mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
ENCOURAGING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ACT OF 2017
Claudia Tenney (Republican, NY) \u2014 2017-4-4

I rise today in support of H.R. 1343, which passed the Committee on Financial Services by a very large bipartisan vote of 48-11. I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Delaney) for introducing this essential piece of legislation. prgtoken As the coowner of a small manufacturing business in New York, this legislation would help companies in New York and across our Nation to grow stronger while allowing hardworking employees to have a stake in a business' future through ownership. prgtoken Company leaders across America understand that greater employee investment through ownership will develop a stronger workplace culture and increase productivity by giving private companies more flexibility in retaining and rewarding employees, the people we so vitally need to grow our businesses. prgtoken I want to thank the sponsors of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
RECOGNIZING HUGH MAHR
Rodney Davis (Republican, IL) \u2014 2017-4-4

I rise today to recognize Hugh Mahr, a West Point cadet from my district who displayed profound courage in saving the lives of two motorists last fall. prgtoken Last November, Hugh and his parents encountered a traffic accident on the interstate while on their way to their home in Mt. Auburn. Hugh spared no time in approaching the vehicles, checking both the driver of the car and the driver of the tractor trailer. prgtoken He quickly took control of the scene and determined that the driver of the car had a serious head injury. Hugh administered first aid, applied pressure to her wound, and successfully kept her conscious until first responders could arrive. Hugh also kept the tractor trailer driver from being removed from his vehicle until emergency personnel had evaluated the extent of his injuries, possibly saving his life. prgtoken Without a doubt, Hugh showed true bravery in helping the individuals involved in the accident. He was awarded the Army Achievement Medal for his actions which, ``are in keeping with the finest traditions of military services and reflect great credit upon himself, the United States Corps of Cadets, the United States Military Academy, and the United States Army.'' prgtoken I am immensely proud of Hugh for the selflessness he displayed in offering his assistance to civilians in need. I am glad he will soon join the finest men and women in our Armed Forces upon his completion at West Point. prgtoken I thank Hugh for his courage. It is an honor to serve him in the United States Congress.
CONGRATULATIONS SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER
Billy Long (Republican, MO) \u2014 2017-4-4

I rise today to recognize the Springfield News-Leader and its dedication to 150 years of excellence in journalism. prgtoken The Springfield News-Leader was first published on April 4, 1867, and has been a vital part of the Springfield, Missouri, community ever since. After 150 years, the Springfield News-Leader has reached almost 55,000 consecutive days of print, for both morning and evening newspapers. prgtoken In January of 1927, after several changes in name and ownership, the newspaper was officially known as the Springfield Daily News. 120 years later, in 1987, after printing both a morning and evening edition, the afternoon edition of the newspaper was discontinued and consolidated with the morning edition to become the Springfield News-Leader. prgtoken Today, the Springfield News-Leader is combined with a number of other print publications, websites and digital marketing services as part of the News-Leader Media Group. This group is the largest multi-media marketing solutions company in southwest Missouri, serving the local and regional business community. prgtoken For 150 years, the Springfield News-Leader has caught the moments that have shaped our nation, Missouri and Missouri's 7th Congressional District. I am confident that in the next 150 years the Springfield News-Leader will continue to be the newspaper that keeps the people of the 7th District informed and up-to-date. Congratulations to the Springfield News-Leader.
Miners Protection Act (Executive Session)
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, WV) \u2014 2017-4-4

I rise today, as I have on a number of occasions in the past, to express the urgent need for action to protect the retirement security of our Nation's coal miners. Because of bankruptcies that have decimated the coal industry, we have lost over 22,000 jobs in our State, but more than 22,000 retired coal miners and their spouses are at risk of losing their healthcare benefits at the end of April. prgtoken I have visited with retired miners from all across West Virginia to discuss this situation. During the February congressional recess, I visited the Cabin Creek Health Center in West Virginia. The Cabin Creek Health Center serves hundreds of coal miners and their families. They provide pulmonary rehabilitation services for miners suffering from black lung. They also provide primary care services for miners and other members of their community. During my visit, I met with several retired miners who would lose their health insurance coverage if Congress fails to act. These individuals are suffering from serious medical conditions and were unsure how they would afford their healthcare if they were to lose their current coverage. prgtoken Just 2 weeks ago, I met with about a dozen retired miners from West Virginia who came to Washington to support the Miners Protection Act and to stand up for their hard-earned retirement benefits. Other groups of West Virginia miners have come to Washington over the past few months. All have carried one message to Congress: Keep the promise of our lifetime health benefits. On March 1, thousands of miners received notice that their health insurance would be terminated in 60 days. Most of these same people received that very same message just last October. As I listen to their stories, it is hard to imagine the worry these notices cause for miners and their families. prgtoken In December 2016, Congress included language in the continuing appropriations legislation that preserved health coverage for these retired miners for just 4 months. While that provision kept mining families from losing their health coverage--which is good--at the end of last year, a permanent solution is critically needed. prgtoken The 4-month provision from the December CR expires at the end of this month. It is vital--vital--that Congress take action within the next few weeks to provide healthcare and peace of mind for these miners in West Virginia and across coal country. Our retired miners deserve their promised healthcare coverage and should not have to receive another cancellation notice or another Band-Aid solution. We have a bipartisan vehicle for action. I have worked closely with Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Rob Portman, and others to introduce and promote the bipartisan Miners Protection Act, which would preserve healthcare and pension benefits for our miners. Our bill passed the Senate Finance Committee last year by a bipartisan vote of 18 to 8. I also would like to thank the maj
Remembering Dan Fauske (Executive Calendar)
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2017-4-4

for months, I have been coming down to the floor every week to recognize someone in my State who has made a difference to our communities in Alaska, someone who has devoted time and energy to making my State a better place to live. I call these individuals our Alaskan of the Week. prgtoken As I have said repeatedly to all of my colleagues and to those watching on TV, I am a little biased here, but I believe my State is the most beautiful in the country and, I would argue, in the world. I urge everybody in this room, everybody watching on TV, to come to see for yourself. Take a trip to Alaska. It will be the trip of a lifetime. I guarantee you. prgtoken It is the people who truly make my State unique, people who are helping each other, strong-willed, warmhearted, tenacious people who have worked tirelessly for years for all of those who live in Alaska. prgtoken This week I would like to honor Dan Fauske, one of the strongest willed, warmest hearted people I have ever known. All he has done for us has made Alaska a better place for literally thousands of people throughout our State. prgtoken Dan came to Alaska in 1974 after serving in the Army, as so many Alaskans do. Like so many Alaskans, he arrived with a glint of steel in his eye and a mission to help build our State. Alaska is full of natural wonders, but our manmade wonders are also marvels, and Dan wanted to be part of building more of those marvels for our State and for our country. prgtoken He first arrived in the North Slope Borough--the top of the world--to help the community build up their infrastructure and strengthen the Alaskan Native villages in the area. It was a time of enormous change for all of Alaska, particularly the North Slope. Oil from the North Slope Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in North America, had recently begun to flow down the Trans-Alaska System for 800 miles. The largest land claims act in U.S. history, the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act, had recently passed, and the governments in rural Alaska were being formed and reformed to take advantage of these opportunities. prgtoken After Dan went back to school to receive a master's degree in business administration from Gonzaga, he made his way back to Alaska again to serve as chief financial officer and chief administrative officer for Alaska's North Slope Borough, where he launched an ambitious and ultimately successful capital plan to provide basic necessities that so many Americans take for granted, like running water and sewer, prgtoken those kinds of services, to the villages throughout the North Slope Borough, again, on the top of the world. prgtoken According to Bill Tracey, Sr from Point Lay, which is one of the villages there, who was a coworker at the time, ``Dan's excellent work ethic and skills earned him the respect of the North Slope leaders. . . . His accomplishments were remarkable.'' prgtoken With his beautiful and spirited wife Elaine always b
ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION
Bob Corker (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-4-4

section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. prgtoken In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications which have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1304, SELF-INSURANCE PROTECTION ACT
Bradley Byrne (Republican, AL) \u2014 2017-4-4

in 2010, then-President said: ``If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it.'' prgtoken Unfortunately, at least 4.7 million Americans now know that was simply not true. Care was a takeover of the American healthcare system. The law's mandates have been burdensome, destroying 300,000 small-business jobs and forcing an estimated 10,000 small businesses to close. Premiums are skyrocketing, and choices are dwindling. prgtoken House Resolution 241 provides for the consideration of H.R. 1304, the Self-Insurance Protection Act, an important part of the effort to repair the damage Care has done to insurance markets. More than 150 million Americans--62 percent of workers--receive their health insurance from their employer. In fact, almost all firms with at least 200 or more employees offer health benefits, and just over half of smaller firms with 3 to 199 employees offer health insurance. prgtoken Overwhelmingly, Americans and their employers like this system of employer-sponsored health care; and for many years, employer health plans have been successfully regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA. prgtoken Typically, small and large employers offer healthcare coverage to employees either in self-funded arrangements or purchase fully insured plans from an insurer. prgtoken Under self-insurance plans, employers cover the costs of their employees' medical expenses. Employers can either process claims in- house or work with a third-party administrator to oversee and implement the plans. prgtoken ERISA regulates both fully insured and self-insured plans, but only self-insured plans are exempt from the patchwork of mandates imposed under State insurance law. Furthermore, employer-sponsored self-insured plans are not subject to the same requirements under Care, as are fully insured plans. prgtoken Thus, self-insurance plans are desirable and successful because they are free from many government restrictions and regulations and allow employers to tailor their plans to meet the unique needs of their employees and to innovate. prgtoken For example, these plans do not require employees to purchase government-mandated coverage options that their employees do not want or need. This helps lower costs for working families while ensuring access to high-quality health care. prgtoken In hearings before the Education and the Workforce Committee, on which I sit, we heard testimony that today self-insurance is often the only way employers can afford coverage, thanks to the burdens of Care. prgtoken , in Alabama, we like to say: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Prior to Care, there were problems in our Nation's healthcare system, but the successful model of employer self-insurance wasn't one of them. Today, self-insurance remains perhaps the best way for employers to provide health care to their workers. prgtoken Unfortunately, the prior administration seemed i
Thanking Senators and Staff (Executive Calendar)
James M. Inhofe (Republican, OK) \u2014 2017-4-4

when we lost the Honorable Justice Antonin Scalia, we were all saddened, as he was such a legend on the Court, and I am very proud that President nominated a successor who is worthy of fulfilling his shoes. prgtoken Judge Gorsuch has garnered respect and approval from people across the legal community, and he has unrivaled bipartisan support. It is unfortunate that the have tried to block his nomination. It is not going to work, but they have tried. prgtoken Recently, I had the honor of meeting Judge Gorsuch. It is kind of interesting because I was not on his list to visit. In fact, I had even said: Don't waste your time on me, as I know your credentials and I am going to support you anyway, and I am not on the appropriate committees that would pass judgment. Yet he did call, and we met. I will tell you that you have to meet and talk to the guy in person to know what kind of an individual he really is. prgtoken Of course, being from Oklahoma, I am sensitive to the fact that he is the son of the West. In fact, none of our Justices up there, with the exception of California, are from what we would call the Western United States--the area where people need to be properly represented. prgtoken As a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, he has heard from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and my State of Oklahoma. He knows the issues of the Western States and what we are facing, and he has expertise to deal with them. He has handled with a lot of care and fairness the issues that have come before him. Of course, we know this because Oklahoma is in the Tenth Circuit. prgtoken His reputation is such that, regardless of party affiliation, countless groups, organizations, and individuals have come out in support of Judge Gorsuch, including Neal Katyal. Neal Katyal was the Acting Solicitor General in President 's Cabinet, so he was a Cabinet member of President 's. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times. Keep in mind, when you listen to this--this is a quote from an op-ed piece in the New York Times, and one of the individuals from the administration of President said this: ``His years on the bench reveal a commitment to judicial independence--a record that should give the American people confidence that he will not compromise principle to favor the President who appointed him.'' prgtoken That comes from an appointee. prgtoken Not only is he well liked, but he also has an impressive resume, serving as law clerk to two different Supreme Court Justices. He attended Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, and it doesn't get any better than that. It is clear he has the qualifications, and as recently as the last administration, that was really all you needed to be confirmed to be on the U.S. Supreme Court. prgtoken What the have done to block his nomination has never been done before. This is significa
NOMINATION OF NEIL GORSUCH
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-4-4

later today, due to the threat of an unprecedented partisan filibuster, I will file cloture on the nomination of Judge Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It should be unsettling to everyone that our colleagues across the aisle have brought the Senate to this new low, and on such an impressive nominee with such broad bipartisan support. prgtoken Judge Gorsuch is independent, he is fair, he has one of the most impressive resumes we will ever see, and he has earned the highest possible rating from the group the ic leader called the ``gold standard'' for evaluating judicial nominations. No one seriously disputes his sterling credentials to serve on the Court. Yet, in the Judiciary Committee, withheld support from him. On the floor, said they will launch a partisan filibuster against him-- something s have never done. No one in the Senate conference has ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. Not one has ever done that. prgtoken Later today, colleagues will continue to debate the nomination of Judge Gorsuch. They will discuss how completely unprecedented it would be for to actually follow through on this filibuster threat to actually block an up-or-down vote for this nominee even though a bipartisan majority of the Senate supports his nomination and what the negative consequences would be for the Senate if they succeed. I will be listening with interest. I hope Senators in both parties will listen as well. ``There has never been,'' as the New York Times and others reported last week, ``a successful partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee.'' Never in the history of our country. Not once in the nearly 230-year history of the Senate. prgtoken The last time a President nominated someone to the Supreme Court, tried to filibuster him too. That was Samuel Alito in 2006. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Even former President , who as a Senator participated in that effort, now admits that he regrets joining that filibuster effort. prgtoken are now being pushed by far-left interest groups into doing something truly detrimental to this body and to our country. They seem to be hurtling toward the abyss this time and trying to take the Senate with them. They need to reconsider. prgtoken Perhaps they will recall their own words from the last time they flirted with a partisan Supreme Court filibuster. Back then, the current top on the Judiciary Committee said she opposed attempts to filibuster Supreme Court nominees. ``[Just because the nominee] is a man I might disagree with,'' she said, ``that doesn't mean he shouldn't be on the court.'' She said the filibuster should be reserved for something truly outrageous. prgtoken Yesterday, the top on the Judiciary Committee announced her intention to filibuster the Supreme Court nominee before us because
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1343, ENCOURAGING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ACT of 2017
Ken Buck (Republican, CO) \u2014 2017-4-4

the balance of my time. prgtoken , we often talk about coming together in support of good policy. We all have friends on both sides of the aisle, and we routinely promise to work together on issues upon which we agree. Most of us speak in front of our constituents about our desire to work with the other party. However, we all know that Americans perceive us to be constantly engaged in partisan conflict. prgtoken It is unfortunate that we are not able to work together on good legislation more often. It is understandable that Americans feel disappointed by Washington's partisan sniping. But here before us today is a bill with wide bipartisan support. Not only has it already received numerous bipartisan votes, there were only two amendments offered to the bill. One amendment was withdrawn because it was not germane. The other amendment from my good friend from Colorado and the Rules Committee, Mr. Polis, is simply requiring a report. prgtoken Why is this bill so noncontroversial? prgtoken I believe it has to do with the process by which we received this legislation. The Committee on Financial Services held hearings as far back as 2015 in which problems with the SEC rule were raised by small- business owners. prgtoken The sponsor of this bill, Mr. Hultgren, worked with his ic prgtoken colleagues on the committee and introduced a proposal to reform the SEC rule. Chairman Hensarling held a full committee markup last month which allowed for full debate and amendment, and now we have the bill on the floor this week. Good process produces good policy. But perhaps equally as important, good process helps instill faith in this institution. When Americans see us take up an issue, hear their concerns, and work together to find a commonsense solution, they will trust us to tackle even bigger problems. prgtoken This may not be the largest legislative product that Chairman Hensarling and the Financial Services Committee produce in this Congress, but, nevertheless, it is an important work that is helping us solve problems faced by American small businesses. This legislation ensures that the employees of America's small businesses can take ownership in their companies and their jobs. It reduces regulatory encroachment on America's job creators and helps our small businesses expand and grow. prgtoken I thank Representative Hultgren for bringing this bill before us. I commend Chairman Hensarling for working with both sides of the aisle and for following a good process on this legislation. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule and vote ``yes'' on the bill.