mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jeff Merkley (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2019-6-20

each year we have a debate on the National Defense Authorization Act. In the past, it was a real debate-- a debate for which people brought significant issues to the floor related to American national security. Their amendments were considered. We argued pro and con. We took votes. We lobbied our colleagues within our caucus or across the aisle with the wisdom of our viewpoint. That is a tradition; that is a practice; that is what this Chamber is all about--to take on the issues that we face as a Nation, wrestle with them, explore the pros and cons, find their strengths or weaknesses, sometimes come to compromises that take several viewpoints, and merge them together into an even stronger point of view. But I am deeply disturbed that the U.S. Senate is quickly losing the ability to consider the issues facing our Nation. prgtoken My colleague just spoke about the challenge of climate pollution, and I appreciate his doing so. But we have had few determined efforts to address the ideas different Members have for taking on that challenge, despite its devastation to so many ways and different parts of our country. prgtoken When it comes to the security of our country, no issue is more important than the question of going to war. Our Founders realized this is a decision that should never be vested in a single person, not even the President. They knew that a single individual might find political cause or corrupt purposes to make the decision to go to combat against a force and that such a decision should be debated in a Chamber like this and a Chamber like the House. That is why the Constitution gives to this body, the legislature of the United States of America, the power to go to war. prgtoken It is a question that came up early in our history. There was a challenge that we had off the Barbary Coast with corsairs, who are often referred to as pirates, taking charge of American brigs and holding them hostage. prgtoken Jefferson embraced the idea of going to war. He became President in 1801. Alexander Hamilton wanted to remind him what the Constitution said. As he said, ``It belongs to Congress only to go to war.'' Any one of us should be able to pull out our pocket Constitutions, read article I, section 8--that deliberate delegation to this Chamber and the House to make that decision. prgtoken Well, right now we are in the drumbeat of war with Iran. There has been a lot of animosity between our two countries for a long period of time. The United States mounted a campaign through the Central Intelligence Agency to take out the directly elected leadership of Iran in 1953--a CIA-staged coup--and to install a leader, the Shah of Iran, who operated with great, shall I say, violence against the people. He had a secret police that was as feared as any in the world. prgtoken There were other points of animosity when the people of Iran rose up against that Shah and took hostage Americans. They kept them hosta
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2019-6-20

I rise today to join my colleagues who have come to the floor this week to call for action to prevent gun violence. prgtoken On Tuesday we marked the 4-year anniversary of the horrific shooting at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, where a White supremacist killed nine people during Bible study. prgtoken Last week was the 3-year anniversary of the massacre at Pulse nightclub in prgtoken Orlando, when an act of terror and hatred took the lives of 49 people in the LGBTQ community. prgtoken After each of these tragedies, we say ``never again'' and ``enough is enough.'' But after each mass shooting, Congress fails to take action. The discussion fades into the background until another tragedy occurs, then this same cycle is repeated. prgtoken It is unacceptable that Congress has still yet to take meaningful action to address this epidemic. The victims who have been lost, their families, and those who have experienced life-changing injuries and trauma deserve action--as do all of our communities, because nearly every aspect of American life has been afflicted by gun violence. prgtoken Nowhere is the impact of gun violence and the way it has changed our lives more clear than in our Nation's schools. Just this year, a friend of mine's son started kindergarten. Shortly after the school year started, he and his other kindergarten peers had to participate in a drill--what to do if there is an active shooter or danger in your school. prgtoken At about the same time that my friend received information from the school that her son would be participating in a lockdown of sorts--a lockdown for 5-year-olds--she read an article by a teacher who had participated with her young students in such an active shooter drill. When the teacher got the kids still and turned off the lights in the room so they could practice staying safe, she noticed the little lights in the soles of their sneakers. You know those little light-up shoes that children have? The teacher wrote that she realized that if those children came to school with those shoes on a day when there was a shooter, even with the lights down, they would be targets. Well, needless to say, my friend's son no longer has light-up sneakers. prgtoken It is time to finally meet words with action. It is time to finally take steps to keep the American people safe. It is time to finally pass commonsense gun laws. prgtoken A good start to address this public safety issue would be to improve our background check system. According to the Department of Justice, since 1994 background checks have stopped over 3 million dangerous individuals from obtaining guns, including people with violent criminal records, domestic abusers, and those with mental health issues. prgtoken But we know that there continue to be loopholes in that system. Research indicates that millions of guns are sold each year to individuals without background checks. We need to extend background checks to all g
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020
Marcy Kaptur (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2019-6-20

. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), a superb chair of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and I rise to discuss an issue very important to America's livestock and poultry farmers, the Packers and Stockyards Act. prgtoken For decades, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, familiarly known as GIPSA, was a stand-alone agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. prgtoken Until recently, GIPSA was a parallel agency to the Agricultural Marketing Service itself. But under Secretary Sonny Perdue's reorganization of the Department of Agriculture and consolidation plan, GIPSA was moved deep within the Agricultural Marketing Service--some fear, buried. prgtoken Now, the Packers and Stockyards Division of the Fair Trade Practices Branch within the Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Packers and Stockyards Act. prgtoken Do you see the layers? prgtoken This consolidation will increase difficulty for farmers who seek relief from unfair and abusive practices common--unfortunately--in the livestock and poultry sectors. prgtoken The administration recently announced a rulemaking process to define criteria the Secretary will consider to determine violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act on whether an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage occurred. prgtoken I welcome this action. prgtoken These terms were never adequately defined or explained. However, I am very concerned this administration is prgtoken utilizing delays and stalling tactics through this rulemaking process. prgtoken For several years, the previous administration's rulemaking process was blocked through appropriations riders. Year after year, I fought those riders. prgtoken Finally, Congress reacted to the public backlash over the riders and backed off efforts to block the rule. This enabled the last administration to move forward and to comply with the 2008 farm bill requirements. However, the rulemaking was not complete. With the turnover in administrations, Secretary Perdue quickly stopped all work on these rules and demoted the agency in charge of the effort. prgtoken It seems a positive step that the Secretary decided to advance new rules to clarify criteria used to enforce the undue and unreasonable preference or advantage authorities. However, given the administration's previous actions, I am quite concerned that this rulemaking will fall far short of addressing the worst abuses that America's livestock and poultry farmers experience. prgtoken There are gross examples of abusive contracting practices, particularly in the poultry sector. Companies greatly disadvantage certain growers at the expense of others. The thumb of justice surely seems obsolete. Protection against retaliation, pay transparency, and a right to a fair and just legal system are essential to protect our hardworking farmers from abuse. prgtoken Each of these
NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH
Grace Meng (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-6-20

. Madam , I rise to commemorate National Gun Violence Awareness Month. Since 2017, National Gun Violence Awareness month has been celebrated annually in June. For too long and too often we, as a nation, have mourned with yet another community that was tragically impacted by gun violence. This is one community too many. Deaths from mass shootings in the U.S. are increasing at an alarming rate. After Sandy Hook, over 2,086 mass shootings have taken lives of Americans. From the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh to the gurdwara in Oak Creek; from Sandy Hook Elementary to Stoneman Douglas High School; from the Pulse Night Club in Florida to the music festival shooting in Las Vegas--these places and events have sadly become memorialized. And there are countless more victims of gun violence who never made it to our news cycle. Gun violence is indeed an epidemic. In addition to the lives lost, every bullet--every gunshot--rips apart the fabric of a community. For all those who were faced with gun violence--there is no going back. One such tragedy is one too many. Victims of domestic abuse are especially susceptible to gun violence. That is why we must do all that we can to protect survivors of dating violence and stalking. Currently, nearly one million women alive today have been shot or shot at by an intimate partner. Studies have also shown that women experiencing situations where domestic abusers have access to a gun are five times as likely to be fatally shot. Women of color suffer from an even higher risk of death in similar situations. We cannot become desensitized to the number of deaths in the news. We must act now. That is why I was proud to help pass on the floor of the House of Representatives H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act to ensure universal background checks and close the Charleston loophole that enabled the hate crime at Mother Emanuel Church. In the 100 days of Senate's inaction and refusal to allow these bills a vote on the Senate floor, 233 New Yorkers were killed by gun violence. This--and every incident of gun violence--is a travesty. No one should live their lives in constant fear. No parent should have to fear for their children as their kids go to school. No one should fear if their presence in a place of worship or a theatre makes them vulnerable. Madam , as we mark National Gun Violence Awareness Month, we must be even more emboldened to demand change now. We need to remind the nation--including our policymakers--of the lives that have been taken by gun violence and the urgent need for commonsense gun violence prevention. I call on my colleagues in the Senate to pass H.R. 8 today. While National Gun Violence Awareness Month occurs in June, we must fight every single day of the year to prevent the countless deaths caused by the lack of gun restrictions. Thoughts and prayers are meaningless with
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-6-20

. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer an amendment moving $5 million from the Drug Enforcement Administration into the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program, which is part of the Department of Justice funding of initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic. prgtoken I offer this amendment because ending the war on drugs has to mean changing our priorities in order to keep all communities safe and healthy. The best way we do that is by offering people the help and support they need before arrest and criminalization should be considered in the first place. prgtoken The amendment is a relatively commonsense one. As of now, the DEA will be funded at $2.36 billion, which is nearly a $90 million 1-year increase and $77.7 million above even the President's request. prgtoken The Bronx has an unprecedented opioid crisis with deadly overdoses nearly doubling in just a few years. As families across our Nation know, the opioid crisis is not limited just to the Bronx. Just yesterday in the Oversight and Reform Committee, we heard testimony from medical experts and providers, and the testimony from Nurse Gray from West Virginia struck me. She said that we cannot arrest ourselves out of this. We have to make sure that we are caring for people in order to prevent this crisis from exploding. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano).
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Tom Udall (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2019-6-20

I thank you for the recognition, and let me thank the two Senators that preceded me here. Senator Merkley spoke on this issue of whether we should be going to another war in the Middle East, and Senator Kaine, whom I have watched since he has been in the Senate, has been relentless and very consistent about raising the issues of authorizations of force and relying on authorizations of force from 2001 and 2002--what we consider very outdated in terms of looking at the facts on the ground. I know he has been working hard-- Senator Kaine has--in the Armed Services Committee. Both of us have been working in the Foreign Relations Committee to try to address this constitutional issue that is really before us. prgtoken I came to the floor of the Senate 4 weeks ago warning that this administration's reckless escalation of tensions with Iran was blindly leading us to the brink of war. I urged this body to assert its constitutional authority and pass my bipartisan legislation, the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act. I called on all of us, s and , to make it clear that the President alone cannot wage war against Iran without authorization from Congress. prgtoken Well, here we are, 1 month later, and tensions with Iran have only increased. The threat of conflict has only drawn closer. Today, we woke up to the news that Iranian forces shot down a U.S. drone. That comes on the heels of 1,000 American troops being sent to the Middle East. Yet the Senate does nothing--nothing to assert Congress's constitutional authority and nothing to assume the responsibility that the Founders clearly placed on our shoulders, the people's representatives. prgtoken The leadership should not duck all debate on the military conflict with Iran. We need to vote. We owe it to our men and women in uniform, whose lives would be put on the line, to have this debate, to make the hard choices, and to take the tough votes. prgtoken Today, we are calling for a vote on an amendment to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment prohibits funding for military operations against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress. I am joined in this amendment by Senators Kaine, Durbin, Paul, Merkley, and Murphy. My related bill has 25 cosponsors and still counting. prgtoken Article I, section 8, of the Constitution couldn't be clearer. It is Congress and Congress alone that has the authority to declare war. This amendment recognizing Congress's clear-cut authority should have broad bipartisan support. Whether you support armed conflict with Iran or believe that the war would be a disaster, you should have the courage to cast a vote when the Constitution says it is your job. prgtoken Let's be clear. This bill does not tie our Armed Forces' hands. Our military is highly capable, and we have an inherent right of self- defense, which this amendment clearly underscores. But we need to step u
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
Edward J. Markey (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2019-6-20

it has been said many times before, but it bears repeating today more than ever, on World Refugee Day--ours is a country built by immigrants. We have a proud tradition of welcoming foreigners to our shores. prgtoken The first European settlers in North America--those who founded our original Thirteen Colonies--were fleeing religious oppression and persecution. Over the following decades, America became, in the words of Thomas Paine, ``the asylum for the persecuted.'' We welcomed Irish Catholics fleeing starvation and British rule, Germans fleeing political turmoil, Eastern European Jews fleeing the pogroms, and countless others. Over the generations, America welcomed Europeans displaced by war, and later, millions of refugees seeking political asylum from Communism during the Cold War. prgtoken In 1980, we passed landmark legislation--the Refugee Act--which provided a permanent and systemized procedure for admitting refugees. This law established the concept of a Presidential determination on refuge admissions, by which the President can set the number of refugees that the United States may admit in a given year. For the past 40 years, both ic and administrations demonstrated a commitment to robust resettlement. Prior to the administration, the average annual refugee admissions cap was 95,000 refugees. Administration officials of both parties took seriously the Presidential determination and worked to maintain a resettlement rate on par with it. prgtoken At nearly every juncture in history since its founding, America has been called upon to be a leader in welcoming the persecuted. More often than not, we have answered that call and today, it sounds to us louder than ever. With more than 24 million refugees around the globe, America must step into our historic leadership role, not away from it. prgtoken Now is the time to increase the refugee admissions ceiling, not cut it. Now is the time to build up our resettlement infrastructure, not decimate it. Now is the time to open our door, not close it. But the administration betrayed the foundational values of this Nation by slashing our annual refugee admissions ceiling to a dismal 30,000 refugees. This was an unprecedented low, both in number and humanity. That is why I introduced the GRACE Act. This bill prohibits any U.S. President from setting an admission ceiling below 95,000 refugees each year and requires administration officials to treat that figure as a goal. prgtoken We must not be silent. We must continue to meet the global crisis of displaced persons head on, and like our forefathers, we must extend a hand to those fleeing persecution around the word. Thank you.
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020
Gwen Moore (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2019-6-20

. Mr. Chair, I rise to thank the chairwoman and committee for including my amendment to increase funding by $1 million for an Indian Health Service program combatting domestic violence in Native communities. prgtoken I know the chairwoman understands this issue very well. Protecting women in Native communities was a big focus on the VAWA reauthorization that passed this chamber earlier this year. I want to make sure we provide the strong funding that will be needed to make those changes reality and protect Native women. This is one program that does that. prgtoken The Indian Health Services Domestic Violence Prevention Program is a small program but it's having a big impact. The DVPP was established in 2015 as a nationally-coordinated program that provides culturally appropriate domestic violence and sexual assault prevention and intervention resources to American Indian and Alaskan Native communities with a focus on trauma informed services. prgtoken The vast majority of DVPP grants focus on domestic and sexual violence prevention, advocacy, and coordinated community responses, with some supporting forensic prgtoken healthcare services to victims of domestic and sexual violence. prgtoken I appreciate the effort made by the subcommittee in the bill to add funding to bring funding for this program back to the FY 2017 funding level. Thank you for recognizing the need and prioritizing a response. prgtoken But I think we must do better especially when you consider the staggering need here. prgtoken The statistics (as incomplete as they may be) are frightening: American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times more likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes than people who are not American Indians or Alaska Natives. More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women, or 84.3 percent, have experienced violence in their lifetime. prgtoken There are currently some 83 tribes, tribal organizations, Urban Indian Organizations, and IHS federal facilities that receive funds totaling nearly $12 million from this program. These include projects in my city of Milwaukee as well as in Alaska, Nebraska, and Oregon, among others. prgtoken I understand the constraints that the subcommittee faces. The needs always outnumber the resources. But this is a pressing priority. This additional funding will hopefully allow for more grantees serving more tribal communities that can help begin to turn the tide. prgtoken I know the chairwoman has been a champion for Native American communities and I thank her for her support of my amendment.