mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
REMEMBERING MARGARET BLACKSHERE
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2019-9-12

Margaret Blackshere was a trailblazer as the first woman to serve as president of the nearly 1-million strong Illinois AFL-CIO. In July, she passed away at the age of 79, and I rise today to honor her memory. I share the privilege with countless others to call her a friend. prgtoken Margaret and her sister were raised by their single mother, Frances, and Aunt Margie in North Venice, IL. Her mother made sure her daughters knew that they could do anything. There were no boy chores or girl chores; there were just chores. Laundry and rewiring a lamp were normal activities. prgtoken She started off studying to be a nun, but she changed course and ended up studying elementary education at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Her religious convictions remained an essential part of her life, but education was her calling. prgtoken After college, Margaret began teaching in a school in Madison, IL. She and her fellow teachers were making only $3,000 a year and weren't treated with respect, but they noticed that the steelworkers and mineworkers in the area were respected and doing well because they belonged to a union and worked together to secure better working conditions. Margaret and her colleagues decided they needed to form a union and demand adequate pay from the superintendent. The superintendent refused so Margaret took action and organized a 5-week strike. One small issue--because she and the other teachers were public employees, their strike was illegal. Margaret and her colleagues were jailed, but the jail only had two cells. This meant that every day, Margaret arrived at the jail with her children, ages 3 and 5, and every prgtoken night, she went home because there wasn't enough space. Her fellow teachers saw her dedication and elected her president of the teachers' union in Madison. prgtoken Margaret went back to Southern Illinois University to earn a master's degree in urban education. She became focused on issues about children living in poverty. prgtoken Her work with the union and its attempts to earn greater pay for teachers opened the door to politics. She began working on local election campaigns. It wasn't just about money anymore; it was about having a voice. With her hard work, Margaret was elected vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, IFT, and chair of its legislative committee. prgtoken Eventually, Margaret reluctantly gave up teaching, which she loved so much, and became a lobbyist for the IFT. She worked in Springfield to improve the salaries and working conditions of teachers. Margaret also began building networks and alliances. In 1993, the Illinois AFL-CIO needed a secretary-treasurer. Margaret was easily elected because she was respected by so many people from her time campaigning and working for the IFT. prgtoken In 2000, Margaret became president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. When Margaret came into office, she inherited a staff of 25. None of them was a p
ARCTIC CULTURAL AND COASTAL PLAIN PROTECTION ACT
Raúl M. Grijalva (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2019-9-12

I thank the distinguished chairman of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee for the time and for his longstanding leadership on this issue. And also, I thank the 182 Members of Congress who support H.R. 1146. prgtoken , I rise today to strongly support this legislation, H.R. 1146, a bill to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the irreversible impacts of oil and gas drilling. prgtoken This bill would undo a particular terrible provision that was slipped into the 2017 tax bill with no debate in this Chamber, no amendments in this Chamber, and no votes in this Chamber. prgtoken The Party was not content with merely giving trillions of dollars of tax cuts to the wealthiest companies and individuals in this country, tax cuts that have driven us deeper into debt without any of the positives the bill sponsors promised; at the same time they were handing out trillions of dollars to their friends and donors, they threw in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for their oil and gas buddies. They promised that this would be done right, as if destroying a pristine wilderness and threatening the survival of an entire Tribe's way of life can ever be done right. prgtoken But then the administration took over. Since then, we have had rushed environmental reviews so they could try to get a lease sale done in 1 year, 2 years quicker than the schedule laid out in the tax bill. prgtoken We have seen evidence of the concerns of career scientists being ignored or overridden, and we have seen the Assistant Secretary in charge of making this lease sale happen jump ship and, after a long 3- day cooling off weekend, start at an oil company that has leases right next to the refuge. prgtoken The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should never have been opened, and even those who want to see it develop should recoil at the idea that this is now in the hands of and his buddies. prgtoken The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has nothing to do with national security, has nothing to do with gas prices, and has nothing to do with energy independence. It has to do with greed, plain and simple. prgtoken This administration simply can't stand the idea that there are some places that the oil and gas industry shouldn't be allowed to destroy. They can't believe that there are some places that deserve to be protected. They can't imagine there being anything more important than profits. prgtoken I don't agree. At some point, we have to say: Stop. You have enough. prgtoken We are the number one producer of oil and gas in the world, and production is going up. prgtoken The administration is repealing regulations left and right and reduced land or wildlife protections on over 150 million acres of public land. The oil and gas industry has enough. They shouldn't get the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to vote for this legislation.
ARCTIC CULTURAL AND COASTAL PLAIN PROTECTION ACT
Debra A. Haaland (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2019-9-12

. Mr. Chair, as a 35th-generation American, I rise in support of H.R. 1146. prgtoken The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was set aside to protect its unique wildlife, wilderness, and resources. It sustains the Gwich'in Tribe and has for centuries. It is why they call it ``the sacred place where life begins.'' prgtoken Oil and gas drilling puts at risk the Porcupine caribou herd, which has sustained tribes for centuries and centuries. It also threatens wolves, polar bears, and migratory birds that live in the refuge. It will release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating the effects of global warming, which have affected Alaska far more than any State in this country. prgtoken s slipped this drilling provision into their tax cut bill last Congress. I might add that no tribes had an opportunity to voice their opinions on any of that. Now, this administration is rushing ahead without adequate environmental review or Tribal consultation. prgtoken Americans want a smart approach to sustainable energy development, not a careless rush to sell off one of our most iconic and sacred places for shortsighted, destructive fossil fuel production. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to stand with the Gwich'in, speak up for the animals that live in the refuge, and support this important legislation.
Appropriations (Executive Session)
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-9-12

there are two possible paths when it comes to the appropriations process in Congress. There is a bipartisan path, where both parties work together in good faith to pass all 12 appropriations bills. Then there is the partisan path, where one party breaks faith with the other, and we end up traveling down a road of brinksmanship. Continuing resolutions become the order of the day, and the risk of a government shutdown increases. prgtoken We all know the bipartisan path is far preferable. It both avoids the possibility of another damaging government shutdown, and when we legislate the appropriations bills, we can intelligently allocate our resources for the future. Continuing resolutions, on the other hand, are blunt objects that simply recycle last year's priorities. It hurts our military; it hurts the middle class; and it hurts the American people. prgtoken We are at an important crossroads between those two passes right now. After successfully negotiating the broad outlines of a budget deal earlier this year, we must now agree on the allocations to the 12 appropriations subcommittees. These are known as the 302(b) allocations. This process was completely bipartisan in 2018; these allocations passed the Appropriations Committee unanimously 31 to 0. prgtoken This year, the majority, without consulting with , has proposed taking away $12 billion from urgent domestic priorities and from urgent military priorities and wasting it--wasting it on President 's ineffective and expensive border wall. This is the very wall President promised over and over again that Mexico would pay for when he ran for office and garnered support for it from his constituency. prgtoken No --certainly not the leader who knows this place well--could seriously believe would agree to that: $12 billion for the wall, stolen from healthcare programs to fight opioid addiction and encourage cancer research, stolen from military families? No could expect to support that, nor should they. It is terrible policy. prgtoken This morning, in the appropriations markup, every single on the committee, including Leader McConnell, voted to move forward on this idea. Senators who oppose the President's emergency declaration voted for it; Senators whose States would lose tens of millions of dollars in military funding voted for it. This is the clearest indication yet that s may well be abandoning a bipartisan appropriations process. They would do so at their peril, as well as the peril of the Nation. prgtoken s have started off here on the wrong foot, repeating the exact same mistakes they made at the end of 2018, which resulted in the longest government shutdown in American history--a shutdown that President and s rightly shouldered the blame for. prgtoken There is only one bit of good news in this
EMERGENCY FUNDING
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2019-9-12

I come to the Senate floor this afternoon with my ic colleagues to voice my strong opposition to this administration's move to take money away from our military to fund President 's wasteful border wall. prgtoken I often say that we make a promise as a nation to take care of our servicemembers and their families sacrificing to defend our freedoms. But the Pentagon's announcement this week that it plans to move billions of dollars away from critical military construction projects across our country is more than a broken promise to our troops; it is an egregious abuse of power that undercuts Congress's constitutional obligation to set our Nation's budget, and it compromises critical national security priorities. prgtoken Earlier today, on our Appropriations Committee and I supported an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill that would prevent the President from undermining Congress's authority. I was very disappointed to vote against that bill because our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would not join us to pass that necessary amendment and stand up against this outrageous plunder. prgtoken This Executive overreach is deeply disturbing. It is particularly relevant to my home State of Washington, one of the States most impacted by the Pentagon's reckless decision this week. We learned that efforts to update the pier and maintenance facility at Naval Base Kitsap--a project essential to ensuring the safety and readiness of our military's nuclear submarines--are now deferred indefinitely because the nearly $89 million that Congress appropriated specifically for that priority are now being moved to build 's wall. prgtoken As a reminder, this is a wall that the majority of the American people did not ask for and do not want and that President originally claimed Mexico was going to pay for. It is a wall that Congress has time and again decided not to fund on a bipartisan prgtoken basis, to the point that President decided to make a bogus national emergency declaration and sidestep Congress to raid the Federal coffers for his reckless vanity project. prgtoken It is not just Naval Base Kitsap. We also learned that President and the Pentagon are more than happy to fund this wall by slashing other military priorities, like strengthening access to military childcare, repairing vital military assets that were damaged by recent natural disasters, and more that enable our troops and their families to serve our country as we ask them to do. prgtoken Here is the bottom line: I--and Senate --will not stand by while this President steps over Congress to build his wall on the backs of our troops and their families because they deserve a lot better for this country. I will not let up until this is made right. prgtoken .
EMERGENCY FUNDING
Brian Schatz (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2019-9-12

it is not a rhetorical flourish to say that Senate s are being fully obedient to the President of the United States. The evidence of the last few days has confirmed that s are not standing up for American institutions when they are tested, and they will not defend the American people when it counts the most. Through their silence, through their legislative actions, and through their votes, s are allowing funds appropriated to the Department of Defense--funds that address critical military needs in their own home States--to be stolen in order to pay for the President's wall. prgtoken Let me explain. The way we do MILCON, military construction, is nonpartisan. It is not bipartisan; it is nonpartisan. That means there is zero politics involved in selecting military construction projects for funding. prgtoken The process goes like this: The base commanders decide what projects they need in order to support their missions and military communities. These projects are set up through the chain of command from the base command to the installation command. If the installation command says the project meets the cut and is important enough for military readiness, it is sent to the Service Chief, the Marine Corps Commandant, the Secretary of the Navy, and so on. prgtoken From there, each Service Chief decides what projects to present to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and then the Office of the Secretary of Defense racks and stacks these projects. It is a rigorous process, and not a single Member of the U.S. Senate gets to intervene during this process. They figure out which ones get addressed in the fiscal year, and some projects make the cut and others don't. The only thing we get to decide, once the matrix is sent to us, is how much money we have to deal with all of our military construction needs. Again, there is zero political involvement--no politicians, no side deals, no partisan uniforms. So by the time the Congress receives the final list of projects from DOD, every project has been thoroughly vetted. We recognize that at that point, every project is essential for the safety and security of the Nation, and every Secretary of Defense, every Secretary of the Army, every Secretary of the Navy, and so on looks us in the eye in the Senate Armed Services Committee and in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and says: This is essential. There is not a penny out of place. We need this, and we need this badly. prgtoken Shame on the s for allowing this argument over whether to build a border wall to do two things; first, to infect the institution of the Department of Defense with politics and to start to undermine the credibility of the Department and its interactions with the legislative branch; second, and very importantly, to diminish funding for critical military projects. prgtoken What kind of projects are we talking about? There are 127 projects that
FT. HUACHUCA
Kyrsten Sinema (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2019-9-12

I join my colleagues in opposition to cutting congressionally mandated support from critical military construction projects in Arizona, the United States, and around the world. This misguided effort takes $30 million away from Ft. Huachuca, home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, where all Army intelligence professionals train at least once in their careers. prgtoken The $30 million was set to fund construction of a long-needed, new facility to protect and maintain equipment used to replicate the communications networks and threat displays of our adversaries. This investment is critical to ensuring our Army intelligence professionals receive the training they need to keep our country safe. Backfilling these cuts will likely delay several other needed projects at Ft. Huachuca and may lead to wasted taxpayer dollars as the cost of construction goes up over time. prgtoken I recently saw firsthand how the training our soldiers receive at Ft. Huachuca is essential in preparing our country to respond to threats from Russia, China, and other bad actors around the globe. As we continue to counter terrorism, we must consider threats our adversaries pose across multiple domains--notably disinformation campaigns, cyber warfare, and conventional military operations. Our intelligence training mission at Ft. Huachuca is critical to our national security, and our intelligence soldiers deserve our full support. prgtoken Ft. Huachuca is the largest employer in Cochise County, and the residents of Sierra Vista and the surrounding communities remain steadfast supporters of our brave servicemembers and America's intelligence mission. They know personally that taking $30 million from the base risks military readiness and our security. prgtoken This misguided plan weakens our national security and will likely cost American taxpayers more money in the long-run, which is why s on both sides of the aisle who have rejected taking money away from these important military projects. We all support the men and women of our Armed Forces and must work together to ensure they have the resources and support to do their jobs and keep us safe.
HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MARCA BRISTO
Jesús G. "Chuy" García (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2019-9-12

this past weekend, we lost my dear friend, Marca Bristo, an inspiring civil rights activist from Chicago. prgtoken Marca had a diving accident when she was young that left her paralyzed from the chest down. She never allowed her disability to define her. Instead, her disability became her superpower. prgtoken Marca dedicated her life to changing laws and bringing attention to the disparities faced by people with disabilities in the most basic services. She was instrumental in bringing wheelchair ramps to Chicago public buses. prgtoken She didn't do this by just writing letters or holding meetings. Marca went as far as chaining herself to a bus to force the Chicago Transit Authority to make mass transit more accessible. prgtoken She worked with the broader civil rights communities to pass key legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act. The organization she founded, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, will carry on with her legacy. prgtoken I send our heartfelt thoughts to her son and her daughter. prgtoken Rest in power, Marca Bristol.
HONORING ERIC LARSON ON THE EVENT OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY FARM BUREAU
Mike Levin (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2019-9-12

. Madam , I rise today to honor Eric Larson on the event of his retirement as Executive Director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. prgtoken Eric has spent his career dedicated to the agricultural industry in San Diego County. During his forty-eight-year career, he worked in cut flower and nursery crop production, was the General Manager of the California Floriculture Growers Association and served as a board member of the Living Plant Growers Association, the San Diego County Farm Bureau, and the San Diego County Flower & Plant Association. prgtoken In 1996, Eric became Executive Director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, where he helped the Bureau launch San Diego Grown magazine, establish the San Diego Farm & Nursery Expo, and advocated for the needs of local farmers. During Eric's tenure as Executive Director, the San Diego County Farm Bureau was selected as ``County of the Year'' three times by the California Farm Bureau. prgtoken The San Diego County Farm Bureau would not be the organization it is today without the hard work and dedication of Eric Larson. I thank Eric for his dedication to the farmers of San Diego County and congratulate him on his retirement.
EMERGENCY FUNDING
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2019-9-12

let me thank Senator Schatz for his comments. I hope every Senator will follow the points he is making because I think they are critically important. prgtoken First and foremost, we are talking about the appropriate power of the legislative branch of government. We have the power to appropriate. We are the article I branch of government. We have appropriated money for border security. We have appropriated money for military construction. Congress clearly intended the monies that we appropriated for military construction to go to our military installations and our military families. We made that conscientious decision. prgtoken Now the President is transferring funds from military construction that help our service personnel to the border wall. I say that because it is an unconstitutional grasp of power. It compromises the checks and balances that are in our Constitution. It is an abuse of power, but it is also affecting the quality of life of the men and women who have voluntarily agreed to join our military to protect our country. We can give you many examples. prgtoken We are talking about $3.6 billion of funds that were taken from military construction that are now being used by the President to fund the border wall. It is not Mexico that is paying for this wall; it is the men and women who are serving our Nation who are going to pay for this wall and our military service. That is outrageous, and every Member of the Senate should be concerned about that. prgtoken Let me talk about my own State of Maryland and the military construction projects in Maryland that would be directly affected. There is a road project at Fort Meade for $16.5 million. Fort Meade is just a few miles away from the Nation's Capital. For any of you who have had the opportunity to travel between Baltimore and Washington, it is about halfway when you come to Fort Meade. You will notice the challenges of trying to get onto Fort Meade's base. The mission being done at Fort Meade is a national security priority for this country, and these roads are critically important for our national security. It has been backed up a long time. Now, thanks to the President--if this goes forward--it will be backed up a lot longer. prgtoken The second cut is $37 million to Joint Base Andrews for a HAZMAT cargo path. This is a matter of safety for the men and women who work at Joint Base Andrews. prgtoken I hope all of you are familiar with Joint Base Andrews, which is located just a few miles from here. The Air Force is there. Many of us go through that facility. It is critical that they have the facilities to protect our Nation's Capital and protect the Members and personnel who use that facility. The President, again, is taking away from the safety of the mission at Joint Base Andrews. prgtoken The one issue I want to talk about that really highlights the hypocrisy of this transfer is the cut of $13 million to a child development center at J