mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT--CONFERENCE REPORT
Joe Donnelly (Democrat, IN) \u2014 2017-12-19

the majority leader's bill before us today continues the same broken tax system that incentivizes companies to move jobs to foreign countries, hurting more American communities and undercutting thousands of working American families. prgtoken In Indiana, we know there is no such thing as a free lunch. In the Hoosier State, we work hard and we expect everyone else to pay their fair share. The tax bill we are considering cuts taxes for corporations and the wealthy by asking some middle-class families to pay more and by making healthcare more expensive for millions and millions of Americans. prgtoken According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, if we account for budget gimmicks, the cost of this bill could reach $2.2 trillion--not billion but trillion dollars. prgtoken Here is what that means. This means our kids' and our grandkids' paychecks, the hard-earned money they make in the years ahead, will be sent to China to pay for tax cuts that will be given today to the wealthiest people in America. Our kids and our grandkids will be paying the bill for this tax cut that puts money in the pockets of the very, very wealthy. That is almost beyond belief. prgtoken We need tax reform that actually benefits Hoosiers who go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. These are the folks that I run into at church or who stop by my office or I see at the gas station or at the diner. They look me in the eye, and they tell me they are working hard to make a decent living, to pay the bills, to raise their families, and to have a shot at retiring with dignity. They are not looking for any handouts. They simply want a good-paying job and a fair shake. Unfortunately, this bill is a significant missed opportunity to provide relief to middle-class families and to protect American jobs. prgtoken From the very, very beginning of this debate, I have engaged in a good faith effort to exchange ideas and priorities for what we would like this tax bill to look like and to work together in a bipartisan manner. I worked to improve the bill that my colleagues have rushed through in a largely closed and partisan process. That includes my support for Senator Rubio's effort to expand the child tax credit for hard-working families, for which I give him much credit. prgtoken Our country is stronger when we work together and when we pass legislation that focuses on the middle class and on regular families and that leaves a better future for all our children. Sadly, that is not what this bill would do. This bill raises taxes on many middle- class families, makes healthcare more expensive, does not address outsourcing, and significantly increases our national debt. prgtoken .
DACA
Debbie Stabenow (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2017-12-19

I am rising today to join my voice with so many others to support young people whom we call Dreamers. These young people were brought to the United States as children, sometimes as babies. For many of them, this country is the only home they have ever known. I should say up front that we need comprehensive immigration reform for our security and our economy. prgtoken Our Nation's immigration system is broken, and it hurts families, workers, businesses, and farmers each and every day. But targeting these young people who have come to our country through their parents-- their parents bringing them as children--does nothing to solve the larger issues that we need to address in the Senate and in the House. prgtoken To remind everyone, to be eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, which we call DACA, young people have to have entered the United States before their 16th birthday. They must be attending school, have graduated or earned their GED, or have been honorably discharged from the U.S. military, and they must not have been in trouble with the law. Those are pretty good principles for all of us--following the law and working hard. When anyone does that, they should know that our country has their back. prgtoken Those who were approved for DACA were given a legal status to remain here and a work permit so that they could work and contribute to our country. We made these young people a promise, and we need to keep it. I feel very strongly that whether it is our veterans, our people in the military going to war who are protecting us every day, who are serving our country--we made them a promise that they would have healthcare, among other promises, to make sure that veterans are not at the back of any line. prgtoken When someone works all their life--they work 30 years, they pay into a pension, and they assume that pension is going to be there--that is another kind of promise. This is also a promise that was made to young people. If they worked hard and followed the rules and stayed out of trouble and contributed to our country, either serving in the military or going to school and working, they would have the right to be here and be able to contribute to our country. prgtoken Nationwide, we know there are about 800,000 young people who are covered by DACA. In Michigan alone, we have over 10,000 young people-- 10,000 young Dreamers--working hard and going to school, contributing to our economy and our quality of life in Michigan. Many of them have DACA status. prgtoken Those are some of the numbers; however, we are not talking about numbers here. We are talking about people's lives. We are talking about 10,000 young people in Michigan who are attending colleges, starting businesses, creating jobs, buying homes, serving in the military, and raising American children of their own. They are proud to be here. These young people aren't numbers; they are our neighbors. prgtoken In M
TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT--CONFERENCE REPORT
Tom Udall (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2017-12-19

thank you for the recognition. I rise also to talk about the tax issue and this horrible tax cut, but I can't help but mention a little bit about what I went through the last hour or so with some wonderful young people in my office. prgtoken First of all, there are 7,000 Dreamers in my home State of New Mexico. Here is one of them, shown in this picture. This is Carlos. Carlos was brought to New Mexico from Mexico when he was less than 1 year old, and New Mexico is the only place that Carlos has known as his home. I had the opportunity to visit with a number of young people who are very much like Carlos. They have gotten in a bus, they have come to Washington, they call themselves the New Mexico dream team, and it is a remarkable story. They told many stories to me about their situations that sounded very much like Carlos's story. They urge us to protect them. They are fearful, they are emotional, but they are also strong and courageous. Let's remember these are some of our very best and brightest young people. We cannot lose them. We must continue to fight for a clean Dream Act--no doubt about it--and we need to remember the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here in the United States and strive and fight for true immigration reform. prgtoken , working families in New Mexico want good jobs and good wages. They want affordable healthcare and retirement security. They want a job and educational opportunities for their children, but the 's latest tax plan does nothing for regular families in New Mexico or across the country. It will not create good-paying jobs, not now nor for our children. It will kick 13 million people off healthcare and raise insurance premiums. Their plan threatens Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and it does nothing to improve public education or bring down the high cost of college. prgtoken The tax plan overwhelmingly benefits the rich by giving huge tax breaks to their campaign donors, to the superwealthy, big corporations, multinational businesses, and hedge funds. One of the biggest problems is, the plan will drive up the debt by $1.5 trillion, and that means they will have to take a hatchet to programs working families rely on. This is not a responsible or a fair tax plan. It is a hocus-pocus tax sham, and I oppose it. prgtoken I have to reflect a little on this first year that we have seen under President and the majority--what a year of lost opportunities. If the s had worked with us during this year, we could have had at least two big bipartisan achievements. We could have had a bipartisan improvement on healthcare, built on the successes of the Affordable Care Act, and we could have had a fair tax bill for all Americans. How sad partisanship and politics got the upper hand. prgtoken The Senate and the House majority are pushing this tax scam as fast as they can to hide it from th
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-12-19

I thank the gentleman for yielding and I salute him for his extraordinary leadership and being a champion for America's working families. I commend him and the ic members of the House Ways and Means Committee for putting forth the facts on what is in this bill. prgtoken , today we choose what kind of country America will be: one that champions the ladders of opportunity for all or one that reinforces the power of the wealthiest and well connected. prgtoken Outside the Congress, the American people have already made their decision. Polling shows that Americans oppose the GOP tax scam by a margin of 2 to 1. Hardworking families see right through the brazen con job s are trying to sell them. prgtoken So why aren't our colleagues standing with their constituents? Why aren't they joining us on insisting on A Better Deal for American families? Why aren't they joining us in demanding that we write real bipartisan tax reform that puts the middle class first? prgtoken Because helping the middle class has never been their goal. prgtoken From day one, the donors, lobbyists, and the wealthy and well connected came first. The Frankenstein monster of giveaways and special interest loopholes we are voting on today proves it, and this monster will come back to haunt them, as Frankenstein did. prgtoken s claim that their bill is a middle class tax cut. The fact is, according to the Tax Policy Center, their bill raises taxes on 86 million middle class households. prgtoken When The Washington Post asked Edward Kleinbard, former chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation, if the tax package in aggregate would mean a middle class tax cut, he said: ``That is delusional or dishonest to say. It is factually untrue. The only group you can point to that wins year after year and wins in very large magnitude is the very highest incomes.'' prgtoken That is from the Joint Committee on Taxation former chief of staff. prgtoken The only greater delusion in this bill is the ludicrous insistence, their claim that these giveaways to the wealthiest will pay for themselves. prgtoken Bruce Bartlett is the architect of Jack Kemp's supply-side economics. As Bruce Bartlett has testified in our hearing and in public, when it comes to tax breaks for the wealthy paying for themselves, he said: It is not true. It is nonsense. It is BS. prgtoken He said the whole words. prgtoken In a few minutes, s will vote to explode catastrophically our national debt at minimum of $1.5 trillion, likely $2.2 trillion or more. prgtoken Where are the vaunted deficit hawks? Are they endangered? Are they extinct? Do they care about the deficit when we pass giveaways for the rich and big corporations? prgtoken They don't care about deficits, then. Tax breaks for the rich, corporate tax breaks: they don't care about the deficit. prgtoken Do s only care about the deficit when the issue is hel
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
John B. Larson (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2017-12-19

on Monday, December 18, 2017, I was unfortunately not present for roll call votes 685 through 687. If I had been present for these votes, I would have voted: Nay on roll call vote 685 on the motion to fix the convening time; Yea on roll call vote 686 on passage of the STEM Research and Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act (H.R. 4375); and Yea on roll call vote 687 on passage of the Keep America's Refuges Operation Act (H.R. 3979)
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Brian Higgins (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-12-19

the rich and wealthy corporate winners of this tax scam love company, and they just got the company of 14 United States Senators who will personally benefit from a new 20 percent deduction for wealthy prgtoken real estate investors with no employees to pass that benefit on to. prgtoken One Senator who voted against the bill, before he announced he was voting for it, stands to gain $7 million annually and personally. The Senator said he was unaware of the provision and that he did not read the bill. prgtoken , the conference committee, the reconciliation process, was to narrow the differences between these two bad bills, not add new provisions that benefit rich Senators. This bad bill just took a dramatic and potentially illegal turn that should be fully investigated before a vote is taken today.
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS NEGLECTED UNDER TAX BILL
Dina Titus (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2017-12-19

I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1, the tax scam. I voted against this bill a few weeks ago and again when it was brought before the House on December 19. This bill was crafted behind closed doors, without regular order, and without thorough public input. The result is legislation that would dismantle our health care system, add significant complexity to the tax code, and harm my district's seniors, students, and virtually every middle-class family. Many of my constituents suffered great economic hardship and are just beginning to recover from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This tax bill is not a way to bolster the recovery effort; it is a red herring that relies on the myth of trickle-down economics in order to give top earners more breaks. Another way the tax bill callously demonstrates a lack of concern for the average American that has been left largely out of the conversation, is the taxation of our citizens living abroad. I often hear from my overseas constituents and American expats I meet around the world about the burdens they face with the American citizenship- based taxation system. Like my constituents in Las Vegas, many of our citizens residing overseas are teachers, small business owners, and middle-class and working families who would be excluded from the benefits of the tax bill. They discuss being dually taxed under the current system: first by the local tax authority where they currently reside and again by the United States. This is a legitimate problem and unfair for the roughly 9 million Americans living abroad. No other developed nation has such a system. As a member of the Americans Abroad Caucus, I have continued to support taking action so that U.S. citizens living abroad are not left with the choice of being drained of savings or having to renounce their citizenship due to unfair double taxation. Unfortunately, Congress has neglected to help this minority constituency for far too long. It is discouraging that the tax-writing committees would rather prioritize tax cuts on the foreign income of U.S. corporations than provide assistance to individual citizens abroad with tax reform. I condemn my colleagues who voted for the tax scam conference report that will shift money from hard working families in Nevada and around the globe to the wealthiest in the nation.
TRAIN CRASH IN TACOMA, WASHINGTON, AND REPUBLICAN TAX PLAN
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2017-12-19

a tax bill is a fiscal document. It is a legal document. It is also a moral document. It involves choices, much as we make choices as families when we own a car that is unsafe or a house that has a front step that is about to collapse or when a college student needs money to pursue her education. A family can make choices. A parent can go to the casino and gamble and lose the money or spend it on luxuries that are unnecessary or unwise, and nations make those kinds of moral choices as well. prgtoken This tax document is a moral document. It involves choices. Will it make our country safer, rebuild our infrastructure and our national defense or, instead, in effect, squander resources of $1.5 trillion or more on a giveaway to the very wealthiest in our country? It relates directly to the tragedy that this Nation experienced outside of Tacoma, WA, just yesterday. prgtoken I want to extend, first of all, my thoughts and prayers to those families and loved ones who have suffered losses. The three deaths and injuries have taken their toll emotionally as well as physically. In these dark days, we are demanding answers. prgtoken Unfortunately, the National Transportation Safety Board is there, beginning its investigation. We know now that the train apparently was traveling three times the limit on speed, 80 miles an hour in a 30- mile-an-hour zone. That fact is absolutely stunning and scandalous, and the NTSB, no doubt, will present its results after its investigation. prgtoken I call on the NTSB to finish that investigation as promptly and quickly as possible. As responsible an agency as it is, it often works much more slowly than taxpayers deserve. I call on it to produce its investigation, not in months or years but in days or weeks. We need to know the answers as to why this catastrophe occurred. We now know with certainty, apparently, that the train was traveling too fast. prgtoken You may be forgiven for thinking it seems like deja vu. Didn't that happen also in Spuyten Duyvil, where four people were lost? Didn't it happen in Philadelphia, where eight were killed in 2015? Yes, again, three people were killed yesterday. prgtoken Three hundred people have been killed in these accidents since 1970, when the NTSB first recommended impementing this new technology. It prgtoken was new technology in 1970 called positive train control. Now it is old technology, but it still has not been installed in many of the Nation's railroads. The deadline for installing it was postponed from 2015--over my vehement protests and those of others on our side of the aisle in the Commerce Committee and on the floor of the U.S. Senate--until 2018. Even now, the railroads are seeking an extension to that time, saying that the resources aren't available. prgtoken Well, the costs of those 300 lives lost and of the crashes that have resulted from derailments and other kinds of very severe mishaps due to excessive speed are way in ex
SYSTEMIC RISK DESIGNATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2017
Maxine Waters (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-12-19

first I would like to thank Congressman Green for his leadership. He is a member of the Financial Services Committee, who is dedicated to the proposition that we can and should work very hard to implement Dodd-Frank. prgtoken He has done a wonderful job in representing all of the people of this country when it comes to this issue of whether or not we are going to allow the biggest banks in this country to revert back to the practices that they have been involved in historically, where it caused us to be into a situation that caused the recession in 2008 or whether or not we are going to honor the work of Dodd-Frank and the reforms that were instituted and be about the business of fairness and justice. prgtoken I want to thank Mr. Green for his work, for his leadership, and for managing this most important legislation today. prgtoken , I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3312, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act. prgtoken At a time when big banks are doing very well and the industry made record profits--more than $171 billion last year--and business lending has increased 75 percent since Dodd-Frank was signed into law, now is not the time to eliminate critical safeguards and reduce oversight of many of our largest banks. prgtoken H.R. 3312 will roll back the enhanced prudential standards that currently apply to the 30 of the largest banks with more than $50 billion in assets. These are some of the most important prgtoken rules in Dodd-Frank, like enhanced capital and stress testing that are critical to maintaining a safe and sound banking system that supports the broader economy. prgtoken Proponents of this bill argue that Dodd-Frank imposed a one-size- fits-all approach to any bank over $50 billion. But the law makes clear that the Fed should tier and tailor its rules to differentiate between even these large banks ``on an individual basis or by category, taking into consideration their capital structure, riskiness, complexity, financial activities (including the financial activities of their subsidiaries), size, and any other risk-related factors that the Board of Governors deems appropriate.'' prgtoken There is no one-size-fits-all mandate and the Fed has indeed tailored these rules. For example, the prudential rules for a trillion-dollar bank are much tougher compared to those that apply to a $250 billion bank and considerably more so compared to a $50 billion bank. prgtoken Yet, after 18 months, this bill would exempt 30 of our largest banks from enhanced oversight, and it replaces the $50 billion threshold with a cumbersome, discretionary process led by the Federal Reserve along with the FSOC. We have a similar process for designating non-bank financial bank companies, like AIG, which have posed a systemic risk. So it is strange that s are now pushing a similar approach after they repeatedly blasted the same FSOC designation process for being arbitrary, opaque, unfair, and unworkable. <|