mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
SOMALIA TERRORIST ATTACK
Al Franken (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2017-10-26

I rise to talk about the recent terrorist attack in Somalia. prgtoken On October 14, a truck filled with explosives detonated in a crowded district in Mogadishu--Somalia's capital. The blast was especially devastating because the truck blew up next to a fuel tanker, causing a massive fireball and leveling structures, including the nearby Safari Hotel, which collapsed and trapped many people under its rubble. According to Somali authorities, the target of the attack may have been the city's international airport which also houses many Embassies. prgtoken This is the worst terrorist attack in Somalia's history. Three hundred fifty-eight people were killed, hundreds have been injured, and dozens are still missing. prgtoken As a Minnesota Senator, I represent the largest Somali-American population in the Nation. For Minnesota, this wasn't just a massive attack overseas. It affected every one of my estimated 74,000 Somali- American constituents. prgtoken Among those killed is Ahmed Eyow. He was from Bloomington, MN. He had attended Normandale Community College and Metropolitan State University. He left behind his wife and three children. prgtoken Another Somali-American who was killed in the blast was Mohamoud Elmi. He had lived in Ohio and had moved back to Somalia about 2 years ago. He was a young man with a bright future, working at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management in Somalia. prgtoken There was Abukar Mohamed. He lived in Virginia before moving back to Somalia, where he worked in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was killed along with his wife, Shadiye Hassan. They left behind seven children who are between the ages of 3 and 20. prgtoken Hundreds of others perished in that heinous attack. They all have their own stories. They left behind their wives, their husbands, their children, their friends, their parents. prgtoken Somalia is one of the most, if not the most, fragile nations on Earth. It has been an incredibly difficult country to prgtoken govern ever since the civil war tore the country apart in 1991. It suffers from the massive displacement of people, hundreds of thousands of refugees, lack of sufficient public services, and warring factions and clans. To make matters worse, a severe drought has ravaged Somalia, leaving 6 million people--half of the nation's population--facing food shortages. The combination of instability, lack of security, and shortage of goods and services has enabled terrorist groups like al- Shabaab--widely believed to be the culprit in this attack--to gain a foothold in Somalia. prgtoken We have to have a comprehensive strategy to help the people of Somalia. One component of that strategy is to help Somalis root out terrorism. The Government of Somalia has announced its intent to step up the fight against al-Shabaab. The United States has and will continue to aid those efforts, as will the African Union Mission in Somalia--a multinational
Republican Tax Plan (Executive Calendar)
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2017-10-26

I don't often come to the floor of the Senate to give a speech like the one I am going to give now, but today I plan to start sounding the alarm, both from the standpoint of the process and the substance of what is known about the tax plan as of this afternoon. prgtoken This morning, the House passed the budget so now it is on to tax. The debate, if the s have their way, will happen at the speed of light. If they have their way, this all could be wrapped up before most Americans have even been able to put a dent in their holiday shopping. prgtoken That is exactly what the majority of s is counting on. The s are rushing to drive the tax giveaway to the superwealthy and the powerful corporations and to do it so quickly that most of America will really have no idea what will be going on. Their hope is simple--to do it in a way so that nobody catches on. So this afternoon, as the ranking on the Finance Committee, I am going to look at this from a few different angles--first, as to the process and, then, as to the policy that is on offer from the s as of right now. prgtoken Right off the top, I am sure that Senators have heard that, here in the Senate and Congress, there is going to be a real debate that is going to play out in a careful and deliberate way and that there is going to be plenty of give and take. As of right now, my message to the American people is this: You have been fooled. Don't buy that. Here is what is going to happen. Anybody who expects a repeat of the kind of bipartisan, deliberate process that took place in 1986, when the and Ronald Reagan got together, is in line for some very disappointing times. prgtoken Our former colleague Senator Bradley, who served on the Finance Committee with such distinction and was a key author of the 1986 reform bill, called a couple of days ago, and I explained to him what was going on. He was just incredulous. He could not believe that this was going to be the process--that it would all be over in a matter of weeks and that it would not even be like healthcare, with the debate moving in fits and starts and stretching out over months. prgtoken If s have their way, as my family used to say, this is going to be over lickety-split, and it is coming up quickly. The House plans to offer up a bill in about a week, and the Ways and Means Committee is going to jump into action. The Senate bill could come out in a matter of days later, and then it would be the Finance Committee's turn. prgtoken As most people in the Senate know, there is a normal process for these debates in committee. You usually put out draft legislation. You refine your ideas. You update your work. You share with both sides of the aisle the ideas that would make sense--those that get both sides to say: Hey, bipartisanship is about taking each other's good ideas, and politics is about taking each other's
TRIBUTE TO JIM McCLOUGHAN
Debbie Stabenow (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2017-10-26

today I wish to reflect on Veterans Day and the debt of gratitude each of us owes those who are willing to serve our country in our Armed Forces. prgtoken Each year I have the honor of attending Veterans Day events across Michigan. At each parade, commemoration, and solemn ceremony, I am struck by the profound patriotism of our veterans, but also their deep humility and lasting dedication to serving others. prgtoken One amazing example of this is Jim McCloughan of South Haven. In May of 1969, he was 23 years old and far from home, serving as a medic in Vietnam after being drafted into the Army. prgtoken The orders were to attack Nui Yon Hill. However, Private First Class McCloughan and his company were surrounded by more than 2,000 enemy fighters. Over 2 days of battle, Private First Class McCloughan put himself in danger time and again in order to rescue his fallen brothers. prgtoken His head and arm were bloodied by shrapnel and small-arms fire; yet he refused to stop. When the battle was over, he had saved the lives of 10 members of his company. prgtoken Private First Class McCloughan received the Combat Medical Badge, two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars with ``V'' device for valor, and the U.S. Army Valorous Unit Citation, among other awards. He was a hero in every sense of the word. However, he remained focused on only one thing: how he could best serve others. That is just what he did. prgtoken Jim McCloughan returned home and taught and coached at South Haven High School until retiring in 2008. That might have been where his story ended had it not been for his one-time platoon leader, LT Randall J. Clark. prgtoken Lieutenant Clark never forgot about Private First Class McCloughan's heroism and worked tirelessly to get him the recognition he had earned. In 2016, I passed a bill to make Private First Class McCloughan eligible for our Nation's highest military honor. In July, I was honored to be at the White House as Private First Class McCloughan was finally awarded the Medal of Honor by President . prgtoken Jim McCloughan's story is extraordinary, but he is not alone. Across our Nation--and throughout our history--people of common backgrounds and uncommon courage have put their lives on the line in defense of our Nation. Time and again, these brave men and women have come home only to continue serving in our schools, churches, elected offices, and civic organizations. prgtoken Veterans like Jim owe us nothing and keep giving us everything. It is our solemn duty to keep our promises to them. Like Lieutenant Clark, we must continue working to provide them all that they have earned, whether it is healthcare, education, the chance at a good job, or the Medal of Honor. ``I'm humbled, very humbled,'' Jim McCloughan said about receiving his award. ``And, of course--as many individuals who are blessed to receive something like this--I'm receiving it for all of my men.'' prgtoken The spir
HEALTHCARE
Catherine Cortez Masto (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2017-10-26

I rise today to urge my colleagues to reauthorize Federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program. Children's health insurance is not a partisan issue in this country, and it never has been. prgtoken In 1997, the bill to create the Children's Health Insurance Program passed with bipartisan support. It was introduced by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a from Massachusetts, and our colleague, Senator Orrin Hatch, from Utah. This program has been a resounding success. Tens of millions of kids from all over the country have received access to preventive care, doctors' visits, prescriptions, dental and vision coverage as a result of this act of Congress. prgtoken Children's healthcare is not a partisan issue in Nevada--the great State that I represent--either. Over the past 20 years, more than 60,000 of Nevada's kids have benefited from our State CHIP program, Nevada Check Up. Together with the gains we have made due to the ACA's Medicaid expansion, our rate of uninsured children has fallen by half, making our program one of the biggest successes in the country. prgtoken Today, 9 million children from low-income families nationwide, including 27,000 from Nevada, get their health insurance through CHIP. If Congress continues to do nothing, those 9 million children will not be able to go to a doctor for their annual checkup; 9 million children will not be able to afford their prescriptions. The parents of those 9 million children will have to wait until their child's headache or infection or sore throat becomes an emergency before taking them to the hospital. prgtoken In 2008, the last time funding for CHIP was on the chopping block, Senator Ted Kennedy said that the test of a great nation is in the way it treats its children. We are a great nation. We know how to take care of our kids. Americans understand that children's healthcare is the kind of thing that should be beyond the reach of partisan politics. prgtoken Governors from both parties, medical professionals, care providers, and advocates from across this Nation have already called on Congress to do its job and move as quickly as possible to reauthorize this funding. Nevada's Governor, Brian Sandoval, is one of those voices. s and alike know that kids can't go to school, they can't go to soccer practice, they can't learn their times tables or their fractions, they can't do things that healthy, happy kids like to do if they do not feel well. prgtoken But don't ask me why funding for CHIP is important. Listen to the voices of parents who lie awake at night, worried that the cough they are hearing down the hall in their child's room will not go away on its own. It is scary enough to have a sick child. No parent should have to live with the additional fear that they will not be able to afford the care their child needs. No parent should have to choose between treating a cough that has b
COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY AND PATRIOTISM BEFORE POLITICS
Ted Lieu (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-10-26

before we do, let me just first say that today is Thursday. That means we all need to ask: Why do Ivanka and Jared Kushner still have their security clearances? prgtoken But I digress. We are now going to read into the Congressional Record outrageous and stupid things the President of the United States has done or said, and then Representative Gallego is going to give you Ryan's response. So I am going to start. prgtoken On May 11, fired FBI Director James Comey, and this is what said: ``Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, `You know, this Russia thing with and Russia is a made-up story.''
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018
Peter Welch (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2017-10-26

I want to say three things about this budget: prgtoken First, deficits matter. Deficits matter. This budget explicitly raises the deficit. It admits to $1.5 trillion, more likely $2.5 trillion. That means that prgtoken our children and our grandchildren are going to be the ones paying for the deficit that is added. prgtoken Second, process matters. We are hearing a lot of talk about tax reform, but there has been no process. There is no bill, and we are about to vote on a so-called tax reform package that has not been explicitly printed to paper. This is no way to do any business. We are making it up as we go along, and it is the same process that was used on healthcare. We went into committee with no bill and came out, 27 hours later, with 24 million people losing healthcare. There has been no process on this. prgtoken And third, details matter, and the details that are leaking out are very punishing to the middle class. Anybody who is an income tax payer in a State, a property tax payer in a State, is going to lose that deduction. prgtoken It is very tough on middle class efforts to save for retirement. That is in play. Folks' deductions on their Keogh plans, their 401(k) plans, are very much a part of the process that is going to lower this. prgtoken Reject this plan.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018
Sander M. Levin (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2017-10-26

the budget politically paving the way for their tax reform proposals can best be described as an elixir of growth, a magic cure-all. Instead, it is a fake, indeed dangerous, potion. prgtoken History has shown that a huge tax cut, primarily for the very wealthy and large corporations, does not promote growth, and will make life harder for the middle class and everyone else. prgtoken This budget calls dangerously for raising our debt by $1.5 trillion, creating a future deficit tax for middle-income families; cutting Medicare by nearly $500 billion; cutting Medicaid and other health programs by $1.3 trillion; and assuming $4 trillion in cuts to a broad range of programs, which could include education and health research. prgtoken , vote ``no'' on this budget.
THE BUDGET
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-10-26

on taxes, later today, the House will likely vote on whether to pass the budget resolution that recently passed the Senate. My colleagues in the House should be aware that this budget will explode the deficit by $1.5 trillion. That is under the best of circumstances. That is under circumstances where they find $4 trillion of pay-fors. That is probably unlikely. It will slash Medicare and Medicaid by $1.5 trillion, and it will set up the same awful partisan process that caused the effort on repeal and replace to fail, because when you try to do it with one party, it is fraught with peril. If you do it in a bipartisan way, a few people on either side will try to pull the bill off course but they will not succeed because they don't have the votes. prgtoken I remind my friends in the House who purport to be deficit hawks: You are voting for a budget that will increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion. Many of these House Members, particularly in the conservative wing of the caucus, particularly those in the Freedom Caucus, have spent their entire careers on the barricades, railing against the evils of deficits. What a stunning hypocrisy it would be to abandon those principles today and vote for this budget simply because it gives tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans and the most powerful, largest of our corporations. prgtoken Now I would also remind my friends in the House-- particularly those in New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Washington, and Minnesota--that voting for the budget today is tantamount to voting for the elimination of the State and local tax deduction, and that would sock it to the middle-class taxpayers in their States and districts. To most of our friends from those States, they are blue States, but there are red districts that are suburban, well-off. They will get clobbered if they take away the State and local deduction. Those are the constituents hurt the most--not the rich and not the poor--the middle class and the upper middle class. Not only will it raise their taxes dramatically, but most people would lose deductions between $10,000 and $20,000. That ain't chickenfeed. prgtoken It would lower home prices. A recent study by the National Association of Realtors done by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the esteemed accounting firm, showed that eliminating State and local would erode property values, the rock of the middle class, by 10 percent. To middle-class folks in New York and, I believe, around the country, their home is their piece of the rock. They struggle each month, paying the mortgage, paying the taxes, paying for the upkeep, but they are hoping that by the time they reach later middle age they will own that home, and that gives their kids a place or gives their kids a nest egg when they pass it on. But this bill, by eliminating State and local, reduces across America, on average, home values by 10 perce
Wildfire Funding (Executive Session)
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2017-10-26

in recent months, Americans have been hit by a string of natural disasters--from devastating hurricanes in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas, to catastrophic wildfires in Oregon, Montana, and California. Earlier this week, the Senate voted to provide urgent relief to our communities in need. prgtoken Although Colorado was fortunate this year--we could have easily had fires, but we were very fortunate, unlike Montana, this year--we know the devastation of wildfires all too well. In 2012, the Waldo Canyon fire raged for 16 days, incinerating 18,000 acres, destroying over 300 homes, and forcing the evacuation of more than 32,000 Coloradans. Years later, our communities are still recovering from the damage. prgtoken Out West, wildfires can be catastrophic events. Yet Washington continues to fund them differently than other major disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods. When those disasters strike, we pay for emergency response from an entirely separate account. When a wildfire catches, that cost falls entirely on the U.S. Forest Service. If it is a catastrophic fire, as we see now in Montana and Northern California, those costs can easily exceed the Forest Service budget for fire suppression. That forces the Forest Service to borrow funds from other accounts to make up the difference. That is something no one has to do for any other disaster in America. This is often at the expense of efforts to prevent the next catastrophic fire. prgtoken It stands to reason that if we spend less and less on fire prevention, which is what the Forest Service is doing every year because of the way the Congress has set this up, we are going to spend more and more on fire suppression, fighting fires, and that is what is happening. That is exactly what has happened. prgtoken In 1995, the Forest Service spent around 16 percent of its budget on fire suppression--16 percent. Last year, it spent over half of its budget. For the first time in the Forest Service's history, they spent over half their budget fighting fires. You might as well call it the fire-fighting agency, not the Forest Service agency. In fact, the number was closer to 60 percent. The Forest Service had to borrow over half a billion dollars from other accounts in the agency--accounts that are important to Colorado, Wyoming, and Alaska. prgtoken While we replenished those accounts in disaster aid packages earlier this year, we once again failed to address why they were depleted in the first place. Until we do, we are going to find ourselves in the same position every year. This is no way to run a government. It makes no sense from a fiscal perspective, and it makes no sense from a public welfare perspective. This is not how we should manage our taxpayer dollars. Undercutting fire prevention is the definition of being penny wise and pound foolish. Every dollar we prgtoken spend on disaster prevention leads to $5 of savings down the road. prgtoken We ne
IN RECOGNITION OF PATRICIA AND PETER GORES
Louise McIntosh Slaughter (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-10-26

I rise today to honor Patricia and Peter Gores of Mumford, New York. They recently donated a more than 100-year- old clock which had been a centerpiece in the Gores' family home for more than 40 years. The clock was manufactured in New York State by the Self-Winding Clock Company, built with casing made from Quarter Sawn Oak, and remains in good working condition to this day. This clock was formerly located in Rochester, New York, at the Claude Bragdon train station where it served as the New York Central Railroad's Master Clock to ensure a consistent time among the clocks around the station. The donation of this clock will allow it to be proudly displayed in Rochester's new train station. prgtoken The Claude Bragdon station opened its doors in 1914 and was a paragon of design. This station was where our community bid farewell to local soldiers as they were sent to serve our nation. It was a gathering place for suffragettes organizing for the right to vote. It was also where our community welcomed dignitaries, including Presidents. This clock represents that era and the importance rail travel has played in our nation's history. prgtoken While the Claude Bragdon station is no longer standing, Rochester opened the doors to its brand new train station this fall which borrows heavily from the design of the old station. The new state-of-the-art, ADA compliant station will dramatically improve service for the more than 130,000 passengers that utilize passenger rail in Upstate New York. Whether you're a student traveling to Rochester to attend one of the great colleges or universities or an entrepreneur visiting the city for the first time, this Master Clock will stand as a reminder of Rochester's proud history. prgtoken On behalf of the Rochester community, I want to thank Patricia and Peter Gores for their generous donation and commitment to returning the Master Clock to its former home.