mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN...
Roy Blunt (Republican, MO) \u2014 2019-10-30

I want to thank Senator Portman for his comments about what we have tried to do to provide the money, but let me tell you, having been involved in that part of it, really, before we began to pass legislation, nobody was more vigorously active than Senator Portman to try to continue to point out the size of this problem and that something had to be done. He was out there talking about how big a problem this was for the country before other people were. prgtoken Thanks to Senator Ernst for bringing this group together today to talk about this critical issue as we figure out better ways to deal with this terrible scourge of addiction and activity that preys on people who have become addicted. prgtoken More than 47,000 lives were lost due to opioids in the United States in 2017--47,000 people. More people died of opioid overdoses than died in car accidents. The No. 1 cause of accidental deaths changed dramatically in the last handful of years. For everybody who died, there were hundreds of others who were risking their lives by misusing prescription drugs or illegal drugs or, even worse, illegal drugs that they had no idea what was in them. prgtoken The fentanyl challenge is so big and so dangerous. It seems to me it would be a pretty poor business model to try to have a drug so powerful, a product so powerful, that there is a good chance the person you are selling it to will never be a customer again because they are going to die from taking this drug, often knowing it is an incredibly dangerous moment to try to get on a drug-induced high that defies anything that has happened to them before. Of course, once you cross that line, there is no other line to cross because you are no longer a customer. Your life is gone. Your dependency on these drugs, no matter how it began, whether it was a high school cheerleading accident or a car accident or a running accident or a dental appointment--all kinds of ways--and in past decades, people believed prescribing these opioids had no danger of addiction and, boy, did we find out that was wrong. prgtoken Now, 3.4 percent of our entire gross domestic product--almost $700 billion--was impacted and lost by the ongoing opioid crisis in 2018. Every State has a problem. Our State, Missouri, has a problem. We have seen a steady increase in synthetic opioid use over the last several years. This seemed to be moving from east to west, and I was hoping that by the time it got to us we would have more information, more thinking about it. I think that actually may have happened, but it is still bad. We had a 40-percent increase in fentanyl-related overdoses from 2016 to 2017. prgtoken Health and Human Services Secretary Azar and I were in Kansas City together at the Truman Medical Center to talk about this epidemic-- Truman Medical, the No. 1 provider of uncompensated care in our State. We went to the neonatal area and saw babies who had neonatal abstinence syndrome, whic
CLINCH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (Republican, GA) \u2014 2019-10-30

I rise today to recognize Clinch Memorial Hospital for being named the Hometown Health Hospital of the Year for 2019. prgtoken I am proud of the work that Clinch Memorial Hospital is doing to provide high-quality care to our rural communities in the First Congressional District of Georgia. With unique challenges facing rural healthcare systems across the Nation, Clinch Memorial Hospital has met these challenges head-on and is using groundbreaking programs to better the care for individuals in the surrounding rural communities. prgtoken Over the last 2 years, the hospital's CEO, Ms. Angela Ammons, has added new programs to help people with substance abuse issues, a swing- bed system to more efficiently use their resources, and a new wound care unit. But most importantly, she has nearly miraculously turned around the hospital's financials, maintaining the community's access to healthcare and keeping the local economy churning. prgtoken Clinch Memorial Hospital is more than deserving of the Hospital of the Year Award. prgtoken Congratulations, and keep up the good work. National Pharmacist Month 2019
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN...
Kevin Cramer (Republican, ND) \u2014 2019-10-30

first of all, thank you for your flexibility at the chair today. Appropriations prgtoken , the purpose for rising today is to advocate on behalf of our military, the men and women who are the bravest in the world. I feel compelled to do so because I can imagine that in these days of hyperpartisan politics, some of them may feel like some of us are abandoning them, and I want them to know for sure that we are not. prgtoken We all took an oath to the Constitution, and the highest priority in the Constitution for the Federal Government is, of course, to provide for the Nation's defense against all enemies, foreign and domestic. prgtoken Unfortunately, my ic colleagues seem to be shirking from this responsibility lately. They are willing to settle for, seemingly, mediocrity, and right now we have excellence, the best. First of all, they are planning to come to this Chamber tomorrow to block the all- important Defense appropriations bill; that is to say, to block the funding for our military; that is to say, to block the largest pay increase for the men and women of our military in over a decade--just to name one topic that is being funded, or would be funded, by this appropriations bill that they are going to block. prgtoken Back in July, the House and Senate, on a bipartisan basis--I say to the Presiding Officer, you just gave a wonderful speech about the importance of working together. On a bipartisan basis, we passed a major budget bill. It was a win for our military and a win for our country because it was supposed to provide them with certainty and an important path forward as they chart that path--that strategic path-- for America's superiority. prgtoken To echo the House and the ic leader at the time: ``A bipartisan agreement has been reached that will enhance our national security.'' These aren't my words--although I agree with them--these are the words of the ic leadership of Congress. prgtoken After passage, the ic leader went on to say: This deal would ``strengthen our national security and provide our troops with the resources they need.'' I agree with the ic leader. Please-- please--change course while you still can and support this important funding bill tomorrow. prgtoken I agreed with my colleague from New York then, and I supported that legislation for the exact reason to ``strengthen our national security and provide our troops with the resources they need.'' prgtoken This deal passed with strong bipartisan support. It was widely applauded. prgtoken Yet here we are today, this week, with our colleagues preparing to block the funding for our troops for which they were just a couple of months ago patting themselves on the back. prgtoken This whole process shouldn't even be this complicated. In fact, I am convinced that the American people are tired of us complicating simple things. We agreed to this 2-ye
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN...
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2019-10-30

I come to the floor today to support the funding bill for the defense of our Nation. This funding package provides a well-earned, well-deserved pay raise for our troops--the men and women in uniform, the men and women I had the privilege of visiting earlier this month, part of the Wyoming National Guard deployments in multiple places around the world. prgtoken Yet have blocked a key vote. They did it last month. I want to make sure they don't do it again. It seems they are doing it for purely political reasons. It is a partisan blockade of our Nation's troops' pay raise. It is hard to believe they are doing it, but they did it, and it seems they want to do it again. prgtoken Both parties agreed to support our military, and they support our military families as well. They made that promise 3 months ago. Then they went back on the promise. It was part of that bipartisan budget deal that was signed in August. prgtoken By moving this defense funding measure, s are keeping our promises; the are breaking theirs. Now it is time once again to vote. It is time for to stop blocking the bill. It is time to stop playing politics, especially with our troops' paychecks. prgtoken We need to pass this bill to fully fund the Defense Department. It honors our commitment to our troops. It delivers critical resources our military needs to keep us safe, to keep us strong, to keep us prosperous. The bill protects America's standing among our allies and our adversaries. prgtoken We need to get this done. It also funds Health and Human Services. That is what we are looking at as well. It includes our Nation's medical research. prgtoken It is time for the to get to yes. It is time to keep our promises to the military; it is time to honor our commitment to our troops; and it is time to get on with the business of our Nation. It is time to pass the bill. prgtoken . prgtoken .
ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION
James E. Risch (Republican, ID) \u2014 2019-10-30

section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. prgtoken In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications which have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such annex is available to all Senators in prgtoken the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
COLORADO OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ECONOMY ACT
Tom McClintock (Republican, CA) \u2014 2019-10-30

. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken Madam Chairwoman, when I chaired the Public Lands Subcommittee, we set three overarching principles for the management of our public lands: to restore public access to the public lands, to restore good management to the public lands, and to restore the Federal Government as a good neighbor to those communities directly impacted by the public lands. prgtoken This bill appears to me to be the opposite of all of these principles. It closes off public use and access, it consigns our lands to a policy of neglect, and it thumbs our nose at the wishes of many of the people in the affected region. prgtoken H.R. 823 is a lopsided bill that offers a comparatively small, 28,000 acres, for motorized access versus roughly 400,000 acres of new wilderness enclosures. So 7 percent of the land is provided for motorized access and 93 percent of the land is closed to that access. That means, Madam Chair, you can't drive in to enjoy a family camping trip, and you can't even bring bicycles. prgtoken It withdraws all these lands from any kind of resource development, which means that taxpayers will not have the benefit of revenues that these lands could produce. Much of the acreage designated for wilderness restrictions does not even meet the legal requirements under the Wilderness Act, and yet they are imposed in disregard of that law. So, so much for the public's right to use the public lands. prgtoken As the growing menace of wildfires attests, 45 years of neglect of sound forest management due to the so-called environmental laws of the 1970s has abandoned our forests to themselves, and like any untended garden, an abandoned forest will grow and grow and grow until it chokes itself to death, and it is then consumed by catastrophic wildfire. Modern forest management broke this cycle of morbid overgrowth followed by catastrophic wildfire. I can tell you, in a State with a significant wildfire risk, this bill would further reduce the acres that have been identified as suitable for active forest management by approximately 8,000 acres. So, so much for good management of the public lands. prgtoken This bill flies in the face of significant local opposition, as expressed by many of the locally elected representatives of the communities affected by this legislation, as we have heard from Mr. Tipton. Rural county commissioners have warned that this bill will harm the economies of their local communities by removing multiple-use designations from these lands. In fact, when s offered an amendment calling for consultation with the local communities that have been ignored by this legislation, that amendment was rejected on a party-line vote. So, so much for being a good neighbor to communities most affected by the Federal lands. prgtoken Now, in the past, the Natural Resources Committee has prided itself on attempting to forge bipartisan consensus on its bills. Those days ap
CHACO CULTURAL HERITAGE AREA PROTECTION ACT OF 2019
Paul A. Gosar (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2019-10-30

I am not from New Mexico, but I do have an interest in education because that was one of the standard operating procedures that we were promised on public land. prgtoken If I am not mistaken, the Tribes are beneficiaries, as well, of that educational fund. And so, when you start looking at this, depriving that fund of its due resources--I don't know about New Mexico, but Arizona has got a problem paying for its educational system. It is not because we don't have enough money; it is because we don't have enough land. That is a problem. prgtoken I am here on behalf of the beneficiaries that the government promised. So, from that standpoint, I don't see a dichotomy in the argument until we can understand, until we have a better facilitation of that exchange, once again, doing something expediently, as we had the discussion earlier about access to those allottees. prgtoken Once again, government hasn't been the solution that it had claimed to be. We almost have to guide them hand and foot, pushing them to the right decision. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I still rise in favor of this amendment, and .
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN...
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2019-10-30

. Thank you, . prgtoken I say a special thanks to Senator Capito and all she has done, not only in this area but in so many things that affect rural America, certainly, being the cochair of the Rural Broadband Caucus. The list goes on and on. We do appreciate her leadership. prgtoken Our Nation's opioid epidemic is, unfortunately, a subject we have spoken about all too often here and in so many other places. It does feel, however, that the tone and tenor of our remarks reflect a much more hopeful outlook than many of our previous discussions have had. That is because we are making progress in the fight. prgtoken Around this time last year, we came together to overwhelmingly pass a comprehensive legislative package that was signed into law by President , and s working together. prgtoken There has been a noticeable difference as a result of this comprehensive reform. Law enforcement is now better equipped to stop illegal opioids from reaching our communities, and efforts are being stepped up at the border to cut off the influx of fentanyl from China. More first responders have been trained to administer naloxone, which has prevented opioid overdoses from claiming more lives in our communities. prgtoken Most importantly, we have saved lives by increasing access to mental health and addiction treatment services for those struggling to overcome opioid dependence. prgtoken The treatment and recovery aspect of our strategy is the key. Federal resources are being deployed nationwide to break the cycle of addiction. prgtoken These grants are invaluable for the facilities that give those struggling with addiction and their families new hope in the fight against opioid abuse. From what I have seen firsthand at treatment facilities in Arkansas, these efforts are indeed making a difference. They are helping tremendously. prgtoken The impact of this national epidemic has been felt acutely in the Natural State. According to the CDC, Arkansas had the second-highest prescribing rate over recent years, enough for each Arkansan to have one opioid prescription in his or her name. prgtoken It has taken a conscious effort by the State's medical community to drive those numbers down by 12 percent over a 4-year period. Limiting the amount of dangerous pain pills in circulation is a very positive and much needed step, but what about all the expired, unused, and unnecessary medications already in circulation? prgtoken That is where Arkansas Take Back comes in. Arkansas Prescription Drug Take Back Day events happen twice a year at locations across the State. These events are an opportunity for Arkansans to safely dispose of unused or expired medications with no questions asked. They also serve as an opportunity to further educate the public on the opioid epidemic and the importance of proper disposal of medications. prgtoken The 18th Arkansas Take Back this past weekend was another in a long line of success
CHACO CULTURAL HERITAGE AREA PROTECTION ACT OF 2019
Jodey C. Arrington (Republican, TX) \u2014 2019-10-30

there is a Navajo saying that a rocky vineyard does not need a prayer but a pickax. prgtoken We don't need protectionist prayers from elites in Washington who think they have all the answers; we need a pickax for prosperity and opportunity for folks living in rural America and the Navajo people in New Mexico. prgtoken , I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 2181, the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act. prgtoken My amendment would prevent the proposed ban on future oil and gas development from going into effect in an area that already has adequate protections, protections that are there to ensure that these operations won't have any adverse impact on historic and sacred lands in the Chaco Canyon Historic Park. prgtoken The reality is there are already a litany of State and Federal laws in place to ensure environmental protection and to prevent mineral development from affecting sensitive infrastructure and sacred artifacts within this exclusion zone. prgtoken Energy companies have had a positive track record when it comes to working with the Federal Government to comply with these laws for necessary permits and approvals. And, since producers already meet the standards set in several comprehensive environmental laws, this proposed ban on new oil and gas development in this area, in my opinion, is unnecessary, is misguided, and is overreaching. prgtoken In fact, drilling for minerals already prohibited within the Chaco Canyon Historic Park, keeping the culturally sensitive artifacts safe from any sort of potential disturbance caused by oil and gas development, this bill is nothing more than a buffer zone on top of an already existing buffer zone that has protected cultural artifacts effectively for 100 years, . prgtoken Unfortunately, if enacted, this bill would create significant access and extraction complications for the Navajos. This adverse impact would be a result of the checkerboard nature of the mineral rights and how Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands are intersecting. prgtoken Even though the area is proven to house abundant oil and gas reserves, the restrictions on accessing Federal land would make doing business in that area almost impossible, leading to a de facto extraction ban on the Navajo's privately-owned mineral rights. The so- called buffer zone imposed by the bill is arbitrary and completely unnecessary, again, in my opinion. prgtoken The whole purpose of establishing the Chaco Culture National Historical Park was to protect every area of historic significance and, again, it has worked for a century now. That goal has already been achieved. The protection is already ensured. Extending the boundaries and adding acreage to the heritage area will not enhance protection of areas of historical significance, but instead, will limit the potential of private landowners to steward and reap the rewards of their privately held land passed down to
WOMEN'S SMALL BUSINESS MONTH
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2019-10-30

before I read, I want to apologize to the Small Business Women of America because October is National Women's Small Business Month, and my apologies because this speech should have been given on October 1 rather than at the end of the month. prgtoken October is National Women's Small Business Month, and I want to recognize the many women-owned businesses. They really help make our economy stronger. In Iowa, we work hard to inspire women to start businesses and support them in their entrepreneurial journeys. prgtoken According to American Express, Iowa ranks eighth out of 50 States for growth in the number of women-owned businesses, as well as in their own growth in employment and revenues. prgtoken The network growth for women entrepreneurs and access to resources have helped make the difference in these women's lives and our communities. I hope that this growth will continue and that we will continue to have a massive increase in the number of women's small businesses in America. prgtoken , I ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 further minute as in morning business.