mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Coronavirus (Executive Session)
John Cornyn (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-7-27

as we continue to work on supporting our country's recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, one critical piece of the CARES 2 legislation is liability reform. prgtoken Across the country we are seeing lawsuits rolling in, targeting the very healthcare workers who are on the frontlines performing essential work for patients suffering from the COVID-19 virus. We are seeing lawsuits focusing on nursing homes, universities, nonprofit businesses--you name it. Without action from Congress, the litigation epidemic will potentially sink the very businesses and enterprises that we hoped we could sustain through this crisis. prgtoken Today, Leader McConnell and I introduced the Safe to Work Act, which will ensure that those operating in good faith and following all the relevant guidelines cannot be sued out of existence. prgtoken To be clear, this is not a blanket liability shield. It will not prevent bad actors from facing the consequences of their actions when they are intentional or reckless. It will not ban coronavirus lawsuits, and it will not give anyone a ``get out of jail free'' card. prgtoken What it will do, though, is put safeguards in place that will prevent opportunistic lawsuits from harming the workers and institutions we are depending on to see us through this crisis. prgtoken First and foremost are protections for our incredible healthcare heroes who made the tremendous physical and mental sacrifices over the last few months. This legislation sets a willful misconduct or gross negligence standard for coronavirus-related medical liability suits to ensure that only meritorious cases are brought against our healthcare workers. prgtoken I would add that the costs of litigation itself can be enough to put somebody out of business, even though you, in the end, ``win'' the lawsuit. The cost of defending a case that you ultimately win can be so big that it will put you out of business by itself. prgtoken In addition to protecting our healthcare heroes, we need to ensure that fear of lawsuits does not prevent our schools, nonprofits, small businesses, and a range of other organizations and institutions that are vital to our communities from opening their doors. This will spell out in black and white that these entities will be protected from COVID-19 exposure claims as long as they have made a good-faith effort to comply with mandatory public health guidelines. prgtoken By the way, a number of States have already provided similar protections, including the minority leader's State of New York, and it is time we extend these liability limitations to the rest in the country. This is not a red State or blue State issue. We are all in this together, and that is why red State and blue State legislators and Governors have already acted in a similar fashion to what I am describing here. prgtoken In order for our country to recover, the workers and institutions we depend on now need to know with confidence that if
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
Mitt Romney (Republican, UT) \u2014 2020-7-27

I rise today to propose the TRUST Act of 2020. This is bipartisan legislation. It is sponsored by 14 other Senators, both and s, and supported by 30 Members from each party from the House. prgtoken Its purpose is to preserve the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, among others, both of which have been pushed closer to bankruptcy due to the pandemic. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that Medicare Part A will now become insolvent in only 4 years, and the Social Security retirement trust fund by 2031. prgtoken Under the law, insolvency would trigger drastic benefit cuts, or, if approved by a future Congress, draconian tax hikes. Our TRUST Act is designed to save these trust funds in addition to other vital Federal trust funds. prgtoken The TRUST Act also addresses our ballooning national debt, a burden which has become even greater due to the COVID-19 crisis. The CBO projects that the Federal budget deficit will be $3.7 trillion this year. Our national debt will exceed $27 trillion. That could eventually mean backbreaking interest payments, runaway inflation, or national financial calamity. prgtoken Modeled loosely after the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission, the TRUST Act would create a process to rescue these funds. Under the bill, an individual rescue committee would be created for each of the trust funds. Each committee would be tasked with drafting bipartisan legislation that would provide for its solvency. prgtoken Members of the rescue committees would come equally from the House and the Senate and equally from each party. If the majority of a committee supported a solvency plan and if at least two members from each party endorsed that plan, it would be brought, on an expedited basis, to the floor. prgtoken The TRUST Act has strong bipartisan consensus among Senators and Members of the House, as well as policy advocates across the political spectrum, from Freedom Works to the Brookings Institution, as well as from Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles prgtoken This is the right time to act. Our trust funds are approaching insolvency even more rapidly due to the pandemic. More importantly, if we don't act now, it will never happen before we face an overwhelming crisis. One of the lessons the COVID-19 crisis has taught us is that it is far better to prepare and hopefully prevent a crisis than to wait for a crisis to fall upon us. prgtoken The TRUST Act is the only bipartisan, bicameral solution that has been proposed to save our trust funds and to restore fiscal stability. I urge this body to work in good faith to advance this proposal as part of additional pandemic relief
HEALS ACT
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-7-27

COVID-19 has killed nearly 150,000 Americans. It has caused massive layoffs on a historic scale and left 17 million people out of work. It has thrown the lives and the trajectories of our Nation's children and young adults into uncertainty. prgtoken Our Nation stands now at an important crossroads in this battle. American families' historic sacrifices brought our medical system through prgtoken the springtime intact. The very early stages of our economic recovery have been promising and our Nation needs to continue to proceed with a smart and safe reopening. prgtoken At the same time, the virus is still with us. It is still spreading, and it does not care about our fragile economic progress or our frustration with restrictions, or anything else, besides infecting as many people as possible. prgtoken So we have one foot in the pandemic and one foot in the recovery. The American people need more help. They need it to be comprehensive, and they need it to be carefully tailored to these crossroads. prgtoken That is what this Senate majority has assembled, and that is what Chairmen Alexander, Blunt, Collins, Graham, Grassley, Rubio, and Shelby, and Senators Cornyn and Romney are introducing today. They will be coming to the floor shortly to introduce their components. prgtoken Together, their bills make up the HEALS Act--health, economic assistance, liability protection, and schools--health, economic assistance, liability protection, and schools. prgtoken Just like in March, with the CARES Act, Senate s have authored another bold framework to help our Nation. Now we need our ic colleagues to reprise their part as well. They need to put aside the partisan stonewalling we saw on police reform and rediscover the spirit of urgency that got the CARES Act across the finish line, and quickly join us around the negotiating table. prgtoken It will take bipartisan cooperation to make the HEALS Act into law for the American people. The Senate will not waste time with pointless partisanship. There is a reason why even Pelosi and Leader Schumer themselves have publicly downplayed the multitrillion-dollar socialist manifesto they published a few weeks back and have suggested the real, serious discussion would begin when s released our outline. prgtoken We have produced a tailored and targeted draft that will cut right to the heart of three distinct crises facing our country--getting kids back in school, getting workers back to work, and winning the healthcare fight against the virus--kids, jobs, and healthcare. prgtoken First, our Nation's kids. Chairmen Alexander, Blunt, and Shelby will be introducing a sweeping package to help schools and universities reopen safely. We are talking about more than $100 billion--more for an education fund than House put aside in a bill that spent multiple trillions. There are policies to help childcare providers and schools have the flexibility
Coronavirus (Executive Session)
Tim Scott (Republican, SC) \u2014 2020-7-27

as we continue our efforts to tackle the effects of COVID-19, both in terms of healthcare and the economic fallout, CARES 2 could be a critical piece to the puzzle. prgtoken Americans continue to mask up, social distance, and do what we can do as individuals to slow the spread of the virus. Here, in the Senate, we know that we must find additional ways to keep our people as healthy as possible while we reopen our economy as safely as we can. prgtoken We also know that low wage and service industry workers have taken the hardest economic hit from the virus. This stems, in part, from restaurants either being closed or operating at a limited capacity. In April, one out of four individuals to lose their jobs lost their jobs in the restaurant industry. That is 5.5 million Americans who lost their jobs in the restaurant business. prgtoken While those losses have certainly begun to recover, and even as our restaurants adjust and innovate to find new ways to serve customers, there is no doubt they need some additional help. That is why I worked on the provision in this legislation that will provide a 100-percent deduction for business meals--up from 50 percent. prgtoken We know that through outdoor dining, carryout, delivery, and, in some places around the country, limited indoor dining, we can keep folks safe. This incentive will lead to more orders that will translate into more take-home pay and more hours for wait staff and kitchen staff and more revenues for millions of small businesses. That is a great thing and an easy thing to accomplish with this simple provision.
Unanimous Consent Agreement (Executive Session)
Lindsey Graham (Republican, SC) \u2014 2020-7-27

it is my pleasure to introduce the Restoring Critical Supply Chains and Intellectual Property Act. prgtoken China looms large in this debate about the coronavirus. That is where the virus originated. The lying and deceptive behavior of the Chinese Communist Party has brought this pandemic to the world. It is the third pandemic to come out of China. I think it is now time for us to get serious about our dependency on China. prgtoken What does this legislation do? It has four components. prgtoken The protective equipment that our nurses and doctors and all healthcare workers use to protect themselves on the frontlines--90 percent of it is made in China. We are going to try to bring it back home. We have a ``Buy American'' requirement in this bill--a $7.5 billion tax credit to reenergize American production of PPE equipment. prgtoken We are trying to get PPE under the Berry amendment of the Defense bill. We require our uniforms for our military to be made in America to the extent possible. We are going to try to create PPE in the same category as a national security item. prgtoken There will be a $7.5 billion tax credit to jump-start this industry. A lot of good jobs will come from this, and we will be less dependent on China when it comes to protective equipment. prgtoken I will discuss Senator Portman's legislation, Safeguarding American Innovation Act, which is included, Senator Cornyn's CHIPS for America Act, and Senator Murkowski's American Mineral Security Act very quickly. prgtoken Senator Cornyn's CHIPS for America Act creates tax incentives to return and grow a domestic semiconductor industry. A Taiwanese firm made a big prgtoken decision to come to America--I think in Texas--a Taiwanese semiconductors company. We are trying to incentivize their relocation into the United States and jump-start a semiconductor industry that has left the country. It is very important for the future of our economy. prgtoken Senator Portman's Safeguarding American Innovation Act creates a Federal research council and institutes penalties for bad actors who come to the United States or are here to steal important intellectual property. I think we all know who we are talking about here. China leads the pack there, and you saw what happened in Houston. prgtoken Senator Murkowski's American Mineral Security Act promotes secure and robust domestic supply chains of critical minerals by streamlining the permitting process for extraction and emphasizing R&D into critical mineral recycling and development. prgtoken These four things together will protect our supply chain. It will bring it back to the country at a time when we need to have more say about our destiny. The pandemic has been a wake-up call all over the board. There is nothing more important to me than relocating the medical supply chain and protecting the innovation that we are known for as a country. prgtoken With that, I yield.
Coronavirus (Executive Session)
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2020-7-27

I thank Senator Wyden for his courtesy in allowing me to go next. I will be succinct. prgtoken The way to get back to work and back to school is to put politics aside and work together, as we have been doing, on the COVID-19 response and see whether we can get a result for the American people in the next couple of weeks. prgtoken The part of the Safely Back to Work and Back to School Act that I am introducing today does four things. prgtoken First, if you are one of 43 million Americans with a student loan, it helps you manage your debt. This is the way it does it: If you have no income, you have no monthly payment. If you remember, in March, we said to the 43 million Americans with student debt: You can defer your payment until October 1. Well, that is just around the corner. What we would propose is, you don't have to pay it after October 1 if you have no income. If you do have income, your monthly payment will never be more than 10 percent of your income after deducting the necessities of life, such as rent, mortgage, or food. prgtoken No. 2, if you are a parent, this bill gives your child more choices of schools, provides scholarships so that your child can return to the private school he or she attended before the pandemic, and gives other students a new opportunity to attend private school. Senator Tim Scott introduced that legislation earlier. I am a cosponsor. prgtoken No. 3, if you are a working mom or dad, it helps you find childcare so you can go back to work. A lot of our childcare centers operate on a very thin margin. They have reduced revenue because they don't have as many clients these days. Senator Blunt's bill and Senator Shelby's appropriations bill will provide money so that they can stay open and provide safe environments to two-thirds of the children in the United States under age 6 who have parents in the workforce. prgtoken Finally, our bill--the part I am introducing--improves the Strategic National Stockpile so that we can maintain adequate supplies of masks, gloves, protective equipment, as well as onshore manufacturing capacity for tests, treatments, and vaccines that we are building now. We want to make sure that it doesn't go away and we have to rely on other countries in other parts of the world. prgtoken This legislation is about children, jobs, and healthcare. prgtoken As far as schools go, there are 100,000 public schools and 35,000 private schools in our country. There are about 5 million students in the private schools and 50 million in the public schools. Every one of those children is a treasure. I have worked with Senator Blunt to help the country's 135,000 schools and 6,000 colleges have the money they need to open with as many students physically present as is consistent with safety. prgtoken The Safely Back to Work and Back to School Act poses making $70 billion available for schools; another $30 billion for colleges. That means roughly $1,200 per student fo
TRIBUTE TO MARGARET DAGMAN
Kevin Cramer (Republican, ND) \u2014 2020-7-27

I want to honor a very special North Dakota resident who turned 100 years old on July 17. Margaret Michalski Dagman has been a lifelong resident of the Nome and Enderlin, ND, area. She and her late husband, Vernon, raised two children and farmed for many years near Enderlin. They were active in their community, and Margaret supported Vernon during his years representing Ransom County in the North Dakota Legislature in the early 1960s. prgtoken Throughout the decades of her life across the past century, Margaret has experienced great moments in North Dakota's history. She shared her memories of attending the Nome Schoolhouse in a recent video produced about the restored building. She recalled bringing lunch to school in syrup pails, the many poems she and her classmates were required to memorize, and some of her favorite teachers. Although a large celebration did not happen on Margaret's birthday, the community of Enderlin drove by her home and honked with birthday wishes. I hope she will be able to celebrate this great milestone with friends and family at other opportunities throughout the year. prgtoken North Dakota is home to more than 200 centenarians, and we consider them among our most treasured residents. Their pioneer spirit, dignity, and hard work have brought them through many challenges and personal achievements. On behalf of all North Dakotans, I wish Margaret a happy 100th birthday and hope this is the start of a year filled with happiness and joy.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Don Young (Republican, AK) \u2014 2020-7-27

I include in the Record the following exchange of correspondence between myself, House Appropriations Committee Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Betty McCollum, and Ranking Member David Joyce. Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, July 23, 2020. Chair Betty McCollum, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, House Appropriations Committee, Washington, DC. Ranking Member Dave Joyce, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, House Appropriations Committee, Washington, DC. Dear Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Joyce: I want to thank you for your work on the Fiscal Year 2021 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, particularly your inclusion of language that transitions the 105(l) Lease Program to an indefinite appropriation for such sums that are necessary. Funding the 105(l) Lease Program in this manner will uphold the federal government's trust responsibility to Alaska Natives and American Indians and support village clinics in Alaska that rely greatly on the program. I write today about a provision in the bill that would limit the federal compensation for leases under the program to portions of tribal facilities that are ``necessary for the operation of the Federal programs under the lease.'' Many tribal clinics and hospitals in Alaska provide health care services to non-Natives in addition to Native beneficiaries. This is a vital service because often the tribal clinic is the only health care provider in a village, and most villages are not connected to the road system. By providing service to non-Natives, these clinics are improving the health outcomes for Natives both by preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses and by affording the clinics a broader financial base. I am concerned that the limiting provision could potentially negatively impact the operation of 105(l) leases in my state. I also note that there is pending litigation regarding this topic. prgtoken Given our strong working relationship, I respectfully request your help in addressing this issue in final Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations legislation. Sincerely, Don Young, Congressman for all Alaska.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Martha McSally (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2020-7-28

in the words of entrepreneur Henry Ford, ``coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.'' As you and I know all too well, the role of a mediator presents unique challenges. From negotiating contracts to facilitating dialogue among parties, very few have the skillset and dedication to produce favorable results. prgtoken Today, I am here to honor a man who exemplifies the qualities of a true leader and innovator: James ``Rusty'' Mitchell, the director of the Community Initiatives Team at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Mr. Mitchell will be retiring this month after over 39 years of government service to our country. prgtoken Upon completion of his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California as an ROTC cadet, Mr. Mitchell was commissioned in 1976 to attend pilot training at the old Williams Air Force Base, which has a near and dear place to my heart, as I also attended it. prgtoken The culmination of an impressive 22-year USAF career as the commander of the 21st Squadron, 56th Fighter Wing at Luke, he retired in 1998 as a lieutenant colonel with multiple honors, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the USAF Meritorious Service Medal, with three oakleaf clusters; and the Air Force Commendation Medal. prgtoken After 3 years as a pilot with United Airlines, Mr. Mitchell returned to Luke to take the lead as the director of the newly created Community Initiatives Team, CIT. Working with all 14 jurisdictions around the air base, as well as the State of Arizona, Mr. Mitchell and his team took into account the interests of various stakeholders in the State, the Federal Government, and the local community. The results were beyond favorable. His team's efforts transformed the entire community. prgtoken CIT's first-class work on the Strategic Basing process led to the USAF selecting Luke to serve as the F-35A training site, which brought 144 F-35s and significant investments to the base. Through initiatives such as the FAA's approval of a Special Air Traffic Rule, which enhanced safety and reduced flying hour costs, Mr. Mitchell and his team have truly shown how essential their role has been. There is no question that this work strengthened the Maricopa Area's ties to Luke AFB. prgtoken Under Mr. Mitchell's leadership, CIT is now one of the country's best examples of how to bring community leaders, military families, and base leadership together. The outcome has all three of these groups rallying around one shared mission: to support the base's military personnel and readiness. As a Valley resident for more than 25 years himself, Mr. Mitchell's firsthand understanding has allowed him to personally address key issues at the base and in his community. His frequent appearances at city council meetings and active involvement in the broader community truly highlight his unwavering dedication to building bridges between Luke AFB and th
ORDERS FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020
Kevin Cramer (Republican, ND) \u2014 2020-7-28

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m Wednesday, July 29; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Kan nomination under the previous order.