mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2022-1-19

. I am sorry that he did not stay for a question because I would have asked the basic question phrased by Senator Schumer: Does he really believe that there is no evidence of voter suppression in the actions of 19 States across our Nation? I think the facts speak for themselves. prgtoken For those who are witnessing this, this is a rare moment in the history of this Chamber. In the recent history, it is rare because we are here; half of the seats are occupied in the U.S. Senate. That is a rare occurrence because it is rare that we come together to debate, to amend, or to even exercise the authority given to us as U.S. Senators. prgtoken It is also a rare moment in history because we again are being called on, as others have before us, to speak to the fundamentals of freedom and democracy and to go on record by the end of this day, when night falls, as to where we stand in the sweep of history. prgtoken Approximately 155 million Americans voted in the 2020 election-- highest voter-turnout percentage since the 1900 election. A record number voted early or cast mail-in ballots--options that were expanded in red and blue States in response to a deadly pandemic. That was before we had vaccines, and COVID was killing an average of 1,200 Americans a day. Yet they voted. Tens of millions of Americans stood in line, some for hours, to cast their ballots. That is how important the American people thought it was to vote in 2020. prgtoken People risked their lives to cast their ballots. It is hard to believe that fact could be measured against statements made by the leader just a few moments ago that people don't care about the right to vote. They care enough to risk their lives, and they did in the 2020 election. prgtoken Despite the crush of voters and the confusion of the pandemic, the 2020 election was judged ``the most secure in American history.'' That is not my opinion; that is the official statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under the administration, an Agency which coordinates the Nation's top cybersecurity and voting infrastructure security. They released their assessment 10 days after the 2020 election, and they did so to counter a dangerous and unprecedented avalanche of misinformation--including from an enraged and defeated President--claiming falsely the election had been stolen. prgtoken These nonpartisan election security experts were not alone in rejecting 's Big Lie. President and his loyalists filed more than 60 lawsuits in State and Federal courts, repeating their false claims of voter fraud and stolen votes. They offered no evidence to back their claims--only bizarre conspiracy theories and far-right internet gossip. Their lawsuits were overwhelmingly dismissed, some by judges whom President himself had nominated. The former President exerted extraordinary pressure on the Department of Justice
HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF THE MAYOR OF DEARBORN, JOHN B. ``JACK'' O'REILLY, JR.
Debbie Dingell (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , I rise today to recognize Former Mayor John O'Reilly on the occasion of his retirement from the City of Dearborn, Michigan, where he has honorably served its citizens in various capacities for past three decades. His significant contributions to our community are worthy of commendation. prgtoken Mr. O'Reilly graduated from St. Alphonsus High School in Dearborn, attended Oakland University, and earned his law degree from the University of Detroit. He has been a mainstay in Dearborn and throughout the State of Michigan during his celebrated career in public service and has followed in the footsteps of his father John B. O'Reilly, Sr who served as Dearborn's fourth mayor. Mr. O'Reilly began his career in public service as staff counsel prgtoken and district director for Congressman John D. Dingell, then as a chief of staff in the Michigan State Senate, and in serving as the Executive Director of the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA). In 1990, he was first elected to the Dearborn City Council, serving for seventeen years as Council President. In 2006, he was sworn in as the Mayor of Dearborn after the passing of Mayor Michael Guido and was officially elected to the role in a special election in 2007. prgtoken During his tenure as Mayor, Mr. O'Reilly has been a champion for economic growth and development within the city, as well as for improving Dearborn's neighborhoods for all. Under his leadership, downtown was revitalized, and the city has continued to be recognized as a center of culture, industry, and innovation. Mr. O'Reilly was highly involved in many state and community organizations, as the chair of the Downriver Community Conference in 2014, President of the Michigan Municipal League in 2015, and was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation by Governor Rick Snyder in 2016. Ever the advocate for his city, he served on the board of directors for the Dearborn Education Foundation, the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, and the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority. He resides in his beloved Dearborn with his wife Christina, and together they have three children Devon, Sean, and Dylan. prgtoken Madam , I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Former Mayor John O'Reilly. We are grateful for his years spent serving the citizens of Dearborn. Personally, I am thankful for Jack's years of friendship, counsel, and advice to my late husband John and I, he is someone who can always be counted on. I join with his family, friends, and colleagues in extending my best wishes to him in retirement.
CONGRESS IS SERVING OUR VETERANS
Susie Lee (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , I rise today to speak about news that many people don't hear too much about coming out of Washington. prgtoken Too often they only hear one side of the story about divisiveness, gridlock, and a general unwillingness to put results over politics. prgtoken And don't get me wrong, it is a problem, but there are a whole lot of us in this body that are fighting every day to put an end to that and break the cycle in Washington, especially when it comes to our veterans. prgtoken In the past 2 months alone we have seen legislative breakthroughs that had the support of both and s to help make sure that our country continues to serve our Nation's veterans. prgtoken I introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation with Representatives Anthony Gonzalez, Tony Gonzales, and Colin Allred to invest in the Zero Suicide initiative and bring accountability into the VA. prgtoken Last week, this House passed legislation that will end a GI Bill disparity between the National Guard and Reserve members so that every single servicemember can access the benefits their sacrifices have earned. prgtoken And last month, President signed the REMOTE Act into law to extend legislation to protect student benefits for veterans. prgtoken In southern Nevada alone, 200 veterans were facing cuts in their benefits, but with our votes in the House and Senate and President 's signature, those benefits were extended, and it was just that easy. prgtoken These are just a few examples of the bipartisan wins this Congress has been able to accomplish for veterans. prgtoken You see, a lot of legislation before us, especially bills that serve our veterans, are common sense. And I encourage Washington to not lose sight of those two words: Common sense.
IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Haley M. Stevens (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , I rise today in solidarity with the Jewish community, with Jewish parents, with our rabbis, people who are still reeling in the aftermath of yet another attack on one of their houses of worship. prgtoken Anti-Semitism is real and growing, and it is a threat to our neighbors and to our collective conscience in this country. Paired with near-unfettered access to firearms, spaces for online hate to fester, and the echo of xenophobic dog whistles from our Nation's highest offices, it has and can cost us American lives. prgtoken We have failed when our educators and faith leaders need to supplement their daily duties with violence intervention rehearsals. We have failed when our students and congregants need to calculate exit plans upon entering classrooms and sanctuaries. And we have failed when we fear the next attack that impedes our neighbor's ability to practice their faith. prgtoken To the Jewish community of Michigan's 11th District and beyond: I see you, I am here for you, and I will continue to do my part to uproot intolerance and hate wherever it grows.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Just briefly, , I know I was not scheduled to speak, but I do want to respond as one of the signatories of the letter. prgtoken I associate myself with everything that the other signatories have talked about in terms of wanting to restore the Senate's tradition of extended debate on issues of grave importance to the American people. But let me be clear about the reason that I now support an adjustment to the longstanding rules of the Senate. It is because I never imagined, when I signed that letter, that not a single Member of the Party would stand up for our democracy since January 6, when we saw an acceleration of State laws that would allow partisans to overturn the impartial count of an election. prgtoken We need to address the issues that so many of us have talked about here. The people of New Hampshire, the people all across the country, they need us to address pressing issues like lowering the cost of prescription drugs or making it easy for families to afford childcare. prgtoken But if we do not have a functioning democracy where people know that, when they vote, that vote will be impartially counted and upheld and that people who are defeated will accept defeat so that they can have an accountable elected representation in Washington, then there is no democracy. prgtoken When I signed that letter, I never imagined that today's Party would fail to stand up for democracy. prgtoken I was raised by a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. He would talk to us at the breakfast table, and the question was, ``What are you going to do for freedom today?'' It was a big question to ask elementary schoolkids, to be sure, but he had a right to ask it, as does every veteran who has fought for this country, including my colleague Senator Cotton. prgtoken But the Party and the ic Party must unite to stand for freedom and to stand for an accountable democracy because, without that, the rules of this body do not matter. prgtoken .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2022-1-19

I am glad that a number of my colleagues are in the Chamber because I am going to speak very briefly just to reassure you that I am not so immodest that I believe I am going to persuade you, but I do want to try to reassure you. prgtoken We are going to take up a rules reform proposal that will not blow up the Senate. We are going to take up a rules reform proposal that will not abolish the filibuster, that will not weaken the filibuster. We are going to take up a proposal that will show you, even if you are not persuaded, that we have been listening to you, that we have been listening to all of our colleagues, as we try to come up with a rules reform proposal to let us address the voting rights issue. prgtoken I am glad to see Senator Collins and Senator Coons here on the floor. They helped put together the 2017 letter that many of us signed. It is very carefully worded, and it is two paragraphs. What they got us to join together as bipartisan Senators to express was our united determination to preserve the ability of Members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor--extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor--and that is what our rules reform proposal will do. prgtoken The simplest way to understand it--and Senator Merkley is going to go into more detail--is that it switches the current secret filibuster into a public filibuster and makes both parties have to work on the floor. The majority has to work and the minority has to work on the floor to get the kind of extended public debate that we joined together to seek in the letter in 2017. prgtoken Let's face it. We don't really do this. The current rules are an obstacle to extended debate because you just vote down the motion to proceed, and you can't even get on a bill. Then, if you do get on a bill, the 60-vote cloture threshold is used, with confidence, by a filibustering minority. You don't even have to show up to debate because there is an awareness that you can't get 60 votes to terminate debate. So, instead of trying to change the rule about terminating debate--which, as my colleague Senator Manchin pointed out, to terminate debate has always required more than a simple majority--we are going to restore actually having debate, and when debate is finished, the rules of this Senate have always been, when debate is finished, even after a long time, passage is by a simple majority. prgtoken Our proposal is to restore a talking filibuster, which has been the history of this Senate over the vast majority of our history, and to make a simple change to make it public rather than secret so that our colleagues and the American public can understand and then hold us accountable for our actions. prgtoken With that, .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2022-1-19

I disagree with the last speaker's characterization of the issue he was bringing up, but I want to stay focused on voting rights because this is an important moment for the U.S. Senate. prgtoken This is our opportunity to debate the need for voting protection and voting rights, but I do want to make one comment. prgtoken My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have said that they welcome an opportunity to debate voting rights legislation and talk about ways that we can get this bill to have bipartisan support. prgtoken The majority leader, several weeks ago, offered a motion to proceed on voting rights. He filed cloture so that we could get on the bill and have the type of debate that my colleagues now are telling us they want to have, and not a single voted to proceed on voting rights legislation at that time. So I find it a little bit disheartening to hear this newfound desire to start taking up voting rights when we have been negotiating and talking and debating this issue now for this entire Congress. We also have a historic opportunity to vote on voting rights if we take advantage of that opportunity. prgtoken I represent the State of Maryland, and I know we have talked about 19 States that are moving in the wrong direction on protecting voting rights. Maryland is not one of those States. In fact, the Maryland Legislature has taken steps to make it easier for voters to be able to register and cast their votes. prgtoken The Voting Rights Act was authored by my Congressman, John Sarbanes, and I am proud of the work that he has done because Marylanders recognize that we administer elections locally but that we need national standards, and that is why this legislation is under consideration. prgtoken After the Civil War and Reconstruction, powerful officials sought to nullify the political outcome of the Civil War. They passed laws and instituted policies that enforced segregation. We all know those laws: the Jim Crow laws, the Black Codes, the institutionalized segregation. They were enabled by Jim Crow laws that were aimed at disenfranchising minority voters with poll taxes and literacy tests and voter intimidation--rationalized in protecting our national security and voter integrity. prgtoken Thanks to courageous leaders, we were able to reverse those laws--by Presidents such as Harry Truman, in 1948, in integrating our military; by our courts in the landmark decision in 1954 of Brown v. Board of Education, and Marylanders are proud of Thurgood Marshall, a native son of Maryland's, in the role that he played in arguing that case before the Supreme Court; and by our Congress with its historic action in 1964 to pass the Civil Rights Act, in 1965 to pass the Voting Rights Act, and in 1968 to pass the Fair Housing Act. prgtoken Today, we are now seeing a renewed effort for Jim Crow-type laws, aimed at disenfranchising targeted voters. My colleagues have talked about it, and I a
ADDRESSING YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
Lauren Underwood (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , the trauma, disruption, stress, and isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated the mental health crisis facing our young people. I have seen this reflected in my own community. My alma mater, Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, has lost two students to suicide just this school year. prgtoken These are not isolated events. We are seeing the impacts of the youth mental health crisis play out in schools and communities across my district and across the Nation. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago has seen the number of children admitted as a result of suicide attempts increase from two to three children per month to two to three per day. There are now 3,000 children on their waitlist for outpatient mental healthcare. This is absolutely heartbreaking. prgtoken However, I find hope in seeing young people in my community stand up in the face of tragedy and demand solutions from their schools and government officials. They shouldn't have to do this, but they are organizing, participating in school board meetings, and writing and calling my office. I want them to know that I hear them, and I am fighting for them. prgtoken This summer, I introduced the Child Suicide Prevention and Lethal Means Safety Act to invest in educating healthcare providers and evidence-based youth suicide prevention measures. It is absolutely critical that we act immediately to address the growing unmet need for more school-based mental health providers. prgtoken That is why I am fighting for the maximum possible funding through the Department of Education for the school-based mental health workforce in the omnibus appropriations package. I am inviting all Members to join this bipartisan effort. prgtoken Last month, I was proud to join Assistant Katherine Clark to introduce the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act to provide consistent, long-term funding to support schools in hiring more school- based mental health providers and meet the recommended student-to- provider ratios. prgtoken As we begin another year of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we must target resources toward supporting the mental health of kids in school. As U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in his recent advisory on youth mental health: ``It would be a tragedy if we beat back one public health crisis only to allow another to grow in its place.'' prgtoken Madam , I urge my colleagues in both the House and Senate to work together and across the aisle to pass legislation, including a fiscal year 2022 spending package, that makes necessary investments in combating the mental health crisis facing young people. prgtoken We must seize this critical opportunity to build better, safer, and more supportive environments for our young people to grow and thrive.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Christopher A. Coons (Democrat, DE) \u2014 2022-1-19

why are we here? Why is this Senate dedicating this entire day to a debate on the floor? prgtoken Well, we are here today to talk about, to debate and consider two critical voting rights bills. It is our fourth try. It is our fourth try. The three previous times we have tried to get on this bill, there has been a filibuster on the motion to proceed, an obscure a procedural standing that prevented us from getting to this bill. prgtoken We are finally on it, and there is a challenge in this Chamber, in this country, to explain and articulate briefly why this is such an important moment and why it justifies, in a tension between two of my core principles--one of which is making sure that we work across the aisle and find bipartisan solutions as much as possible and the other that we protect foundational principles--the right to vote--and through that right to make progress toward justice and inclusion in our society--that I choose the latter. prgtoken We have seen across our country, in recent months and years--ever since Shelby County, a Supreme Court case, blew a hole in the center of the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, the most powerful civil rights law in the history our country--a whole series of laws at the State and local level eroding and undermining access to the ballot. prgtoken And in the months since the 2020 election, tragically, we have also seen now State legislatures take up and pass laws designed to change who counts the ballot, who certifies an election, voter subversion and voter subversion, access to the ballot box, and who counts the votes. prgtoken Every one of us is here because we were elected. Every one of us wants to know, or should want to know, that we won a free and fair election in which as many Americans in our State as possible voted. prgtoken Why would we want barriers to Americans with disabilities, Americans speaking different languages, Americans working full time and strained by their working family commitments, Americans who are Black or Brown, Native American, or Hispanic, or African American? Why would we want to have any suspicion that our election to this body relied, in some part, on suppressing or miscounting those votes? prgtoken Today, I am going to speak just briefly, if I can, about how today is really about a fraying bipartisan consensus. Some of my friends and colleagues have spoken about how we have to continue to hang on to and respect the rules of this Senate, especially the 60-vote threshold, to moving forward on policy changes, and I have long defended that and respect that concern. But we are also principally here because of a forgotten consensus about working together to protect access to the ballot box. prgtoken We have heard just now from a colleague the accusation that this is a ``partisan Federal takeover'' of elections. Yet several of my colleagues have read and reminded us the Constitution itself explicitly gives this Congr