mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Coast Guard Authorization Bill (Executive Session)
Jeff Flake (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2018-4-17

I rise today, as I have and will continue to do until we find a resolution to this issue. I rise to advocate for a solution to address the issue of securing our border and protecting those young immigrants impacted by an uncertain future in the DACA Program. prgtoken Last month, I offered legislation to extend DACA for 3 years and to provide 3 years of increased funding for border security--this so- called 3-for-3 plan. Unfortunately, some of my colleagues have repeatedly chosen to block this measure from coming to the floor, but the President's decision to send National Guard troops to the border displays a continued interest to secure the border. To take care of that aspect, this bill would provide significant resources to do just that, to help secure the border, at the same time protecting these young immigrants from possible deportation. prgtoken I am the first to admit this solution is far from perfect, but it provides a temporary fix for these critical problems and will provide all sides of the debate with just enough of what they want. It is a compromise. It would begin the process of funding the President's plan to improve border security and, as I mentioned, ensure DACA recipients will not lose protections and face possible deportation. prgtoken These young immigrants were brought here through no fault of their own. They have waited long enough for these protections. Likewise, border communities, like in my home State of Arizona, have waited long enough for increased security along our southern border. prgtoken As I have said before, we in Congress have too regularly confused action with results and have been entirely too comfortable ignoring problems that are just actually tough to solve. We may not be able to deliver a permanent solution to these problems at this time, but we now have an opportunity to offer at least some action on them. There are many people whose lives and well-being depend on our ability to deliver meaningful results. prgtoken Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 300, H.R. 1551. I further ask that the Flake substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF A RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION--Continued
Dean Heller (Republican, NV) \u2014 2018-4-17

first of all, happy tax day--three words that probably don't usually go together. I will share that anyway because the reason I am up here is that for the first time in more than three decades, Congress overhauled our Tax Code, and that is what distinguishes this tax day from the ones that came before it. This is the last time Nevadans will file their taxes under the broken system of the past. prgtoken You don't have to look too far to see the positive impacts of our new tax laws. They are already having an impact on the people of my home State of Nevada. Nevadans and Americans throughout the country have already benefited from keeping more of their hard-earned money. In fact, more than 1 million Nevadans saw their paychecks get bigger last month because we doubled the standard deduction and we doubled the child tax credit. Taxpayers in every income category received a tax cut under this bill. prgtoken Furthermore, since President signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law just a few months ago, more than 500 companies throughout the country have committed to giving their workers bonuses, pay raises, and enhanced benefits as a direct result of tax reform. Let me share a few of those in my home State. About 11,000 Nevadans got a raise. Roughly 13,000 Nevadans received special bonuses of up to $2,000. Up to 25,000 Nevadans may benefit from college tuition assistance, increased pension funding, expanded maternity and paternal leave, and more paid holidays. More than 10,000 jobs are expected to be created in Southern Nevada alone. prgtoken So it is no surprise that Nevada was recently ranked second among States when it comes to middle-income families who benefit the most from tax reform. prgtoken Let me give you a few examples of how this new law is impacting Nevadans. South Point Hotel Casino and Spa doubled bonuses for its 2,300 full-time workers. prgtoken The Prospector Hotel in Ely gave its employees a $500 bonus and raised its starting wages. prgtoken McDonald's, which has around 9,000 employees in my State, is expanding its education benefits program, tripling the amount of money eligible workers can receive to help cover the cost of college tuition. prgtoken Lowe's Home Improvement, which employs more than 2,000 Nevadans, announced it is expanding benefits, such as adoption assistance and parental paid leave, and giving bonuses of up to $1,000 to its employees. prgtoken Walmart announced it will increase wages, give eligible employees a special bonus of $1,000, and expand maternity and parental leave benefits--benefiting up to 8,700 Walmart associates who are living in the great State of Nevada. prgtoken CVS, which has roughly 2,000 employees and 100 stores in Nevada, announced that effective this month, it will increase the starting salary and wages for hourly employees. prgtoken Developers of the stalled Fontainebleau Resort, recently renamed the Drew, announced they will resume the projec
MOVING AMERICANS PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT
Jeff Denham (Republican, CA) \u2014 2018-4-17

I thank Chairman Reichert of the Subcommittee on Trade for yielding and for his work on this important issue. prgtoken Protecting Americans' personally identifiable information has been hotly debated in the Halls of Congress this month. Last week, we debated appropriate limitations on private companies' access, use, and distribution of private data. prgtoken This week in the House, we are moving a package of bills to improve the Federal Government's use of Americans' data to ensure that the government is doing everything to keep its citizens safe. prgtoken Private companies should not be selling personal information without consent, but unequivocally, the Federal Government should not be selling the personal information of its citizens and armed services members. prgtoken I introduced H.R. 4403, the Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act, to ensure that Federal agencies are taking the necessary extra step of removing Social Security numbers, passport numbers, and ID numbers from shipping information. prgtoken Currently, the Customs and Border Protection agency is not taking this step. prgtoken In absence of this action, when Americans move internationally, their information may be erroneously made public online. prgtoken Representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of State, the DEA, and FBI, and others have heard from their employees on numerous occasions that their information has been found for sale on the internet through the manifest disclosure process. prgtoken Annual Department of Defense moves alone are enormous in scope, with roughly 600,000 servicemembers and their families moving every year, of which 200,000 of those are going international. prgtoken In 2014 and 2015, the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command issued separate advisories alerting servicemembers to this issue. prgtoken We must do a better job of protecting our armed servicemembers who are making a sacrifice to wear the cloth of this great Nation. prgtoken I want to be clear that there is merit to shipping and cargo statistics. We need to make them available for economic trend analysis, but that does not mean that we put our citizens and Armed Forces at risk in the process. prgtoken The manifest disclosure process should not be repealed. The CBP should be required to remove the sensitive data. prgtoken Chairman Brady and Chairman Reichert have identified this issue and unanimously reported the bill out of the committee last week. It is good governance and bipartisan legislation. prgtoken , I want to thank my colead, Congressman Pascrell, for his work on this bill, and I urge its passage.
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF A RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION
David Perdue (Republican, GA) \u2014 2018-4-17

today is tax day, 2 days later than April 15 actually, but nonetheless, today is tax day. I rise to speak about the impact of what we have done over the last 15 months to affect the future of our free enterprise system in America. When President took office last year, he set out with three clear priorities. Under the major objective last year, job one was to grow the economy. To do that, he charged us in Congress to focus on three things: regulations, energy, and taxes. In addition to those three, we were supposed to try to get to Dodd-Frank and take away some of the pressure on small banks and regional banks, which we have done this year in the Senate. Just a few weeks ago, we passed a bill. The reason that is important, those four things will free up some estimated $6 trillion in potential capital investment that has not been at work in our $20 trillion economy. prgtoken What we have just done with regulation, energy, and taxes will free up or have the opportunity to free up the $6 trillion. That is huge in this economy. In the regulatory environment last year, well over 860 regulations were reversed. It is the largest in history. Concrete steps have been taken to unleash our country's full energy potential, including with ANWR, the Keystone Pipeline, and adjustments to the Clean Power Plan and the waters of the United States, just to mention a few. prgtoken Finally, historic changes to the Tax Code were signed into law by President . It used to be that today was a bad day in America, and we all dreaded it. It was the day we had to turn our taxes in. This year, it is actually a day of good news in that this is the last time the American people will have to file their taxes by using the old, outdated tax system that has become so archaic and so noncompetitive with the rest of the world. These changes to the Tax Code will bring relief to American workers and businesses. The average, median-income household in America--a family of four--will see its taxes reduced by about $2,000 a year, or more than half. prgtoken The change to the Tax Code of making our tax rate more competitive is making American-made goods much more competitive on the world stage. The greatest hindrance to and the greatest tax on the American worker in years past was this archaically high corporate tax rate. People said: Well, we just pushed all of those profits to the corporate entities. No, this is the greatest thing we could do for the American worker--to help them become more competitive with the rest of the world, to give them a level playing field. That is what we did in this tax bill. prgtoken We are already seeing the early positive results. Over 2 million new jobs have been created since President took office, and consumer confidence is at a 17-year high. As an ex-retailer and a person who has worked with consumer products and in manufacturing for most of his career, I have watched this i
JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF IRS SCAMS AND IDENTITY THEFT ACT OF 2018
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-4-17

every year, billions of dollars are stolen from hardworking Americans as a result of identity theft. Tax season is a particularly dangerous time as scammers pretending to be IRS representatives, trick victims into giving them money. The bipartisan bill, H.R. 2905 ``Justice for Victims of IRS Scams and Identity Theft Act of 2018,'' helps ensure that Congress has the information it needs to make sure that law enforcement agencies are employing tactics to hold these criminals accountable and deter future crimes. prgtoken As tax season comes to a close, millions of Americans are at risk of being exploited by an emerging scheme where scam artists pretend to be IRS agents and harass victims into providing personal information and money. The IRS estimates that more than $65 million has been lost to phone tax scammers in the past five years. These attacks are most common during the high high tax season in March and April. prgtoken Often scammers present themselves as the IRS and trick people into sending them money and personal information. As technology advances so do the scammers. The IRS warned of a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, which has been making the rounds throughout the country. Scammers claim to be IRS employees, using fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling. prgtoken Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a gift card or wire transfer. Victims may be threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver's license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. If the phone isn't answered, the scammers often leave an ``urgent'' callback request. Scared and confused, many victims comply with the scammers request out of fear of the repercussions. prgtoken The ``Justice for Victims of IRS Scams and Identity Theft Act of 2018,'' requires the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury to report to Congress the efforts to combat the serious identity theft problem. The bill requires the DOJ to report on the status of prosecutions of identity theft crimes. It asked for recommendations regarding how this crime is committed, how to improve collaboration with other federal agencies, and how to improve law enforcement deterrence and prevention of such offenses. It also requires the Department of Treasury to provide a report detailing its current efforts to assist in the prosecution of identity theft where the criminal impersonates IRS personnel and the resources they need to facilitate the prosecution of these offenses. This information will provide a helpful insight into how our law enforcement agencies are addressing the problem and what Congress can do to help improve the results. prgtoken We need to ensure that Americans are being protected from these con
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF A RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION--Continued
Brian Schatz (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2018-4-17

I am here to give some brief remarks about what we are on right now, which is a Congressional Review Act vehicle to reconsider agency guidance. There is nothing that sounds more arcane and wonky than that. prgtoken The issue at hand has to do with disparate treatment of people when they go in to get a car. There is plenty of evidence that Black and Brown people are taken advantage of and treated more poorly in the credit context than White people. So the CFPB went to collect data and to require that people be treated fairly. prgtoken I will be voting against this CRA vehicle, but I actually think there is a bigger, broader, more concerning issue. I am going to try to work with the Parliamentarian's office and with the leadership of both parties to try to address it. Although it is arcane, it is very worrisome for the Senate itself. prgtoken The Congressional Review Act passed in 1996. The idea was straightforward: All rules have to have some authority beyond the desire for the agency to want to promulgate rules. It is subject to review by the Congress. In other words, if you don't like what an agency is doing, now there is a pathway called privileged, which allows the Congress to go ahead and overturn that rule. In the Senate, it is especially important because it is not subject to a 60-vote threshold. This is a big deal. This allows Congress to say any time there is a rule made: We are going to overturn it with a bare majority threshold. That was the will of the Congress, and that is Federal law. prgtoken Here is how the statute works. The rule gets submitted to GAO and Congress, and then a clock starts and a bunch of statutory triggers go. I dug into this over the last 10 weeks. Suffice it to say it is very complicated. There is a strict timeline, and there are 60 legislative days to take action. And because we are the legislative branch of the Federal Government, legislative days are not actual days; it ends up taking four times that long. prgtoken The important part is that there is a process that is prescribed for that, and there is a timeframe that is prescribed for that. That is the authority the Congress gave itself in 1996. That authority is very clear about two things: prgtoken First, it is meant to apply to rules, which are binding, and it is meant to have legal force. The CRA gives the Congress a way to weigh in when an agency's interpretation of the law conflicts with the legislative intentions. prgtoken Second, it only applies to rules that were recently promulgated. In other words, they specifically envisioned that a clock would run. The rule gets submitted to Congress, the clock runs, and if the Congress likes the rule or if there is not sufficient will to overturn the rule, then the rule stands. If the Congress doesn't like the rule, then a Member can introduce a CRA resolution of disapproval, and we act on it. prgtoken This is why what is happening right now is totally nuts. What
SEVERE RAIN AND FLOODING IN KAUAI AND EAST OAHU
Colleen Hanabusa (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2018-4-17

I rise today with my colleague, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, to call attention to the damage done by severe rain and flooding on the island of Kauai and in East Oahu. prgtoken It was an unexpected spring storm and, according to the National Weather Service, the town of Hanalei received more than 27 inches of rain over the weekend. Hanalei is home to my very good friends, the Haraguchis. prgtoken Thankfully, , there are no reports of injuries, and for that we are lucky and grateful. However, the images of mudslides, mangled roadways, and severely damaged homes is heartbreaking. It is encouraging to watch neighbors helping neighbors and strangers coming together to share food, electricity, and water. prgtoken Kauai suffered a direct hit from a hurricane and is home to the wettest place on planet Earth. Yet, their mayor, Bernard Carvalho, who was born and raised on the island, declared the disaster ``the worst.'' prgtoken On Oahu, during a 24-hour rainfall from 4 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday, more rain fell in Niu Valley in one day than in all of April 2017. Flooding closed a major highway, filled homes with waist-deep water, and washed debris out to sea. prgtoken FEMA is working with State and county officials and is prepared to initiate Federal assistance the moment the Governor asks for it. prgtoken , I ask that all our colleagues stand with us and to have prayers for the people of Hawaii.
Republican Tax Plan (Executive Session)
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-4-17

today, as millions of Americans in Illinois and across the Nation finish filing their taxes, I come to the floor to discuss the most recent tax reform bill considered by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. prgtoken Last year, s followed through with their promise and used a special procedural approach called reconciliation, which allowed them to bring a tax reform plan to the floor outside of regular order and without committee hearings and the ordinary amendment-invoked process. were not really participants in this but only observers, under the reconciliation process. That tax plan has now become the law of the land, and now we know what it is doing. It has created a massive tax giveaway to the largest multinational corporations, to the wealthiest corporate CEOs, and to well-connected campaign donors. prgtoken In passing this plan, s said that if they could just cut taxes enough for large corporations, these corporations would invest in America, give breaks to their employees, and create more employment. The benefits of these tax breaks to the corporations supposedly would trickle down to workers in the form of higher wages, and the economy would explode, creating new jobs. prgtoken The tax plan was voted on favorably by every in the U.S. Senate, and it added $1.5 trillion to the national debt, to fund these massive corporate tax cuts. So what did the corporations do with their tax cut benefits? They turned around and took their taxpayer-funded tax cut and gave their wealthy CEOs and shareholders a raise. So far, in 2018, large corporations have announced over $235 billion in stock buybacks--far outpacing the rate of companies announcing one-time bonuses for their workers. Not only that, but more than 100,000 employees in large corporations have actually been terminated. You couldn't get further from tax relief for working families if you tried. prgtoken It gets worse. The Congressional Budget Office reported last week that the tax plan will actually cost another $300 billion beyond the $1.5 trillion estimate. Our children and grandchildren will pay off the cost of this tax cut for the wealthiest people in America and the largest corporations. So much for the promise that these tax cuts would pay for themselves. It will cost us roughly $1.9 trillion over 10 years for these tax cuts for major corporations and wealthy people. This is a burden our children and grandchildren will bear. prgtoken So what are we hearing now when it comes to the budget? Just last week, after seeing that the plan they voted for was expected to add $1.9 trillion to the deficit, Tennessee Senator Corker said: ``If it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could well be one of the worst votes I've made.'' prgtoken The so-called fiscal conservatives here in the Senate didn't seem as concerned about the deficit when they prgtoken were voting for
HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF LOTTIE ALBERT
Alcee L. Hastings (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2018-4-17

I rise today to mourn the passing of my dear friend, Lottie Albert. prgtoken Lottie was born on December 25, 1915, to Eva and Louis Wernick in New York City. Twenty-one years later, Lottie married Sol Albert. The two enjoyed 55 years of marriage and have two lovely daughters, my friends, Harriet and Doreen. Lottie was the loving grandmother to Eric, Glenn, and Lowell, as well as the great-grandmother to Kyle, Samantha, Heather, and Seth. prgtoken Lottie was a resident and community leader of Broward County for over 40 years. It has been my honor to see Lottie's commitment and passion for serving her community. She was an amazing individual who dedicated herself to helping so many throughout south Florida. prgtoken In 1988, she was inducted into the Area Agency on Aging's Dr. Nan S. Hutchinson Broward Senior Hall of Fame. Additionally, Broward County honored her by declaring November 12 as Lottie Albert Appreciation Day. prgtoken In 2012, Lottie was inducted into the Broward County Women's Hall of Fame for her work with the Ann Storck Children's Center. prgtoken , Lottie was an extraordinary friend of mine. She helped me at every stage of my career, never wavering, never faltering. On good days and bad days, I knew Lottie would be there for me, as she was for so many of us. Her advice, wisdom, humor, and vast knowledge of life will be sorely missed.