mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF RICHARD GORDON HATCHER
Bobby L. Rush (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-1-8

it is my distinct honor and privilege to come before the House this evening to celebrate the memory of a major trailblazer in our Nation, one who was a fierce crusader for justice and equality, an American who was a quiet man, with a quiet demeanor, but a giant in terms of his accomplishments, his courage, and the things he did not only for his local constituency, the city of Gary, Indiana, but the African American community and America at large. prgtoken , I am speaking of the one and only, the first Black mayor of Gary, Indiana, Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher. prgtoken Sadly, Mayor Hatcher passed away at the age of 86 on the 13th of December, 2019. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy lives on. His legacy, his work, his love, his sacrifices continue to be felt in these very Halls of Congress, throughout the city hall of Gary, Indiana, and indeed, throughout these State legislative halls, these halls of municipal governments in cities all across this Nation. prgtoken Mayor Hatcher was one who carved and made a way for African Americans who are elected officials even to this very day. When Mayor Hatcher was first elected mayor of Gary, Indiana, there were but few elected officials of African American descent in the Nation, but there now exists over 10,000 African American elected officials. In some supernatural sense, because of the hard work, the insight, the courage, and the commitment of Mayor Hatcher, his sterling example, we all stand on the shoulders of Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher. prgtoken Mayor Hatcher's surprise victory over the political machine in Gary, Indiana, in 1967 was indeed a watershed moment for Black political participation in this Nation. Along with the election of Mayor Carl Stokes, the first African American mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Hatcher became the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city, the city of Gary, Indiana. prgtoken , in his two decades of service as Gary's mayor, Mayor Hatcher fought valiantly in his beloved Gary and throughout his beloved Nation for fair political representation for those whose voices had been previously dismissed, disregarded, and downright ignored for most of American history. prgtoken When Mayor Hatcher was elected to lead a deeply segregated Gary, Indiana, only two of the city's department heads were African Americans, in a city that was actually over 50 percent African American. Within 10 years of Mayor Hatcher's tenure as mayor, 25 of Gary's 40 department heads were African Americans. prgtoken Finally, , those who worked for Gary's government began to look more like Gary's citizens, those who were supposed to be working on behalf of the citizens of Gary, Indiana. prgtoken As mayor of Gary, Mayor Hatcher worked very closely with his congressional delegation and the ic administration in the White House. He secured millions of dollars in Federal funding for job training programs for Gary's citizens and subsidized housing for Gary's
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 535, PFAS ACTION ACT OF 2019
Chellie Pingree (Democrat, ME) \u2014 2020-1-8

I thank Representative Scanlon for granting me the time and Chairman Pallone and particularly Congresswoman Dingell for their leadership on PFAS issues. prgtoken I rise today in support of H.R. 535, the PFAS Action Act of 2019. This bipartisan bill will take much-needed and long-overdue action on these harmful forever chemicals. prgtoken These pervasive and dangerous chemicals pose serious risks to both human health and to our environment, and the delay in taking action on them has been inexcusable. They are known hormone disruptors, and studies link the exposure to them to kidney and testicular cancer, to thyroid disease and other health problems. prgtoken PFAS chemicals are concentrated in human and animal blood and tissue, and they can remain there for years. It is estimated that 99 percent of all Americans have PFAS in their blood. prgtoken In my home State of Maine, PFAS was first discovered in the groundwater at a former military installation due to the use of fire foam containing PFAS. But PFAS contamination has been found in our public water supply, in soil, in agriculture, and in animal products. prgtoken Once in the environment, PFAS will never break down. That is why they are called forever chemicals, so cleanup is essential to protect people in our environment. prgtoken Companies and regulators have known about the risks of products like Teflon, Scotchgard, and, yes, Gore-Tex for decades but have failed to take action to protect or inform the American people. The Department of Defense has repeatedly refused to clean up PFAS contamination at military sites across the Nation. prgtoken Because the Environmental Protection Agency has dragged its feet, we have no enforceable standards for PFAS levels in our drinking water, leaving communities without the information or the funding to protect our citizens, and there has been no action to fund cleanup because there was no requirement to clean up these dangerous chemicals. It is truly time to act. prgtoken Some of the things that the PFAS Action Act will do: prgtoken It will finally designate PFAS as a hazardous chemical, thereby ensuring PFAS contamination is cleaned up and polluters pay for their actions; prgtoken It will require the EPA to develop national drinking water regulations to test and monitor levels of PFAS in our public drinking supplies; and prgtoken It will add two types of forever chemicals to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory so we will finally know who is releasing them into our water, soil, and air, and we can hold them accountable. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to join me in taking action for the health of our communities and our environment and to vote ``yes'' on the rule and ``yes'' on the final bill.
UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES ACT OF 2019
Nydia M. Velázquez (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-1-8

. Madam , such time as I may consume. prgtoken Madam , I rise in support of H.R. 5146, the Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019, which will eliminate barriers to entry for small businesses seeking to perform as prime contractors in the Federal marketplace. prgtoken As the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, the Federal Government needs contractors it can rely upon, and knowing how a business performed previously is a strong predictor of its ability to successfully perform in the future. prgtoken However, one of the challenges small businesses experience while offering their products and services to the Federal Government is showing that they have relevant past performance. Usually, the government relies on the past performance records it compiles. However, such information solely on the small business may not exist. Thus, small businesses cannot effectively compete for contracts. prgtoken Moreover, small businesses cannot develop the appropriate past performance without winning a prime contract first. prgtoken H.R. 5146 offers a solution to this dilemma by allowing small businesses to leverage other types of past performance information. Specifically, it requires contracting officers to consider a joint venture's past performance record when evaluating an offer of any of its members. prgtoken Similarly, it requires the acceptance of past performance information generated by a contractor on its subcontractor when reviewing an offer from the latter to serve as prime. prgtoken With this change, H.R. 5146 provides small businesses additional ways of showing they possess relevant past-performance experience. Moreover, by requiring acceptance of joint venture and subcontracting past- performance information, this bill advances uniformity government wide. prgtoken I urge Members to support this important piece of legislation, and .
Senate Legislative Agenda (Executive Calendar)
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-1-8

I listened carefully to the comments by my colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, when he talked about impeachment purgatory and the fact that the Senate is unable to act on critical legislation--many bills that have already passed the House of Representatives--because of the impeachment proceedings. prgtoken Well, the impeachment proceedings have not started in the U.S. Senate. So what is the excuse? Was it the impeachment proceeding that stopped us from considering one bill in the Senate this week? Was it the impeachment proceeding that stopped us from considering one bill in the Senate last week? No, it was the conscious decision of the Senate majority leader, Senator McConnell, the leader, with the majority, not to call a single piece of legislation in the last 2 weeks. prgtoken There shouldn't be any surprise among the membership that we did nothing in the last 2 weeks other than a few garden-variety nominations. The fact is, we have done nothing for a long time under Senator McConnell's leadership. Do you know, for the record, how many amendments were actually debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate last year in the entire calendar year? Twenty-two. Twenty-two amendments, six offered by the junior Senator from Kentucky. If I am not mistaken, all of them were defeated, but the point I am trying to make is, 22 amendments in 1 year and now the majority is blaming Pelosi and the impeachment proceedings for the fact that we do nothing. It doesn't make sense, and it doesn't add up. prgtoken We are doing nothing because that is the strategy of Senator McConnell. The House of Representatives has passed hundreds--not a dozen, hundreds--of bills for the Senate to consider, on every imaginable topic: issues relating to healthcare, which we heard about from the Senator from Texas; issues relating to immigration. The litany is long. Within that litany, you would think that Senator McConnell could find one bill--just one--from the House of Representatives to debate on the floor of the U.S. Senate, but we don't do that in the Senate. We no longer debate under Senator McConnell's leadership. prgtoken Some people look at this room and call it the Senate Chamber. That is true; it is the Senate Chamber. Now, sadly, it is more the Senate storage facility. We store on the floor of the Senate Chamber the desks of former Senators who actually legislated on the floor of the Senate. It is not a museum because there is still some active business underway, but it is a storage facility. prgtoken These desks, if they could only speak, would tell the stories of men and women who stood up on the floor and debated critical issues. I was here for some of it. Issues of war and peace--we don't take those up anymore. If a President wants to go to war in Iran, obviously, his party thinks that we shouldn't interfere with his thought process, though the Constitution states clearly we are supp
Nomination of Michael George DeSombre (Executive Session)
Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-1-8

I am here to speak on two matters. prgtoken The first is the nomination for Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand of Michael DeSombre. The Kingdom of Thailand has been a longtime U.S. ally and is a key partner for our efforts in the Southeast Asia region, both economically and militarily. prgtoken Unfortunately, this nominee has failed to reach out to either me or my colleague and my senior Senator, Dick Durbin, both of whom are his home-State Senators. He has not reached out to me. So I am asking my colleagues to please vote no on cloture on Michael DeSombre to be our Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand until such time as I am able to have a chance to sit down with him.
INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO CLARIFY CERTAIN DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES SERVING IN SENSITIVE POSITIONS
Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC) \u2014 2020-1-8

. Madam , today, as hundreds of thousands of our federal workers face uncertainty in wages and work, I introduce a bill to clarify certain due process rights of federal employees serving in sensitive positions. This bill would overturn an unprecedented federal court decision, Kaplan v. Conyers and MSPB, which stripped many federal employees of the right to independent review of an agency decision removing them from jobs on grounds of ineligibility. The case was brought by two Department of Defense (DOD) employees, Rhonda Conyers, an accounting technician, and Devon Northover, a commissary management specialist, who were permanently demoted and suspended from their jobs after they were found to be no longer eligible to serve in noncritical sensitive positions. In 2014, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, which allowed the decision to stand. This bill is cosponsored by Representative Andre Carson. prgtoken Specifically, the decision prevents federal workers who are designated as ``noncritical sensitive'' from appealing to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) if they are removed from their jobs. Noncritical sensitive jobs include those that do not have access to classified information. The decision would affect at least 200,000 DOD employees who are designated as noncritical sensitive. Even more seriously, most federal employees could potentially lose the same right to an independent review of an agency's decision because of a rule by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which went into effect in July 2015, that permits agency heads to designate most jobs in the federal government as noncritical sensitive. prgtoken The Kaplan decision undercuts Title 5, section 7701 of the Civil Service Act, which ensures due process rights for federal workers required by the U.S. Constitution. Stripping employees whose work does not involve classified matters of the right of review of an agency decision that removes them from their jobs opens entirely new avenues for unreviewable, arbitrary action or retaliation by an agency head and, in addition, makes a mockery of whistleblower protections enacted in the 112th Congress. Our bill would stop the use of ``national security'' to repeal a vital component of civil service protection and of due process. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 535, PFAS ACTION ACT OF 2019
Mary Gay Scanlon (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2020-1-8

I include in the Record a January 8 letter from over 20 environmental groups, including Earthjustice, the Center for Environmental Health, the Sierra Club, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, all in favor of this legislation. January 8, 2020. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, of the House, Washington, DC. Hon. Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader, Washington, DC. Hon. Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader, Washington, DC. Hon. Steve Scalise, Minority Whip, Washington, DC. Dear Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Minority Leader McCarthy, Minority Whip Scalise and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives: On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the undersigned non-governmental organizations write today to urge you to vote YES on H.R. 535, the PFAS Action Act. Toxic PFAS chemicals have now been confirmed in the water of more than 1,400 communities, including nearly 300 military installations, and studies have linked PFAS to serious health problems, including cancer. H.R. 535 will build on the progress made in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2020 by restricting industrial releases of PFAS into our air and water, setting a drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS in tap water, and by kick-starting the process of cleaning up legacy PFAS contamination by designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law. The science is clear: PFAS have been linked to serious health problems through decades of animal, worker, and human studies. Unfortunately, EPA has failed to take steps to restrict air and water releases, reduce PFAS in our tap water, or clean up the nation's most contaminated sites. H.R. 535 will set clear deadlines requiring EPA to do just that. Designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances, as proposed by H.R. 535, will not ban PFAS--but will instead ensure that the most contaminated sites are finally cleaned up. We urge you to vote YES on H.R. 535, the PFAS Action Act. Sincerely, Christine Santillana, Earthjustice; Patrick MacRoy, Environmental Health Strategy Center; Shaina Kasper, Toxics Action Center Campaigns; Andrea Braswell, Center for Environmental Health; Michael Green, Center for Environmental Health; Laurene Allen, Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water; Paul and Diane Cotter, Your Turnout Gear and PFOA; Pamela Kay Miller, Alaska Community Action on Toxics; Tara Thorntom, Endangered Species Coalition; Dalal Aboulhosn, Sierra Club; Meghan Boian, Southern Environmental Law Center; Stel Bailey, Fight For Zero; Lynn Thorp, Clean Water Action; Colin O'Neil, Environmental Worki
IMPROVING EFFORTS TO ATTACK SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME
Gwen Moore (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2020-1-8

today marks a sobering anniversary. Three years ago today, Scarlett Lillian Pauley, a magnetic, vibrant, 16- month- prgtoken old died suddenly and unexpectedly. She was born at 11:25 a.m. on August 31, 2015, a happy and healthy 6-pound, 4-ounce, 20-inch-long baby. prgtoken This vibrant little girl loved her mama and her dada and her pets. Scarlett loved books. She could read for hours. Her favorite book was ``Barnyard Dance!'' by Sandra Boynton. She loved and she was loved. prgtoken Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story. Each year, hundreds of children die unexpectedly and their deaths go unexplained, even after an investigation. Each year, nearly 3,500 children up to age 1 die suddenly. Among infants, my colleagues may have heard of the leading cause being SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. prgtoken These devastated families want answers which, unfortunately, don't come. One reason is that States and municipalities all over the country collect inconsistent and often incomplete data on these unexplained sudden deaths; and, even with these efforts, they are irreconcilable. prgtoken If we can't even collect good and consistent data, how can we expect to reverse this trend or even prevent it? prgtoken , we can and we must do more to save the lives of our most vulnerable, which is why I introduced the Scarlett's Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act, H.R. 2271, named in honor of little Scarlett. This bill would authorize efforts to improve the investigation of these deaths nationwide to help find answers that can guide prevention efforts. prgtoken It would also support better data initiatives of safe sleep education and other efforts to prevent such deaths and support for grieving families, among other provisions. prgtoken , I was so inspired to do this because I have, in fact, been to the homes of grieving parents who have lost their child to sudden infant death. prgtoken I am so grateful that this is bipartisan legislation. There are 62 bipartisan sponsors, and I just want to name a few of them on the other side. Tom Cole is the cosponsor on the side, along with Jaime Herrera Beutler, who has given birth to three children since she has become a Member of this body, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is on the Energy and Commerce Committee. prgtoken This bipartisan legislation has also been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, Children's Hospital Association, Cribs for Kids, First Candle, SUDC Foundation, KID: Fighting for Product Safety, Aaron Matthew SIDS Research Guild of Seattle Children's Hospital, the Mackenzie Blair Foundation of New Jersey, Jaxin's Cause in Ohio, the Scarlett Lillian Pauley Foundation, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and Safe Kids Worldwide. prgtoken Today, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold hearings on this legislation, bringing it one step closer to law. One of the witnesses will be Scarlett's
Iran (Executive Session)
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2020-1-8

I first want to say how relieved I am by reports that no lives were lost in last night's missile strikes in Iraq and how grateful I am for all those serving in the region and around the world. prgtoken The fact remains, however, that this is a volatile and frightening moment for our country. In a matter of days, the President of the United States has, without any authorization or notice, taken steps that have sent tensions soaring with Iran, threatened the fight against ISIS, jeopardized relationships with key allies, risked the safety of U.S. servicemembers and civilians, and brought us perilously close to war. prgtoken I have heard from so many people in my home State of Washington, and I know my colleagues have as well, about just how scary and uncertain this feels and the many questions it raises. prgtoken While there is no question Qasem Soleimani was a sworn enemy of the United States, people want to know whether the President's initial order was truly necessary to our safety and why right now in this time of already heightened tensions in the Middle East. They want to know elected officials here in the Nation's capital are prioritizing their safety and our country's safety. Most of all, they want to know what comes next and what can be done to prevent things from getting worse. prgtoken Like so many Americans, I have watched these events unfold with increasing concern. As the daughter of a World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient, I make decisions about the safety and security of our Nation with deep concern for our brave servicemembers and their families, a personal understanding of the sacrifices they make for all of us and our Nation, and an unwavering commitment to ensuring they have the support they need while they serve and when they come home. prgtoken To that end, while I firmly believe we must do everything possible to keep America safe and go after terrorists wherever they are, I also believe that, except in the most dire of circumstances, we should do everything possible to exhaust all of our diplomatic avenues and coordinate with our allies and our partners before taking military action all on our own. prgtoken I believe we should not enter a conflict without a very strong understanding of what we are trying to accomplish and what it will cost and that while America has every right to defend itself, striking another country preemptively, without the strongest evidence of immediate danger, is a dramatic step with significant long-term implications that should not be done without a full debate and congressional support. prgtoken , based on what we know now, the administration's actions in Iraq failed on each of these counts. It has not made us safer, and our allies feel blindsided, especially because this strike puts them at risk too. prgtoken There is no clear goal or clear-eyed understanding of the risks we have assumed. There was absolutely zero debate i