mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PROTECTING AMERICANS WITH PREEXISTING CONDITIONS ACT OF 2019
Yvette D. Clarke (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-5-9

I thank our chairman for yielding the time. I thank Congresswoman Kuster for her leadership. prgtoken As vice chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and cosponsor of H.R. 986, I am proud to stand with my colleagues in support of the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019. prgtoken Healthcare is a right. In the 21st century, everyone must have the right to the best quality and affordable healthcare insurance when they need it most. prgtoken This human right must not be only limited to healthy individuals, but, rather, the human right to healthcare must be available to every American who has ever been ill at any time or is born with a preexisting condition. No American should be penalized for a medical condition that started before the individual's healthcare coverage benefits went into effect. prgtoken Passage of the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act would rescind the 1332 guidance issued by the administration, which weakens coverage and undermines the Affordable Care Act's protections for people with preexisting conditions. prgtoken Our friends on the other side of the aisle made more than 70 failed attempts to replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act between 2011 and 2017. prgtoken Mr. Chair, we must do the right thing and enact legislation that strengthens the standards of quality healthcare, affordability, comprehensiveness, and coverage I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 986.
PROTECTING AMERICANS WITH PREEXISTING CONDITIONS ACT OF 2019
Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2019-5-9

. Mr. Chair, I want to voice my support for H.R. 986, the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019. prgtoken This legislation will rescind the administration's October 2018 Section 1332 waiver guidance, which is an essential step to protect pre-existing conditions and prevent the loss of comprehensive coverage plans. We will ensure that our constituents will be able to access the essential health benefits guaranteed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. prgtoken As representatives of Americans from all corners of our country, we have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our communities. We must ensure that our constituents, many with pre- existing conditions, are not placed at risk of losing their health insurance coverage or fall victim to plans which fail to offer essential health benefits. prgtoken As the first registered nurse elected to the United States Congress, I am proud to safeguard the healthcare of my constituents and all Americans through my support of the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
THE MUELLER REPORT
Sean Casten (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2019-5-9

. Madam , this is in response to the attorney general's claim that the President has constitutional immunity from prosecution. Mr. Mueller writes: ``We were not persuaded by the argument that the President has blanket constitutional immunity to engage in acts that would corruptly obstruct justice through the exercise of otherwise valid Article II powers.'' prgtoken He goes on at some length to talk about what that standard is, but I want to read the footnote in that section. ``A possible remedy through impeachment for abuses of power would not substitute for potential criminal liability after a President leaves office. Impeachment would remove a President from office, but would not address the underlying culpability of the conduct or serve the usual purposes of the criminal law. . . . ``Impeachment is also a drastic and rarely invoked remedy, and Congress is not restricted to relying only on impeachment, rather than making criminal law applicable to a former President . . . '' prgtoken That is from Volume II, page 178.
National Small Business Week (Executive Session)
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2019-5-9

today I rise to speak about National Small Business Week. As ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I want to thank the 30 million small businesses in America for their contributions to our economy during this National Small Business Week. prgtoken I look forward to National Small Business Week every year because it is a chance for us to honor the small businesses and communities in Maryland and across the country that may not make headlines, but they steadily move our economy forward by improving industries, developing new products, and creating employment opportunities for more than 47 percent of all American workers. prgtoken One tradition of National Small Business Week is that the Small Business Administration selects a Small Business Person of the Year from each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. prgtoken This year's Maryland Small Business Person of the Year is Zhensen Huang, prgtoken the chief executive officer of Precise Software Solutions--an innovative information technology company that is based in Rockville, MD. Dr. Huang is also a professor of information systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he is training future leaders in Maryland's technology sector. prgtoken Small business owners like Dr. Huang are the cornerstone of Maryland's economy, and their deep roots in the community help to shape the culture and character of our State. I thank Dr. Huang for bringing dynamism and ingenuity to Maryland's economy, and I wish him and his colleagues continued success. prgtoken I have met with countless small business owners like Dr. Huang as I have traveled across my home State of Maryland, which we proudly call ``America in Miniature'' due to our diversity. From bustling metropolitan areas like Baltimore City and the DC suburbs to rural communities on the Eastern Shore and in Mountain Maryland, small businesses are not just where we buy products and services; they are the building blocks that make up our communities. prgtoken That is why I requested a seat on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee when I began serving in the Senate in 2007. I wanted to make sure small businesses in Maryland and across the country were receiving the support they needed from Washington. Nationwide, small businesses account for 99.9 percent of all businesses, with there being a total of nearly 31 million small businesses that employ 60 million Americans. prgtoken According to the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, small businesses created 1.8 million net jobs in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. Of those jobs created, more than 1.2 million were created by small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. It is clear that small businesses are the growth engine that power our economy, so it is on us in Congress to ensure that they receive the support they need
MARKING THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMILY SEPARATION CRISIS
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2019-5-9

. Madam , I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. prgtoken I want to join both Congresswoman Jayapal and Congresswoman Lee on just reinforcing the devastation and the dastardliness of child separation from their parents. I would just like to very briefly say that this sad commemoration should equate to a commitment of zero tolerance for separating children from their families. prgtoken We should end the migrant policy that includes child separation, the position of remaining in Mexico as you seek asylum, the losing of your space, or your bed, if you are in a shelter and have to be sent back to Mexico when you actually apply for asylum. All of these migrant policies, which included child separation, clearly can devastate the families. prgtoken So I want to emphasize just one point that included my many trips to the border, including the time we had the opportunity to travel together, and I want to focus on the psychological and maybe irreparable damage that is being done particularly to children in the understandable period. That is not a technical term. I am not a sociologist or a psychologist, but in that period where the child may be somewhere between 4 and 15, or 4 and 12. Those are really years when, whether it is a boy or girl, they are bonding with mom. People must realize that those children traveled thousands of miles or 1,000- plus miles with that parent and mostly that mother, and it has been a dad. prgtoken So that mother made a sacrifice, either out of lack of understanding of the language or signing a paper that she did not understand or thinking that she needed to separate because of the housing situation, and many of us saw the housing situation and the metallic blankets and the lack of space. prgtoken Let me just say this for the personnel on the border. We found some very empathetic personnel on the border, men and women who do their job. But the resources of the facilities are absolutely inadequate and disgraceful, and they have been like that on the border of Texas for a very long time. prgtoken So I am grateful for Congresswoman Lee and Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, those who realize we have to really overhaul those facilities, that will include healthcare facilities and otherwise. prgtoken But in that reunion, you might say--and there were good staff people who thought they were doing the right thing, and they were excited with the expectation. They had brought the children. prgtoken I remember two little boys. First of all, there wasn't a dry eye in the room of those of us who had come. It was just unspeakable. It was overwhelming. It brought back memories. You thought about your children or your extended family members. prgtoken So two little boys, crisp little white shirts on over at a table playing with the best red fire truck and truck that they could find. In walk mothers who went to different corners. But in walks this mother with her belongings, as I recollect, like in a pillowcas
NOMINATIONS
Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2019-5-9

today I wish to express my opposition to recent nominees who have come before the Senate. prgtoken First, I would like to express my opposition to the nomination of Janet Dhillon, who was confirmed to serve as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC, by a party line vote yesterday. The EEOC has a critical mission to enforce the Federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, religion, national origin, or disability, and it was the first Federal agency to take the position that title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from workplace discrimination based on their sexual orientation. Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned that Ms. Dhillon has refused to commit to uphold the EEOC's current interpretation of title VII as covering LGBTQ workers. I am also concerned by arguments that were made in legal briefs by the Retail Litigation Center under Ms. Dhillon's leadership, including arguments in support of policies to make it more difficult for employers to be held liable for harassment. It is for these reasons that I would not have voted in support of Ms. Dhillon' s nomination. prgtoken I also want to comment on my opposition to Cheryl Stanton's nomination to serve as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the Department of Labor. Before Ms. Stanton's nomination, she served as executive director of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, in which capacity she garnished wages to collect unemployment insurance overpayments and had a public dispute with a staff member who refused to institute a personnel action after raising ethical objections. I voted against invoking cloture on Ms. Stanton's nomination and would have voted against her confirmation. prgtoken Finally, I want to address the nomination of Joseph Bianco for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which I opposed in the Judiciary Committee due to concerns regarding his record on such critical issues as privacy and civil liberties. I am also concerned that the Senate advanced Judge Bianco's nomination even though neither home State Senator returned a positive blue slip. prgtoken Thank you.
THE MUELLER REPORT
Joyce Beatty (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2019-5-9

. ``On October 7, 2016, the media released video of candidate speaking in graphic terms about women years earlier, which was considered damaging to his candidacy. Less than an hour later, WikiLeaks made its second release: thousands of John Podesta's emails that had been stolen by the GRU in late March 2016. The FBI and other U.S. Government institutions were at the time continuing their investigation of suspected Russian Government efforts to interfere in the Presidential election. ``That same day, October 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint public statement `that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations.' Those `thefts' and the `disclosures' of the hacked materials through online platforms such as WikiLeaks, the statement continued, `are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.' '' prgtoken Volume I, page 7.
Gun Violence (Executive Session)
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-5-9

on Tuesday afternoon, our country suffered another shooting--this time in Highlands Ranch, CO. It was the second shooting of the week following a weekend where at least 19 people were shot in Baltimore, 16 in St. Louis, and 28 in Chicago. prgtoken My grandson is less than a year old. He turned over in his crib last night--great accomplishment. But on a serious note, I don't want him to live in a world where this is the norm. I don't want him to see this on TV every other week. I don't want him to come home after school to tell his parents about learning to hide under a desk with the lights off. I don't want him to grow up in a country where children and adolescents are more than 20 times more likely to be killed with guns than their peers in other high-income countries. prgtoken I want him--little Noah and every other child in America--to live in a world where America's gun violence epidemic is a thing of the past. It may seem a naive thought in a cynical time, but I believe we can get there. We can take steps right now to make these incidents less likely. Nothing will prevent them, but there are lots of things we can do to make them a lot less frequent. A few months ago, the House did just that. The House passed legislation to close the loopholes in Federal background checks--something that more than 90 percent of all Americans support. prgtoken No one here pretends that we can prevent every incident, but we have a choice to face between moving in the right direction in a significant way and doing nothing. That is why I am so disappointed once again that Leader McConnell and the majority have turned this Chamber into a prgtoken legislative graveyard where even the most bipartisan, broadly supported legislation like background checks can't even get a vote or a discussion. Here we are at the end of another week in the Senate. This week, we have done nothing but process nominations. It is not because there is nothing else to do. There are over 100 bills--many noncontroversial and many bipartisan--that have passed the House and are awaiting Senate action, but Leader McConnell has turned the Senate into a legislative graveyard. prgtoken When the American people demand action, Leader McConnell does nothing. When the American people demand action, the Senate s are in obeisance to this strategy of a graveyard, even when in their hearts they may know doing that is not right and they would like to debate the issues, whatever their views. prgtoken Leader McConnell promised to preside over an open Senate, with vigorous debate and amendment votes and the ability to vote on issues of the day. He promised that, and he said no matter which party offered the ideas. Leader McConnell is breaking those promises when he consigns bill after bill--every one of them needed by America, needed by the middle class, needed by working people--every one of them to a legislative graveyard. So there ar
HONORING ETHEL MAE McCULLUM 100TH BIRTHDAY
Eliot L. Engel (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-5-9

. Madam , I rise today in honor of a remarkable milestone reached by a wonderful constituent in my district. On May 8, 2019 we will celebrate the 100th birthday of Ms. Ethel Mae McCullum. It is my distinct honor to help celebrate the occasion. prgtoken Ethel was born in Dunn, North Carolina to her parents Slona Streeter and Grant Bullard Streeter. She had two siblings, John Streeter and Beulah Lee. For 23 years, Ethel worked for the State of New York, and for 33 years she has been a resident of Tilden Towers II in the Bronx. prgtoken Ethel was always very involved with Tilden Towers II, working diligently with the Board for decades. But she was also involved in a host of other organizations. She is a lifetime member of the local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), participating in many of the group's fundraisers, annual luncheons, and other events. She is also a longtime member of Abyssinian Baptist Church--over 80 years to be precise--and her first ever Pastor was Rev. Adam Clayton Powell III. prgtoken Ethel's stories about growing up in rural North Carolina have always been a hit with the seniors living in the community. Her personality is, and always has been, loving and caring to all she encounters, and it shows. prgtoken Many people refer to Ethel as ``everyone's Nana.'' And while she is beloved by all, she is prgtoken in actuality the matriarch of an astounding 5 generations. Ethel loves her family deeply, and always made sure to send every one of her grandchildren and great grandchildren cards on their birthdays. prgtoken Madam , it's hard to put into words what Ethel Mae McCullum has meant to our community. Everyone knows what a warm and caring individual she is, and everyone knows just how many lives she has touched. 100 years is a remarkable milestone, and Ethel is an equally remarkable person. On this very special occasion, I want to congratulate Ethel and personally send her my warmest wishes.
PROTECTING AMERICANS WITH PREEXISTING CONDITIONS ACT OF 2019
Tom Malinowski (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2019-5-9

. Madam Chair, I will close by saying there is no question whatsoever what the administration intends to do. They have been trying from day one, from January 2017, to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its essential protections for the American people. prgtoken The only thing that has changed is that it has become politically impossible for anyone in America to say that prgtoken you are opposed to protecting people with preexisting conditions, and so a war against healthcare protections is being covered up by a war against the English language. prgtoken Everyone says, ``We are for preexisting conditions,'' yet every single step the administration and its supporters take is designed to weaken those protections. This amendment and the underlying bill say that you can't do that anymore. They guarantee, going forward, that the ACA's protections are respected and that any experimentation by the States will have to be consistent with those protections. prgtoken Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues' support for the amendment and the bill, and .
Maiden Speech (Executive Session)
Jacky Rosen (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2019-5-9

I thank Senator Cortez Masto for that great introduction. prgtoken I am honored and humbled to address this distinguished body as the newest Senator from the great State of Nevada and to stand alongside an exceptional group of colleagues with a shared commitment to public service. I am especially honored to hold this seat, as it once belonged to a great Nevada public servant, Senator Richard Bryan. Senator Bryan served in just about every position in government, from assemblyman to Governor. He worked tirelessly to advance civil rights, empower women in government, and defend Nevada's public lands. I am so honored to carry his values with me to move Nevada forward. prgtoken As I take up this mantle in the Senate, I am prepared to continue Senator Bryan's legacy and work for Nevadans, while also building toward a legacy of our own. I stand here as Nevada's 28th Senator and, for the first time in history, as one of two women to represent our State in the Senate. I am proud to be part of such an incredible movement of strong, passionate, trailblazing women like Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who became the first female Senator to represent the great State of Nevada and the first Latina elected to serve in the Senate. prgtoken Everywhere, we are seeing women who are stepping up to lead, and I am thrilled to have the chance to empower women who are looking to break barriers along the way. By bringing more women to the decision-making table, we can open doors and make progress on issues that affect us and our hard-working families on a daily basis. When women put their minds together, there is no new ground we cannot break, and there is no glass ceiling we cannot shatter. prgtoken I stand here today to share my vision for how we can work together-- on both sides of the aisle--to lay down a framework for progress because Nevadans and Americans everywhere are counting on us to go above and beyond, to overcome obstacles before us, and to find commonsense, forward-thinking solutions for the challenges of this new era--challenges like immigration reform, which protects our Dreamers and TPS recipients; challenges like a changing 21st century economy and climate change; and, of course, an issue that is so important to hard- working families everywhere, the challenge of access to affordable, quality healthcare. prgtoken Before I discuss where we are going, let me tell you just a bit about where I come from--my values and the ways in which my story has helped to shape who I am and how it will shape who I will be as Nevada's newest Senator. prgtoken I am the proud granddaughter of immigrants and a first-generation college graduate who worked my way through college waiting tables. Yes, I am a former member of the Culinary Workers Union, and I saved my tips in envelopes to pay for that college tuition. I am a computer programmer and a systems analyst who worked my way up in what has been long considered a male