child abuse. prgtoken The left will not tolerate disagreement with its view on gender. They provide no conscience protections and explicitly state that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not apply to this new definition of sex. Physicians refusing to perform these harmful treatments would be punished, even if they object because of religious or moral convictions. prgtoken The Equality Act is another attempt by the left to promote its radical agenda and suppress everyone else who disagrees. We must fight for the conscience rights and religious freedoms of our medical professionals, and we must stop our children from being used as pawns in the game of political correctness.