mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
HOPE FOR TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS
Mo Brooks (Republican, AL) \u2014 2018-1-18

roughly 4 years ago, Steve Mayfield was a respected high school football coach at Central High School in Lauderdale County, Alabama, who, in October 2014, was diagnosed with ALS. prgtoken Steve Mayfield bravely fought his terminal disease and kept a smile on his face throughout his lengthy 3-year battle and ordeal. prgtoken In a land of freedom and liberty, Steve Mayfield would have had two choices. On the one hand, he could abide by Food and Drug Administration regulations and recommendations and die; or on the other hand, Steve Mayfield could try experimental treatments that gave some hope of beating ALS and extending Steve Mayfield's life. prgtoken Unfortunately, when it comes to terminal illnesses in America, there is no freedom or liberty. Steve Mayfield not only had to fight ALS, he also had to fight the Food and Drug Administration before he could try experimental but potentially lifesaving treatments. prgtoken Sadly, Steve Mayfield lost both fights. Steve Mayfield was barred by the Federal Government from trying possibly lifesaving treatments and, not long ago, passed away. Steve Mayfield's son, Brooks Mayfield, from Florence, Alabama, was with his father when he passed away. prgtoken It is in that vein, , that I call on the House to have a floor vote on Senate bill S. 204, the Right to Try Act, which passed the Senate last year, that restores the right of terminally ill patients to try experimental treatments that may save their lives. Brooks Mayfield's father might be alive today if the Right to Try Act had been the law of the land. prgtoken , we must remember who we are as Americans. Our ancestors fought the Revolutionary War over liberty and freedom, yet, today in America, patients who are 100 percent certain to die are denied the freedom, the liberty, the right to decide for themselves whether to try experimental treatments that may save their lives. Every day in America, terminally ill patients and their families are told there are no options but death. prgtoken By way of background, fewer than 3 percent of terminally ill patients in America have access to investigational treatments through clinical trials. While the Food and Drug Administration grants compassionate use waivers meant to allow terminal patients access to experimental drugs, only about 1,500 waivers were granted in 2016. prgtoken What are other terminally ill Americans to do? Nothing? Just waste away and die without a fight? prgtoken Patients shouldn't have to give up their liberty, their freedom, their fight against terminal illness merely because the Food and Drug Administration says so. Terminally ill patients shouldn't have to beg the FDA for a waiver, forcing patients to fight the Federal bureaucracy, when they are already fighting for their lives. prgtoken The Right to Try Act gives terminally ill patients access to treatments that have successfully completed the FDA's phase one approval requirement but not yet completed the F
CONGRATULATING THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE FOOTBALL TEAM FOR WINNING THE 2018 NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Richard C. Shelby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2018-1-18

I rise today to offer my congratulations to the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide on the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship victory against the University of Georgia Bulldogs. prgtoken I join the University of Alabama, the Crimson Tide Faithful, and the entire State of Alabama--my State--in commending this team on its hard- fought win and for showing perseverance in the midst of adversity time and time again. This year, the Tide overcame a host of injuries and midseason struggles to reach this achievement. The team even had to overcome, as the Presiding Officer will recall, a 13-point deficit in the second half of the championship game in Atlanta, winning ultimately 26 to 23 in the first overtime in a college football playoff national championship game. What a game. prgtoken Under Head Coach Nick Saban's leadership, the Crimson Tide fought to earn its fifth national title since 2009--demonstrating, I believe, nearly 10 years of dominance. This year's team, among other things, won various awards. prgtoken Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is a safety, won the Bednarik Award for best defensive player in the Nation and the Thorpe Award for best defensive back in the Nation. He was also named Associated Press First Team All- American. prgtoken Bradley Bozeman, an offensive lineman, was named AP Second Team All- American. prgtoken Jonah Williams, an offensive lineman, was named AP Third Team All- American. prgtoken Additionally, five players on the University of Alabama's football team were named First Team All-SEC. prgtoken Head Coach Nick Saban has now won six college football national championships, equaling the record of former Alabama football Head Coach Paul ``Bear'' Bryant. The Crimson Tide coaching staff has helped produce high-caliber student athletes and gentlemen. This team has brought great pride to the University of Alabama, the loyal fans of the Crimson Tide, and to the entire State of Alabama. prgtoken I would like to take a minute to thank Crimson Tide Head Coach Nick Saban, Athletic Director Greg Byrne, President Stuart Bell, and Chancellor Ray Hayes for their leadership. prgtoken , at this time, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 375, submitted earlier today.
HONORING THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAM
Jody B. Hice (Republican, GA) \u2014 2018-1-18

I rise today with a heavy heart in the wake of the University of prgtoken Alabama's win over my beloved Georgia Bulldogs in the National College Football Playoff Championship last week. prgtoken Despite the loss, which came after an unbelievable game, the Georgia Bulldogs played their hearts out, and I am so very proud of our team. It is an honor to represent the great University of Georgia as the Representative from Georgia's 10th District and have the privilege of wearing the red and black of this outstanding institution and incredible team. prgtoken Under the leadership of awesome Head Coach Kirby Smart and a special group of young men like Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and Jake Fromm, the Dawgs won the SEC Championship and had one of the greatest seasons that they have had in years, reaching the national championship for the first time in more than 30 years. prgtoken At the end of the day, it was a great game on both sides, and while it pains me to admit it, my friend and colleague Congresswoman Terri Sewell represents an outstanding football team. Congratulations to Alabama's Crimson Tide. And true to my word, I will be providing her office and her with barbecue and wearing the Alabama tie after their overtime win. prgtoken Congratulations to them for another national championship title, but for us: Go Dawgs. Go Dawgs. Go Dawgs.
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-1-18

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I commend her for her great leadership as our ranking member on the Appropriations Committee--as we say, the almighty powerful Appropriations Committee on which I was proud to serve with the gentleman, Mr. Frelinghuysen, and Congresswoman Lowey. prgtoken , I am disappointed, though, that the legislation that is brought to the floor today falls so very short of our responsibilities to the prgtoken American people. When it comes to considering this bill, which the s are bragging supports CHIP, it is important to review the facts. The facts are these: the CHIP proposal that the s boast was on the floor in October, this or that, was funded by taking money from other children's programs, and that is why it was not to be supported by us. It is also important to remember that the CHIP reauthorization expired September 30. prgtoken So here we are with our fourth continuing resolution. That means, on September 30, we were supposed to not only reauthorize CHIP but to pass an omnibus bill to fund the government. s were not able to make the decisions necessary to do that, so we had one extension, another extension, another extension. This is the fourth extension. prgtoken Now, for somebody who doesn't know what a CR is, that is our Washington lingo. It is a continuing resolution. What it says is that the funding for the country will be continued at the same rate as it was in the previous year regardless of the fact that other challenges have emerged. prgtoken So, by engaging in the failure to pass an omnibus bill and engage instead in these short-term continuing resolutions, this inadequacy does not give certainty to our military. General Mattis has told us that the military cannot go on these every-2-weeks, every-month CRs. We need to know. We need to have an omnibus that recognizes the full complement of our needs, and they are different from last year. prgtoken It does not fund the fight against opioid addiction. We have talked about this. We have authorized language. We have put up some money. But throughout our country, there is an opioid epidemic that needs to be addressed with full funding for it--not just conversation or rhetoric, but funding. prgtoken It does not address some of the crises facing our veterans, whether it is their infrastructure, housing, whatever, or additional funding that is needed for our veterans over and above whatever it was last year, and this ignores that need. prgtoken It ignores the fact that we have some issues that we have to address regarding endangered pensions in our country, which have a direct relationship to the economic well-being of America's working families, pensions paid into, pensions having a shortfall, to honor the responsibility. prgtoken It doesn't protect the DREAMers. We could protect the DREAMers in all of this, but it is missing an opportunity. prgtoken This takes us right back to the CHIP. It doe
FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT
Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2018-1-18

the Senate and the House right now are struggling to pass yet another short-term continuing resolution to avoid a Federal shutdown at midnight on Friday. For nine consecutive years now, since I have gotten to the Senate, we have begun the fiscal year without regular appropriations bills being enacted into law. If we pass another continuing resolution this week, it will be the fourth continuing resolution for fiscal year 2018. There were three CRs, or continuing resolutions, for fiscal year 2017. This ``government by CR'' is chaotic and it is disruptive. It is inflicting real damage on our Armed Forces, as well as on critical domestic programs that benefit people across this country. prgtoken I live in a very small town in New Hampshire called Madbury, and if our board of selectmen in Madbury committed this kind of budgetary malpractice, we would get rid of them. prgtoken The fact is that the frantic scramble to pass a new CR by midnight on Friday is yet another manufactured crisis here in Washington. It is a crisis that is completely unnecessary. The Appropriations Committees in both Houses of Congress have completed their work in a thoughtful, timely manner. In this Congress, the House passed all 12 of its appropriations bills out of committee. In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee passed 8 of our 12 bills, and we did that with overwhelming bipartisan support. The only reason we didn't report the other four bills out of committee is because the leadership directed us to stop. prgtoken So let's be very clear. This is not about appropriators not being able to get our work done and not being able to agree on what we want to do. This is about the leadership in Congress--the majority--which has refused to allow us to go forward with a regular order budget process. The House, the Senate, and the White House are all controlled by s, and if they wanted to complete the appropriations process in a timely manner, we could have done so, and we could have done it with bipartisan support. prgtoken Now, I am especially concerned about the damage that government by CR is inflicting on our Armed Forces and national security. Those of us who serve on the Armed Services Committee were disturbed by testimony from the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM John Richardson, in September of 2016. He said: ``Our ability to achieve true effectiveness and efficiency has been undermined by budget instability, workforce limitations, and eight--now likely nine''--and it was nine--``straight years of budget uncertainty and continuing resolutions.'' prgtoken I remember when Admiral Richardson came and spoke to the Navy caucus, and we were asking him what his concerns were. He said: Well, you know, my biggest concern is budget certainty, and what we tell everybody in the Navy now to figure on is to figure that they can't do anything in the first quarter of a fiscal year because they are going to be opera
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2018-1-18

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. prgtoken , I rise in strong opposition to this continuing resolution, which is, yet again, a complete abdication of our responsibilities. prgtoken Instead of adopting fully funded appropriations bills or an omnibus with an actual chance of passing this Congress, we are mired in this unbreakable habit of passing continuing resolutions. prgtoken The s' most recent proposal does nothing to renew funding for the more than 1,400 community health centers across the country or the 25 million Americans they serve after they let funding run out in September. prgtoken According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, if Congress does not act soon, 28,000 sites could close, 50,000 staff could be laid off, and 9 million Americans could lose access to care. prgtoken When did this program, which has always had bipartisan support in this body, become a partisan issue? prgtoken These abdications are simply immoral. Our colleagues say: We don't have the money to fund these programs, but somehow they were silent on that issue when they gave a handout to giant corporations that add more than $1.5 trillion to the deficit. prgtoken While their donors rested peacefully over the holidays knowing that their tax cuts were safe, s continued to torment 800,000 hardworking young people by refusing to pass the Dream Act. 122 DREAMers lose their protected status every day, and s have not been brave enough to do what is right. prgtoken These courageous individuals are teaching in our schools, working in our communities, and serving in our military. prgtoken I have had the privilege of meeting DREAMers in south Florida and in the Halls of this Capitol. Their hopes and hard work signify what is best about America, and by any reasonable definition, they are Americans. This is their home. prgtoken It is past time for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work on a bipartisan spending package that promotes the middle class, protects DREAMers, and finally assures the American people that their government is working. prgtoken I simply will not support any spending bill that fails to do so. Make no mistake, s control the House, the Senate, and the White House. A government shutdown will land squarely in their lap.
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
Steny H. Hoyer (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-1-18

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. prgtoken , we are now 4 months into the fiscal year and this is our fourth continuing resolution. The gentleman says now is the time to work things out. Every voted to extend the fiscal year by 90 days. Nothing was worked out. Why? Because you spent all your time on a tax bill giving 83 percent of the resources to the richest people in America. prgtoken s control all the levers of the legislative process: the House, the Senate, the White House. They have the votes on their own to keep the government open or choose to shut it down, as they did by policy some years ago for 16 days. prgtoken We don't want to shut down the government. Keeping the government open by passing appropriations bills is the most basic responsibility of any governing majority. This governing majority has not sent a single--not one--appropriation bill to the President of the United States, not one. prgtoken s ought to have gotten this work done in the spring and summer, but they wasted their time trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That is all they did. prgtoken After failing to do so, they asked for more time in September, and we voted, every one of us, to give them that time. They squandered it. They had to do two more extensions. They squandered that time, and now they want us to have another time where they can squander more time. prgtoken Instead of using the extra time to do the job of governing, they wasted it on passing a tax overhaul that added $1.5 trillion in new deficit spending and raised taxes on the middle class. So here we are again, . prgtoken Americans are right to be frustrated by the inability or unwillingness of the -led Congress to do its job and keep the government open. prgtoken You have 241 votes. Get them. Get them. You have the authority to do it, and you have the responsibility to do it. Get the votes. prgtoken Even some lawmakers are openly expressing frustration with their own leadership. Let me quote Representative Mark Meadows. He hit the nail on the head yesterday when he asked: ``What's the plan? When are we going to deal with immigration?'' prgtoken The previous speaker talked about dealing with it. We haven't dealt with it. Put something on the floor. You haven't done it. ``When are we going to deal with spending?'' This is Mark Meadows. ``At what point do you quit kicking the can down the road''--this is Mark Meadows, , not me--``and passing just another continuing resolution in hopes that things get better in a few weeks?'' prgtoken don't want the government to shut down.
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
Rosa L. DeLauro (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2018-1-18

. Yet, for the vulnerable children, we have dragged our feet for months. Shameful. prgtoken Let me just say, the President and the majority who try to cast the blame for this shutdown on the --let me just remind this body and the American people that 9 months ago the President said: Our country needs a good shutdown in September to fix this mess. prgtoken Well, the President may get what he wants and what he desires as a government shutdown, but it is not because of the . It is because of the intractability of the majority in this House and this administration to move forward on behalf of the American people. It is not the . President has called for a shutdown of this government.
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-1-18

let me say at the outset that what we are trying to achieve is fund the military and critical agencies of our government immediately and to do it with a budget, to do it with appropriations bills. I have to use that term and remind you, yes, we used to have appropriations bills in the U.S. Senate--not anymore. We deal with continuing resolutions, we lurch from week to week, day to day, month to month, and as the Secretary of Defense has told us, we are not doing the men and women of the military any favors with this kind of approach. Make no mistake about it, the are soundly behind national security, and we want to fund them properly rather than the way they have been funded to this date. prgtoken Let me address another issue that has been raised--and my name has been mentioned by my friend from Texas. It has been said on the floor tonight that there is no urgency. Where's the urgency when it comes to DACA? Where is the urgency when it comes to Dreamers? If you want to know the urgency, look into the Gallery behind me. Look at the people who have gathered here late this night, who are following every word that we are debating. Why are they here if there is no urgency? prgtoken There is an urgency. There is an urgency in their lives because of the uncertainty of tomorrow--whether tomorrow will mean deportation for themselves and their families, whether they will be able to work, complete school, have a life in America. Yes, there is a real urgency, and let me tell you what we have done about that urgency. prgtoken A group of us--three and three Senators--sat down 4 months ago to answer President 's challenge to replace DACA. Was there a meeting of a committee in this Senate on the same subject? There was one public hearing, but no bill, no markup, nothing. The activity really came from and evolved from the six of us working together--three and three s. We reached an agreement. It wasn't easy. Ask the Senators involved on your side of the aisle or on our side of the aisle. We have presented it to the Senate, we have defended it over the last several weeks, and I want to thank the additional four Senators who have joined us in this effort to finally enact a bipartisan solution to this. So to say that we have done nothing and we have so much time--let me tell you, there is a sense of urgency here. prgtoken Just this week, when the Secretary of DHS testified before the Judiciary Committee, she conceded the fact that the President does not have authority to extend this deadline of March 5, that we are going back and forth in court as to whether there will be any protection for these young people whatsoever, and she acknowledged that her Department has said that it will take them 6 months to write the regulations once we pass the law that will affect their lives and the lives of hundreds of thousands. prgtoken You know how I feel abou