mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 7608, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Tom Emmer (Republican, MN) \u2014 2020-7-23

. Madam , the conversation we are having here today does not need to be as divisive and destructive to hardworking Minnesotans as my colleagues from Minnesota are pushing. prgtoken Today, I stand with the Representative of northern Minnesota, Pete Stauber, who is advocating for those Minnesotans who will be directly impacted by this shortsighted effort. We both firmly believe that American mining is the safest and environmentally responsible way to help America. prgtoken We have been told, time and time again, not this mine, not this location. Unfortunately, the reality is, our colleagues want to ban all mining. They want to eliminate good-paying jobs in construction--labor--and allow countries like China and Russia to utilize child labor and environmentally disastrous practices to mine for the minerals our everyday items need, like cellphones and cars. prgtoken This bill doesn't simply attack the future of mining. It impacts existing mines in operation today. This bill will decimate those jobs. prgtoken I urge all of our colleagues to vote against this rule and the bill in order to preserve mining in our great State. It will also help secure America's mineral independence and give miners the opportunity to do what they do best, mine responsibly in our country for the benefit of all Americans.
WELLES DECLARATION ANNIVERSARY
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2020-7-23

on this very day in 1940, Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles issued a statement outlining U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic States. It began: ``During these past few days the devious processes whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic Republics--Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania--were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.'' prgtoken It expressed the sympathy of the people of the United States for democratic self-government and, at the same time, articulated the policy of the United States to oppose predatory activities using force or the threat of force or any intervention in the affairs of another sovereign state. The United States continued to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic States throughout about 50 years of Soviet occupation. prgtoken Things that go around come around. Now we have a historical footnote. Vladimir Putin has been trying to rewrite this history for his own devious purposes--reverting to the absurd Soviet claim that the Baltics in 1940 joined the Soviet Union voluntarily. prgtoken There are also clear parallels we ought to take notice of to this current Russian occupation of parts of the Republic of Georgia and the Ukraine. The principles in Secretary of State Welles' Declaration are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.
REST IN PEACE, JOHN LEWIS
Kevin McCarthy (Republican, CA) \u2014 2020-7-23

in ``The Columbian Orator,'' a collection of speeches that Frederick Douglass read as a young man, there is a speech that says: ``Let it be remembered, there is no luxury so exquisite as the exercise of humanity, and no post so honorable as his, who defends the rights of man.'' prgtoken Now, I don't know if Douglass read those exact words, but I do know a man who embodied them better than anyone else in my lifetime: John Lewis. John's legacy is his love of country and humanity. He rose above prejudice and responded to force with forgiveness. prgtoken In his time, there was a lot that he couldn't love about America, but he never gave up on it or wanted to destroy it. Instead, he used what is right with America to fix what was wrong with it. prgtoken Because of his patriotism, our Nation has come a long way, not perfect, but more perfect, as we must always strive to be. prgtoken John was unquestionably one of the great champions of freedom in the modern age, and he secured his place as a giant in American history long before his career in Congress even began. prgtoken Born on a farm without running water or power, the son of a sharecropper rose to become a founding leader of the civil rights movement by the age of 23. As a young student, he showed courage and patience and dignity beyond his years. prgtoken From his lunch counter sit-ins, to the Freedom Riders, to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, his unflinching example of nonviolence was a powerful call to arms. It was made irresistible by the fact that he, like Dr. King, sought to vindicate the core ideas of our founding documents by applying them to everyone. prgtoken Today, our task is to continue to uphold these timeless principles for all people. It will not be easy, but I am confident we will succeed, because we have the memories of leaders like John to guide us and inspire us. prgtoken I have several memories of my friendship with John that I will always treasure. prgtoken I remember my last time speaking with him, just 2 weeks before he passed away, talking about the latest uprising in America. I asked if John would spend a moment in time and do a conference call with the freshmen. They had not had the opportunity to walk through Selma with him to give them the example of which he lived. prgtoken You see, my family and I have joined John many times in Selma, but the one that I will remember the most is on the 50th anniversary. To think for a moment that 50 years before, John came very close to death, and on that day 50 years later, he was introducing the President of the United States. Not only the idea that John would stand for all, he always had the patience to tell a student about what it was like before. prgtoken I remember at the State of the Union of 2015, there was Amelia Boynton Robinson. You see, she was with John that day 50 years prior, and she came here in hopes of meeting President . She came by my office. And before, we stopped by John's o
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Scott Perry (Republican, PA) \u2014 2020-7-23

. Madam , I thank the ranking member, Ms. Granger from Texas. prgtoken I have three amendments included in this en bloc amendment. prgtoken The first one prohibits any funds in the State and Foreign Ops Division from being provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA. prgtoken In 2018, President made the correct decision to defund UNRWA. Unfortunately, this bill seeks to reverse course and provide funding to this organization. prgtoken I remind everybody, this organization, rather than pursuing its mission, chooses to foster and promote and anti-Semitism and violence against Israelis. In spite of repeated demands by the U.S UNRWA continues this kind of abhorrent behavior. prgtoken The second amendment prohibits the EPA from using funds in this bill to take retaliatory actions against States that fall short of the EPA- mandated Chesapeake Bay TMDL. prgtoken In 2010, the EPA seized the States' authority to determine their own method of compliance and threatened to take over the water quality plans if the States failed to comply. prgtoken These coercive measures have been tried and have failed. Water quality has not improved since the federalization of the Bay clean-up efforts. Preventing EPA from taking retaliatory action is imperative to the success of these efforts. prgtoken The final one prohibits the EPA from using funds pursuant to Section 115 of the Clean Air Act. prgtoken Section 115 of the Clean Air Act allows the EPA to mandate State emissions levels to whatever level the agency deems appropriate: if they find emissions endanger a foreign nation; and the endangered nation has a reciprocal agreement to prevent or control these emissions in their own nation. prgtoken I urge adoption of these amendments.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Rick W. Allen (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-7-23

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , once again this Congress is being asked to vote on an enormous spending package after being produced in just the last few weeks. prgtoken How can the American people possibly have time to learn where their tax dollars are going? prgtoken Today, we are considering amendments to a four-bill, 689-page package that totals $219.6 billion in discretionary spending, plus another $37.5 billion in emergency spending. prgtoken The bills in this package spend billions on top of what the current budget agreement allows, and they also contain partisan poison pills, like overturning the administration's Mexico City Policy, allowing foreign organizations to receive Federal funds, even if they perform abortions. prgtoken Let me underscore, under the majority, we can't even stick to the budget that was agreed to. prgtoken As a former business owner--and if you talk to any business owner, they will tell you the same thing--you have to operate within a budget. prgtoken Every day, families across this country are sitting down at the kitchen table making tough choices to live within their means. prgtoken I am appalled by the lack of fiscal responsibility being shown by this body today as we seem to hold ourselves to a different standard than American workers and families. prgtoken Unfortunately, that is just business as usual in the 116th Congress. prgtoken The level of appropriations for State Department and Foreign Operations, which is what this amendment is specifically targeting, is $8.5 billion higher than Fiscal Year 2020, an increase of nearly 15 percent. prgtoken The bill continues funding normal activities through Overseas Contingency Operations, rather than through the normal funding accounts, which is a mechanism that was originally set up to avoid spending constraints. prgtoken My amendment today is simple. It would reduce State and Foreign Operations spending by 5 percent for Fiscal Year 2021. If you do the math, my amendment would cut about $3.3 billion. prgtoken Even with my modest 5 percent cut, this division would still increase spending for Fiscal Year 2021 compared to Fiscal Year 2020. prgtoken I believe my ic colleagues should support my amendment, since they will still be spending a lot of your hard-earned money, just a bit less than they initially intended. prgtoken I want to be clear, though. I do not want to cut funding going towards our cherished and critical ally, Israel. prgtoken I also want to know that our diplomatic efforts abroad are necessary. In fact, my son is currently living overseas and working on behalf of our Nation's interests. But it is important that we look at the balance sheet and make cuts wherever possible. prgtoken We can no longer neglect our national debt crisis, and my colleagues must take a serious look at Washington spending and start to take back control. prgtoken For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must act
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Michael T. McCaul (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-7-23

the Chinese Communist Party's aggression and malign conduct grows more severe each day. The CCP's malfeasance allowed the COVID-19 outbreak to become a global pandemic, causing untold economic destruction. They conduct militarized territorial aggression against most countries that border China. The CCP is pioneering a new form of colonialism, degrading the sovereignty of developing nations through debt and corruption, extracting resources and military outposts. They have orchestrated the largest transfer of wealth in human history prgtoken through state-directed economic espionage against the United States and other advanced economies. And the CCP is responsible for the gravest human rights atrocities occurring in the 21st century. The evidence is manifest that the malign influence of the CCP is the greatest United States foreign policy challenge of this generation. It affects every one of our states and districts, a fact that was underscored this week by the closure of China's Houston consulate in response to multiple instances of economic espionage. We must sustain U.S. resources to counter this threat, so I am grateful that my amendment has been included in a bipartisan en bloc package for H.R. 7608, the Fiscal Year 2021 State, Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. My amendment will partially restore the prior fiscal year's funding levels for the Countering Chinese Influence Fund, helping to ensure that appropriate resources are available to address this generational challenge. I'm glad that the House will address our leading foreign policy priority on a bipartisan basis, and thank my colleagues for supporting this measure to sustain U.S. resources to counter the malign influence of the CCP.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Executive Session)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2020-7-23

reserving the right to object, the CARES Act provides an additional $600 per week to those who are receiving, through their States, unemployment insurance. In Wyoming we have a generous unemployment insurance program to help people who are out of work, and the CARES Act adds to that, essentially, a bonus payment of $600 additional per week. For a 40-hour workweek, that comes down to an average of about a $15-an-hour bonus for not being able to go back to work, and that is on top of their regular unemployment benefits. prgtoken Well, since the CARES Act has passed, what we have seen is that this additional $600 per week means that most recipients are paid more for not working than they would make if they actually were on the job working. This fact has been confirmed by news reports, by academic researchers, and by the Congressional Budget Office. prgtoken Even former administration Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, along with President 's Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, agrees that $600 per week on top of unemployment insurance through the States is too much. prgtoken We have ``help wanted'' signs all around my State. I talked to the people at unemployment insurance, who run the program. They tell me that they are having many people who are getting paid much more than if they would work, if they would take the jobs where you have employers out there hoping, looking for employees to come and work. prgtoken You can't continue to pay people more to not work than to work. Yet instead of trying to address this identifiable and correctible problem, today my colleagues are asking that we vote to extend the $600-per-week bonus payments and continue these untargeted payments for many months into the future. prgtoken As a matter of fact, Nancy Pelosi, of the House, living on Fantasy Island, wants to extend these for 6 more months, all the way until the end of January. The CBO and other researchers and economists have looked at this and said this would be a heavy wet blanket on the economy. It would prevent 10 million people from going back to work-- going all the way until the end of January. prgtoken It is likely that such a proposal would cost $1 trillion--$1 trillion--and much of that is we are talking about paying people to not work instead of helping people work. prgtoken So I hope my colleagues will join me in better targeting help to the unemployed in a way that doesn't pay people more when they are sitting at home not working than they would make at work. prgtoken We are working on a plan now to provide additional help for the unemployed if they can't go back to work because their job isn't there, isn't available; if, for health purposes, they can't go back to work; but do it in a way that the have claimed that they want to do but haven't even proposed. We need to make it much more closely aligned with lost wages. prgtoken So we are going to be introducing this plan short
TRIBUTE TO KIRK TAPLEY
Marco Rubio (Republican, FL) \u2014 2020-7-23

today I honor Kirk Tapley, the Alachua County Teacher of the Year at Howard Bishop Middle School in Gainesville, FL. prgtoken Kirk teaches advanced world history at Howard Bishop Middle School, where he was once a student. He considers it a privilege to teach in the same classroom where he first learned world history. His desire to give back to the school district that gave to him led Kirk to pursue his teaching career in Alachua County. prgtoken Colleagues know Kirk for his unconventional approach to teaching. To conduct review sessions, Kirk performs his own adaptations to popular songs, where he replaces well-known lyrics with history lessons as a way of helping students to retain what they are learning. prgtoken I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Kirk for his passion to teach and engage his students and extend my best wishes for his continued success.
BUDGET SCOREKEEPING REPORT
Michael B. Enzi (Republican, WY) \u2014 2020-7-23

I rise to submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for July 2020. This is my second scorekeeping report since I filed the deemed budget resolution for fiscal year 2021 on May 4, 2020, as required by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, BBA19. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts agreed to in BBA19. In the Senate, this information is used to determine whether budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation. The staff of the Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office prepared this report pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act. The information included in this report is current through July 17, 2020. prgtoken Since I filed the last scorekeeping report on June 4, 2020, three measures with significant enforceable budgetary effects have been enacted. Two of those measures, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, P.L. 116-142, and the Emergency Aid for Returning Americans Affected by Coronavirus Act, P.L. 116-148, were designated as emergencies by Congress and are not subject to budgetary enforcement. The third measure, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, P.L. 116- 149, increased both direct spending and revenues due to its imposed sanctions regime. Over the fiscal year 2021-2030 period, P.L. 116-149 would increase spending by $21 million and revenues by $28 million for a total deficit reduction of $7 million. prgtoken Budget Committee staff prepared Tables A-G. prgtoken Table A provides the amount by which each Senate authorizing committee exceeds or falls below its allocations for budget authority and outlays under the fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 deemed budget resolutions. This information is used for enforcing committee allocations pursuant to section 302 of the CBA. Committee compliance with allocation remains consistent with last month's report with the exception of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Passage of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act led to spending in excess of that committee's allowable levels over the fiscal year 2021-2025 and fiscal year 2021-2030 periods by $4 million and $21 million, respectively. Spending in this bill is largely due to increased receipts to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund that are then spent without further appropriation. prgtoken Tables B and C provide the amount by which the Senate Committee on Appropriations is below or exceeds the statutory spending limits. This information is used to determine points of order related to the spending caps found in sections 312 and 314 of the CBA. The tables show that the Appropriations Committee is compliant with spending limits for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The figures included in Table C reflect advanced and permanent appropriations that have already been enacted but will become available for obligation in fiscal year 2021. prgtoken Tables D and E displ
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Harold Rogers (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-7-23

I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. This bill funds a number of important programs that are part of our national security. While I believe there is room for a small reduction, taking cuts across the board is not an appropriate way to carry that out. prgtoken The amendment would cut everything across the bill, indiscriminately, and that includes the $3.3 billion, as has been mentioned, in foreign military financing for Israel. Reducing funding for Israel's security by $165 million, in addition to reductions to embassy security and other key investments, is ill-advised. There is a better way. prgtoken I urge Members to oppose the amendment.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Executive Session)
Mike Crapo (Republican, ID) \u2014 2020-7-23

reserving the right to object, we have discussed this before on the floor, and I will not go through that entirely in my part of the discussion here. prgtoken Four months ago with the CARES Act, we came together and unanimously passed a package that provided historic support, significant support, in the rental markets, as this request focuses on. I believe that in the coming days, we can come to that same kind of consensus and deal with this important issue. Because of that, I object.
ORDERS FOR MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-7-23

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 4 p.m Monday, July 27; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Hardy nomination, under the previous order.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Chris Stewart (Republican, UT) \u2014 2020-7-23

I rise today in opposition to amendment No. 69, sponsored by Representative Cohen from Tennessee, which is included in this en bloc. prgtoken While I appreciate the gentleman's concerns for our Nation's wild horse and burros, and I don't doubt that at all, the amendment is misguided and will actually end up hurting these animals more than it helps. prgtoken I have been working on this issue for more than 6 years. There is nothing more important to the rural part of my district than is this, yet none of the sponsors of this amendment came to me to talk about this amendment. If they had come, I could have saved them some time. prgtoken The amendment seeks to push the PZP contraceptive. The only problem with that is it doesn't work. Instead, we should allow research scientists and the BLM to do their jobs in determining the best way to manage these herds. prgtoken Tying their hands by earmarking 50 percent of the increase on PZP birth control doesn't allow them to follow the best science to maintain healthy herds and healthy ranges. If you care about these animals and if you don't want to see them starve to death, then, please, work with us, and let's defeat this amendment. prgtoken , I am going to conclude, if I have a few more seconds. We have a diverse and bipartisan group that has been working on this, as I have, for many years.