mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
INTRODUCING REPUBLICAN FRESHMEN
Don Bacon (Republican, NE) \u2014 2017-1-12

. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding, and, Mr what an honor to be able to introduce myself as a freshman of the 115th Congress and serve with some great colleagues and freshmen. It is great to be called a freshman again. It has been a long time since I have been called a freshman. prgtoken I am very honored to serve the Second District of Nebraska. It is one of three districts of the State that consists of a county-and-a-half around Omaha, and it is a great home, a great place to live. prgtoken I was raised on a farm in a small town in Illinois, Momence, Illinois, a town of about 1,800. We had corn, soybeans--I baled hay four times a year--beef cattle, and I did that until I was 21 years old. I know firsthand how hard our farmers work to make a living, and it is an honor to be able to serve on the Agriculture Committee to make a difference there. prgtoken I started serving in the Air Force back in 1985 as a 21-year-old, as a newlywed. My wife and I had 16 assignments; four different continents we were located in, coast to coast, and a lot of places in the middle. I was very honored to be able to serve as a commander of five different units, to include Ramstein Air Base in Germany. And there I got to see firsthand the importance of working with our allies and the importance of NATO, and I am going to take that experience with me. prgtoken I was also honored to serve as the commander of Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. I loved the missions there. I loved the people. I had several different flying missions, a nuclear mission there as well, and I look forward to being a strong voice for Offutt and our military community there. prgtoken I was also able to deploy four times to the Middle East, and I look forward to using the experiences that I have learned to make sure that our men and women are equipped and trained to win. prgtoken I also did missile defense in Israel. It was an honor to work with our Israeli friends. I look forward to being a strong voice to improve the friendship with our great ally Israel. prgtoken Out of those 16 assignments, I did have three assignments at Offutt, and I will tell you that my wife, Angie, and I loved eastern Nebraska. The people are friendly. They have character. They love the military. And we are so blessed to be able to call it our home now, and so honored to be able to represent the great people of the Second District. prgtoken I will be serving on three different committees. I will be on the Armed Services Committee, the Agriculture Committee, and the Small Business Committee. I look forward to using my experiences to make a difference in all three. I am going to work my hardest on all three to make a difference. prgtoken One thing I am certain of: when Americans are put on a level playing field, we win. When our businessmen and -women and when our farmers are put on a level playing field, we win. prgtoken It has been our own government that has put our
PROVIDING FOR AN EXCEPTION TO A LIMITATION AGAINST APPOINTMENT OF PERSONS AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WITHIN SEVEN YEARS OF RELIEF FROM ACTIVE DUTY AS A REGULAR COMMISSIONED OFFICER OF THE ARMED FORCES
Orrin G. Hatch (Republican, UT) \u2014 2017-1-12

several years ago, in Congress pulled out all the stops to pass the so-called Affordable Care Act and force the system we now call Care on the American people. They passed the law on a purely partisan basis and without any regard for public opinion. Quite simply, it was one of the most blatant exercises in pure partisanship in our Nation's history. It deepened partisan divides in Washington and around the country and contributed to the cynicism many have about whether their government is actually paying attention to their needs. Worst of all, in the years since the passage of Care, the American people have been paying the price in the form of skyrocketing costs, fewer choices, burdensome mandates, and unfair taxes. prgtoken For 7 years, many of us in Congress--virtually all of us on the side--have been working to right what has gone wrong under the Affordable Care Act. We have pledged to our constituents that, given the opportunity, we would repeal Care and replace it with reforms more worthy of the American people. Those promises are among the biggest reasons why we s are now fortunate enough to find ourselves in control of Congress and, very soon, the White House. prgtoken Last night we took a big step in the effort to repeal and replace Care. With the budget resolution passed, many in Washington and in the media are talking about what happens next. We are hearing a lot of discussion about the timing of our repeal-and-replace efforts, with some arguing that we should hit the brakes and solve every problem in advance of taking another vote. My view is that the repeal of Care cannot wait. The American people need us to act now. While there is still some debate as to what our replacement plan should look like, a majority of Senators voted last night to give us the tools to take the next steps to repeal and replace Care. The American people have entrusted us with the power to do just that. prgtoken We could spend the next several months coming up with more slogans and analogies, but this is not a campaign. The elections have been won, and it is time to do what our constituents have sent us here to do. I am not saying we need to put off the replacement effort. On the contrary, I think it is important that the legislation we draft pursuant to the budget reconciliation instructions include as many sensible health reforms as possible, keeping in mind the limitations that exist with our rules and the necessary vote count. prgtoken We should definitely work on making the largest possible downpayment on the Care replacement with the budget reconciliation bill. That downpayment should include measures that give individuals and families more control over their health care decisions and empower States to do more of the heavy lifting when it comes to regulating health care. In addition, we need to provide for a smooth transition period so w
COMMODITY END-USER RELIEF ACT
K. Michael Conaway (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-1-12

I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. Those of you who paid attention prgtoken to the debate earlier in the day will find it curious that much of the debate, some of the debate, was about the specificity with which we instructed the CFTC to set up a regime in which to evaluate foreign jurisdictions, and it irritated the group. In fact, many of them are voting against it because that is in the underlying bill that is there, so I oppose the gentleman's amendment. prgtoken I also don't know that it wouldn't require a referral to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and while the vaunted Committee on Agriculture would love to claim all the jurisdiction we possibly could, I am not interested in referring it to a different committee. prgtoken For 4 years now, the end users and folks have been waiting to get this thing done. It is time for us to get it done. I urge my colleagues to vote against this motion to recommit and support the Commodity End- User Relief Act. prgtoken , .
INTRODUCING REPUBLICAN FRESHMEN
Paul Mitchell (Republican, MI) \u2014 2017-1-12

I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding. prgtoken , I rise to thank the people of Michigan's 10th Congressional District. I am honored to represent them and humbled by their trust in electing me to the 115th Congress. prgtoken The weight of this office is not lost on me. As Majority Leader McCarthy said: If you walk on the floor of this House and you don't get goosebumps, it's time to go home. prgtoken Standing here at this podium, I have goosebumps. prgtoken People often ask me why I ran for Congress. Put simply, I ran with the goal of helping people achieve their American Dream. For too many, the idea of the American Dream is just that: an idea, a fantasy, a fairytale. prgtoken I believe in the American Dream because I have lived it. I was born in South Boston to a working class family. Opportunity took my family to Michigan when I was 11. My dad got a good job building trucks on the line at General Motors, and my mom worked at the Salvation Army. My parents worked hard to provide for me and my six younger siblings. I learned the value of hard work at a young age watching my parents. prgtoken I was the first of my extended family to go to college and worked full-time to pay for my education; and then I dedicated my career to workforce training, helping people build the skills necessary to get good jobs to begin their careers to support their families. There is something about the pride that comes when someone gets a job. Their whole world changes when they see what they are able to achieve and what their work does for their families. prgtoken Over the last several years, failed policies and an unstable economy have put the American Dream out of reach for many. Though overall unemployment rates are down, long-term unemployment is high; labor force participation rates have dropped dramatically, and wage growth is anemic. prgtoken Instead of getting ahead, many Americans are just getting by. prgtoken In the November elections, Americans screamed for relief. My message to the people of Michigan's 10th District is that your voices have been heard. We are already working here in the House on measures to roll back regulations to support families, businesses, and the economy, and to breathe life back into the American Dream. prgtoken In order to make it possible for more people to achieve their American Dream, we must give them the freedom and the tools to succeed. This begins by stemming the extreme regulatory overreach, fixing our healthcare system, and strengthening our workforce prgtoken while restoring our critical infrastructure. prgtoken As we have learned in the last 8 years, we cannot regulate our way towards a stronger economy. The opposite is true: government overreach cripples our economy. From my years of running a business, I have firsthand knowledge of how excessive regulations make it harder to succeed. Time and resources that could be better spent on growing a business and creati
INVESTIGATION ON INTERNET SEX TRAFFICKERS
Rob Portman (Republican, OH) \u2014 2017-1-12

I rise today during Human Trafficking Awareness Week to talk about the scourge of human trafficking, and, specifically, about an investigation that the Senate has just concluded that matters to every single State represented in this Chamber and to every American. prgtoken We are told now that human trafficking, including sex trafficking, is a $150 billion a year industry. That makes it the second largest criminal enterprise in the world, behind the drug trade. Unfortunately, it is happening in all of our States, including my home State of Ohio. It is growing as a problem. prgtoken A couple of weeks ago, two people were arrested in my home town of Cincinnati in connection with sex trafficking. Police charged a women with luring an underage girl to commit a sex act with a 56-year-old man. prgtoken That was just 2 weeks after police in Blue Ash, OH, just up the road, broke up what they said was a sex trafficking ring at a hotel. Police said that two men and two women rented two rooms at a hotel, paying cash, and forced four different women to perform sex acts. The women were given crack cocaine and heroin, presumably to keep them dependent on their traffickers. prgtoken This is what I am hearing back home a lot when I talk to victims of sex trafficking. Typically, drugs are involved. In Ohio, it is usually heroin. These cases are alarming, and, unfortunately, we have reasons to believe that the problem is getting worse not better. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, really, the expert on this issue, particularly of kids who get involved in sex trafficking, reports an 846-percent increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking from 2010 to 2015. That is an over 800-percent increase just in those 5 years. prgtoken The organization found this spike to be ``directly correlated to the increased use of the Internet to sell children for sex.'' So it is kind of the dark side of the Internet, isn't it. What I am told sometimes by survivors of trafficking is that they say: Rob, this has moved from the street corner to the cell phone. There is widespread evidence that sex trafficking is increasingly doing that all over our country. prgtoken In order to confront this problem, as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, along with my colleague and ranking member Senator Claire McCaskill, I opened a bipartisan investigation into sex traffickers and their use of the Internet. This investigation began about 2 years ago. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says that nearly three-quarters--73 percent--of all suspected child sex trafficking reports it receives from the general public through its cyber tip line are linked to one Web site--a single Web site. That Web site is called Backpage.com. prgtoken According to a leading anti-trafficking organization called Shared Hope International, ``[s]ervice providers working with child sex trafficking victims have
COMMODITY END-USER RELIEF ACT
Eric A. "Rick" Crawford (Republican, AR) \u2014 2017-1-12

5 years of bipartisan committee work has contributed to the drafting of H.R. 238, the Commodity End-User Relief Act. It is time we passed it for the sake of businesses across the United States who need greater certainty in managing their risk. prgtoken In advance of writing this legislation to reauthorize the CFTC, the House Committee on Agriculture held 22 hearings on the future of the Commission and the state of the derivatives industry. I mention the number 22 to highlight how extensive the data collection and deliberation has been. prgtoken To make this reauthorization as complete and thorough as possible, those 22 hearings collected feedback and testimony from every segment of the futures and swaps markets, from end users to regulators. We have used the testimony to draft legislation that will make derivatives markets work better for those who need them most: businesses trying to manage their risk. prgtoken But not only is this reauthorization language exhaustively researched, it has also already been approved by this Chamber multiple times, starting in the 113th Congress. prgtoken In the 113th Congress, the Committee completed H.R. 4413, which passed the House with strong bipartisan support. In the 114th Congress, we put forward the Commodity End-User Relief Act of 2015, which was very similar to H.R. 4413, and also passed the House with support from both parties. Now, not only is H.R. 238 virtually identical to the reauthorization bill, which passed the House last Congress, H.R. 238 also includes the amendments that were adopted on the House floor during debate. prgtoken I will turn my focus toward the people that this tested and proven language will help, largely end users. Although end users are not investors, speculators, or risk takers, they have borne the brunt of many of the consequences of new regulations. prgtoken Derivatives are used by a huge swath of businesses for risk management purposes, including manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, and other businesses that buy or sell products overseas, pension funds, insurance companies, and others who face risks that the prices for their business inputs and outputs frequently fluctuate. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to support this long overdue legislation.
PROVIDING FOR AN EXCEPTION TO A LIMITATION AGAINST APPOINTMENT OF PERSONS AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WITHIN SEVEN YEARS OF RELIEF FROM ACTIVE DUTY AS A REGULAR COMMISSIONED OFFICER OF THE ARMED FORCES
Susan M. Collins (Republican, ME) \u2014 2017-1-12

today I wish to support the legislative waiver required for retired General James Mattis to become the next Secretary of Defense. prgtoken The principle of civilian control of the military has been fundamental to the concept of American Government since the inception of our Republic. It was the Continental Congress that granted General George Washington his commission, and General Washington reported to that legislative body throughout the entire war. prgtoken At the conclusion of the war, General Washington was the most popular and important figure in America. He easily could have positioned himself as the leader of the American government and, in fact, was urged to do so by many. Instead, General Washington famously resigned his commission on December 23, 1783, thus firmly establishing the principle that, in this new country, ultimate authority over the Armed Forces would rest with democratically elected civilians. General Washington's noble act was the foundation of such an important tenet of our democracy that the scene is depicted in a magnificent painting by John Trumbull, which occupies a prominent position in the rotunda of the United States Capitol. prgtoken The principle of civilian control of the military was at the center of the debate when the structure of our Armed Forces was dramatically reorganized after World War II. A congressional consensus emerged from the military readiness failures of Pearl Harbor that the modern world required a more significant standing military force with a more centralized command structure. But harkening back to the precedent established by George Washington, it was imperative that this new structure have civilian leadership. This was especially concerning at the time, given the number of remarkable generals who had deservedly attained heroic status in the eyes of the American public and the free world. Thus, in 1947, Congress passed section 202 of the National Security Act, which provided that the Secretary of Defense needed to have at least a 10-year gap, later reduced to 7, from any military service. prgtoken Since that time, 16 of the past 24 Defense Secretaries have had some prior military service. If approved, however, Gen. Mattis would only be the second Defense Secretary to receive a congressional waiver of the law--the other being General George Marshall in 1950. prgtoken In order to examine this important history and review the wisdom of granting a waiver for Gen. Mattis, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing exploring the issue of civilian control of the Armed Forces. After carefully reviewing the testimony from those hearings, I do support making an additional, one-time exception to the law in the specific case of James Mattis. prgtoken In 1950, the world was a tumultuous place, with a hot war in Korea coupled with the extraordinary risks associated with a growing cold war in the nuclear age. President Truman turned to Gener
SEC REGULATORY ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
Scott R. Tipton (Republican, CO) \u2014 2017-1-12

the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act subjects the SEC to enhanced cost-benefit analysis requirements and requires a review of existing regulations. prgtoken By promoting economic analysis requirements during the regulatory process, this bill ensures that regulation writing is data driven and not done on an ad hoc basis with little thought to the true impact the expanding regulatory net has on businesses and the economy. prgtoken It is a mistake for regulators overseeing our financial system and the capital markets, including the SEC, to promulgate regulations without fully considering the costs and benefits, as well as all of the available regulatory alternatives. prgtoken This bill also takes the commonsense approach of requiring the SEC to evaluate whether a proposed regulation is inconsistent with, or duplicative of, other Federal regulations. When our businesses are being overwhelmed by compliance obligations that demand more and more time and resources, it is crucial that our regulators do everything in their power to ensure that regulations are effective, streamlined, and nonduplicative to minimize impact. prgtoken It is important to note that this legislation does not limit the SEC's rulemaking authority in any capacity. The bill appropriately strengthens the SEC's existing cost-benefit-related requirements to ensure that the true impact of regulations can be calculated. prgtoken To advocate for the status quo and against this legislation shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the financial system and the regulatory process. This legislation is a vote of confidence that, with the appropriate tools and a data-driven approach, our regulatory agencies can create a framework of safety and soundness that does not unduly burden our economy. prgtoken I am happy to lend my support to this bill and encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense measure. I, again, thank the gentlewoman from Missouri for her efforts on this legislation.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2017-1-12

this week, I have the distinct honor of recognizing Mack Cole of Treasure County, a third generation Montanan and dedicated public servant. Next month, Mr. Cole will celebrate 55 years of marriage with his wife, Judy. Mack and Judy Cole were married in February 10, 1962, in the town of Hysham, one of the many beautiful small communities in the quiet and peaceful high plains of eastern Montana. prgtoken After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cole spent 2 years in South America, providing much needed services while working for the Food for Peace Program in Brazil. Mr. Cole's experience in South America would serve as a trailhead for a lifelong journey of civic minded virtue and dedication on behalf of his fellow citizens. prgtoken In the late 1970s, Mr. and Mrs. Cole moved down the road, west on I- 90 to Billings, MT, and they continued to build upon their honorable records of public service. During this chapter of his life, Mr. Cole worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in multiple western States and was involved in a wide variety of programs, including the development of irrigation projects. His work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs took him to Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. After retiring from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1993, the Coles moved back to the family ranch outside of Hysham. prgtoken Mr. Cole continued his distinguished record of public service by representing the people of Treasure County in the Montana Legislature, retiring from the State senate in 2003. During his time in legislature and even after retirement from public life, Mr. Cole has always been a steadfast supporter of responsible energy development, a critical component for the livelihood of many of his friends and neighbors. prgtoken His humble efforts to help provide food to the hungry, keep water flowing to farms and ranches ensuring energy was always ready at the flip of a switch make him a great Montanan. It is hard to find a better example of a fellow Montanan that is always ready to offer a helping hand. prgtoken I want to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Cole for his dedication and service to Montana and our country.
PROVIDING FOR AN EXCEPTION TO A LIMITATION AGAINST APPOINTMENT OF PERSONS AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WITHIN SEVEN YEARS OF RELIEF FROM ACTIVE DUTY AS A REGULAR COMMISSIONED OFFICER OF THE ARMED FORCES
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-1-12

I ask unanimous consent that at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged and the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 72; further, that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form, and that upon the use or yielding back of time, the bill be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage of H.R. 72 with no intervening action or debate; finally, that if passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.