mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed
Chris Van Hollen (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2019-2-6

from Minnesota, Senator Smith, for organizing this discussion on the Senate floor today to bring attention to the plight of the Federal contract employees who were locked out of their jobs for 35 days and, therefore, didn't get paychecks for 35 days, even though the bills kept coming in. I hope that we will avoid another government shutdown in the coming weeks. prgtoken We should also use this time to make sure that we repair some of the damage that was caused by the unnecessary and really shameful record- long 35-day government shutdown. It should never have happened. It caused disruption throughout the country. Small businesses, in many cases, were unable to get loans. We know that we had 800,000 Federal employees who didn't get paychecks and that Federal service contract employees went without work in many of our Agencies. prgtoken I was pleased that this body, on a bipartisan basis, adopted a measure to make sure that Federal employees receive backpay. I was pleased to work with Senator Cardin, Senator Smith, and others on the side to get that done. That was really important. We provided Federal employees with the certainty that, at the end of the shutdown, they would all receive backpay, but we have not done anything similar for Federal contract employees, and we need to do that. Senator Smith and I and others have introduced legislation that we hope we can incorporate into whatever agreement we reach to reopen the government that addresses the plight of these Federal service contract employees. prgtoken I just want to bring to the attention of our colleagues one of those individuals. Her name is Lila Johnson. Ms. Johnson was my guest last night at the State of the Union Address. I invited her here to draw attention to the plight that she and others find themselves in. prgtoken She is 71 years old. She lives in Hagerstown, MD. She commutes about 2 hours a day to the Department of Agriculture, where for 21 years she has provided janitorial services to help keep the Department of Agriculture up and running and clean. She is, right now, the primary breadwinner for two of her grandchildren, who depend on her and the support she receives from her job to make sure they can put food on the table and pay for medical expenses and pay for housing. When the government shut down for 35 days, Ms. Johnson didn't get a paycheck. prgtoken She is not a highly paid employee like most of these Federal service contractors whom we are talking about. We are talking about people who are living, really, paycheck to paycheck--people who provide janitorial services and cafeteria services. We are talking about security guards and some construction workers around the country. We are talking about lower wage and middle-wage employees who work for companies that contract with the Federal Government to provide services. prgtoken So Ms. Johnson is really scrambling now to pay the bills and to
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2019-2-6

. Today is a special day. Today is a culmination of years of work. I mean that. We were literally on the floor 7 or 8 years ago with a bill similar to this one that did not get across the finish line. We were here 2 years after that and 2 years after that, and now we are here today. prgtoken Before she leaves the floor, I want to thank Senator Murkowski for her leadership. Senator Cantwell is not here, but I want to thank her for the work she has done on this bill because it was big. I want to thank Senator Manchin for continuing the legacy of these two, and, hopefully, it can continue over the next year. Quite frankly, bills like this don't get done every day, and they don't get done by accident. They get done by leadership and folks working hard. I thank both of you. If Senator Cantwell is listening, thank you very much for the work that has been done. prgtoken I am very proud to stand here on behalf of countless Montana small businesses and community members who had a crazy idea a few years ago about not wanting an out-of-State mining company--actually, not even wanting an out-of-country mining company, a foreign mining company--to expand the mine on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park. I am standing here today to tell them that I heard them. I listened to them, and I was not going to stop until this bill was signed into law. prgtoken I want to take you back about 4 years. A group of small business owners who cared about the future of their community got together after they caught wind of two mining companies that were planning to expand their operations on nearby public land, which threatened the area's rapidly growing outdoor economy--one of the fastest growing economies in the State of Montana. This mine expansion was set to take place in a place we call Paradise Valley. That place is called Paradise Valley for an obvious reason. It truly is a piece of paradise. It is the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, which is one of the longest undammed rivers in the world. Paradise Valley is flanked on both sides by legendary mountain ranges: the Gallatins and Absarokas. It is the gateway to our Nation's first national park, Yellowstone. prgtoken These business owners--who ran fly shops, breweries, guide and outfitter businesses, and dozens of other local hangouts--were relying on literally hundreds of thousands of visitors to flock to this region to experience something they can experience nowhere else on Earth. They were rightly concerned that multiple large-scale mining operations would put their local economy at risk and, in fact, put them out of business. prgtoken I went in October of 2015 and met with these folks. I listened to their concerns that these mines would devastate their businesses and the breathtaking landscape in which they have chosen to live. In that moment, it was clear to me that the community needed permanent protection. So I announced my intent to introduce a bill--one of the bills
REMEMBERING CHARLES S. KETTLES
Debbie Stabenow (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2019-2-6

today I wish to pay tribute to a Michigan veteran whose bravery, spirit of service, and selfless dedication to his fellow soldiers earned him the Nation's highest military honor and the eternal gratitude of 44 American families. prgtoken Charles S. Kettles was Michigan through and through. He was born in Ypsilanti in 1930, and that is where he passed away on January 21, 2019, a couple of weeks after his 89th birthday. prgtoken He attended Edison Institute High School in Dearborn and fell in love with flying in the school's flight simulator. Perhaps it was no surprise; his father served as a military pilot during both World Wars. prgtoken Charlie was active in the community. He and his brother opened a Ford dealership in DeWitt. He later earned a master's degree in industrial technology from Eastern Michigan University and launched its aviation program. He served on the Ypsilanti City Council and in the local Kiwanis club. He was close to his family and enjoyed his nine grandchildren. prgtoken In many ways, Charlie lived an ordinary Michigan life. What made his life truly extraordinary were events that happened far away from Ypsilanti on the other side of the world. prgtoken Charlie was drafted into the Army in 1951, attended Army aviation school, and served tours in Japan and Thailand. He retired from Active Duty in 1956, and that could have been the end of his military service, but the Army was in desperate need of helicopter pilots during the Vietnam war. So in 1963, Charlie volunteered for active duty and learned to fly the UH-1D ``Huey.'' prgtoken Those skills would save lives on May 15, 1967, when then-Major Kettles volunteered to lead a flight of six Hueys on a rescue mission when members of the 101st Airborne Division were ambushed by enemy troops. prgtoken The helicopters came under fire, but that didn't stop Charlie. He kept on flying. When he returned to base after his second rescue flight, his helicopter was leaking fuel, and his gunner had been severely wounded. prgtoken Then the call came in: 44 Americans still needed to be evacuated. Charlie found a Huey that wasn't leaking fuel, led a flight of six evacuation helicopters back to the landing zone, and successfully rescued the stranded men--or so he thought. prgtoken On the flight back to base, Charlie learned that eight troops had been unable to reach the evacuation helicopters. He didn't hesitate. With no regard for his own safety, he turned his Huey around and returned to the landing zone. prgtoken His helicopter was hit by gunfire, and a mortar round damaged the rotor blade and shattered the windshield. Despite the damage, Charlie skillfully navigated his helicopter to the landing zone. The remaining troops scrambled aboard, and all 44 finally made it off the battlefield. prgtoken Charlie was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest citation for valor, in 1968; yet when I heard his story, I thought, if anyone
REQUIRING FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION TO PROVIDE CONGRESSIONAL NOTICE OF COMPREHENSIVE SAFETY ASSESSMENTS
Albio Sires (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2019-2-6

. Madam , in 2016, in Hoboken, New Jersey, my district, a New Jersey Transit commuter train ran past the end of the track and into the terminal, killing a young mother and injuring over 100 passengers and crew members. prgtoken In the wake of this tragedy, it was made public that the Federal Railroad Administration had been conducting a deep audit on New Jersey Transit for months, prompted by an increase in safety violations. At that time, the safety review was not known to relevant Members of Congress or the public who relied on New Jersey Transit to take them to work and bring them home safely every day. prgtoken Madam , H.R. 543 is a simple, straightforward piece of legislation. When the FRA begins a safety assessment on an intercity or commuter passenger rail system, it must notify Members of Congress and Senators on committees of jurisdiction or representing the State in which the assessment is conducted. The FRA will have 10 business days after the assessment begins to notify these parties. prgtoken The FRA will also need to transmit its findings, including any safety recommendations, to the relevant parties within 90 days of completion of the assessment. prgtoken Madam , this bill brings us one step closer to ensuring full transparency for Federal agencies and helps us ensure that our rail transportation infrastructure is safe.
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed
Thomas R. Carper (Democrat, DE) \u2014 2019-2-6

I am delighted to follow on the floor the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who is now hastening for the exit before I can say nice things about him. I want to say he represents Wyoming. We have a place called Wyoming in Delaware just south of Dover--Camden Wyoming--and I go there every week, just as he goes home to Wyoming every week. prgtoken His colleague from Wyoming is Mike Enzi, whom our new Presiding Officer, a former Governor, is well familiar with. Mike Enzi had something called the 80-20 rule, and the 80-20 rule goes something like this. I used to ask him: How do you get so much done with Ted Kennedy on the HELP Committee, that you now serve on, , and he said: Ted and I agree on 80 percent of the stuff. We disagree on 20 percent of the stuff. He said: Ted and I focus on the 80 percent where we agree and we set aside the other 20 percent to another day. prgtoken So I want to just talk about the 80 percent Chairman Barrasso and I agree on and then maybe the 20 percent we can agree to disagree until another day. I appreciate your staying here, but you don't have to. I know you have better things to do than to listen to me. prgtoken Something that is being lost in this conversation is, at least to this point in time, there is a reason we have a policy that encourages people to buy electric-powered vehicles. There is a reason we have a tax policy and other policies to encourage people to buy fuel-celled powered vehicles that are fueled by hydrogen. The reason why is because we have way too much carbon dioxide in the air, and it is creating great challenges for these young pages who are sitting down here at your feet, . They have a planet to worry about. I will be around for maybe 30 years or more, but I will not be here in the Senate, I assure you, for 30 years or more. They are going to be around here for, gosh, 70, 80, 90 years or more, and they have to worry about this planet, and we have to worry about this planet for them and for our own kids and, eventually, hopefully, for my wife and me, our grandchildren. prgtoken We want to make sure they have a planet to live on and to grow up on, and we have way too much carbon, and if we are not careful, it is going to continue to get worse rather than better. prgtoken Here recently, just in the last several months, we have had 13 Federal Agencies that have come together to say the situation is even more dire with respect to the threat of climate change, global warming, severe weather than we thought. A month or so before that, an arm, if you will, of the United Nations had a similar kind of report, and the forecast was equally daunting and really frightening. prgtoken So the reason we are trying to encourage people to buy electric- powered vehicles and to buy hydrogen-powered vehicles is to reduce carbon in the air. prgtoken Why do we care about cars, trucks, vans, and their emissions? The largest s
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed
Mazie K. Hirono (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2019-2-6

as a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee, along with my colleague from Texas who just spoke, it is not our job as members of this committee to cast aspersions on the motives of those of us who ask probing questions of judicial nominees for lifetime positions. Many of these nominees have very strongly held and long-held views on a number of issues that may come before them as judges, and the probing questions we ask go to whether they can separate their ideological and personal views when they are confronted with issues they have taken public positions on and whether they can be fair and objective and follow the rule of law. Those are the kinds of probing questions we ask. prgtoken I hope that when my friend from Texas mentioned that some of us seem to--that many of us on this side of the aisle will not vote for any nominee from this President, I certainly hope he wasn't referring to me because I have, in fact, voted for a number of those nominees.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS ACT OF 2019
Peter A. DeFazio (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2019-2-6

. Madam , such time as I may consume. prgtoken Madam , I rise in strong support of this overdue action by the Federal Government, the Pacific Northwest Earthquake Preparedness Act of 2019, as amended. prgtoken Next month will mark the eighth anniversary of the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan. Japanese officials estimate the event caused 100,000 buildings to totally collapse, 270,000 buildings to half collapse, and partially damaged almost 750,000 buildings. prgtoken Fifteen thousand people died. Most of the deaths were caused by the resulting prgtoken tsunami and not the earthquake because Japan has an early warning system for earthquakes, and it worked. It sent alarms and text messages warning citizens to take cover and likely prevented many deaths and injuries. prgtoken Within 15 seconds to 1 minute of warning, depending on location, the earthquake warning system alerted Japan's high-speed rail system to stop trains, reducing deaths and injuries; production lines had time to cease operations; and property damage economic losses were way less than would have been otherwise. prgtoken I went with then-Chairman Denham over to observe their system and discuss what they are doing now. Now what they are doing is they realize that most of the people died because they did not have ocean sensors, and they underestimated the height of the tsunami. They told people to take shelter in places 10 to 12 feet above wave level. The waves were much bigger and, subsequently, many of those people died. prgtoken So they are not waiting. The technology currently exists for a realtime warning system that will give them even more notice of an earthquake and will give them more accurate wave heights on the resulting tsunami so people can take proper shelter. prgtoken We have the same opportunity to do that here in the United States if we take action soon. prgtoken The Cascadia subduction zone sits off the coast of Oregon and northern California--right at that border, essentially--and experts believe it has generated at least a dozen major earthquakes between magnitudes 8 and 9, which is an awesome earthquake, and resulting tsunamis over the last 5,000 years. prgtoken This January was the 319th anniversary of the last large quake, and many scientists say that we are overdue and it could happen at any time. It will be essentially a mirror image of the subduction zone off the coast of Japan that caused the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. prgtoken The technology is here. The question is whether we want to invest in an offshore earthquake early warning system now or wait until thousands of people have died and catastrophic property damage occurs. We need to invest now rather than later. prgtoken This bill will begin to address the very real threat of a combined earthquake and tsunami off the Pacific Northwest coast before it happens. Some forecasts say there is a 10 percent chance of a magnitude
TRIBUTE HONORING DR. R.A. GREGG, COMMISSIONER, NYSCAB
Max Rose (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-2-6

. Madam , I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in honoring Dr. R.A. Gregg for his consistently remarkable dedication to community affairs, community-police relations and his longstanding commitment to improving our community. While Dr. Gregg has a varied professional portfolio ranging from Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of a community affairs nonprofit organization that serves New York State to political campaign committee Chairman to Director of Operations for a family established boutique law firm, his dedication to providing community affairs and improving community-police relations can be seen in all his endeavors. Most recently, Dr. Gregg was appointed the first Commissioner of the New York State Community Affairs Bureau, a nonprofit organization, by its Board of Governors. The NYSCAB is a volunteer organization comprised of community, nonprofit and clergy leaders as well as current, former and retired law enforcement officers and law enforcement and government officials that provides quality community affairs services to New York State, New York City and its residents. Beyond his dedication to ensuring that quality community affairs services are provided to New York State, New York City and its residents, Commissioner Gregg has a passion for community-police relations. He is active in the law enforcement community and serves as a Chaplain or Chaplain (ex-officio) for numerous organizations including the New York City Department of Correction's Correction Officers' Benevolent Association (COBA), the New York State Court Officers Association, the New York City Police Department's Detectives Endowment Association (DEA) and the New York City Police Department's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA), among others. He also serves as the Chief of the Chaplains Unit for the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA). Upon being appointed Commissioner of NYSCAB, he established the NYSCAB Volunteers in Police Service Unit to oversee and run the VIPS Program which is a locally-driven Citizen Corps program that allows community members to offer their time and talents to NYSCAB and local law enforcement agencies. The VIPS program is managed and implemented by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and has registered the NYSCAB VIPS with the national VIPS program. For many years Dr. Gregg has been active in civic organizations. He serves as a Member of the Board of Directors or as a Member of the following organizations: Archdiocese of New York (Regional Advisory Board Member and School Advisory Board Member), African American Clergy & Elected Officials--Brooklyn (Member), Bronx Clergy Task Force (Member), the Global Alliance of Hispanic Law Enforcement Professionals (Chair, Board of Chaplains), God's Whisper Burial Fund (Vice Chairman), the International Conference of Police Chaplains (Member), the National Association
IN RECOGNITION OF CYRUS TARAPOREVALA'S REMARKS ON THE OCCASION OF THE INSTALLATION OF THE ``FEARLESS GIRL STATUE'' AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-2-6

. Madam , I rise to recognize and include in the Record remarks made by State Street Global Advisors CEO, Cyrus Taraporevala, at the unveiling of the ``Fearless Girl'' statue at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 10, 2018. The ``Fearless Girl'' was commissioned by State Street to draw attention to the small number or women in leadership positions on Wall Street. She was moved from her original location opposite the ``Charging Bull'' statue near Bowling Green to a permanent place in front of NYSE: ``Thank you Lori. It is so exciting to be here to unveil Fearless Girl at her new home where she will have an even bigger stage to make an even bigger impact. ``I want to thank everyone who helped make this day happen: Mayor de Blasio and his team; the Department of Transportation; the Landmarks Preservation Commission; the New York Stock Exchange, in particular Betty Liu and the Exchange president Stacey Cunningham--who are here today; Congresswoman Maloney; the thousands of women in leadership; and, the millions of Fearless Girl fans worldwide. ``Throughout this campaign, even today, many people have asked: Why is State Street Global Advisors--one of the largest investment managers in the world--so focused on an issue like gender diversity? l'd like to explain. ``Our clients are businesses and organizations serving millions of people across the globe. They're pension plans helping to fund a teacher or policeman's retirement. They're foundations investing in scientific and environmental breakthroughs. And advisors helping moms and dads figure out how to make the numbers add up so they can pay for their children's college education. Our goal is to ensure the investments we manage on their behalf perform for the long-term. ``Now, on our active management side of the business--where portfolio managers pick the stocks they want to invest in--if they don't like a company or the way it is behaving, it's quite simple: they sell the stock. On the index side, our portfolio managers don't have that luxury. They just can't sell the stock. As long as that company is in the index we have to hold the stock. We can't give our clients the returns of the S&P 499, when they expect the S&P 500. That's not how it works. ``That means we actually have to engage those companies with our voice and vote as a large shareholder--to push them to take seriously the issues we believe are important to their long-term sustainability, issues like climate change or cybersecurity. And, yes, gender diversity. ``There is a growing body of data that suggests cognitive diversity contributes to better decision-making at the board level. These studies show that gender-diverse boards pay more attention to risk management, and are less inclined toward cronyism and groupthink. In other words, all other things being equal, these companies tend to be better managed. So, for us, advocating for gender diversity is not part of som