mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Jeff Merkley (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2020-9-22

I join my colleagues here on the floor tonight to honor and pay tribute to a remarkable legal mind, an incredible American, an icon, an inspiration, and a wonderful human being: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, known to the younger generation as the ``Notorious RBG.'' prgtoken RBG was born into a world in which few, if any, opportunities existed for women beyond the role of wife and mother. She helped build a world in which the doors were opened; the doors of opportunity were blown wide. It was a powerful, powerful undertaking, and she was extraordinarily successful in it. prgtoken She graduated from high school at 15. She went on to college. She went on to law school. She graduated in a class of 500 students, and she tied for first in her class in 1959. I was 3 years old at that point. prgtoken Then she applied for jobs, and she faced the discrimination of ``You are a woman, so we cannot hire you at our corporate law firm.'' prgtoken Then she applied for clerkships with the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court Justices said: You are a woman, and our doors are closed to you. prgtoken Perhaps this was a fortuitous moment because she went on, therefore, to take on a job as professor at Columbia University and from that to lead the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU. As director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, she argued six landmark gender discrimination cases before the Court. Plain language, great heart, brilliant logic, and considerable legal tactics went into winning five of those six cases--an incredible record for anyone who has appeared before the Court. prgtoken One of the tactics she undertook was to argue cases where men were being discriminated against because they were men, and by winning those cases, she established a principle where neither men nor women could be discriminated against. prgtoken There is the Frontiero v. Richardson case in 1973, where a female Air Force lieutenant sued to get the benefits for her husband that a male member of the military would normally get for his wife. By winning that case, she opened the door to the concept, the principle, that gender discrimination is not acceptable under our Constitution. prgtoken She put forward and argued the case of Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld in 1975 just 2 years later, again, arguing for a man who, as a spouse, was denied Social Security benefits that were available to a woman as a spouse and, by winning that case, more deeply established the premise that under our Constitution, you cannot discriminate on gender. prgtoken She went on to the Court and had many momentous decisions that she wrote and dissents that she wrote. One of the cases that she wrote the majority opinion on was an 7-to-1 case to overturn Virginia Military Institute's men-only policy, arguing that it violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. prgtoken She wrote the following: ``Women seeking and fit for a VMI quality education cannot be offered anythin
WE MUST ADVANCE URGENTLY NEEDED CORONAVIRUS ASSISTANCE
Paul Tonko (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-9-22

this body must advance urgently needed coronavirus assistance. prgtoken Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said, ``Every death we experience is a tragedy.'' When he said it, the United States had just hit the grim milestone of 100,000 souls lost from the COVID pandemic. That was mid-May, around the same time advanced the HEROES Act in the House. In the 4 months that followed, 100,000 more Americans have died as the epidemic has spiraled out of control, and chaos has continued to reign from the White House. prgtoken We have reached the breaking point. Plain and simple, it is time for the Senate to pass our comprehensive rescue package or offer a real alternative of their own. No more waiting. No more excuses. prgtoken Throughout this crisis, the Senate majority has abdicated responsibility to this President's insufficient leadership and papered over his deadly shortcomings. For the lives and livelihood of every one of my constituents, I beg my colleagues on the other side of the Capitol to seize this moment to follow a new guide. prgtoken Let that guide be science. Let it be truth, because politics, really, truly bad politics, has brought America low in the face of this crisis. But it is not too late. prgtoken On January 22, President tweeted ``China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.'' He made similar remarks again on January 30 and on February 7. The very same day President was privately admitting to journalist Bob Woodward that the coronavirus is an airborne pathogen more deadly than the flu. prgtoken Despite his full awareness of the danger, he kept going, praising China and publicly downplaying the coronavirus threat. Politico has found at least 15 examples of President publicly praising China's coronavirus response during this period, including on February 10, 13, 18, 23, 26, 27, and 29. He said it over and over. prgtoken In the following weeks and months, he would repeatedly downplay the danger and suggest, fully aware of his deception, that this virus was comparable to a seasonal flu. prgtoken President 's deception on these matters is not opinion, he was recorded. He is literally on the record saying that he intended to downplay this disease and deny the American people the information we would need to make vital decisions for ourselves, our families, our communities, and indeed, our Nation. prgtoken Every death that resulted from this was a tragedy. In February, President said, ``It is going to disappear one day. It is like a miracle, it will disappear.'' He knew better. prgtoken At this point the virus had been given nearly 2 months to circulate unchecked. Americans were still going about our daily lives, flocking to movie theaters, churches, synagogues, going to Mardi Gras, going on spring break, unaware of the true extent of the threats spreading all around us
HONORING ALL VETERANS ACT
Kathleen M. Rice (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-9-22

. Madam , I rise today in support of my bipartisan bill, the Honoring All Veterans Act. prgtoken This bill would finally require the Department of Veterans Affairs to replace its outdated motto with a more inclusive statement. The words of the original motto would be updated to read: ``To fulfill President Lincoln's promise to care for those `who shall have borne the battle' and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.'' prgtoken For far too long, the VA's gender-exclusive motto hasn't properly acknowledged the service of women and LGBT veterans. This is simply wrong, and it is long overdue that we change it. Women and LGBT servicemembers have sacrificed so much for our country. They have always answered the call of duty, and they should know that we are just as grateful for their service and sacrifice as we are for anyone who serves this country. prgtoken That is why we must make this change. We need a VA motto that properly recognizes and honors the service of all veterans, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. prgtoken Changing the motto won't solve every issue facing women and LGBT veterans, of course, but it is a start, and it is the right thing to do. It would say in no uncertain terms that all veterans are seen equally in the eyes of the agency that exists solely to serve them. prgtoken I want to thank Chairman Takano for his support for me getting this bill to where it is today. And it is simply that, as Chairman Takano said, we would not be here if it were not for the ranking member, Dr. Roe. I want to thank him personally so much for supporting this bill and for helping to bring it to the floor today. prgtoken I also want to thank my colead, Representative Brian Mast, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and all the veterans whom I have heard from in support of this bill. prgtoken Madam , I urge my colleagues to vote for the Honoring All Veterans Act today. It is time every veteran who served our country receives the respect and recognition they deserve.
ALOPECIA AREATA AWARENESS MONTH
Ayanna Pressley (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2020-9-22

I rise today in solidarity with my fellow Americans with alopecia in recognition of September as Alopecia Areata Awareness Month. prgtoken Today, like nearly 7 million Americans, I live with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that attacks the hair follicles. This common condition is highly unpredictable and cyclical. Hair can grow back in or fall out again at any time, and the course is different for each person. prgtoken Alopecia areata disproportionately affects children and Black Americans, and particularly Black women. prgtoken Some people may say that it is just hair, but for me and for many people living with alopecia, hair is intrinsically linked to our identity and our cultural expression. prgtoken We all have our own unique stories with our alopecia diagnosis. Mine began nearly a year ago as my braider noticed a small patch of baldness. Very soon after, I was waking up to sinks full of hair. What started as a few small patches quickly spread. prgtoken I remember the moment vividly. I was alone in my D.C. apartment, separated from my family, on the same day that would have been my mother's 72nd birthday and on the eve of an impeachment vote. I was standing in the bathroom, staring at my reflection in the mirror, and for the first time I was completely bald. prgtoken For months, I had dreaded the moment when it would be all gone; but looking at myself in the mirror that night, I felt relief, peace, and acceptance. It was a moment of grace, and I thank God for that. prgtoken In a matter of weeks, I would lose my eyelashes, eyebrows, and the rest of my hair and be diagnosed with alopecia universalis, one of three forms of alopecia. prgtoken I am still coming to terms with my new alopecia reality and the impact of my traumatic hair loss. Every day, thanks to the support of my family, my staff, the broader alopecia community, and others who have experienced hair loss, I am making progress. prgtoken I am making progress despite the hateful comments, the cruel and constant online harassment about my baldness, the intrusive and ignorant questions on the elevators, the unsolicited advice, and the stares, lots of stares. prgtoken No doubt about it, a bald woman entering a room or entering the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives makes people uncomfortable. Visually, it challenges every antiquated cultural norm about what is professional, what is pretty, what is feminine. prgtoken But in the loss, the hurt, and the ache of it all, I have never lost sight of the following: I am Sandy and Martin's daughter; I am Conan's wife; I am Cora's stepmom; and I am the Congresswoman for the Massachusetts Seventh Congressional District. prgtoken , I am now bald, but I am in good health and in incredible company. I have received an outpouring of love from people across the globe who are living with alopecia. prgtoken Early on, I received a note from an elementary school-aged girl with alopecia. She wanted to give me some tips in
UYGHUR FORCED LABOR PREVENTION ACT
Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-9-22

. Madam , I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro) for yielding, and for bringing this important legislation to the floor and giving us a chance to honor our values in the most bipartisan way. prgtoken One of the saddest things of all of this is how many people are suffering. prgtoken One of the joys of it is that it has enabled us to work together over the years. prgtoken Madam , I would ask the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) how many years--at least, 30, working together on this subject. prgtoken Madam , I rise in support of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act, two strong bipartisan bills to send a strong message to Beijing and to the world that the U.S. Congress will not allow human rights to be sacrificed for commercial interest. prgtoken As I have said many times, if America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interest, we lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights anywhere in the world. prgtoken I salute Chairman Jim McGovern, chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a leading voice in the country and in the Congress for human rights. prgtoken I thank Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, one of our new freshmen, for her early leadership and dedication she has brought to this priority. prgtoken I thank, also, Mr. Smith, and I acknowledge our working together over the years. He is now the ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and co-chair of the Lantos Commission. prgtoken I salute our chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel, and our leaders in the Senate, Senator Rubio and Senator Merkley. prgtoken I thank our chairman, again, for this opportunity and so many of our Members who have spoken on this issue. prgtoken Beijing's barbarous actions targeting the Uyghur people continue to be an outrage to the collective conscience of the world. Across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur people and other Muslim majorities are brutally repressed in a pervasive state of mass surveillance and predictive policing used to discriminate against and violate the human rights of minorities: incidents of mass shootings, extrajudicial killings, intimidation and suppression of journalists courageously exposing the truth, and the mass incarceration of more than--and this is a lower figure; I think it is higher, but it is a conservative figure--1 million innocent people with beatings, solitary confinement, deprivation of food and medical treatment, and extensively documented programs of forced labor. prgtoken So if you are out there watching the Congress, know what this means to you. The exploitation of people in China has a direct impact on our trade policy and on our values, first and foremost. prgtoken Tragically, the products of the forced labor often end up here in American stores and homes. In fact, roughly one in
REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2020-9-22

I am delighted and honored to follow my great colleague from neighboring Rhode Island after that feisty, fighting speech, which also captures the spirit of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was deeply concerned about the corrupting impact of money on our political system. She was a longstanding critic of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that opened the way to that dark money that has so corrupted our system. prgtoken She was a believer in closing the gaps and loopholes because she was smart enough and curious enough to learn what the real facts were, as opposed to her colleagues on the Supreme Court who relied on the stereotypes of the political system that were outdated even when Citizens United was adopted. We live in a democracy that is threatened by exactly that dark money in every sphere of the public square and public office, never more than in our judicial system because it is even less visible and more easily disguised. In part, the reason is that people pay less attention to it. Another reason may be that the amounts of money by comparison seem smaller. The amounts of hundreds of millions of dollars seems small compared to the billions involved in legislative or Executive races. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew that the power of the dollar, whether it is judicial selection or legislative campaigning, can be easily corrupted on a system that lacks limits. prgtoken So from Rhode Island for reminding us about part of the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which was to stand for principles and people--the constitutional principles that animated her whole life and gave breath to her matchless advocacy, the sense of righteousness that could capture attention in a courtroom. Even though it seemed to be surrounded by technical legal language, she made that language accessible to everyday Americans. prgtoken And she chose her plaintiffs wisely. When she was arguing a case or mounting against gender discrimination, she chose a male plaintiff who was denied Social Security simply because his wife, a woman, was the one in the military. prgtoken And she knew the power of hard work. Her work ethic was second to none, but her commitment to her family and most especially to her husband Marty--also a brilliant lawyer, a wonderful, warm human being-- was legendary. prgtoken I was really privileged and honored to know Justice Ginsburg casually, informally. I knew her warmth, her compassion and caring, sometimes to her law clerks or other friends. I was also privileged to argue three cases before her on the U.S. Supreme Court. I argued four as attorney general of Connecticut, and I can tell you that I feared nobody more on that Court because her incisive, piercing, penetrating questions cut to the core of the issues. Sometimes they actually could rescue an arguer from a rabbit hole that some other Justice drew the plaintiff or defendant, appellant or appellee down because she would go to t
BIRTH OF THE HERO ACT
Ami Bera (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-9-22

I rise today to celebrate the passage of my bipartisan measure, H.R. 1646, the Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act, or the HERO Act. prgtoken The HERO Act is the best of what we do in this people's House, which is accessible to our constituents and others, and that is why we love the House of Representatives. prgtoken Over 2\1/2\ years ago, two of my fire chiefs, Mike McLaughlin and Maurice Johnson, visited my office here in Washington to talk about some issues. In passing, they also talked about the number of firefighters and first responders that succumb to suicide, and the stresses of the job. prgtoken We talked about it and we started to do a little bit of research. We realized we didn't have good statistics on the actual incidence of firefighters or first responders that were succumbing to suicide. prgtoken We started to talk to others, the International Association of Firefighters, and we talked to law enforcement. We realized the stresses that these individuals, men and women, who are out there protecting our communities every day, face. They see untold challenges that normal human beings don't see. So we started talking about this. prgtoken We looked for those statistics, talked to the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance founder, Jeff Dill, and again, realized we ought to challenge the CDC to collect these statistics, and we ought to do something about it. We ought to help relieve the suffering of these first responders, firefighters, law enforcement individuals. prgtoken So we went about writing a bill and working with our partners. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. What we have seen since the pandemic is untold pressures on our frontline healthcare workers, our nurses, the folks in the hospitals. And I want to applaud a fellow doctor, a Member, Mike Burgess, who is the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Healthcare Subcommittee, he realized this fact. And working together with our staff, we amended the HERO Act to include and recognize the unique stresses that these frontline healthcare workers are facing. prgtoken We talked about how they don't need to suffer by themselves, how we could put in place peer-to-peer contacts where folks could reach out, create a space for some of these individuals that might be suffering alone to talk about what was going on. prgtoken , I also want to thank Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member Walden on the Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Ms. Eshoo, for helping get this bill to the floor and getting it passed yesterday evening. prgtoken Again, the HERO Act demonstrates what we can do when we come together as and s, when we listen to our constituents, and we work with those folks that are out there. prgtoken I, again, want to applaud the frontline healthcare workers, the firefighters, the law enforcement individuals, and emergency responders that
REMEMBERING JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2020-9-22

as our colleague just said tonight, you can't even remember any other member of the Federal judiciary who became a cultural icon, recognized only by their initials. RBG did, and she earned her recognition and her place in history through an astounding career fighting for gender equality, for the rights of LGBTQ individuals, and for the rights of everybody who had been pushed to the margins of American society. prgtoken Mitch McConnell and have now, unfortunately, made it very clear that they are going to pull out all the stops to unravel the exceptional work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and they are going to break their own rule--their own rule. It is not something that was debated on the other side. They decided to break their own rule pertaining to election-year appointments to undo the historical record of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. prgtoken For a moment, I want to compare this to another time. When I was a young man right out of law school, I served for a number of years as codirector of the Oregon Gray Panthers at home. Back then, just like now, there were a lot of issues that were on people's minds. Just like today, where there have been lists of issues miles long--from the rights of LGBTQ Americans to workers' rights, to the ability of every eligible American to vote, and much more--there was a similarly long list of issues back when I worked with the senior citizens. prgtoken I made the judgment then, because of spending that time with older people, that healthcare was far and away--far and away, colleagues--the most important issue because if you and your loved ones don't have your health, then pretty much everything else goes by the board. You can't spend time with family. You can't achieve all you want in your job. You can't even have a chance to walk about outside on a pleasant evening like this. So healthcare to me and to millions of Americans is far and away the most important issue in front of this body. prgtoken Now, this is the one issue--the one issue that will come up immediately with the -backed lawsuit going before the Court soon after the election. So make no mistake about it, and I know it is awfully hard to follow all the legalese and the procedural motions. At one point my wife said--I think Senator Merkley may have heard this. When my wife said she would marry me, she said: You are a lawyer, not probably a particularly good one, but I am sure glad you did a good job for the senior citizens. It is hard to follow all the legalese and all the procedure. prgtoken When you set aside all of that surrounding the fact that healthcare will be the one issue coming up immediately with the -backed lawsuits soon after the election, tonight we say to the American people that healthcare in America is at stake. The Affordable Care Act is at stake, and coverage for 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions is at stake. If you don't trust s with your he