mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
MORNING BUSINESS
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2024-5-1

there are few things more American than serving our Nation. It is a special privilege of mine when I am able to honor some of our Nation's women and men in uniform. And it is even more special when I am able to recognize the dedicated service of those who have served in Illinois. After a decorated career, Maj. Gen. Richard R. Neely--the Adjutant General of Illinois, Commander of the Illinois National Guard, and Director of the Illinois Department of Military Affairs--is retiring after nearly 40 years of service to our State and Nation. prgtoken It is no coincidence that many extraordinary Americans have been from Illinois. General Neely is certainly one of them. While he began his tenure as the Adjutant General for Illinois in 2019, his military career in our State began several decades prior. General Neely hails from the South Side of Chicago. The summer before his senior year of high school, he joined the Army Reserves and later the Air National Guard as an airman. After graduating from Illinois State University, he joined the 183rd Wing in my hometown of Springfield, where General Neely spent more than two decades of his career serving in various positions. prgtoken General Neely's military career also took him well beyond the Prairie State. Over the course of his service, he was sent on two combat deployments in Iraq in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. His bravery helped safeguard American national security during a critical time in our history. prgtoken Because of his exceptional service, General Neely was appointed as Illinois's Adjutant General in 2019. He served in this role during a period of historic challenges for our State and Nation, and in every instance, he rose to the occasion. prgtoken Not even 4 months into the job, following major flooding in our State in the spring of 2019, General Neely activated 830 soldiers over 9 weeks to help support the State's recovery. The Illinois National Guard's task forces completed 62 requests for assistance along more than 362 miles of riverbank as part of an overall response effort led by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. prgtoken In response to the health and safety challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, General Neely directed the largest and longest domestic operations activation in the history of the Illinois National Guard. During this time, Illinois National Guard soldiers and airmen provided 250,000 COVID-19 tests, delivered millions of masks, and administered nearly 2 million vaccines throughout the State. General Neely's leadership helped save millions of lives. prgtoken And following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, one of the darkest days in our Nation's history, General Neely directed five Illinois National Guard activations in response to the civil unrest. prgtoken In all of these examples, I hesitate to imagine where we would be if not for General Neely's innovative, dedicated,
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2024-5-1

over the decades, millions of Americans--most often Americans of color--have had their lives derailed and destroyed by our country's failed war on drugs. The consequences of this harmful campaign linger on to this very day. So I was pleased by yesterday's news that the DEA, under the administration, is preparing to take a truly historic step: rescheduling cannabis from a schedule I substance to a schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. prgtoken Reclassifying cannabis is a necessary and long overdue step, but it is not at all the end of the story. It is time for Congress to wake up to the times and do its part by passing the cannabis reform that most Americans have long called for. It is past time for Congress to catch up with public opinion and to catch up with the science. prgtoken So, today, I am proud to join with my colleagues Senators Booker and Wyden to reintroduce the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, a comprehensive and necessary update to the Federal Government's approach to cannabis. I am proud to be the first majority leader ever to call for an end to the marijuana prohibition because I have seen both the consequences of outdated drug laws and the benefits of commonsense cannabis regulation at the State level, and it is time for Congress to follow suit. prgtoken Support for cannabis reform is growing in the Senate. Our bill now has 18 sponsors, the most ever for this bill. We will keep working to build more support because when liberals and conservatives and activists and entrepreneurs and veterans groups can all come together on one issue, that is a clear sign the momentum is real. prgtoken I am very proud of the bill we are releasing today. Our legislation will finally remove marijuana from the Federal list of controlled substances. It will expunge the criminal records of so many Americans with low-level marijuana offenses that haunt them--inhibit them--for decades. And it will help our country close the book, once and for all, on the awful and harmful and failed War on Drugs, which all too often has been nothing more than a war on Americans of color. prgtoken In short, our bill is about individual freedom and basic fairness. We cannot tolerate any longer the tragedy of the young person getting arrested because they have a small amount of marijuana in their pocket. prgtoken For years, that is all it took--getting caught with a little bit of marijuana--for you to get saddled with a serious criminal record that prevented you from getting a good job, buying a home, getting ahead in life. And, of course, this injustice happens predominantly in Black and Latino communities. That is unfair. It is un-American. And our bill will right this grave wrong. prgtoken In place of the War on Drugs, our bill would lay the foundation for something very different: a just and responsible and commonsense approach to cannabis regulation. It would call for new guidelin
CELEBRATING NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK
Susie Lee (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2024-5-1

I rise to extend my personal congratulations to all the local entrepreneurs, the communities they support, and the Nevada Small Business Administration at their annual awards luncheon celebrating National Small Business Week. prgtoken From restaurants to wrestling gyms, these small businesses are the life of our local economy. As our community grows beyond the reputation as the entertainment capital of the world, one prgtoken thing will always remain true: We are a people-driven economy. prgtoken Investing in our economy to make it more resilient and diverse requires investing in the people who keep it running. I thank all the small business owners, their employees, and hardworking families who make our community strong. Happy Small Business Week.
HONORING MARIA CONTRERAS TEBBUTT
Mike Thompson (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2024-5-1

I rise today to honor Maria Contreras Tebbutt, whom I have named the 2024 Climate Crisis Champion for Yolo County because of the important work she has done to promote cycling as an alternative form of transponation to address the impacts of climate change on California's 4th Congressional District. prgtoken Maria Contreras Tebbutt was born in King City, California. She and her husband Mark have a daughter, Nicole. She is a graduate of Davis High School and has lived in Davis ever since graduation. prgtoken Through her role as the Outreach Director of the Bike Campaign, Ms. Contreras Tebbutt has educated our community about the value of cycling. This campaign, along with its counterpart, the Bike Garage, was founded in 2011 to help teach people about the benefits of cycling and encourage people to ride their bikes more. These two locations offer training, internships, and jobs for youths, as well as enrichment opportunities for seniors who volunteer. The Bike Campaign works closely with city governments, county health departments, school districts, and community service groups. prgtoken Her advocacy for cycling has also given Ms. Contreras Tebbutt the opportunity to advocate on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities. She recently partnered with Cycling Without Age--Trishaw Electric's assist rides program, which provides opportunities for seniors and those with disabilities to enjoy cycling in Davis. This program allows those with mobility limitations to enjoy parks and green spaces more easily. Her work on this program has given her the opportunity to partner with the Davis Senior Center, the Yolo Healthy Aging Alliance, Yolo Hospice, various faith-based organizations, Rancho Yolo, and various senior residential facilities in the county. Ms. Contreras Tebbutt's advocacy on behalf of cycling has meaningfully benefited some of the most vulnerable in our community, which is laudable. prgtoken Ms. Contreras Tebbutt's cycling work has also given her the opportunity to connect with our local leaders. She has built partnerships with the City of Davis's Public Works Program, the City of Woodland's Department of Transportation, the Woodland Chamber, the Woodland City Council, and the Davis City Council. She has also been an influential voice in the planning of various community cycling events, such as the Zombie Ride, Ice Cream Ride, and the Polar Bear Ride. prgtoken Ms. Contreras Tebbutt's life-long advocacy for cycling and its mental and physical, as well as environmental, benefits, make her an important community leader in combatting the climate crisis. prgtoken , it is evident that Maria Contreras Tebbutt is a leader dedicated to promoting cycling as an alternative method of transportation. Therefore, it is fitting that we honor her here today as Yolo County's 2024 Climate Crisis Champion.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Executive Session)
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2024-5-1

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 575 and 606; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.
MINING REGULATORY CLARITY ACT OF 2024
Teresa Leger Fernandez (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2024-5-1

America was blessed by our creator with natural beauty and an abundance of natural resources, from grazing to farmlands to minerals, fossil fuels, solar, and wind so we could feed our families and fuel our progress. prgtoken We owe the American people, and, most importantly, our children and grandchildren, a duty to protect those resources so they are available for future generations and Americans are not left with public lands that have been degraded, mines that have been depleted, and profits sent off to foreign corporations. Yes, there are profits sent to China because they own some of those mines. prgtoken H.R. 2925 would make it harder to protect the lands that make this country beautiful. Worst of all, it favors the biggest mining corporations and even allows foreign corporations to take American resources for free. prgtoken There is a long history of bad actors exploiting, misusing, and abusing their mining claims, especially those corporations with ties to foreign adversarial nations. prgtoken H.R. 2925 would give away our Federal lands to these bad actors. Why would s work on a bipartisan basis to ban China from mining American data with TikTok but then be okay with China mining American natural resources for free? Why? prgtoken Under the s' proposal, Chinese corporations with the money could put four sticks in the ground, pay a fee, and then claim that land for mining without even proving the existence of these important minerals. prgtoken I also point out, in response to my esteemed colleague, that there is mining going on. As noted earlier, we have the Chino mine in New Mexico. It produces copper. It has been producing copper for generations, in fact, for hundreds of years. prgtoken Guess what. It is an American company. Freeport-McMoRan is an American company. It is international, but it is American. prgtoken We want to do that. We want to make sure that American companies are the ones mining American resources. These are public resources. prgtoken For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. prgtoken My amendment would bar companies from adversarial nations, including China, from conducting mining activities on our public lands. They shouldn't be allowed to exploit American resources and pollute our public lands and to take those resources back to China for free. prgtoken Let's make sure the profits stay here, the resources stay here, and the innovation stays here. Why wouldn't my colleagues support that kind of amendment? prgtoken I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record the text of this amendment immediately prior to the motion to recommit.
PROTECTING ACCESS TO IVF
Susan Wild (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2024-5-1

. Madam , before we begin, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that as of today, Florida's cruel and inhumane 6-week abortion ban has taken effect. Attacks on women's basic reproductive freedom have not and will not stop. While days like today are difficult, they also remind us of the stakes that we are facing in this fight. prgtoken I, for one, am proud to stand here and declare my unwavering support for reproductive freedom. When the Supreme Court took the cruel but unsurprising step to overturn Roe v. Wade, my heart broke for all the women whose basic reproductive freedom would now be in jeopardy. prgtoken As a mother, a lawyer who used to represent healthcare providers, and as a sitting Member of Congress, I have prgtoken always believed that private medical decisions should be kept squarely between a woman and her healthcare provider. prgtoken After my immediate horror at the Dobbs decision faded, I started thinking about what other opportunities this would open up for far- right extremists to further control women's bodies and their healthcare decisions. It is why I worked hard with my staff in the year after Dobbs to draft and introduce the Access to Family Building Act, which would codify a right to in vitro fertilization and other assistive reproductive technologies at the Federal level, because I knew that extreme politicians, intent on controlling women's bodies, wouldn't stop at abortion rights. They were coming after all forms of reproductive healthcare. prgtoken One month after I introduced this bill on the House floor, the Alabama State Supreme Court made the heartbreaking and cruel decision to classify frozen embryos as children, throwing IVF patients and providers into a state of confusion and panic. prgtoken We heard it almost immediately. Clinics stopped doing the procedures at all. Women who were in the middle of an IVF treatment cycle literally had to just stop. prgtoken On the heels of the Alabama decision, more than 150 of my colleagues signed on as cosponsors of the bill. Numerous healthcare and advocacy organizations endorsed it, including the Military Family Association, and constituents across my community and throughout the country shared their own difficult fertility journeys. prgtoken As someone who struggled with infertility myself, I know how heartbreaking and expensive this process can be. I know for sure that politicians and courts should not have a say in how anyone chooses to start or grow their families. prgtoken Don't let anyone tell you that it is just rich career women seeking to defer their childbearing years who rely on IVF. Over the past several months, I have been in close contact with both veterans and cancer patients, men and women, by the way, who have spoken about their own IVF needs and their fears that this safe and reliable procedure may now be in jeopardy. prgtoken The reality is that these are the stakes that we are dealing with. The reason we are gathered here
DARK CHAPTER IN FLORIDA HISTORY
Lois Frankel (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2024-5-1

look at this map. Today is a dark day in the State of Florida because we join all of these States that are in dark colors as our draconian 6-week abortion ban goes into effect, gutting access to abortion care in Florida and in the South. It is essentially a prgtoken total ban because most women do not know they are pregnant before 6 weeks. prgtoken Abortion is a deeply personal medical decision that politicians should not interfere with, and doctors should not have to face criminal prosecution for treating a patient before them. prgtoken We don't walk in other people's shoes. There are many reasons for an abortion. It could be birth control failure, rape, incest, or endangering a person's life. Protecting a woman's access to abortion is a freedom that only she should have. prgtoken The good news is that in November, Florida voters can defend this fundamental freedom, but until then, a dark cloud hovers over our so- called Sunshine State.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
Laphonza R. Butler (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2024-5-1

in conclusion of the letter from a Birmingham jail: Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation--and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping ``order'' and ``preventing violence.'' I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department. It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather ``nonviolently'' in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: ``The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.'' I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sub
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2024-5-1

I rise to talk about the FAA reauthorization bill that is pending before the Senate now. And I want to begin by thanking the chair of Commerce, Senator Cantwell, and her ranking member, Senator Cruz, for doing something very important. It is critical that this FAA reauthorization bill happen. And as I look at the bill, I see many provisions that I strongly support, and I applaud the committee for their work. In particular, the committee has addressed the critical shortage in air traffic control, which is incredibly important to the safety of our skies; and, second, the committee dealt with a challenging issue surrounding pilot training hours, and, I think, came up with a solution that is going to be the right solution. So I begin with: This is a big bill with a lot of provisions, and I find much to like in almost all of it. prgtoken But I rise to address the one piece of it where I am not supportive, and that is the mandate that the Senate committee version contains to add five prgtoken slots--or ten flights--to one of the most delay-prone and congested airports in the United States, Reagan National Airport, otherwise known as DCA. And I want to spend a little bit of time going into this issue, as the Senator representing Virginia. But I stand together with the support of colleagues--the Senators from Maryland, Senator Van Hollen and Senator Cardin; the Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner. We are filing an amendment to remove the additional slots at DCA in this provision, and I want to just explain why to my colleagues. prgtoken First, just a word about DCA. Most of us know it, but maybe not all know it and can put it in the context with other airports in this country. prgtoken DCA is a postage stamp of an airport. It is 860 acres. By comparison, Dulles is built on 12,000 acres. The Denver airport is nearly 30,000 acres. The Dallas airport is, I think, 18,000 acres. prgtoken The DCA airport was built at a time when air traffic was not so intense, wasn't so normal, wasn't so critical to the Nation's economy; and it was built on this small footprint. And everyone who has flown into DCA knows there is no way to expand it. You are essentially kind of wrapped around on nearly three sides by water, and then, on the fourth side, it is U.S. 1 and a rail line. There is no way to make it bigger. prgtoken DCA has three runways. There is a primary runway--the long runway-- and then there are two commuter runways on these 860 acres. When DCA was built and, more recently, as studies have been done, the estimate has been that DCA should, on that footprint with those 3 runways, accommodate 15 million passengers a year in and out of that airport. prgtoken Where is DCA today? Today, DCA is pressed to the gills and 25\1/2\ million passengers a year are coming into or out of DCA. prgtoken And it is pressed in another way. The airport was built so that the 15 million passengers would be spread across the 3 runways:
ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2024-5-1

section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. prgtoken In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.