mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LINCOLN ROOM DESIGNATION
Dina Titus (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2018-12-21

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I also support H. Res. 1063. This bipartisan bill designates room H-226 in the U.S. Capitol as the Lincoln Room. prgtoken As we all know, President Abraham Lincoln is commonly considered one of the greatest President's in the history of the United States. But what you might not know is that President Lincoln, at one point in his career, was a Member of the House of Representatives from the Seventh Congressional District of Illinois. prgtoken President Lincoln served one term in Congress, from 1847 to 1849, and was known for his opposition to the institution of slavery and the Mexican-American war. During his short time in Congress, President Lincoln spent a significant amount of his leisure time in the U.S. Capitol room now known as H-226. prgtoken This resolution, which names the room for President Lincoln, is an appropriate honor for a former Member of this distinguished body who led our country in one of its darkest hours. So I support the resolution and urge my colleagues to support it as well. prgtoken , .
SPACE FRONTIER ACT OF 2019
Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-12-21

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise in reluctant support of S. 3277, the Space Frontier Act of 2019. prgtoken I say ``reluctant'' because the process that brought us to this point is extremely disappointing. Many of the provisions of this bill have not been seriously vetted by the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. I doubt very much whether they were at all vetted by anyone in the Senate. And this bill makes some potentially significant changes to space policy in the United States. prgtoken This is no way to legislate. prgtoken However, there are some good things in the bill. I very much appreciate that the end date for the International Space Station is pushed back to 2030. Now, I don't know if that date is the proper one, but I do know that the arbitrary decision made by the administration to end the International Space Station by 2024 was wrong. As we move into the next Congress, this is something that I hope to be looking into. prgtoken I am also glad to see commercial remote sensing language that will help the industry grow, while still considering the government's legitimate security interests. prgtoken In short, I will be voting for this bill, in part, because I support the development of commercial space activities and want them to flourish, while still protecting the public interest. prgtoken However, as the presumptive chair of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in the next Congress, I certainly will be revisiting some of the other items in the bill. For instance, this bill creates a $150 million office at NASA and doesn't specify where the money is to come from within NASA, or provide any real specifics to how it will be spent. prgtoken I would also note that NASA's vital education programs receive less money than that, so this is a major new initiative and it is something that requires review. prgtoken I could go on, but, unfortunately, it is clear that there is not going to be time today for a thoughtful discussion of any concerns with the bill or any opportunity to address them. That will have to wait until we have a new Congress. prgtoken I plan to submit a longer statement in the Record which will highlight some of my concerns. For now, it is enough to say that I support NASA's mission and a robust U.S. space industry and, for that reason, I support this bill, in spite of the awful process that got us here. prgtoken , .
REMEMBERING PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-12-21

I was honored to attend the ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda and at Washington National Cathedral for former President George H.W. . I first met President when he was Vice President and I was the speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. He visited Annapolis, and I presented him with a Maryland tie. He immediately took off his tie, which he gave to me, and put on the Maryland tie, which he wore with pride. He had a keen eye for detail, for the little things. I had a book on a shelf in my office which was still in the shrink-wrap packaging. He sent me a note--one of his thousands of famous personal notes--gently ribbing me, writing, ``It's good to see you are keeping up on your reading.'' prgtoken I thing George H.W. may have been the most qualified person ever elected President, starting all the way back to his high school years at Phillips Academy Andover, where he was president of the senior class, secretary of the student council, a member of the editorial board of the school newspaper, and captain of the varsity baseball and soccer teams. He was one of the youngest aviators in the Navy at the beginning of World War II and was barely 20 when his Grumman TBM Avenger was hit by flak during an attack on Japanese installations on Chichijima. He calmly delivered his payload, scoring several hits, before flying as far away from the island as he could in a plane with its engines on fire. He bailed out and ended up in an inflatable raft for four hours before being rescued by the submarine USS Finback. He flew 58 combat missions, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the USS San Jacinto. prgtoken After his military service, he went to Yale University, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 2\1/2\ years. He was president of his fraternity, captain of the Yale varsity baseball team, and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He could have stayed back east in Connecticut, where his father Prescott would be elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election in 1952, but moved to Texas with his wife Barbara and their young son , where he cofounded Zapata Petroleum Corporation. He was a successful businessman when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1964, losing to the ic incumbent, Ralph Yarborough. Two years later, however, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he won reelection in 1968. The Seventh District was conservative, but voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Act, and he supported birth control and a women's right to choose. prgtoken In 1970, then-President Richard Nixon prevailed on to run for the U.S. Senate again. He did, but he lost again, this time to Lloyd Bentsen. President Nixon nominated him to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Senate confirmed the nomination unanimou
CHILD PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2017
Doug Jones (Democrat, AL) \u2014 2018-12-21

let me also thank my colleagues from Tennessee and Delaware. prgtoken I will tell you I wasn't here when that letter circulated; however, if you want to do an addendum, you have my permission to add my name to that letter because it is that important. I appreciate so much your comments. prgtoken I have been here almost 1 year now. What I have seen is, it is often so easy, in our polarized political climate we have, that when issues we have faced like today come up, people go to their corners and it is the proverbial line in the sand and everybody wants to talk at each other and not to each other. prgtoken So I appreciate very much Leader McConnell and Leader Schumer, who worked with my colleagues Senator Flake and Senator Corker in trying to make sure a motion to proceed is simply a motion to proceed to talk, to have those dialogues, so we can go about the business of government as we leave for the holidays at some point. prgtoken I believe what has happened here late this afternoon is an important step, and it is especially an important step going into the next Congress to tell folks who are coming in and those of us who are coming back that we want to make sure we were put here to get something done, not just retreat to our corners. prgtoken I thank everyone who was involved late this afternoon trying to make sure this agreement was reached. I am anxious for our leaders to proceed so we can go about the business of running this United States and that we can go into these holidays with the assurance we will come back to do things for the American people. prgtoken .
SPACE FRONTIER ACT OF 2019
Lamar Smith (Republican, TX) \u2014 2018-12-21

such time as I may consume. prgtoken I have no other requests for time on this side, so I am prepared to yield back if the gentlewoman from Texas is prepared to yield back. prgtoken Before I do, I just want to thank the ranking member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who is, obviously, a Texas colleague and a longtime friend, for all of her good work on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee while I have been chairman of that committee. She has been instrumental in our taking to the House floor and having passed on the House floor 35 bills. Of those 35 bills, 33 have been bipartisan, and that is largely due to her contributions and her efforts to try to make those bills bipartisan. prgtoken So I do appreciate having worked with her for the last 6 years. I wish her well next year, and I want to congratulate her on being the next chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. prgtoken , .
CHILD PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2017
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2018-12-21

. Mr. Vice President and colleagues, here where we are. It is now clear there are enough votes to proceed to the pending legislation on government funding, disaster relief, and border security. prgtoken Within the conference, there is strong support for the President's reasonable request for more resources to tackle the urgent situation at our southern border. s support the House-passed bill, which includes additional border security funding. We are also, however, eager to complete the remaining appropriations bills that the Senate has already passed. prgtoken However, obviously, since any eventual solution requires 60 votes here in the Senate, it has been clear from the beginning that two things are necessary: support from enough Senate to pass the proposal at 60 and a Presidential signature. prgtoken As a result, the Senate has voted to proceed to legislation before us in order to preserve maximum flexibility for a productive conversation to continue between the White House and our ic colleagues. I hope Senate will work with the White House on an agreement that can pass both Houses of Congress and receive the President's signature. prgtoken Colleagues, when an agreement is reached, it will receive a vote here on the Senate floor. Motion to Concur
CHILD PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2017
Jeff Flake (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2018-12-21

I thank the two leaders of this agreement, the Senator from Tennessee, the Senator from Alabama--Mr. Jones--and others who have worked to ensure that the next vote we will have in this Chamber will be on an agreement as Senator Corker said--not a test vote, not a cloture vote. prgtoken What I wanted to do with not proceeding is to demonstrate that not all s would be for the House bill either. There is no path forward for the House bill. The only path forward is to a bill that has an agreement between the President and both Houses of Congress. The next time we vote, it will be on the agreement. It will not be another test vote. prgtoken .
NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM EXTENSION ACT
Thomas MacArthur (Republican, NJ) \u2014 2018-12-21

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , this is an unfortunate day where we are once again extending the National Flood Program for--I don't know how many times we have done this. We have been unable to get to the basic reforms that this program demands. prgtoken But, , there are 140 million Americans who live in coastal counties, millions of whom depend on this program to protect them from flood risk. Without this program, they cannot buy or sell homes. If their policies lapse because we allow the program to lapse, they will not be able to buy a new policy, and if, God forbid, a storm like Sandy or like the storms that ravaged the Southeast recently, if one of those storms comes along during that lapse, those people will have no coverage. We simply cannot allow our failure to so negatively affect so many millions of Americans. prgtoken So, today, we are here to extend the program for another 6 months to give a new Congress time to get to some reasonable bipartisan reforms that will put this program on a solid footing for the future. prgtoken I am asking that we pass this bill, this extension. It is not perfect, obviously, but it is better than the alternative, and we need to get this done before this Congress recesses. prgtoken , .
HONORING THE LEGACY OF BONG'S JEWELERS
Tom Reed (Republican, NY) \u2014 2018-12-21

today I rise to honor the legacy of Bong's Jewelers in Corning, New York. prgtoken For the last one hundred and twenty-six years the residents of Corning have celebrated birthdays, engagements, weddings, and anniversaries with gifts from Bong's Jewelers. Founded by two brothers in 1892, Bong's has been run by the family for generations, helping the people of Corning celebrate their happiest occasions. prgtoken It is with a heavy heart that I recognize the final closing of this community institution. Jeff Bong has owned the family shop since 1975 and after more than forty years of hard work and success, Jeff has announced his well-deserved retirement. prgtoken Having known Jeff and his family for decades, he represents a pillar of our community that will be sorely missed with the closing of his business. However, I know his ties to our community will endure and we are forever grateful for his efforts and commitment to all of us. prgtoken We wish the Bongs well in their retirement and thank them for their service to our community. prgtoken Given the above, I ask that this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations and join me to honor Bong's Jewelers, a family-owned business of the Corning community for the last one hundred and twenty- six years.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2018-12-21

today I have the honor of recognizing Bob Dellwo of Choteau, MT, for his over 94 years of service to his community, country, and family. prgtoken Bob was born in Conrad on August 1, 1924. After his family moved to Choteau, Bob grew up and attended Teton High School, where he was a member of the football team. From 1942-1946, Bob volunteered to serve in WWII. While serving in the Navy, most of his time was spent as a radio man on a dive bomber, where he twice earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. prgtoken In January of 1946, Bob married his sweetheart Helen. The two were married for over 55 years. Together, they had four children they raised in Choteau and Helena. As owners of various small businesses throughout the years, they were well known and active in their communities. prgtoken Bob took immense pride in his 22 grandchildren and great- grandchildren and rightfully so. In fact, his granddaughter Liz holds a special spot in the Daines office, having worked on Team Daines for many years. A kind and lighthearted spirit, Bob enjoyed being with his family more than anything, and that is how he chose to spend his time. prgtoken Bob leaves behind a legacy of friendship, family, faith, and community. His dedication and service to others throughout his life will have a lasting impact for generations to come. I join his family, friends, and community in mourning his death, but we take comfort in knowing he is in a better place now with the love of his life, Helen.
CHILD PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2017
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2018-12-21

I thank Senator Corker, Senator Flake, and the leaders, Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer, for their discussions. I thank the Vice President for his presence here today. prgtoken In my own view, government shutdowns ought not to be a part of budget negotiations any more than chemical weapons should be a part of warfare. We were elected to make the government run for taxpayers, not to shut it down. My hope is that this will put us on a path toward a result and will recognize the President's desire for increased border security, which we support and many support, and we can finish our appropriations process. prgtoken What I would like to do now is to say a few words about what was described in a very famous movie in which Jimmy Stewart played, ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' as democracy's finest show--the right to talk your head off in the legislative filibuster. Lest someone says, ``Well, Senator Alexander, you just announced you are not going to run for reelection in 2 years, so you are going to change your tune,'' I am not changing my tune. prgtoken The remarks I made in 2011 at the Heritage Foundation about the tradition of the legislative filibuster--perhaps the best known part of the U.S. Senate--can be found at https://www.alexander.senate.gov/ public/index.cfm/speechesfloorstatements?ID=23BE8F64-7708-4E5D-86AD- F1F8C7EE6F30. prgtoken You can also find Senator Susan Collins' letter regarding the legislative filibuster on April 7, 2017, at https:// www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senators-collins-coons-lead-effort- preserve-60-vote-threshold-legislation. prgtoken I would like to tell a story, Mr. Vice President. prgtoken In 1978, a young Utah Senator came here. He was conservative. He didn't know what he could not do, so he took on the ic establishment on its most important issue. Orrin Hatch was the Senator. He is our longest serving Senator, and he is prgtoken retiring this year. What he decided to do was to challenge the ic leadership that wanted to pass organized labor's major objective of the time. It was something that would have changed the relationship between employers and employees for years to come. prgtoken Now, at that time in 1978, there was a ic President, Jimmy Carter. There were 62 Senators--more than enough to pass a bill. There were 292 House Members. So, if Orrin Hatch had not been new and young and if he had known more about what he had been doing, he probably wouldn't have even tried this, but he did try it. prgtoken He won. He offered 1,200 amendments. Senator Byrd, who was the distinguished majority leader of the Senate, tried six times to cut off debate--we call that cloture here in the Senate--and he didn't get 60 votes. Six different times, he tried to cut that off. The end result was that the minority view--the view at that time--prevailed against a ic President, a ic House, and a Democ
RECOGNIZING DELEGATE JOHN OVERINGTON
David B. McKinley (Republican, WV) \u2014 2018-12-21

I rise today to recognize John Overington for his long record of legislative service to the State of West Virginia. prgtoken Opting to retire, John won't be representing the people of Berkeley County, West Virginia, for the first time in 34 years when the House of Delegates convenes in Charleston next month. prgtoken John and I served together in the legislature for decades in the eighties and early nineties. I came to know John as someone who has always followed his conservative principles, even when it wasn't in vogue. prgtoken During the 34 years he served in the minority, many of those votes were lonely fights, but he never swayed from his staunch, unwavering commitment to conservative principles. prgtoken After the 2014 election, the s took the majority in West Virginia Legislature for the first time in 84 years, and his conservative values helped dictate a new agenda. He chaired the Industry and Labor Committee and served as speaker pro tem. prgtoken I wish the best to John and his wife, JoAnn, as he retires from this legislative service. Serving as a citizen-legislator can often be a thankless task. The people of West Virginia owe him a debt of gratitude for his decades of service and his dedication to West Virginia.
SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT
John J. Duncan, Jr. (Republican, TN) \u2014 2018-12-21

too many of our leaders today seem to want to be modern-day Winston Churchills and think of themselves as great war leaders. They are far too eager to go to war and far too willing to stay in a war after it has started. But the American people do not want permanent, forever wars, and especially do not need such wars. prgtoken I salute President 's decision to bring our troops home from Syria. With a $21 trillion national debt, we simply cannot afford to be the policeman of the world. prgtoken Our very unnecessary wars in the Middle East have now cost us several trillion dollars that we have had to borrow and have resulted in the deaths or horrible injuries to thousands of young Americans and many more thousands of innocent women and children. They have created more enemies for our country around the world. prgtoken The Bible tells us in both the Old Testament and New to ``seek peace and pursue it.''
CHILD PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2017
Bob Corker (Republican, TN) \u2014 2018-12-21

I thank the two leaders for what they have done today. prgtoken Even though I know some people who are tuning in may not understand what just happened, the understanding that has been reached--and I thank Senator Flake and Senator Jones and others--is that we are not voting on anything else in this Chamber relative to this issue until a global agreement has been reached between the President and these two leaders and the leader of the House. There will not be test votes, and there is not going to be a tabling vote. The Vice President has been over here with his members, negotiating already. prgtoken What this does, I think, is to push this ahead to a negotiation that will yield a result, and we will do the best we can to keep from shutting down the government, or if it does shut down, it will shut down very briefly. prgtoken I thank the two leaders for agreeing to go forward in this manner. It allows us to move forward in a positive way, yet keeps the negotiations alive. Only a bill can pass this Chamber now that has all of their agreement.
RECOGNIZING SERGEANT WILLIAM M. BAYS
James Comer (Republican, KY) \u2014 2018-12-21

I rise today to recognize the life of Sergeant William M. Bays, a beloved father and respected American hero who lost his life on June 10, 2017. prgtoken Born October 17, 1987, in Barstow, California, Sergeant Bays valiantly rose through the ranks since enlisting in the United States Army in 2009, eventually serving as a squad leader with D Company, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division. prgtoken Sergeant Bays' reputation of steadfast selflessness, along with the numerous awards he earned for his service--including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart--are evidence of his relentless dedication to safeguarding our nation's freedoms and values. His patriotic spirit and dedication to his country were rivaled only by his fervent commitment to his family and his enthusiasm for serving others. prgtoken I join with his family and loved ones--including his wife, Jasmin Bays, his children, and his extended family--in celebrating his accomplishments and recognizing his noble service to our nation. His outstanding legacy of patriotism and compassion lives on in each member of his family and in all those who knew him. prgtoken I am grateful for the Kentucky General Assembly's dedication of this roadway in the 1st District of Kentucky, as it will serve as a testament to his extraordinary sacrifice, which is worthy of our deepest respect and admiration.
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATION ACT
Sam Graves (Republican, MO) \u2014 2018-12-21

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , this bipartisan bill is going to ensure that the Federal Government plays a constructive role in helping to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe and over Japan. In 2020, we expect a number of events and activities, including a flyover of The National Mall, to honor the sacrifices made by many to preserve the freedoms that we continue to enjoy today. prgtoken The planning for these efforts is already underway, and having the Congress recognize the importance of these activities not only will send a message to the rest of the Federal Government, but, more importantly, to our veterans who have given everything to maintain our freedom. prgtoken , .