mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--MOTION TO PROCEED
Maria Cantwell (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2018-9-26

I am here this afternoon to join the voices of my colleagues-- and s--in making sure this process that is going to continue to play out over the next several days is a fair one. prgtoken I will say to people right now that I am not for Judge Kavanaugh. I don't believe that his decisions and his views are in the mainstream of judicial opinion in the United States of America. I believe that not just about a woman's right to choose. I believe that not just about his decision on net neutrality. I definitely believe that about his decision on executive branch power. prgtoken My views are known. I would expound on them if I thought that is what we are here to debate today, and maybe that will happen in the future. But I am here this afternoon to ask my colleagues to think about this issue of sexual assault in a new way. It is not a new way that you have never thought of before, but a way that says it is time for us to slow down and have a nonpartisan investigation into the accusations that have been made by three women. prgtoken The reason that is so important is that in the last several days there have been comments that she is mixed up or confused or can't remember. I will tell you this: I guarantee you that any woman in the United States of America who has been assaulted remembers that she was assaulted. She may not remember exactly what the person was wearing, and she may not remember every person who was there, but I guarantee you it is seared into her mind, into her heart, and into her soul that she has been assaulted. prgtoken The question before us in the U.S. Senate is, Are we going to take seriously the process and not rush it to a conclusion and not join the ranks of other institutions that have swept allegations under the rug? prgtoken We all know where the Catholic Church is today, with information and documentation of accusations where people decided that, no, those couldn't be true; no, we don't have to listen; no, we can do something about it. prgtoken When I think about the fact that at least 332 victims were abused by one person in the gymnastics program at Michigan State and people said ``We don't have to pay attention to that,'' when I think about what happened at Penn State to young boys that people deny, that this couldn't be what is happening with Jerry Sandusky--it couldn't possibly be happening--I know that this is a cultural problem. prgtoken I have heard statistics that cite that anywhere from 20 percent of women in the United States of America have faced sexual abuse to a website by the Centers for Disease Control that says it is one in three women. One in three women in the United States of America has faced sexual assault or abuse, and we don't think it is a crisis? I am pretty sure there are more women in the United States of America who have been the victims of sexual assault than of the opioid crisis, yet we call that a crisis. What are we doing to ma
FAA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2018
Peter A. DeFazio (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2018-9-26

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I already thanked my colleagues, but I also want to thank some staff, particularly some of the staff on my side of the aisle. The staff on both sides worked hard: Alex Burkett; Rachel Carr; Kathy Dedrick; Janet Erickson; David Napoliello; Luke Strimer; Mike Tien; in Rick Larsen's office, Alexandra Menardy; and special thanks, because they don't get thanked enough around here, to the people who put together legislation that actually works and do yeoman's work behind the scenes, legislative counsel Karen Anderson, Rosemary Gallagher, and Stephen Hagenbuch. prgtoken Again, this is a good bill. It shows what we can do here when we drop our partisan cloaks and work together for the good of the American people, both the flying public and the businesses that are dependent upon the aviation industry, and, also, the work we did in here on disaster mitigation, things that should have been done earlier, couldn't get done earlier. prgtoken But in a must-pass bill like this, we were able to come to consensus. This is a good day for the House of Representatives--unfortunately, a somewhat rare day. prgtoken , .
SAVE OUR SEAS ACT OF 2018
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2018-9-26

I have the happy occasion to actually pass a law. It is one that I have been working on for some time. So I have taken the opportunity to come to the floor to actually move it through myself. Yet, before I do that, there are a considerable number of thank yous that are in order. prgtoken The first and foremost thank you is to Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who chaired the subcommittee hearing that first moved this issue before the Senate in a bipartisan fashion within the Environment and Public Works Committee. It was a really important thing for Senator Sullivan to have done. In part, it solved the problem between the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee over jurisdiction in this area. We are very fortunate that Senator Sullivan served both as the chairman of the relevant Environment and Public Works Committee and also of the Fisheries Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee so that he was in a position to negotiate with himself over jurisdiction and, obviously, come to a happy conclusion. prgtoken I thank Senator Inhofe, who was an early sponsor of this legislation. He attended the hearing. I will confess that when Senator Inhofe came to our hearing on the Environment and Public Works Committee on an environmental matter, I was not convinced that it was a positive turn of events for the bill, but Senator Inhofe could not have been more gracious and took a very strong interest in this piece of legislation. He was an original cosponsor, so I thank him as well. prgtoken I thank Senator Murkowski. In her being from Alaska, she joined Senator Sullivan. Alaska has a terrific problem with the issue that we are addressing. The issue at hand is marine plastic debris--the plastic waste with which we are filling the ocean. In Rhode Island, we do beach cleanups whereby people go up and down the beach and pick up the plastic trash that has washed ashore. We do those with trash bags. In Alaska, they do those with front-end loaders, dumpsters, and barges, because Alaska faces the Pacific, and there is far more plastic waste and trash in the Pacific. The worst sources for plastic waste and trash are Asian countries, which have prgtoken terrible upland waste disposal infrastructure. It ends up in the creek, and it ends up in the river, and it ends up in the sea. So Alaska has had a terrific role. prgtoken Senator Murkowski's role was as my coordinate on the Oceans Caucus. She helped to make sure that the Oceans Caucus--a group of 38 Senators--supported this. It was a very bipartisan group, so that provided some added oomph to all of this, if that is not too informal a word to use on the Senate floor. prgtoken I also thank my original ic cosponsor, Senator Booker. prgtoken A lot of people have had a hand in this, and there were a great number of sponsors. I appreciate all of them for their support in all of this. prgtoken We have had an interesting
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 6157, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019
Lucille Roybal-Allard (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-9-26

I rise in support of the Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, the Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations Act for FY2019. prgtoken I commend Ranking Members Nita Lowey, Rosa DeLauro, and Pete Visclosky, as well as Chairmen Rodney Frelinghuysen and Tom Cole and Chairwoman Kay Granger and our Senate counterparts for coming together on this bill. And I would be remiss if I did not recognize the outstanding efforts of both the majority and minority LHHS subcommittee staff--Susan Ross, Jen Cama, Kathryn Salmon, Justin Gibbons, Lori Bias, Stephen Steigleder, and Robin Juliano--for their dedication, professionalism and responsiveness to staff on both sides of the aisle throughout the entire appropriations process. prgtoken While I wish the bills had come to the floor separately under regular order to give proper time to debate and discuss all the issues, I am pleased that the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill is getting a vote on the floor for the first time in more than 10 years. prgtoken , this is a good bill. It rejects the draconian cuts the administration proposed and strengthens our commitment to our constituents by funding critical programs. It also ensures our national defense remains strong in a dangerous world. prgtoken I am particularly pleased that HHS programs received such robust funding in this Conference agreement. prgtoken The bill increases funding for three of my top legislative priorities: fighting underage drinking, supporting newborn screening, and reducing maternal mortality. At a time when this country is experiencing the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in history, this bill restores both the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and all Title X Family Planning dollars that help our teens gain critical access to reproductive health care and education. And as this country faces a growing demand for health care providers, the conference report reinstates the Health Careers Opportunity Program to increase workforce diversity and restores funding for the Community Health Centers and the Nursing Workforce Programs to their FY18 funding levels. prgtoken As Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, I was particularly pleased that the bill includes amendments from our markup to protect unaccompanied migrant children, including allowing Members of Congress to access facilities funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement for oversight visits. Finally, I am glad that we were able to maintain funding to help separated children deal with trauma. prgtoken Among Education and Labor programs, I am glad the maximum Pell award will get an increase, which I called for during our committee markup. I am also pleased we were able to work together to provide modest increases to Head Start and TRIO programs to serve students with the highest needs. Finally, the bill provides modest increases in funding for appre
ROHINGYA CRISIS
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-9-26

Saturday, August 25, 2018, marked 1 year since the brutal attacks in Burma that sent more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing for their lives to Bangladesh. prgtoken Horrific stories were reported, including mass murder, rape, babies being thrown into fires, and entire villages razed to the ground at the hands of Burmese military officials. In Bangladesh, these desperate refugees joined hundreds of thousands of others who fled in waves of previous violence. prgtoken The Rohingya sadly have a long history of being discriminated against and even violently attacked in Burma. In fact, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said recently of the Rohingya, ``there is no population in the world that I have seen more discrimination against.'' While we have seen changes in Burma recently, the horrible treatment of ethnic minorities such as the Rohingya has continued. prgtoken Saturday, August 25, 2018, is also the day we lost our Senate colleague, the great patriot, John McCain. prgtoken John McCain and I historically partnered with Senators Feinstein and McConnell to renew sanctions against Burma until it released Aung San Suu Kyi and moved toward democracy. More recently, John McCain was the sponsor of bipartisan Senate legislation that would narrowly sanction those Burmese military officials response for the violence against the Rohingya. I was proud to join him in that effort. The bill has nearly two dozen cosponsors, Members from across the country and the political spectrum. We all recognize as John McCain did that, despite the historic changes in Burma, we must not allow the Burmese military to continue to act with impunity. prgtoken We appreciate the efforts of our administration--humanitarian aid, sanctions on a few security officials and units, interviewing refugees and documenting crimes--but it is not enough, especially as Burmese officials continue to deny that any crimes took place and ignore calls of safe and voluntary repatriation and accountability. There are even reports that the Burmese military continues to bulldoze and overtake former Rohingya villages, as well as engage in attacks in Shan and Kachin State against other ethnic minorities. prgtoken It is no wonder that the UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reported recently that the Burmese military acted with ``genocidal intent''--genocide, not a term taken lightly and not a term applied often. This comes on the heels of reports by others, such as Fortify Rights, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. Presented by the UN's Human Rights Council, the latest report is the result of interviews with nearly 900 witnesses, and it calls for the international community to act. prgtoken Our State Department has similarly reported that the Burmese military's operations against the Rohingya were ``well-planned and coordinated,'' although I am disappointed that the Department stopped short of making a legal determina
REAL ID ACT MODIFICATION FOR FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES ACT
Colleen Hanabusa (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2018-9-26

I rise in support of H.R. 3398, the REAL ID Act Modification for Freely Associated States Act. prgtoken , I want to thank my colleague and good friend from Alaska, Congressman Don Young, for introducing this bill, which I proudly cosponsored. prgtoken Through the Compact of Free Association, the United States and the Freely Associated States--the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau--agreed to the terms of our special and unique government-to-government relationships. It is through these compacts that the citizens of the Freely Associated States can enter the U.S. to live, work, study, and visit indefinitely as legal nonimmigrants without visa, with guaranteed access to social and health services. prgtoken In return, the U.S. has defense and certain other operating rights in the Freely Associated States, denial of access to the territory by other nations, and other agreements of strategic importance to the United States. prgtoken The Freely Associated States' citizens migrate to Hawaii and other places in the U.S. for many reasons, including but not limited to job and economic opportunities. prgtoken Hawaii is one of the four recognized affected jurisdictions by the U.S. Government. Hawaii experiences the highest impact of FAS migrants. The other affected jurisdictions are Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. prgtoken Based on the U.S. Census data for 2010 to 2014, the five States with the highest number of FAS citizens are Hawaii, with 17,205; Arkansas, with 3,625; Washington, with 3,430; Oregon, with 2,580; and Texas, with 2,090. prgtoken Unfortunately, when Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, it used an obsolete reference to the Freely Associated States countries, specifically identifying them as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. prgtoken As a result, when the Freely Associated States' migrants seek to obtain a U.S. ID or license, they can only obtain a temporary license for 1 year, since they are legally noncitizens without an end date of their stay. prgtoken This is extremely problematic when the migrants seek employment, and it further complicates our ability to accurately assess the size of the FAS citizen population. prgtoken It is clear Congress intended to include the Freely Associated States' citizen migrants under the Real ID Act, and I appreciate Congressman Young's effort to correct the Record and end the ambiguity which keeps FAS citizens from fully and freely participating in our country and becoming self-sufficient members of our society. prgtoken , I would also like to remind people why we even have these compacts. It is because the United States did do atomic bomb testing, nuclear testing, in this area. As a result, it has affected their health, their ability to retain and stay in their home countries, and the compacts give them free access. prgtoken Hawaii is one of the most affe
Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh (Executive Session)
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2018-9-26

as we approach tomorrow's hearing with Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, I want to be very clear about how the leadership has handled these incredibly serious and credible allegations of sexual assault. The leadership has handled them poorly, unfairly, and disrespectfully. prgtoken Leader McConnell has called this entire issue a ``smear campaign'' cooked up by . That is a blatant falsehood that demeans the women who have courageously come forward. They came forward, not . They did it on their own, not . And when Leader McConnell says that it is a smear campaign, he is demeaning these women. As I have said before--but we have yet to hear--Leader McConnell owes Dr. Ford an apology for what he has said. prgtoken After s on the Judiciary Committee learned of a second potential allegation against Judge prgtoken Kavanaugh, they renewed their request, of course, to accelerate--to speed up--the confirmation process. prgtoken Chairman Grassley has prohibited witnesses in tomorrow's hearing, other than Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, including the one and only alleged eyewitness to the events in question. Chairman Grassley and several of his colleagues on the other side have already proposed a final committee vote on Friday. They proposed the vote before the hearing occurs. Isn't that prejudgment? And they are acting, when they propose the vote before the hearing, as if the conclusion was foreordained and the hearing is just a nuisance to ``plow through.'' prgtoken Most galling of all: leadership and the White House have blocked the FBI from reopening an independent background check investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, a standard procedure for Federal nominees when new allegations arise. This isn't a new thing that are pulling out of a hat. This is something we do all the time--except in this case, no. prgtoken So this isn't a ic smear job, as the Leader so callously and disrespectfully suggested; this is a rush job and, I might add, a rush job to avoid getting to the truth. prgtoken Here is the contradiction in Leader McConnell's logic: Leader McConnell keeps saying that the allegations by Dr. Ford and other women are ``uncorroborated''--his word--while, at the same time, he is blockading the obvious avenues to corroborate them, and that would be an impartial FBI investigation calling on witnesses to testify. Senator McConnell's assertion is wrong on its face because sworn statements corroborating Dr. Ford's account were submitted to the Judiciary Committee yesterday. If he doesn't believe those statements, it is simple: Have the FBI go interview those who submitted the statements, and then they would have to tell the truth under the penalty of perjury. prgtoken So right here and now, I challenge any Member of the Senate to come to the floor and give one good reason why we shouldn't allow the FBI to follo
REMEMBERING ELIZABETH FULLON
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2018-9-26

today I wish to honor the memory of an outstanding Montanan and leader. prgtoken Elizabeth Fullon served as interim dean at Montana State University Billings City College, an Air Force Reservist, and an advocate for veterans and students in Montana. prgtoken Like many of us, Elizabeth was deeply affected by the September 11 attacks. A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at the time, she was on base when the planes hit and worked for months around the clock in the aftermath. prgtoken Her service eventually brought her to Billings, where she wanted to find a way to honor the first responders who gave so much that day. Anyone who has been to Montana's 9/11 Memorial at City College has seen the fruits of her labor. Elizabeth secured a grant to bring a 612-pound I-beam from one of the Twin Towers to Billings to serve as the centerpiece for the memorial. prgtoken The memorial serves as a reminder of the selflessness of the 9/11 first responders and as a reminder of those who lost their lives on that horrible day. Elizabeth's efforts in making the memorial possible ensure Montanans can pay tribute and respect the brave Americans who, then and now, rush into danger whenever it calls, to keep us safe. prgtoken Elizabeth's legacy was one of service, and I stand today to thank her and to ask that we remember her by taking a moment to honor the heroes in each of our lives.
URGING THE RELEASE OF INFORMATION REGARDING THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2018-9-26

shortly, I will move for unanimous consent to pass S. Res. 610, urging the release of information regarding the September 11 terrorist attacks upon the United States. It is a bipartisan resolution, and I thank the cosponsors who joined me in this historic effort: Senators Cornyn, Schumer, Gillibrand, Murphy, Menendez, Grassley, Markey, Booker, Rubio, and Sanders. At a time of very deep division in our country and in this body, all of us are still able to come together to help the survivors and families of the horrific September 11 terrorist attack as they seek justice and fairness to deter additional and ongoing state sponsorship of terror. prgtoken Following our successful efforts in 2016 to enact the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, also known as JASTA, the families of 9/11 victims who perished earned the right to have their day in court. We thought that day would come quickly and they would receive justice. We believe they also earned a right to the necessary prgtoken Federal Government archive investigative files on the al-Qaida terrorists and foreign nationals who may have assisted. As much as we expected justice, the Federal Government denied them those records and documents that are vital to their cause. prgtoken So 17 years after this national tragedy, the appropriate declassification releasing these documents poses no threat to our national security, and there is no reason for the Federal Government to resist their requests. These files have been kept secret for too long. That secrecy contradicts the national interest. Their cause serves our national security, not only because it gives them justice individually, but it also deters terrorists in the future. Denying them access to this important evidence is unjust, unfair, and unwise. prgtoken The U.S. Government should make public any evidence of links between the Saudi Arabian Government officials and the support network inside the United States used to aid and abet the 9/11 hijackers. The legal and moral responsibility of our government is to provide its citizens with all available information regarding this horrific tragedy on September 11, 2001, particularly where there may be evidence that foreign nationals conspired within our borders to support terror with the assistance of foreign governments. prgtoken This resolution would never have been possible without the efforts of my constituent Brett Eagleson, of Middletown, CT. He was 15 years old when his father Bruce was lost to him in that massive, unspeakable destruction. He was on the 17th floor of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. Brett was joined in his advocacy and efforts by members across the country of the 9/11 Families and Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism. That group is a profile in courage, reliving the pain and anguish of those days in their efforts to seek justice for all Americans. They include a number of individuals whose names I wish to place