mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
HEALTH AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY OMNIBUS EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS ACT
Joe Courtney (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2020-5-15

today we are voting on the HEROES Act, two days after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell very bluntly stated that the Federal Reserve has exhausted its capacity to maintain liquidity in our financial markets, and that given the severity of this recession, the Congress needs to step up again to provide more fiscal relief to keep this country from going into a tailspin. He went on to say a protracted recession will do far more damage than the cost of the measures we're voting on. He was very explicit--fiscal policy is going to be costly, but the harm that would be done if we undershoot providing relief for individuals, households, and communities will be far more expensive in the long term than if Congress acts in a timely fashion. prgtoken This bill does a number of things--it is a lengthy bill, but fundamentally it provides support for states and local communities to keep the lights on in terms of vital public services, and deal with the fact that revenue is collapsing with the economic downturn we are experiencing. The bill includes a bipartisan request from the National Governors Association for $500 billion to states hard hit by the Coronavirus. The State of Connecticut, which has done a great job in terms of shoring up its rainy day fund is going through those funds at a very rapid rate, and this measure will help stabilize state and local finances over two years. Not only is this money just targeting larger municipalities, but also communities of less than 50,000 residents. That's funding directly to small towns like Vernon, where I live, which is a community with 30,000 people, and many of the more than 60 communities in the second Congressional district. This means we can protect our school systems, our public safety programs, and essential services like public works that are the underpinning of economic activity we would be hardpressed to maintain if we don't step in with some real fiscal relief. prgtoken There will also be for the first time, a real financial recognition of those workers who throughout this whole ordeal have been deemed essential, have been going to work, and have been keeping this country going. Whether that's health care services like nursing staff in hospitals, janitors, food supply workers, people in meatpacking plants, and in grocery stores that have kept this country fed. It also includes the people who have to go to work as a result of an order from the Pentagon, like the shipyard workers down in Groton, who are specifically enumerated in this bill as being eligible for hazard pay. These workers will be rewarded with premium pay for their essential work, on top of their normal wages, if this bill becomes law. prgtoken There are many other important provisions in this bill, from help to the unemployed, to hospitals, to farmers, to further direct assistance to families, all of which are gravely needed. I want to thank the people of the Second distri
HEALTH AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY OMNIBUS EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS ACT
Adriano Espaillat (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-5-15

I rise in support of heroes. $15 billion for transit agencies, including $3.8 billion for the MTA, that is a good thing. $2 billion for deep cleaning for public housing, such as NYCHA, that is a good thing. prgtoken Another round of stimulus checks, $1,200, plus another $1,200 for children, and the inclusion of taxpaying immigrants and their families, that is a good thing. $10 billion for additional grants for small business, that is a good thing. $7 billion for childcare, that is a good thing. $2 billion to help employers provide hazard pay to essential workers, like hospital workers, transit workers, supermarket workers, and critical property service workers like janitors, security officers, residential door persons, and others who are often overlooked but are so crucial to keeping key buildings and facilities like the hundreds in my district up and running, that is a good thing. $100 billion for emergency rental assistance, that is an extremely good thing. Help for New York State and New York City. prgtoken I rise in support of our heroes. This is a good thing.
HEALTH AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY OMNIBUS EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS ACT
Lucille Roybal-Allard (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-5-15

prgtoken I strongly support the House Majority's Heroes Act which is a critical and urgent response in our fight to defeat the COVID-19 catastrophe. As the unimaginable toll of this virus continues to mount, an economic disaster is also unfolding in every corner of our country. prgtoken The Heroes Act is crucial to our ability to address these unprecedented crises. The bill includes new protections for working and middle-class families during this economic catastrophe by providing for a second round of direct payments of up to $6,000 per household. And it ensures economic stimulus payments for everyone who files a tax return, regardless of immigration status. prgtoken Our bill also provides $175 billion to help homeowners and renters make their mortgage and rent payments and new payroll protection measures to keep 60 million workers connected to their jobs. The bill also extends through January 2021, the weekly $600 federal unemployment payments and it requires OSHA to develop standards to make workplaces safe from the virus. prgtoken As we keep fighting COVID-19, the Heroes Act provides an additional $75 billion for testing, contact tracing, and treatment that is essential to our ability to save lives, curb the spread of the virus, and reopen our economy. prgtoken Furthermore, the Heroes Act provides our frontline heroes with the support and protection they need as they fight COVID-19 to save lives, and protect our communities. This legislation invests over $1 trillion into our states, cities, and towns, to ensure they can continue to pay our frontline personnel, including health workers, police officers, firefighters, transportation workers, farmworkers, and teachers. The bill also establishes a Heroes' Fund to ensure our frontline workers receive hazard pay, and it protects our Postal Service workers who are making deliveries on their routes every day. prgtoken In addition, the bill protects many immigrant families by automatically extending work authorization for DACA and TPS recipients. And it protects the health of the public at large by ensuring everyone, regardless of immigration status, has access to free testing, treatment, and services related to COVID-19. The bill also protects essential workers, such as our nation's farmworkers who pick the crops that feed our families, from deportation and it allows undocumented students to access higher education financial relief and it permits naturalization oath ceremonies to be administered remotely. prgtoken Our small businesses also get additional support in the Heroes Act. The bill strengthens the Paycheck Protection Program to ensure it reaches underserved communities and nonprofits of all sizes and types. And the bill provides $10 billion for COVID-19 emergency grants through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. prgtoken I am concerned however with the inclusion of the controversial GROW Act. And I hope this issue can satisfactorily be resolved dur
HEALTH AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY OMNIBUS EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS ACT
Al Green (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2020-5-15

the richest country in the world is facing a looming humanitarian crisis. Hunger looms large in the land, . This bill provides a $14 billion solution with a humanitarian response to feed the hungry. prgtoken Homelessness looms large. Evictions are afoot. This bill provides $100 billion to keep people in their homes. prgtoken This humanitarian crisis necessitates a humanitarian response. This bill provides that response.
Cloture Motion (Executive Session)
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2020-5-18

. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio). prgtoken Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander) would have voted ``yea,'' the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) would have voted ``yea,'' and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) would have voted ``yea.''
HEROES Act (Executive Session)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2020-5-18

I come to the floor today to discuss the House ' $3 trillion spending spree. prgtoken The American people are at a point where they need a life preserver. Instead, Pelosi has just thrown them an anvil. prgtoken It is absurd. Her COVID-19 proposal is pricey, partisan, and it is a pipe dream. It is a bloated bonanza of all of prgtoken her leftwing socialist projects. It weighs in at over 1,800 pages, but there is one glaring omission: House forgot to help fight the coronavirus. prgtoken This bill is Nancy Pelosi's socialist ic dream, but it is a nightmare for the American people. Nancy Pelosi needs a very serious reality check. The far-left fantasy will never become law. It cannot pass the Senate. prgtoken The country is trying to recover from the coronavirus. People are stressed. They are struggling. They are sacrificing. They are suffering. They need help to survive the crisis. prgtoken People have been living through 2 months of lockdowns to slow the spread of the disease. While the infection rate has finally started to flatten, tragically, tens of thousands of Americans have already died. More than 36 million people have lost their jobs. prgtoken People back home in my State of Wyoming and people who, I am sure, are back home in the Presiding Officer's home State of Missouri--people all across the country know what we need to do. We need to get back to business safely. We need this disease behind us. We need our communities back, and we need it as soon as possible. prgtoken Yet, as States reopen, incredibly, the are exploiting and prolonging the Nation's pain. Why? It seems to me they are trying to do it for political gain. prgtoken has called this deadly disease ``an incredible opportunity . . . to fundamentally transform the country.'' Nancy Pelosi agrees. The global outbreak, she said, is a ``wonderful opportunity'' according to the of the House. She cannot let a crisis go to waste. I have seen the video of Hillary Clinton saying that you do not want a crisis to go to waste. So what is Nancy Pelosi doing? She is wasting the public's time on a proposal that does not have a single chance in the world of becoming law. prgtoken This bill really is a political payoff to Nancy Pelosi's constituency and her allies. Look at the wish list. Topping the House ' $3 trillion liberal wish list is the great blue State bailout. It has $1 trillion to bail out very badly mismanaged -run States and local governments, sanctuary cities, one after another. The bill rescues underwater blue State pension plans. It includes a tax cut to the wealthiest 1 percent who live in those specific States--Illinois, New York, and California. It is a windfall for wealthy taxpayers in -run States. prgtoken That is not all. The bill provides direct payments to illegal immigrants. Apparently they forgot about that in the last bill, so they put it in this one--di
Safeguarding America's First Responders Act (Executive Session)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2020-5-18

I come to the floor to discuss a piece of legislation that Senator Booker and I worked on to help public safety officers. prgtoken Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, over 100 first responders have lost their lives to this virus. Unlike the rest of us, these brave men and women, by the very nature of their work, haven't been able to stay home or social distance. In firehouses across the country, firefighters have had to continue sharing confined spaces and respond to emergencies in cramped trucks. Police officers have had to continue to respond to 911 calls and also interact with the public in very close quarters. While most of us are avoiding COVID at all costs, State and county EMT crews have been transporting the infected and others to hospitals for emergency care. prgtoken While I am inspired by the bravery of these first responders, I am not at all surprised by the actions they take to protect the people they serve. First responders always answer the calls to action, selflessly placing others before themselves. So, in recognition of the many sacrifices they make, Congress established the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program a long time ago, in 1976. This law provides first responders with onetime payments if they die or are totally disabled on duty. prgtoken Let me be very clear. Nothing can ever put a family back together who has lost a loved one, but the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program provides some economic relief to grieving families and gives peace of mind to the first responders themselves in their knowing that their families will not be left destitute if tragedy is to befall them. prgtoken Unfortunately, the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program wasn't designed to deal with a global pandemic of this type or magnitude that we were made aware of in the United States in late January. Under the existing statute then, to be awarded benefits, first responders had to be able to prove that they contracted COVID on duty. From the reports we get, it is kind of hard to tell where one comes in contact with it. So the last thing a grieving family needs to be worried about then, after experiencing the loss of a loved one, is whether the family will be able to successfully prove that its loved one contracted COVID in the line of duty and that it qualifies for the loss of life under the 1976 law. prgtoken Almost as soon as the nationwide stay-at-home order was instituted, I began working with Senator Booker to craft language to create a presumption that would allow families to receive benefits without having to prove that their loved ones contracted a deadly virus on duty. Senator Booker and I were determined to get this done as soon as possible because we understood that families who have lost loved ones will soon begin filing for benefits. We know that the number is about 100 at this point. prgtoken Our bill is entitled ``Safeguarding America's First Responders Act,'' or SAFR, p
Remembering Tom Coburn (Executive Session)
Mike Braun (Republican, IN) \u2014 2020-5-18

I thank Senator Ernst for that beautiful testimony to Senator Tom Coburn. prgtoken While I was running for Senate, I was often asked who my heroes were in the U.S. Senate. The first name that always came to mind was Dr. Tom Coburn. prgtoken As a legislator, Dr. Coburn was a force of nature. As a conservative stalwart who stood by his principles--no matter the pressure--and with whomever would stand with him, regardless of party, Dr. Coburn's entire career was a profile in courage. He believed so strongly that America's best wisdom wasn't held on Wall Street or Pennsylvania Avenue but on Main Street, among the small business owners, doctors, families, and workers who really keep our country going. prgtoken Dr. Coburn blasted a path for conservative outsiders to take on Washington orthodoxy on everything from national debt to term limits, to our broken healthcare system, and his career was an inspiration for me to leave my business and run for the Senate. prgtoken His bedside manner was often brusque, but on the tough issues, like any good doctor, Tom Coburn told people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear. prgtoken To Dr. Tom Coburn, our towering national debt was not just a thorn in prgtoken America's side; it was a supreme moral failing. As one of the few true fiscal hawks in recent decades, Senator Coburn wore the nickname ``Dr. No'' as a badge of courage, understanding that there is nothing commendable about spending our grandchildren's money just because we will not be at the table when the bill comes due. prgtoken If there is one thing that could fix Washington more than any other, it is strict term limits and more accountability for Congress. Inspired by Dr. Coburn, I made my pledge to only serve two terms a fixture of my campaign and am following his example by refusing to accept a congressional pension when I leave. prgtoken Last year, my bill to make pensions for Congress optional passed the Senate, putting us one step closer to getting rid of this outdated, taxpayer-funded perk altogether. prgtoken No Budget, No Pay, a bill Dr. Coburn championed in the Senate, was the first bill I introduced after taking office. It is a simple measure: Congress doesn't need a paycheck until they pass a budget. I am proud to say it has now cleared committee thanks to the work from fellow conservative outsiders like Senator Rick Scott and David Perdue. prgtoken As a family physician who continued to see patients even as he served in Congress, Dr. Coburn always had a special passion for fixing our broken healthcare system. He understood better than anyone that our healthcare woes began at a fundamentally broken system in need of transparency, more choice for patients, and market-driven reforms to put decision-making back into the hands of Americans and their care providers. prgtoken My bills to lower prescription drug prices and ensure every patient knows what they have to pay before they pay it
CORONAVIRUS
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-5-18

the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold our Nation on high alert. prgtoken More than 1.4 million Americans have been infected; more than 80,000 lives have been tragically lost; and the livelihoods of tens of millions of working families have been turned upside down in what seems like the blink of an eye. Our Nation's healthcare system has not been stressed by contagion on this scale in over a century, and unemployment has not been this high since the Second World War. prgtoken A new generation of American heroes--from medical professionals, to lab researchers, to grocery store workers, to custodians and janitors, to community volunteers--has been called up to the frontlines to serve its neighbors and our country. So, for several weeks now, the Senate has counted ourselves among those ranks of essential workers. They are showing up for our country, so we are showing up for them. With respect to the pandemic itself, we are conducting rigorous oversight of the Senate's historic CARES Act rescue package and are helping to plan the pivot toward reopening. prgtoken Last week, Chairman Alexander and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions engaged with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Redfield, Admiral Giroir, and other top experts to discuss paths for schools and businesses to reopen, and numbers of our colleagues are joining me and Senator Cornyn in thinking proactively about the issue of legal liability that could crush the recovery on the runway. We need strong legal protections to ensure that our historic recovery efforts are not drained away from healthcare workers, schools, and universities or small businesses in order to line the pockets of trial lawyers. prgtoken At the same time, we have kept our eye on the ball on other significant global challenges. Last week, on a bipartisan basis, the Senate reauthorized critical surveillance authorities for our national security professionals. We also made sure to include important new reforms to begin to address the abuses that marred the 2016 election, prgtoken the disturbing details of which are continuing to come to light every day. Our action on that subject is not finished. prgtoken Thanks to leadership from Senator Rubio, we passed legislation to continue ratcheting up the pressure on the Chinese Communist Party. In this case, our bill will shed new light and impose new consequences for the egregious abuses against the Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities. We also confirmed well-qualified nominees to important roles at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. prgtoken In other words, we have done more for the American people in 2 weeks on this side of the Capitol than the House of Representatives has done in the last 2 months. In the two months that the House have spent away from their duty stations, t
VOTE EXPLANATION
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2020-5-18

I was necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 89, adoption of amendment No. 1583, to remove internet website browsing information and search history from scope of authority to access certain business records for foreign intelligence and international terrorism investigations. On vote No. 89, had I been present, I would have voted yea. prgtoken I was also necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 90, adoption of amendment No. 1584, to improve the amicus provisions and require the disclosure of relevant information. On vote No. 90, had I been present, I would have voted yea.
Safeguarding America's First Responders Act (Executive Session)
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2020-5-18

let me just say, right at the top, how grateful I am to stand on the Senate floor again with Senator Chuck Grassley. He has been one of the great partners I have had in my short time in the Senate, and I am honored to have gotten a lot of good work done and good law passed. I thank him and his entire staff. They were all tremendous to work with and went above and beyond for us to get this done at a very quick pace. I thank our colleagues for acting with the urgency that this issue demands. prgtoken I am excited that this bill was able to pass, for it will ensure that the families of first responders who lose their lives to the coronavirus will be taken care of under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program. We expect now that over 100 of these death benefit claims will be submitted to the Department of Justice in the coming days and weeks, and we cannot leave these grieving families to fight alone for the benefits they need and deserve. As Senator Grassley very pointedly put it, we hope that the House of Representatives will pick up this legislation for immediate consideration. prgtoken While COVID-19 has changed daily life across this country, for so many of us, I am grateful that my colleague and so many of my colleagues understand that our firefighters, our EMTs, our police officers, and our other emergency service personnel continue to put their lives on the line to protect our communities and have done so at significant and increased risk to themselves and their families. prgtoken In hard-hit areas across our Nation, we see first responders stepping up to enormous risk. Being a first responder during this pandemic is not a job; it is an all-consuming mission and, unfortunately, a tremendous sacrifice. It is responding to a call and knowing that, just by stepping inside someone's home, you are running a high risk of exposing yourself to the virus. It is wondering whether your personal protective gear--or PPE--that you have on is enough. In many cases, it is wondering whether your PPE is even real, with there being so many of our first responders, unfortunately, using whatever they can scrounge up. Whether it is the buying of foreign masks that are not designed for use in the United States or the buying of them from unknown vendors, they are doing what they can to protect themselves as they go about their urgent mission. prgtoken When they remove their PPE, there is a concern with their gloves or goggles or gown as they take them off piece by piece. They strain to remember what they touched, washing their hands repeatedly but wondering and worrying if it is enough. When performing lifesaving procedures like CPR, which may aerosolize the virus, you hope that the PPE you are wearing is enough to protect you. These are the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment concerns our first responders have. prgtoken Senator Grassley has worked with first responders in so many ways, and he knows the chal