mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1430, HONEST AND OPEN NEW EPA SCIENCE TREATMENT ACT OF 2017
Rob Woodall (Republican, GA) \u2014 2017-3-28

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I often wonder what it is like to be in your position there, a distinguished career as a judge, and you come down here to talk about the EPA and whether or not the rules and regulations should be based on sound science or not, and you end up with a discussion over the Russians. There is no objection that can be lodged here for going outside of the scope of the bill. prgtoken I can always tell, when I come down for Rules Committee debate, whether or not we are really talking about something that divides us or whether we are just talking. If we are talking about something that divides us, we spend every moment of the hours that we have debating the nitty-gritty of the issue before us--talking about how quickly should that data be disclosed; how many folks should have access to it. Are there going to be episodes where the data needs to be kept super secret and folks can't be trusted with it? What should we do about new and emerging business practices, propriety technologies? How do we deal with those questions? prgtoken I enjoy those rules, , because we are doing exactly what we came here to do, and that is to delve into the details and get it right for the American people. prgtoken What I am led to believe on a day like today is that we are pretty close to getting it right for the American people because we are not talking about the nitty-gritty of the legislation. We are talking about the Clean Power Plan that the past administration put forward. We are not talking about the details of the legislation; we are talking about the Russians today. I think that is because there aren't many things much more common sense than sharing with the American people that data on which the laws of the land are made. prgtoken , there is no doubt that the EPA is involved in a complicated line of work, a critically important line of work. prgtoken I can't find a single constituent in the great State of Georgia that doesn't believe in clean water and clean air. I can find a whole lot of them who think that they believe more in clean water and clean air than does any institution in Washington, D.C. I promise you, no one cares more about the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area than those of us who live along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. prgtoken Nobody cares more about protecting the Earth in the great State of Georgia than those farmers who are creating the largest export we have in the great State of Georgia, which are our agriculture products. prgtoken We are in this together, which is why, when this bill came before the House last Congress, it passed with a bipartisan vote. These are commonsense ideas that bring us together more than they divide us. prgtoken , I think the real surprise is that folks believe the EPA to be transparent, and learn that it is not. Folks would not believe that this Congress has to subpoena information in order to get
PROTOCOL TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY OF 1949 ON THE ACCESSION OF MONTENEGRO--Continued
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-3-28

redundancy is often a virtue, so I am about to practice redundancy. prgtoken Last week, I made a speech on the floor of the Senate about the upcoming votes in connection with the President's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and I talked about the 230-year history of this body to always have Presidential nominations for judges--for Supreme Court Justices, for Federal district judges, and for circuit judges up to 2003 by a majority vote. Never in the history of this body has the Senate refused to allow a vote, an up-or-down vote on a Supreme Court Justice. prgtoken Because I hear that may be what the are planning to do-- even though Mr. Gorsuch may be one of the most remarkably talented nominees in a long, long time--I want to make the address that I made last week again, and I am going to deliver it word for word in hopes that someone may actually hear it. prgtoken President 's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court will be considered on the floor of the Senate next week. Some have suggested that instead of allowing a majority of Senators to decide whether to approve the Gorsuch nomination, there should first be a so-called cloture vote to determine whether to cut off debate. prgtoken Now, you can see what would happen. Cutting off debate requires the approval of 60 Senators. There are 46 ic Senators, so if 41 of the 46 Senators vote not to cut off debate, we would never get to a vote on Judge Gorsuch. We would never get to a vote. In other words, the 41 ic Senators would have filibustered to death the Gorsuch nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, a partisan act that has never happened before in the 230 years of the Senate. prgtoken Filibustering to death the Gorsuch nomination or any Presidential nomination, for that matter, flies in the face of 230 years of Senate tradition. prgtoken Throughout the Senate's history, approval of even the most controversial Presidential nominations have required only a majority vote. For example, in 1991, President George H.W. nominated Clarence Thomas to be Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme prgtoken Court. The debate was bitter. The vote was narrow. The Senate confirmed Justice Thomas 52 to 48. prgtoken Although Senate rules have allowed any one Senator to try to filibuster the nomination to death, to insist on a 60-vote vote, not one did. In fact, Senate rules have always allowed Senators the option to filibuster to death a Presidential nomination, yet it has almost never happened. prgtoken According to the former Senate historian, with one possible exception, which I will describe later, the number of Supreme Court Justices in our country's history who have been denied their seats by filibuster is zero. The number of the President's Cabinet members in our country's history who have been denied their seats
CONCERNS BREWING ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION
John Shimkus (Republican, IL) \u2014 2017-3-28

I rise to address concerns brewing in Lithuania and other Baltic States about the construction of a nuclear power plant. This plant is 12\1/2\ miles from the Lithuanian border and in sight of Vilnius, Lithuania's capital and largest city. prgtoken I speak here not only as a friend of the Baltic people and as a descendant of Lithuanian immigrants, but also as co-chair of the Baltic Caucus and chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment. prgtoken Like all my colleagues here, I am concerned about ensuring the security, integrity, and safety of nuclear projects in Europe and around the world. Here is the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, and that is where the power plant is being built. prgtoken This site was first chosen during the era of the Soviet Union but was halted after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which contaminated a quarter of Belarus. Now, in 2019, Belarus is supposed to house a different Moscow-run nuclear power plant, this one run by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. prgtoken This project is very environmentally sensitive. Both Lithuania and Belarus are signatures to the Espoo Convention. The Espoo Convention calls for member states to consult with bordering countries about such projects, to allow experts to review information about the projects, and to share information with bordering countries about safety and security of these projects. prgtoken Building a nuclear power plant is hard, especially when it is a country's first. That is why the International Atomic Energy Agency has recommended a six-step review process meant to prevent disasters like Chernobyl's and the more recent one in Fukushima, Japan. But Belarus has chosen to skip four of the six steps, including crucial steps, and ignore the people in the land of Lithuania. prgtoken There is a real concern that the main purpose behind the project is to grow Russian influence and power, especially over energy, in the European Union. The President of Belarus said that the Astravets plant and another Russian plant are a fishbone in the throat of the European Union and the Baltic States. prgtoken Nuclear power plants in sensitive areas should be discussed within the Espoo Convention. Nearly all of Lithuania is within 186 miles of the plant, which means that, if a disaster were to strike, the land of Lithuania could be affected. The country's drinking water could also be affected since the plant is supposed to draw water from the Neris River that supplies drinking water to Lithuania. prgtoken But incidents are occurring that cast doubt on Belarus' commitment to working with neighbors and ensuring the plant is safe. In 2016, four accidents occurred, and Belarus has failed to be upfront with Lithuania about any of them. prgtoken A 330-ton nuclear reactor shell was allegedly dropped from about 13 feet last summer. Belarus did not reveal anything about the incident until independent media reported it, and then downplayed it. prgtoken Building a nucl
ENERGY REGULATORY POLICY
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-3-28

throughout my career in the Senate, I have worked hard to defend coal communities and the jobs they and so many across the country depend on. These men and women have dedicated their lives to providing an affordable and reliable power source for our homes, businesses, and communities. They deserve our respect and our support. prgtoken The same is true of America's middle class, more broadly. Middle- class families had a hard enough time over the past 8 years without Washington making things worse. I think they deserve respect and support, not fewer jobs and unaffordable energy bills. prgtoken Unfortunately, the previous administration didn't see things the same way. Instead, the administration launched energy attack after energy attack on Kentucky and America's middle class, threatening critical jobs and making coal more costly to mine and use. prgtoken Indeed, a couple years ago, then-President finalized a massive regressive energy regulatory scheme that claimed to be about helping the climate but actually would have done little to truly impact global emissions. What it would have done is punish coal families, ship middle-class jobs overseas, and hurt the economy. It was also likely illegal. So I sent a letter counseling Governors to wait for the courts to rule on the legality of the regulation before submitting a compliance plan. It was not a popular move at the time, but it turns out that it was the right one. I am glad that nearly half of our Nation's Governors agreed with my advice to take a wait-and-see approach before needlessly putting their States in economic jeopardy. prgtoken I am proud to report that we will notch an important victory in this struggle later today. I commend President for the decision to sign the energy independence Executive order and send several anti- middle-class regulations back to the drawing board. From the outset, I warned that regulations like these would hurt coal workers and America's middle class. One report predicted that more than 40 States could have seen double-digit electricity rate hikes as a result of the Clean Power Plan energy regulatory plan. We all know that low- and fixed-income families would have suffered the most. And for what? For a regulation that hardly would have moved the needle on climate anyway. prgtoken Talking about bad policy, it is important to remember how we got here. President came into office with huge majorities in both Houses of Congress. He could have done virtually anything he wanted, and he certainly tried. He pushed through one left-wing policy after another. He even tried to push through a regressive, anti-middle-class energy regulatory plan--one so extreme that he couldn't even get his own -controlled Congress to go along with it. Undeterred, he went around Congress and imposed a similarly regressive energy scheme anyway. prgtoken It was evident that the administration had oversteppe
The Nuclear Option (Executive Session)
Bob Corker (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-3-28

we find ourselves at an interesting point. Let me start by saying what a tremendous privilege it is to serve in this body. Every single day that I come to the building from where I live, I express that to myself--what a tremendous privilege it is for all of us to serve in this body, denoted by many as the greatest deliberative body in the world. Certainly, we find ourselves here in a place where we can effect so many things that not only affect our citizens but citizens across the world. What a privilege that is. prgtoken The Presiding Officer and I have had numerous conversations in the past. I spent a life in business before coming to the Senate, and I know the Presiding Officer did a lot of unique things as well. At the age of 25, I was fortunate enough to build a business, starting with a small amount of money. It ended up operating all around the country. One of the things we did after every project--I built shopping centers around the country--is that we would get together and analyze the things we had done well and the things we had done not so well in an effort to become better. At the end of each year, we would sit down and look at our company, which was growing very rapidly, and try to analyze those things. Sometimes we would have setbacks, but generally speaking, the company continued to operate on an upward trend. prgtoken What I find here is just the opposite. I have been here now a decade, and what we do is just the opposite of that. What we do is we continue a downward trend because the way the two parties operate with each other is when it gets to a point where there is something very critical that has to happen, the other side says, well, if they were in power, this is what they would do, so let's go ahead and do this ourselves. So what we have in the Senate, at least since I have been here in the last decade, is instead of an escalating situation where we continue to operate better and deal with these things in a more balanced way, what we do is we are on this continual downward trend. prgtoken One of our younger Members mentioned the other day as we were discussing this--and I thought it was a great point--that what has happened in the Senate is that neither party has had the ability to withstand the pressure that is brought to them by their base in either party. prgtoken I have seen that play out right now. What happens is their base puts pressure on, and we end up breaking the traditions of the Senate. We did it legislatively with the cloture vote being the scored vote by outside groups. So that is where we find ourselves. prgtoken What is happening in our own caucus--I just realized over the weekend--is that we are now trying to figure out whom to blame. I heard a discussion last Wednesday that was totally divorced from reality as far as how we had gotten where we are today. I realized that we are getting ready to do some things here that will change the Senate dramatical
Nomination of Neil Gorsuch (Executive Session)
Susan M. Collins (Republican, ME) \u2014 2017-3-28

confirming a Supreme Court nominee is one of the Senate's most significant constitutional responsibilities. I come prgtoken to the floor today to announce that I shall cast my vote for Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In making my decision, I evaluated Judge Gorsuch's qualifications, experience, integrity, and temperament. I questioned him for more than an hour in a meeting in my office, evaluated his record, spoke with people who know him personally, and reviewed the Judiciary Committee's extensive hearing record. While I have not agreed with every decision Judge Gorsuch has made, my conclusion is that he is eminently well qualified to serve on our Nation's highest Court. prgtoken Judge Gorsuch has sterling academic and legal credentials. In 2006, the Senate confirmed this outstanding nominee by a voice vote to his current position on the U.S. Court of Appeals. A rollcall vote was neither requested nor required. prgtoken Judge Gorsuch's ability as a legal scholar and judge has earned him the respect of members of the bar. The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has unanimously given him its highest possible rating of ``well qualified.'' President 's former Acting Solicitor General testified before the Judiciary Committee in support of Judge Gorsuch, praising him as fair, decent, and committed to judicial independence. prgtoken I have also received a letter signed by 49 prominent Maine attorneys with diverse political views, urging support for Judge Gorsuch's nomination. They wrote: Gorsuch's judicial record demonstrates his remarkable intelligence, his keen ability to discern and resolve the central issues at dispute in a legal proceeding . . . and his dedication to the rule of law rather than personal predilections. His judicial record also confirms that he is committed to upholding the Constitution, enforcing the statutes enacted by Congress, and restraining overreach by the executive branch. prgtoken In my view, these are precisely the qualities that a Supreme Court Justice should embody. prgtoken I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the Record following my remarks. prgtoken Our personal discussion allowed me to assess the judge's philosophy and character. I told him that it was important to me that the judiciary remain an independent check on the other two branches of government as envisioned by our Founders. Therefore, I asked him specifically whether anyone in the administration had asked him how he would rule or sought any commitment from him on any issue. He was unequivocal that no one in the administration had asked him for such promises or to prejudge any issue that could come before him. He went on to say that the day a nominee answered how he would rule on a matter before it was heard or promised to overturn a legal precedent, that would be the end of an
RESTRUCTURING HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA
Louie Gohmert (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-3-28

it has been an interesting few weeks here in Washington, and we are not done with healthcare legislation. There has been a lot of talk about that, but, , I would like to say, I have been encouraged as today has worn on. We had a tough family meeting this morning together as s, but, to me, what I felt was coming out of it in the end--disagreement on some important issues but agreement among s that people are hurting under Care. prgtoken People need relief from the high premiums, the high deductibles. So many people not only lost their doctor, lost their health insurance policy, but they can't afford--they tell us--to go to the doctors. We talked to constituents because they would have to get to several thousand dollars before the insurance portion would kick in. prgtoken People are hurting across the country, and, of course, we know that, without a single vote, Care was passed, which cut Medicare by $716 billion dollars, with a ``B.'' And I know President assured seniors: look, seniors, you know, you are not going to have to worry about this $716 billion in cuts to Medicare. You won't be able to tell the difference. This is only going to affect the doctors, the healthcare providers. prgtoken What seniors have noticed who I have talked to around Texas and in other places in the country, they have noticed that when Medicare doesn't pay their doctor, doesn't pay for tests that are needed, and doesn't pay for medication that they specifically need then it does affect them personally. prgtoken The bill that we took up, that didn't get passed on Friday, that we didn't vote on, there was nothing that was going to help those on Medicare. There is apparently some difference of opinion, but it appeared to many that some of us trusted that people between the ages of 50 to 64 were going to get hammered. prgtoken I am very encouraged to have seen Ryan, Majority Leader McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise, and our Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry incredibly busy today talking to Members around the House about how we can get to a bill that will get 218--actually we need 216 right now--so that we can send it down the hall to the Senate. prgtoken , I am encouraged, and I hope others are, that we are not done. We had indications that the Senate was not going to take up the bill--even if we passed it on Friday, they were not going to take it up until sometime in May. So we have time to address this issue and come together on a bill that would pass. prgtoken Once again, a reference was made, --and it is so often that this event is referenced by s when they get frustrated as to why we ended up with a bill that would require so many arms to be twisted, that would endanger seats to have to vote for it. People referenced back to this. prgtoken Remember some years back, some summers back--and I believe, actually, that was the last week of July of 2014,
CELEBRATING THE RETIREMENT OF GARY L. JANACEK
John R. Carter (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-3-28

I rise today to celebrate the retirement of Gary L. Janacek, CEO of Scott & White Employees Credit Union. This esteemed and valued citizen of the Temple, Texas area has made real and lasting impacts on his community and set a high standard of excellence in his profession. prgtoken Gary truly embodied the Credit Union's slogan, ``people helping people,'' throughout his career and in all aspects of life. Throughout his nearly fifty years of service, Gary's work has been vital in helping the Credit Union succeed in serving their communities and achieving their goals. prgtoken When formally announcing his retirement to the board of directors and staff last summer, Gary said, ``It's been a distinct privilege and honor to serve our members for the past 39 years. I have been richly blessed with a visionary board of directors and dedicated staff in serving the needs of our membership.'' That Gary chose to salute those around him rather than himself comes as no surprise to those who've been able to work alongside this exceptional leader. prgtoken Gary's work hasn't gone unnoticed. He served in numerous leadership positions within the state and national credit union movement. In September of 2003, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Gary to serve on the Texas Credit Union Commission. He was soon chosen to Chair this commission's important work. In 2015, Gary was inducted into the Credit Union House Hall of Leaders. His work positively impacted countless people across Texas and nationwide. prgtoken Retirement is to be celebrated and enjoyed. It is not the end of a career, but rather the beginning of a new adventure. I heartily salute Gary Janacek's work and contributions to his community. I'm sure I echo the thoughts of all when I wish him the best in both his retirement and all his future endeavors.