mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
TRIBUTE TO BONNIE KIND
Thad Cochran (Republican, MS) \u2014 2017-12-5

I am pleased to commend Bonnie Kind, who has dedicated her professional career to serving the American people since starting her career with the Social Security Administration, SSA, as a student trainee more than 40 years ago. Bonnie currently serves as the Associate Commissioner for Budget and principal adviser to the SSA Chief Financial Officer. In her current role, she has provided vigilance and stewardship of the agency's approximately $1 trillion program budget and nearly $12 billion administrative budget. prgtoken Bonnie has earned the respect and gratitude of many on Capitol Hill for her diligence and assistance in making sure Members and staff have reliable information on which to make budget and appropriations decisions. She has excelled at developing relationships over the decades as she educated congressional staff about the Social Security budget. Those dealings, combined with her understanding of the Federal budget process and political knowledge, have helped Congress understand the SSA budget and the service the agency provides. prgtoken As importantly, Bonnie provides executive leadership and direction to SSA in administering a comprehensive program of budget policy, formulation, presentation, and execution. She secures and manages the financial resources needed by the agency and its employees to serve the public and to ensure stewardship of Social Security programs and resources. prgtoken Prior to her tenure as Associate Commissioner for Budget, Bonnie served as the comptroller and chief financial officer for the National Security Agency where she oversaw financial management, accounting, and budgeting activities. Before that, she served as the deputy associate commissioner of the SAA Office of Financial prgtoken Policy and Operations. Bonnie earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Maryland and a masters of business administration from Loyola University of Maryland. She also holds a number of professional certifications, including certified public accountant, certified government financial manager, certified defense financial manager, and certified acquisition professional. prgtoken Congress depends on the extensive expertise of dedicated public servants like Bonnie Kind. I extend my appreciation and congratulations to her for 40 years of dedicated service to the American people. I wish her the best in her retirement.
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
David N. Cicilline (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2017-12-6

my friends on the other side of the aisle made a number of arguments about how, if everyone has a concealed weapon, America will be safer. prgtoken , I have two studies here which directly rebut that: prgtoken A 2017 Stanford University study found that in States that adopted the most permissive concealed carry laws, violent crime is 13 to 15 percent higher than it would have been had the State retained a more restrictive law; prgtoken A 2017 study by researchers at Boston University found that States with shall-issue laws had a 10.6 percent higher handgun homicide rate, consistent with the results of the Stanford study. prgtoken Both of those empirical studies disprove the claim that we make America safer if everyone carries a hidden, loaded firearm.
DACA RECIPIENTS LOSE THEIR PROTECTION FROM DEPORTATION
Luis V. Gutiérrez (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2017-12-6

every day that Congress does not pass the Dream Act, 122 DACA recipients lose their protection from deportation. That is 122 every day--young people who arrived in the U.S. as children, have gone through multiple background checks, and have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. prgtoken Every week that passes, nearly 1,000 DACA recipients lose their protection from deportation. By Christmas, the number of DACA recipients who will have lost protection will reach 13,492. prgtoken But now we are hearing that we may have a short-term CR or a series of CRs and that the whole budget and funding debate may get kicked down the road to next year when all 800,000 young immigrants who signed up for DACA begin losing their status. prgtoken , with s in control of the House, Senate, and White House, I am pretty sure you will not need my vote to pass the next budget. So I will vote against any short-term CR because I assume you have the votes to govern as you see fit no matter how much I and other disagree with your priorities on women, on children's healthcare, the environment, or DREAMers. prgtoken Now, if s decide they do need help from to approve a budget, they know where to find us, and we are more than willing to help if what we are voting on meets minimal standards of priorities for the American people. For me and a lot of my colleagues, that means a vote on the Dream Act right now this year. prgtoken The votes are here, the legislation is here, and the American people are already in support. So, , at some point, leadership should just get out of the way and let America vote. That is what leadership, compromise, and bipartisanship look like. prgtoken Now, we certainly know what it doesn't look like. In the middle of the night last weekend, s voted to give a tax cut to the richest Americans. They dressed it up as a tax cut for all of us--for everyone--but we all know that it is an obscene tax cut for the obscenely wealthy and rich in America. prgtoken Not a single in either House supported it. This chart explains part of the reason. It is tremendously unpopular with the American people as the small slice in red on this chart shows us. According to a Gallup poll, just 29 percent of Americans support the tax cut for billionaires and the multinational corporations. That is what partisanship looks like. prgtoken So what does bipartisanship look like? It looks like the Dream Act. Overall, 86 percent of Americans support the Dream Act, a bill to legalize immigration status of immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Yes, 86 percent. That is a big slice of red on the chart. That number comes--get this--from a FOX News poll, just in case you think I was using a partisan poll where they put their thumb on the scale to show things in my favor. Sixty-three percent of voters back citizenship for the DREAMers. prgtoken So her
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2017-12-6

just this morning, a newspaper here on the Hill had an article with the headline ``Experts find tax plan riddled with glitches.'' That is because, without a single hearing on the legislation, last week the majority rushed through a complete overhaul of America's Tax Code for the first time in 31 years, and we never had the opportunity to have full consideration of the merits of the proposal. We have now discovered that they have even screwed up the research and development tax credit, which is something American businesses rely on every single day. prgtoken This process, I am sad to say, was no accident. Had we had time to digest and debate this bill in the full light of day, it would have never withstood public scrutiny. My hope is that over the coming week or so, when the American public can actually see what is in this bill, it will not withstand their scrutiny. prgtoken Instead of making an honest case to the people, which they deserve, the proponents of this bill have sold this legislation not based on what is actually in this bill but with falsehood after falsehood. prgtoken First, they claim that the tax cuts wouldn't benefit the wealthiest Americans. Last week in Missouri, President said: This is going to cost me a fortune. . . . This is not good for me. prgtoken That was entirely consistent with a conversation that I was part of-- which has also been reported publicly, so I am not revealing any confidences--when the President called in from Asia to a room full of Senators and said that this tax bill is so bad for the rich, that he had to throw in the estate tax on top of it in order to give wealthy Americans something, and he continues to perpetuate this myth in front of the American people. prgtoken The reality is that under this plan, the 572,000 taxpayers in America who are fortunate enough to make $1 million or more will have an average tax cut of $59,000. By 2027, 62 percent of the benefits in this plan will go to the top 1 percent--those with an income level of over $2 million. As I said on the floor last week, we are borrowing $34 billion from our children to give to the approximately 500,000 taxpayers in America who are lucky enough to earn more than $1 million. prgtoken The point I want to make today is, that claim is false. prgtoken They also say that this plan is focused on the middle class. Last week, President said: ``The beating heart of our plan is a tax cut for working families.'' Under this plan, in the first and best year--and when I say ``best year,'' this means the year that the tables look the best for the argument, for the sponsors of the bill. Every year after that, it gets worse. The 90 million taxpayers in America who make $50,000 or less will get an average tax cut of $160 a year. That is what they will get on average. Millions of middle-class taxpayers, under this bill, will actually see a tax increase if this law passes, and
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2017-12-6

Moody's Investors Service is one of America's credit rating agencies. It is not an environmental organization. It doesn't have any activity in the debate over climate change. That is not what it does. What Moody's does is to analyze the ability of companies and government agencies that issue debt to meet those debt obligations. These Moody's ratings matter because they determine the interest rates that States, counties, municipalities, and companies must pay. prgtoken There was some interesting news last week. Moody's declared it is time for cities, counties, and States along our coasts--Alaska is an example of a State with a lot of coast--to wake up to the growing risk of climate change. Moody's has adopted credit indicators ``to assess the exposure and overall susceptibility of U.S. States to the physical effects of climate change.'' prgtoken The managing director said this: What we want people to realize is: If you're exposed, we know that. We're going to ask questions about what you're doing to mitigate that exposure. prgtoken Moody's looked particularly at coasts and at the share of a State's economic activity generated by its coasts and coastal communities. It counts the amount of homes built on flood plains, and the risk of extreme weather damage in that State or community as a share of the State's economy. ``That is taken into your credit ratings,'' Moody's said. prgtoken It makes sense, obviously. Communities that face rising seas that face heavier storms, that face increased flood damage will bear greater costs of mitigation and repair. If property values drop as a result, so does revenue. Moody's realizes that investors need to take that information into account in analyzing bonds. So it is going into the Moody's ratings. prgtoken Think about that. The truth of climate science has gone beyond the warnings of scientists, which we ought to have heeded a long time ago. You have outstanding scientists at the University of Alaska who are studying ocean acidification, sea level changes, all of that--and we probably would have listened to those scientists but for the influence of the fossil fuel industry here. The truth of climate science has gone beyond the warnings of government agencies, national laboratories, and our military services--warnings which have been there for a long time and which we also ought to have heeded and probably would have but for the political influence of the fossil fuel industry. It has even gone beyond the warnings of our coastal States and communities and the coastal regulators, even beyond the warnings of the insurance and reinsurance industries--all of which we have refused to heed to placate the fossil fuel lobbyists--but now the financial referees who score credit risk are baking climate change risks into the assessment of coastal communities' credit-worthiness. prgtoken Moody's is not going to assess this risk just in blue States. Coasta
CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017
Joseph Crowley (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-12-6

I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken I must have missed something in my religious training. Were there 11 Commandments by God? I know about the first 10, but I missed that 11th one that thou shall have the ability to bear arms. I missed that one, that God-given right. prgtoken Was it a God-given right for someone to take that God-given right and execute 58 people at a concert? Was that a God-given right? prgtoken , the American people have spoken with nearly a unanimous voice. They want Congress to keep their families safe by passing commonsense gun safety legislation, legislation that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals; protections that will keep those who want to cause terror in our churches, in our schools, at concerts, and in our communities from getting those firearms. prgtoken The bill before us does the exact opposite. It would force States like New York to weaken their own gun safety laws and allow concealed carry. It puts families like yours and mine at risk. And for what? To appease the NRA? That is shameful. prgtoken In the 66 days since the Las Vegas massacre, Congress has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to address the clear loopholes in our laws that allowed one man to kill and injure so many. prgtoken It has been 66 days since numerous s denounced the bump stocks and promised a fix, only to turn around and do this bill. At a time when we have seen one horrific mass shooting after another, s are forcing through a bill that will put each and every American in harm's way. What is more, this egregious proposal comes days before the fifth anniversary of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook. prgtoken This will put us in further danger of another Las Vegas, another Orlando, and another Sandy Hook. The American people are sick and tired of this. They want this Congress to protect them, not enable criminals.
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2017-12-6

I rise today to talk about Dreamers in Virginia. Congress is engaged in a discussion about many topics in December, one of which is what to do about the DACA Program. A couple of months ago, President said he was going to terminate the DACA Executive order of President in 6 months. That would be in early March, unless Congress found a resolution. prgtoken I am gratified that many of us are having discussions about what that resolution might be. In particular, I want to acknowledge that 35 House s yesterday signed on to a letter that was led by Virginia Representative Scott Taylor, from the Hampton Roads area, saying: We need to fix this, and we need to fix this by the end of the year. prgtoken I want these discussions to continue. In Virginia, there are about 13,500 Dreamers. I want to tell a few of their stories and why Virginia is a better State because of them and why, I think, the Nation is a better country because of the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who are contributing to the diverse richness of this country. Let me talk about a few of the Virginia Dreamers I have met in the last few months. prgtoken The first is the pretty astounding story of Gloria Oduyoye. Gloria is a child of parents who are Nigerian. She was born in England, and her parents brought her to the United States when she was 1 year old. Her dad is a doctor and came to practice medicine and work on a work visa, but then her dad became ill and could no longer work. As a result, the work visa expired. Gloria then became undocumented when her father's visa expired. prgtoken Gloria was not aware that she was undocumented until she was about to start college, and her parents had to tell her the full story. Gloria is a remarkable, remarkable young woman. She went to Wesleyan College on a scholarship and graduated. Then, she enrolled at William & Mary Law School. prgtoken Gloria is scheduled to graduate this month. When she does, she will be the first DACA student to get a law degree in Virginia and only the fourth DACA recipient in the United States to get a law degree. She is bound and determined. She said: I am going to be the first undocumented student to get a law degree in Virginia, and I am going to be the first undocumented lawyer in Virginia, and I am going to be the first undocumented judge in Virginia. prgtoken She is very, very focused upon her studies. She has been very involved with the National Black Law Students Association, the Immigration Law and Service Society, and the Virginia Intercollegiate Immigrants' Association for the last 3 years. prgtoken I have had a chance to meet Gloria. She is a tremendous, tremendous young lady. That is Gloria. prgtoken Andreas Magnusson is in Richmond. He has an unusual story. Andreas is Swedish. He is a Swedish-born music producer and mixer. His parents brought him to the United States when he was 2 years old. This is the only home that he has ever known.
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Al Green (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2017-12-6

pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House. prgtoken The form of the resolution is as follows: prgtoken Impeaching , President of the United States, of high misdemeanors. prgtoken Resolved, that , President of the United States is unfit to be President and is impeached for high misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate: prgtoken Articles of Impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States, in the name of itself and of the people of the United States, against , President of the United States, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high misdemeanors committed as President constituting harm to American society to the manifest injury of the people of the United States: prgtoken Article I. prgtoken In his capacity as President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his high office and the dignity and proprieties thereof, and of the harmony and courtesies necessary for stability within the society of the United States, has with his statements done more than insult individuals and groups of Americans, he has harmed the society of the United States, brought shame and dishonor to the office of President of the United States, sowing discord among the people of the United States by associating the majesty and dignity of the presidency with causes rooted in White supremacy, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, White nationalism, or neo-Nazism on one or more of the following occasions: prgtoken On August 15, 2017, made a widely published statement characterizing a group of anti-Semites, bigots, racists, White nationalists, and Ku Klux Klansmen who rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, as ``very fine people.'' prgtoken On August 7, 2017, hate groups returned to Charlottesville, Virginia, at the statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, chanting ``You will not replace us!''. Since this event on October 7, the President has made many widely published statements about many things, including the National Football League, but has not made one widely published statement condemning the hate groups for returning to the place where an innocent person lost her life at the hands of hate. prgtoken On November 29, 2017, shared three videos posted by a leader of a British political party considered by many to be an extremist group. The videos purported to show various violent acts committed by Muslims and were entitled: ``Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!''; ``Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!''; and ``Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!''. The clearly inferable intent of the post was to demonstrate the alleged propensity of Muslim immigrants to engage in violent acts. Even if the videos showed w
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2017-12-6

. and colleagues, the tax plan is now racing to completion in secrecy and shame. s are finishing it in secret because it is a shameful scheme the American people overwhelmingly oppose. prgtoken Today the Senate is going to debate whether to go to conference with the House to resolve the differences between the two plans that the s have passed on a wholly partisan basis. Not a single in the House and not a single in the Senate is in support of this bill. I think it is clear that the conference committee that will meet in the days ahead is nothing more than theater. It is not going to be an honest debate in the light of day. There will not be an honest debate that the American people can listen to on the prospect of $10 trillion worth of tax policy changes that will reach into corners of every part of this country and every household in America. prgtoken The truth is, s from the other body and the Senate are hashing out differences right now--right now, behind closed doors. They are packing the bill with even more goodies, even more loopholes for the well connected and special interests. There is no telling what swamp creatures have crawled up to Capitol Hill to get their fingers on this bill at the eleventh hour. The basic proposition on offer is this: taking money and healthcare away from middle-class Americans to pay for tax cuts for the multinational corporations, the powerful, and the well connected. That proposition isn't going to change. Apparently, now the administration is calling for more speed and even more secrecy, just so the President can claim a victory and s in Congress can appease megadonors, who made it clear they are frustrated by a sputtering agenda. prgtoken What unfolded here last week is a black mark on this storied institution of the Senate. It was the climax of a process marred by recklessness and partisanship. This took place after 17 moderate ic Senators tried again last week, while the Senate still had the opportunity, to have a bipartisan plan. Well, I renewed my plan, my ideas--the only two bipartisan Federal income tax reform bills in decades, written by senior s and moderate Senators. Bipartisan plans were discussed yet again last week before the Senate took off on this reckless course. prgtoken Senators did come to the floor last Wednesday and Thursday prepared for a debate, but it was cut short by the partisan reconciliation process--just 20 hours, evenly divided between the two sides. Wednesday turned into Thursday, and there was no final bill. Then Thursday became Friday, and still s had their plan hidden in the shadows. Then on late Friday--late Friday, well after dark--I was handed, personally, a new version of a 500-page bill by a key official in the caucus who said: Here is the bill. prgtoken There was no opportunity for review or debat