mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
THE LEGACY OF APOLLO
James R. Baird (Republican, IN) \u2014 2019-7-23

. Madam , today I rise to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the triumph of the human spirit. On July 16, 1969, three Americans boarded a rocket at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. When they lifted off a few hours later with a flight path toward the unthinkable, humanity was changed forever. Millions of men, women, and children were inspired watching the extraordinary events unfold over the next 4 days as humanity took these first steps on the Moon. prgtoken Fellow Purdue University alumnus Neil Armstrong's words: ``That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'' will forever define that moment in history. The successful journey to the Moon brought with it a tremendous sense of triumph and pride. Our Nation found a bold, common goal that we reached through American ingenuity and determination. prgtoken This is the spirit that carries us forward in exploration and innovation today. Right now we are looking at returning to the Moon within the next 5 years and eventually landing on Mars. Madam , what has been previously unheard of is now being thrust into the scope of reality. prgtoken It is our responsibility to keep taking giant leaps to challenge what is perceived as impossible, and I look forward to the next chapter of American space exploration.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Roger F. Wicker (Republican, MS) \u2014 2019-7-23

in a few moments, at 12 noon, the Senate will vote on a cloture motion for the nomination of Stephen M. Dickson to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. I rise in strong support of that motion. I think it will pass today. I will be supporting the nomination when it comes to a full vote on the floor of the Senate sometime later. prgtoken As chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, let me report that we recently voted to report Mr. Dickson's nomination favorably out of the committee. I hope the Senate will soon confirm this highly qualified nominee. Steve Dickson was chosen for this important position based on his strong qualifications, which include almost 40 years of combined service in the U.S. Air Force and the commercial air transportation sector. prgtoken Mr. Dickson is a 1979 distinguished graduate of the Air Force Academy and graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University College of Law in 1999, where he earned his J.D. He served in the U.S. Air Force as an F-15 fighter pilot, including assignments as a flight commander, instructor pilot, and flight examiner. From 1991 until October of 2018, Mr. Dickson was employed by Delta Air Lines as a pilot and management executive. He retired after rising through the ranks to become Delta's senior vice president of flight operations. prgtoken On May 15, the committee held a hearing to consider Mr. Dickson's nomination, and he clearly demonstrated the experience and leadership abilities necessary to lead the FAA. I don't know if there was a single member of the committee who failed to be impressed. prgtoken After Mr. Dickson's hearing, new information came to the committee's attention, which we gave due diligence to looking into. The information involved employees reporting possible safety violations at Mr. Dickson's former employer while he was serving as senior vice president. These matters merited further examination. The committee conducted an extensive review of these allegations, including multiple followup conversations and meetings with Mr. Dickson. We have studied hundreds of pages of legal documents. prgtoken Here is what we know for a fact about these allegations. We know for a fact--and it is uncontroverted--that Mr. Dickson was not a named party in any of these matters. We also know for a fact that he was not personally alleged to have retaliated against any of his fellow employees who raised the safety concerns. prgtoken Mr. Dickson's responses to post-hearing questions for the record demonstrate that he has commitments to safety and to the protection of employees who report concerns and that that is paramount, in his view. In fact, Mr. Dickson unequivocally stated in his written responses that he was never named as a party to any judicial, administrative, or regulatory proceedings and was never accused of retaliation of any sort during his tenure at his former employer. prgtoken I think
OPPOSING GLOBAL BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, AND SANCTIONS MOVEMENT TARGETING ISRAEL
Steve Scalise (Republican, LA) \u2014 2019-7-23

I appreciate both of my colleagues from New York, the distinguished gentlemen, Mr. Zeldin and Mr. Engel, for their strong leadership in standing up against this BDS movement. prgtoken I think we all know what it is designed to do. It is designed to delegitimize Israel as a Jewish state and to undermine their economy, which ultimately goes to the heart of trying to bring down Israel by people who have been against a Jewish state and expressed anti-Semitism for decades. We all need to stand up against that, and so this resolution is incredibly important. prgtoken As my other colleague just mentioned, our nations had a rich history of using boycotts to promote freedom. There are other boycotts that have been displayed to undermine freedom, and that is really where the BDS movement is in a very different category. I think we all need to make that distinction. prgtoken If a boycott is being used to advance freedom, that is one we should support; but if a boycott is being used to undermine the very freedoms that exist in the only real elected democracy in the Middle East, we all need to rise up against that as people who respect that great tradition, that great love between the United States and Israel, an unbreakable bond, one that brings s and together. We need to continue that tradition. prgtoken But I would also add, , that, as we are talking about why we need to oppose the BDS movement with this resolution, words are hollow if we don't follow it up with action. So, at the same time, Mr hopefully, we get an overwhelming, maybe unanimous, vote on this resolution. prgtoken It is long past time that the leadership of this House bring up H.R. 336 by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the bill that actually puts teeth in the law to stand up against the BDS movement all around the world. prgtoken Here, even, sometimes in Congress or in other states, but in other countries prgtoken where they are trying to advance this movement, we need teeth--words and action. So these are words today. We need to follow it up with H.R. 336, real action. prgtoken , I urge that we stand strong together.
RUDY GIULIANI COMMENTS REGARDING THE IRANIAN REGIME OF TERROR
Paul A. Gosar (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2019-7-23

. Madam , I rise today to include in the Record comments about the situation in Iran that I believe are relevant and should be widely shared. The comments, from former New York City Mayor and attorney to the U.S. President Rudy Giuliani, address peaceful regime change in Iran and the work of the Iranian Resistance. Giuliani delivered this speech at the International Gathering at Ashraf-3, Tirana, Albania, which is home to members of the Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK). More than 350 bipartisan dignitaries and parliamentarians from 47 countries attended the conference. I offer these comments for thoughtful discussion as follows: Giuliani: ``Thanks to you and particularly to the people who live here in Ashraf 3. You'll be the ones who lead your people to freedom and you'll be honored forever in Iranian history and in the history of those who love and are willing to die for freedom. God bless you. This organization has grown and grown and grown and I feel in this room today a kind of optimism that I don't remember feeling before when we were in Paris. I feel an optimism maybe because you've done a miracle here in Ashraf. If we were to build this in New York City, it would take 15 years and 14 corruption investigations. I was here a year and a half ago, this wasn't here. And of course, all of this is possible because of the leadership of Madame Maryam Rajavi, a truly exceptional leader. Just like her husband Massoud Rajavi, who began this movement in one very brave act. He refused to swear allegiance to the Supreme Leader Khomeini to his face. He said, ``No, I will not swear allegiance to you. I will not deliver my nation to a tyrant.'' I'm here to say three things. First, I accuse the Ayatollah and Rouhani and all of their sycophants and followers of mass murder, crimes against humanity. We should be embarrassed for our countries if they haven't stood up against this. There's no middle ground here. These people have killed at least 120,000 members and associates of this great organization. You see the book. You go through the sad, tragic, but heroic exhibit they have of the martyrs to freedom. Look at the photograph of the people in the infirmary being treated for illness, slaughtered just a few years ago. Killed 52 of them of the last 100 people who stayed at Ashraf, they tried to wipe them all out. In 1988, in two months they slaughtered 30,000 people. These are not numbers, these are human lives. So there are three things that we have to do. Number one, we have to get the governments of Europe to stand up, to wake up, to reclaim their dignity and their honor. These are the countries that gave us democracy. Greece, Rome, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Germany, all places in which freedom
SUPPORT INCREASED DOMESTIC ENERGY PRODUCTION
J. French Hill (Republican, AR) \u2014 2019-7-23

. Madam , I thank my friend from South Carolina for yielding. He is welcome in the beautiful rice country of Arkansas to hunt ducks this fall at any time. I appreciate his leadership of the Sportsmen's Caucus, the largest bipartisan caucus we have here in the House, and all of the good work it does in wildlife conservation and conservation of our public lands, so I thank my friend for that. prgtoken It is true, I appreciate also his work in the House Energy Action Team and that of our whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana. And that is because we all are talking tonight about the importance of energy to our economy, the importance of energy to our families, and how that has to be balanced in the world of public policy. prgtoken Madam , in 2018, crude oil was the world's number one export product. Last year, the U.S. accounted for 98 percent of global growth in oil production. Since the Congress lifted the 40-year ban on oil exports in 2015, U.S. production continues to set records, and, just last month set a new all-time high of exporting 3.3 million barrels of crude per day. prgtoken Lifting the ban has filled pipelines and sparked a surge of investment across this land in new shipping infrastructure around the U.S. prgtoken Total crude imports have also dropped significantly as we rely now more on domestic production and that production produced by our friends in Canada. Likewise, exporting clean natural gas is a leading export of the United States. prgtoken South Korea is now the largest buyer of American clean natural gas, Madam prgtoken . That is cleaning up their skies, lowering their carbon emissions, and cutting their trade imbalance with the United States. prgtoken Exporting more gas, exporting more oil, and lifting the ban has allowed us to be an energy leader in the world. We are no longer second fiddle to the Gulf, to Saudi Arabia, or to Russia. This comes as the United States is leading the world also, Madam , in reducing global climate or carbon emissions. Between 2000 and 2014, the United States reduced emissions more than 18 percent. prgtoken On the contrary, the world's largest carbon emitters, like China and India, continue to have no policy to reduce their emissions, despite having the lowest marginal cost to do that. In the EU and the United States, it is very expensive for us to lower carbon emissions per unit. But, when you are a major carbon polluter, such as India and China, the marginal cost to clean up their action is so much cheaper. prgtoken Instead, China is building 300 new coal plants, and not a single country in the EU is on target to meet their carbon reduction goals. These countries must do more to be competitive with us on the efforts we are taking here in the U.S. prgtoken Like my friends from Georgia and South Carolina, I am a strong supporter of nuclear energy because it is the cleanest, most green form of base power generation. In Arkansas, we get about 19 percent of our electr
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS' HEALTH INITIATIVE ACT
Frank D. Lucas (Republican, OK) \u2014 2019-7-23

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise in support of Representative Norman's bill, H.R. 617, the Department of Energy Veterans' Health Initiative Act. prgtoken This bill authorizes a critical and ongoing partnership between the Department of Energy and the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve the way we diagnose and care for our veterans. This partnership, known as the MVP-CHAMPION initiative, allows DOE to support the VA in analyzing healthcare data. prgtoken H.R. 617 formally authorizes this program, allowing VA researchers to gain access to DOE's high-performance computing research facilities and significant resources, including DOE's extensive expertise in data analysis and complex modeling. prgtoken The VA currently collects genomic and healthcare data, including the deepest levels of DNA sequencing that allows for high-quality genomic research, from veterans who have volunteered for the program. This data is then securely transferred to DOE, where it is stored and analyzed in a secure site at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. prgtoken This partnership and exchange of data benefits both DOE and the VA. The rich and expansive dataset provided by the VA presents an incredible opportunity to train DOE's next-generation computing capacities to solve complex challenges; and with what they learn from this analysis, the VA can improve and better target health treatments for veterans. prgtoken This data can help the VA make discoveries about the causes of various diseases and develop diagnostics to move more quickly to detect them in our veterans. It will also help the VA develop more effective treatments and improve treatment for critical medical needs. prgtoken In return, by giving DOE access to such a large database of information, the VA will help DOE researchers improve their ability to develop next-generation computing systems, algorithms, and models, capacities that are critical in maintaining U.S. science and technological leadership. prgtoken These enhanced capacities can then be applied in support of DOE's core mission areas and has the potential to enhance expertise in everything from biosciences and material designs to maintaining our nuclear weapons stockpile. prgtoken With the next generation of supercomputers right around the corner, most notably, the computing systems that DOE is expected to field in 2021, DOE will be able to tackle even bigger challenges after gaining expertise in solving big data problems like this. prgtoken In short, the Department of Energy Veterans' Health Initiative Act will improve the healthcare for those men and women who have served our country. It also maximizes our Federal resources for facilitating collaboration, and gives other agencies, academia, and industry the chance to benefit from the Department of Energy's R&D expertise. prgtoken I want to thank Representative Norman for championing this important collaboration, along with the basic r
MARKING FIRST 200 DAYS AS MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Gilbert Ray Cisneros, Jr. (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2019-7-24

this week marks 200 days into my first term as a Member of Congress. It has been an incredible honor to serve the residents of the 39th Congressional District in California. prgtoken I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far in Congress, from the passage of three of my pieces of bipartisan legislation this week, which will expand access to benefits for veterans, servicemembers, and their families; to the 32 amendments my colleagues and I have offered that were agreed to on a bipartisan basis; and the three bipartisan bills that I had the honor of supporting that have been signed into law by the President. prgtoken I am most proud of our constituent services in the district. In just 200 days in office, we have retrieved over $190,000 from Federal agencies for our constituents and worked on over 250 cases. prgtoken I work for the people of my district. It is why I have attended hundreds of local events and met with thousands of my constituents. prgtoken I look forward to the next 100 days and beyond, working for the people; bringing change to Washington, DC; and ensuring I give my constituents the representation they deserve.
Opioid Epidemic (Executive Calendar)
Sherrod Brown (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2019-7-24

I appreciate Senator Casey's advocacy for disabled Americans and for children especially. prgtoken I just want to make a brief comment, for I know he has some other comments to make, on his support for Medicaid and on the efforts that we have made together on the Finance Committee in fighting against President 's attacks on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. prgtoken I know, in my State, the expansion of Medicaid and what came out of that meant that 900,000 more people had insurance, including a whole lot of people who were disabled. I know that Pennsylvania is the same way. So I thank Senator Casey.
REHABILITATION FOR MULTIEMPLOYER PENSIONS ACT OF 2019
Debbie Dingell (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2019-7-24

I thank Chairman Scott for yielding me the time. prgtoken , I want to thank both Chairman Scott and Chairman Neal for their leadership on this issue. prgtoken , I rise in strong support of H.R. 397, the Butch Lewis Act. This is a historic moment for working men and women in this country, and it has been a long time coming because people have been working on this for a long time. prgtoken Today, we are telling millions of Americans who worked a lifetime for their pensions that are now in jeopardy, through no fault of their own, that we are standing with you. We are listening. We are taking action. prgtoken For too long, these working men and women have worked in fear, not knowing what was going to happen. They have given up pay raises. They played by the rules. They thought they would have a safe and secure retirement. By passing the Butch Lewis Act, we are sending a loud message that we hear them and are taking steps to ensure that their retirement that they worked for, for a lifetime, will be there when they need it. prgtoken This is money hardworking men and women earned and counted on to retire safely, to afford to stay in their homes, to afford food on their table, and to afford their medicine. American workers have done their part. The House will soon do its part. prgtoken I hope the Senate will also act quickly because I know the men and women, they have come to my door at 7 a.m they have threatened suicide. They are scared. prgtoken , I include in the Record two letters in support of this legislation. One is from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and one is from UNITE HERE. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, July 18, 2019. House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Representative: The House of Representatives will soon have the opportunity to ensure that more than a million retirees and workers who have played by the rules will receive the pension benefits they have earned through years of hard work. On behalf of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its retirees and working families, I ask for a yes vote on H.R. 397, the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act (often referred to as The Butch Lewis Act). As you know, this legislation is of the highest priority for the Teamsters Union. The multiemployer pension system has for many decades been an essential foundation for providing financial security in retirement for millions of Americans and their families. Now, through no fault of their own, the earned pension benefits of millions of retirees are being threatened due to the ``critical and declining'' (financial) status and the impending insolvency of a number of multiemployer pension plans. No doubt you have heard from ret
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Vicente Gonzalez (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2019-7-24

. Madam , extenuating circumstances regrettably prevented me from voting YEA on H. Res. 246, Opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel, of which I am a co-sponsor. I strongly support this resolution and our ally, the Jewish, democratic state of Israel. I am a proponent of a negotiated two-state solution for the Israelis and the Palestinians and will continue to condemn efforts that stand in the way of the path to peace
Opioid Epidemic (Executive Calendar)
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2019-7-24

I rise to celebrate one of the seminal moments in American civil rights history. This week marks the 29th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. signed a sweeping, bipartisan bill that acknowledged and affirmed the rights of people with disabilities. prgtoken The passage of the so-called ADA promised that people with disabilities would be included in the guarantee of fundamental rights-- just by way of examples, the right to petition the court when discriminated against; the right to apply for and be considered for a job; the right to have and having the access to vote; the right to economic security; the right to live where you want to live. prgtoken Twenty-nine years later, our country is better because we agreed to make the opportunities of our country accessible to all. The ADA changed the lives of 61 million Americans with disabilities and has made our Nation more accessible. The ADA proclaimed that Americans with disabilities must have the right and the means to fully participate in their communities. The ADA offers a path toward a truly accessible nation and elevates the voices of millions of individuals. prgtoken One of those voices belongs to Jean Searle from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Jean works at Disability Rights Pennsylvania, where she protects the rights of people with disabilities so they may live the lives they choose--free from abuse, neglect, discrimination, and segregation. prgtoken As a child and young adult, Jean was forced to live in an institution. In that institution, she faced many indignities, the worst of which may have been having had her infant child taken from her without her consent. Simply because Jean lived with a disability, it was often assumed that she was not capable of making her own decisions, but she worked hard to find a way out of that institution. When she finally succeeded, she chose to live independently in her community and has found a fulfilling career in burg. prgtoken The rights affirmed by the ADA and the services and supports Medicaid and other programs have provided have made it possible for Jean to be a full citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and, yes, even of the United States of America. Jean has dedicated her life to protecting the rights of people with disabilities. prgtoken During this ADA anniversary week, it is also fitting that today is Jean's birthday. prgtoken So, Jean, in looking at your picture on my left, I say happy birthday. I know many here would wish the same if you were here in person on the floor with us. I am honored to share your birthday. prgtoken Let me pause here. prgtoken Almost 30 years after her infant son, whom I referred to earlier, was taken from her, Jean had the opportunity recently to meet him for the first time. Jean often says that to make the world a better place, we need to spend our time listening to people with dis