mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Rodney Davis (Republican, IL) \u2014 2020-8-22

the Postal Service is a lifeline to rural communities. While some Americans have had the opportunity to work from home during this prgtoken pandemic, our letter carriers and postmasters do not. They're working tirelessly to ensure people in every comer to the country are getting their mail and packages, which for our at-risk population, has been especially critical. prgtoken I've been supportive of the $25 billion in emergency funding included in this legislation and I'm relieved that at the urging of members like myself and the postal workers, a dangerous private right of action provision, which would have allowed trial lawyers to take advantage of the 2020 election, was removed. prgtoken As someone who has worked across the aisle to support the Postal Service, I was disappointed when it recently became a political weapon. prgtoken We should not be politicizing the Postal Service and in tum, the thousands of hardworking employees that serve each of our districts. prgtoken As Ranking Member of House Administration, I'll tell you that, while I'm supportive of this bill, it is not going to solve our election administration problems. prgtoken Despite early warnings from the Postal Service, at least eighteen states still have ballot request and return policies that are incompatible with their delivery standards, which significantly increases the risk of disenfranchising voters. prgtoken We saw hundreds of thousands of ballots during recent primaries across the country go uncounted for this very issue. NPR estimates nearly a half a million were rejected--disproportionately disenfranchising minority and younger voters. prgtoken Despite early warnings from the Postal Service, unrealistic ballot request and return policies continue to be one of the biggest impediments to ensuring every vote is counted. prgtoken A recent poll found 59 percent of Americans still prefer to vote in person, yet there's nothing in this bill to help states allow people to safely go to the polls. prgtoken So I'm not voting for this bill because I think the post office is trying to sabotage our elections, I'm voting for this bill because we're in the middle of a pandemic, the Postal Service is vital to our society, and they need our help. prgtoken And while I'm glad we're back here for a special session to help the Postal Service, I wish we were also voting on a deal to help our schools, small businesses, and the millions of people still out of work because of the pandemic.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Debbie Lesko (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I thank the gentleman for yielding. ``Nancy Pelosi Goes Politically Postal.'' That's the catchy title of a recent op-ed written by The Wall Street Journal editorial board, and that is the reason we are here today, for phony political theater to once again bash President just in time for the Sunday talk shows and the National Convention. And just like all the other times, the media will lap it right up. prgtoken Wouldn't it be nice if we were here today on a Saturday voting on a negotiated COVID relief package to help the American people that could actually be signed into law? But sadly, instead, we are here talking about a postal bill, one The Wall Street Journal editorial board called a ``made-for-TV phony political crisis.'' Boy, did they get that right. prgtoken Let's review the facts. prgtoken A task force recommends that the U.S. Postal Service overhaul their business model in order to return it to sustainability because expenses have outpaced revenue for 13 straight years, and they lost $8.8 billion in 2019 alone. prgtoken The new Postmaster General is unanimously selected by a bipartisan Board of Governors, not President . The Postmaster General starts making some changes in an attempt to make the post office more sustainable, as recommended by the task force--you know, similar to the types of changes that were made under the administration in the past. prgtoken The Postmaster General worries that some States allow voters to request mail-in ballots too close to the election day and is afraid that there is not enough turnaround time for those ballots to get back in time, so he sends a courtesy letter to those States, recommending they tell voters to mail in their ballots early so they can get them in time. prgtoken Guess what? freak out, blame , say he is trying to influence the election, even though doesn't have control over the Postmaster General, and run to the ever-so-willing media to spread a new conspiracy theory. prgtoken Seems insane but all too typical for the -hating to me. prgtoken But don't take my word for it, let's see what Stephen Kearney, a 33- year veteran employee, former Treasurer, and Senior Vice President of the U.S. Postal Service said: ``This conspiracy theory is the most far- flung thing I think I have ever heard.''
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Jim Jordan (Republican, OH) \u2014 2020-8-22

I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken , the talked about a slight delay in mail delivery the last several weeks. Well, of course. Would you want to deliver mail in Portland today, cities that have been under siege for 90-some days? I bet there are delays in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York. I bet that is where the delays are. prgtoken In fact, how do you deliver mail to a CHOP zone, to a CHAZ zone? How do you do that? They won't let them in. I mean, come on. We know the facts here. The facts are the post office has more money today than they had this time last year. prgtoken They got a $14 billion cash reserve. They got a $10 billion line of credit we gave them in the CARES Act. And oh, the Postmaster General is moving some sorting machines and removing some mail collection boxes, the same thing every Postmaster General has always done. In fact, between 2011 and 2016, the - administration removed 12,000 mail collection boxes. Oh, my goodness. And it is happening again. prgtoken We are moving some boxes, and somehow, that is a reason to give $25 billion to the Postal Service and create all this ``conspiracy theory''--not my words; The Wall Street Journal called it--that the are doing. prgtoken What is really going on here? If you really wanted to focus on some concerns the post office has, we have a bipartisan bill that the late Chairman Cummings and Mark Meadows worked on. Mark Meadows, I don't even think the --I know the chairwoman hasn't even talked to him about this, the expert on this issue on our side. Oh, by the way, he happens to have a pretty important job in this town, a pretty important job, and you guys didn't even talk to him. prgtoken They had a bipartisan bill. If you really want to work on bipartisan concerns and solutions to some problems in the post office, that is fine, but that is not what this is about. This is all about politics. prgtoken You don't want to address real issues, too busy defunding the police, too busy not denouncing the mob that is running so many of our cities. This is all about politics. prgtoken First, it was the Russian collusion. In this committee, it was the Michael Cohen hearing. I remember that, when he came, the first big hearing of this Congress. The first-announced witness of this committee came and lied to us seven times. Then, it was the Mueller report. Then, it was the Ukraine fake impeachment. And now, it is the White House is putting mailboxes in cages and whatever you are saying now. prgtoken , the American people see this for what it is. They see this for what it is. If you want real solutions, we could have had them. You could have worked with Chief of Staff Meadows. You didn't want to do that. You wanted politics. prgtoken This was said earlier: If anyone should know, it should be the chairwoman of this committee who had to wait 6 weeks after election day to get the results of her election.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Tom Cole (Republican, OK) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I want to thank my good friend for yielding and very much appreciate his leadership on our committee. prgtoken Madam , I want to rise to oppose both the rule and the underlying legislation. prgtoken Before I do, though, I include in the Record four newspaper articles discussing the majority's concern about the Postal Service. The first is a Wall Street Journal editorial; a column by Rich Lowry appearing in the New York Post; a column by Byron York, appearing in the Washington Examiner; and a column by Ruth Goldway, a former commissioner of the Postal Service, appearing in the New York Times. prgtoken All four articles make it clear that the majority's reasons for bringing this legislation, frankly, are ludicrous, and that what they are proposing actually will make it more difficult to reform. [From the Wall Street Journal, Aug. 17, 2020] Nancy Pelosi Goes Politically Postal (By the Editorial Board) Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back into session this week to address fears that the U.S. Postal Service is being infiltrated by alien lizard people posing as letter carriers. OK, it isn't quite that bad. The actual conspiracy theory holds that President is strangling the USPS to hack the November election. But talk about ``unsubstantiated,'' as the press likes to call 's Twitter emissions. should be deeply embarrassed that their leadership has embraced such claims. Two Congressmen, including ic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, wrote to the FBI on Monday to urge, if you can believe it, a criminal investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. ``This conspiracy theory is the most far-flung thing I think I've ever heard,'' says Stephen Kearney, who worked at the USPS for 33 years, including as treasurer and a senior vice president. ``DeJoy was not appointed by President ,'' but by the USPS's bipartisan governors. (Who, as it happens, selected him unanimously.) ``You can find valid operational reasons for the actions taken by the Postal Service so far,'' says Mike Plunkett, another longtime USPS executive who now leads the Association for Postal Commerce. ``In no way do I detect any criminality behind them, and I'm at a loss as to how one would reach that conclusion.'' The ic letter to the FBI cites news reports that the USPS is decommissioning hundreds of mail-sorting machines. But the context is that overall mail volume has fallen 33% since 2006. ``They've been taking machines out of service for years now, and I've been encouraging them to do it more aggressively,'' says Hamilton Davison, the president of the American Catalog Mailers Association. ``I think that's a good thing for America, because we don't want to pay for
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Louie Gohmert (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I thank my friend from Kentucky for yielding. prgtoken Madam , look, I am pleased that here are upset about what has happened to the post office. My regret is, you didn't get upset during the administration when they were shutting down our post offices, not just getting rid of 12,000 mailboxes, shutting down processing centers. In my district, when they shut down the Overton processing center, it meant mail going from Tyler to Longview, or vice versa, went to Dallas then to Shreveport and back. prgtoken The Deputy Attorney General came to my office--I had been demanding a meeting with the Postmaster General-- prgtoken but, oh, no. No time for that. They had no decency. They tried to say 390 miles would be cheaper and quicker than going 30 miles. prgtoken It is an outrage what the administration did, including their Postmaster General, who was in office until June 15 of this year. prgtoken Wake up. Let's complain about the post office during the years.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Michael C. Burgess (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken There is a sudden sense of urgency to address the financial stability of the Postal Service, but I would simply ask the body: Where was the sense of urgency from our House ic leadership at the start of the pandemic? prgtoken Look, I recognized in January this deal over in China was a bad deal, a novel virus, biological behavior not known, not worked out. prgtoken The Postal Service's problems did not surface this week. They have been going on for years. But the Postal Service will not go bankrupt tomorrow, and yet we have been called back here to vote on an issue that, quite frankly, is not going to get solved from today's activities. prgtoken But I called on the Committee on Energy and Commerce last February to do hearings on this novel coronavirus. My requests were ignored and then subsequently dismissed because we had other important work to do: horse racing, flavored tobacco, ticket stubs--any number of things-- other than work on the novel coronavirus. prgtoken But we could have provided support in the form of funding for vaccines and testing and more. We have done some of that in the short- term sense, but we could continue to support our Nation's pandemic response in additional ways, which is why I have introduced legislation that aligns with the legislation already existing in the Senate, where we could come together and provide our country with some of the critical resources necessary to fight this novel coronavirus. prgtoken Unfortunately, the House ic leadership does not acknowledge or seem even to be curious as to whether or not they are up to the task. prgtoken So this legislation provides $29 billion for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to develop additional medical countermeasures and vaccines. A safe and effective vaccine is the strongest arrow in our quiver to help society return to normal. prgtoken Importantly, the bill would provide $2 billion for the Strategic National Stockpile and $2 billion for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for use in developing medical countermeasures. prgtoken But you have to ask yourself: The business plan as promulgated by the of this body, why is it antithetical to that development? Could it be because the nominee of their party this week in a very important speech promised the American people ``no miracle is coming''? Is that because you are going to cut off the funding for BARDA? for the Strategic National Stockpile? for research on vaccines? prgtoken Look, there are commonsense, bipartisan ways to help our Nation and help our Nation respond to the coronavirus, but House ic leadership has turned their backs on the needs of America. prgtoken Madam , I urge Members to vote against the previous question. Allow us to debate and pass this measure. It is of critical urgency. Indeed, a miracle could be coming.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Roger Williams (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I rise today in opposition to H.R. 8015 and the manufactured crisis my ic colleagues have created regarding the U.S. Postal Service. prgtoken For the past week, the American people have been told they cannot trust the Postal Service to do their job and that s, along with President , are trying to undermine the agency. prgtoken That could not be further from the truth. The Postal Service has more than enough funding to operate for the next calendar year and has not even acted upon the $10 billion loan the Treasury offered back in July. prgtoken The sad truth is that the Postal Service has been financially unsustainable and without reform for over a decade, and the bill we are voting on today will do nothing, absolutely nothing, to improve the shortfalls with this agency. prgtoken We should, instead, be working together to address certain problems we have while being conscious of the taxpayer dollars that have been used for bailouts over the years. prgtoken Madam , I have a rural district in Texas, District 25. We rely prgtoken upon the Postal Service to fulfill services that my constituents would otherwise go without. I am an advocate for improving this agency, and we should dedicate time to do just that, but there is an actual crisis among us that should demand our immediate attention. prgtoken In the car business, you can't charge the sticker price if you don't have a vehicle to deliver, and you don't sell used cars that won't start. We are not delivering results today. The immediate crisis we need to address is caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. prgtoken Main Street America and families across Texas are wanting results, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would rather ignore this truth and, instead, politicize a conspiracy theory. If my colleagues are serious about postal reform, then let's get to work, but the legislation before us today isn't the answer. It is, frankly, a waste of time. prgtoken I should be home with my family. I should be home with my grandchildren. As we say in Texas, ``This dog won't hunt.'' Well, let me tell you, this dog won't hunt. prgtoken And, P.S let's make the Postal Service run like a business.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Devin Nunes (Republican, CA) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I thank the gentleman for the time. prgtoken Since the election of President , the most absurd conspiracy theories have been proclaimed as gospel by the entire ic Party and their media mouthpieces. prgtoken Let's begin with the Russian collusion hoax; the theory that was a secret Russian agent who colluded with Putin to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. The theory comprised many preposterous sub-conspiracies, including several wild tales. prgtoken For example, secret computer servers communicated with Russians. prgtoken Secret meetings with Russians occurred in Prague, and secret Russian money laundering from the campaign. prgtoken Best of all, Putin had a secret stash of nude pictures of and the now infamous pee tapes that the and their puppets in the media spent several years searching all over Europe for. prgtoken The Russia hoax ultimately imploded. But, Madam , you have to almost admire the ' amazing ability to jump from one debunked conspiracy theory to another without a hint of shame, embarrassment, or self-reflection. prgtoken The supposedly convened us here today to protect Americans from 's latest nefarious plot--his alleged attempt to sabotage the Postal Service to steal the election. In the grand scheme of ic conspiracy theories, this one really is scraping the bottom of the barrel. prgtoken I suppose we can grant the that the post office actually does exist, and it does deliver mail. But watching them vent outrage on social media about missing mailboxes and anti-mail theft devices is rather sad. prgtoken Good conspiracy theories have rich, false details that tell a story, like Area 51 for example. But the have grown a little lazy to develop the necessary back story. prgtoken The Postal Service hoax is more akin to theories that the Earth is flat, NASA faked Moon landings, that Elvis is alive, and that Paul McCartney is dead. Even the Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, and the Chupacabra at least yielded photographic evidence. prgtoken In closing, I want to thank my ic colleagues for inviting us here for a Saturday afternoon matinee in August. I urge them next time to put more effort into their future conspiracy theories. If you no longer have time to properly craft your fake news narratives, you can also have the ic National Committee launder money to hire a British spy to go to your Russian friends and develop another set of fake dossiers. prgtoken Madam , have a good afternoon. I urge a ``no'' vote.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Pete Stauber (Republican, MN) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , it has been 22 days since the last time this body has met, and in those 22 days that the has refused to work on real relief packages, people have lost their jobs, small businesses have closed, and Main Streets have suffered. The American people were left with the question: Where are our leaders? prgtoken I have begged, the President has begged, and the Senate has begged: Please call the House back into session to work on a bill to help suffering Americans. prgtoken Now we are back in Washington for less than 12 hours. It is embarrassing that, while we could be working on vaccine funding, saving small businesses, and justice reform, the will gavel us out and Americans will once again be wondering: Where are our leaders? prgtoken I introduced legislation that will fund better training for police officers, increase the number of body cameras, and fund important grants to police departments that help with community policing, which builds trust and lasting relationships in the communities they serve. prgtoken It has been 89 days since George Floyd's tragic death, and in those 89 days, Senator Tim Scott and I have put forth legislation to fix and improve our policing. We have begged leadership to come to the table and address this issue that Americans and our communities have asked for. prgtoken Yet, what do we get? Twelve hours in Washington, D.C and no action on vaccine funding, no action on small business relief, and no action on police reform. prgtoken Madam , I urge defeat of the previous question so we can consider prgtoken this important bill and get Congress back to work, because a Congress at work is America at work.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICA ACT
Tim Walberg (Republican, MI) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. prgtoken Madam , I was told in persuasion class many, many years ago that if you had a weak argument, you shouted all the more. After hearing some of the leadership on the other side of the aisle, I guess they learned the same approach--a weak argument that isn't holding up. prgtoken When I heard the majority leader talk about ``this is for the people,'' this is for ``your people,'' I don't believe that at all because Jeanie, my rural mail carrier, is working today; 68 are not working today. Yet, this is supposed to be something of importance. prgtoken Last week, we heard the convention start this postal deal going on. This is just a continuation of the convention. I want you to know that nothing that has been said about supposedly what the President is attempting to do in defunding, in deflating, in stopping the vote or the mail service is true. My colleagues know that as well. I think that is why 68 chose to stay home today as opposed to coming here in a planned event that meant nothing other than politics.
REMEMBERING SEYMOUR PADNOS
Bill Huizenga (Republican, MI) \u2014 2020-8-22

. Madam , I rise today in remembrance of Seymour Padnos of Holland, Michigan. The West Michigan community mourns the loss of Mr. Padnos and thanks him for his 60 years of serving our community as the CEO and then chairman of Padnos Iron and Metal Co. prgtoken Mr. Padnos passed away at his longtime home in Holland, Ml and is remembered as a well-loved husband, father and grandfather who cared deeply about West Michigan and donated generously to institutions such as Grand Valley State University, Michigan Maritime Museum, Indian Trails Camps and others. His early efforts to transform West Michigan as a commercial shipping harbor has shown how the West Michigan spirit leads to community prosperity. prgtoken Mr. Padnos's lifetime of service to our community is truly something to celebrate, and I will be praying for his family during this time of grief. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Esther (Roth), and their four children Mitchell, Shelley, Bill, Cindy, and grandson Louis Padnos. prgtoken Madam , is because of dedicated community members such as Mr. Padnos that I am especially proud to serve Michigan's 2nd Congressional District. I join with those in West Michigan in remembering the wonderful life and legacy that he has left behind.