mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CONGRATULATING BILL BECKER
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2020-9-30

. Madam , I rise today to congratulate Bill Becker on his 30 years of remarkable service to the Florida Keys-based U.S. 1 Radio 104.1 FM and to our community. prgtoken Bill began his career with U.S. 1 Radio in 1980 when the news station had just established itself. He served as the news director, where he broadcasted local news, and hosted U.S. 1's 90-minute ``Morning Magazine'' every morning to highlight local issues and events through on-air interviews and commentary. prgtoken His passion and devotion to marine biology first led him to the Florida Keys and is what jumpstarted his career in radio. After graduating in 1971, Bill began working at the Lower Keys' Newfound Harbor Marine Institute at Sea Camp. He taught marine biology to kids, through outreach programs and became involved in local organizations. Bill co-founded one of the Lower Keys' signature events: the annual Underwater Music Festival that spotlights coral reef preservation. Every year the event draws hundreds of diving and snorkeling enthusiasts, as well as national and international media coverage. prgtoken With his unyielding dedication to his community, Bill's work has left a tremendous impact in numerous people's lives. He volunteered his time during the 1998 Hurricane Georges to offer comfort and critical live updates throughout the storm. Bill partook in broadcasts in Cuba as part of humanitarian efforts led by a local group taking essential medical supplies and food to the island nation. In 1982, Bill broadcasted live from Key West's Mallory Square when the Florida Keys seceded from the Union and formed the independent Conch Republic. Aside from his hard work in broadcasting, Bill also dedicated his time to the community of the Lower Keys by serving as the president of the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce. prgtoken Through all these accomplishments, Bill made himself a pillar of the Keys community and his retirement marks the end of an era. Bill embodies the hard working, community-minded nature that the Florida Keys is known for. On behalf of Florida's 26th District, I would like to thank Bill for his contribution to the community and wish him the absolute best in this next chapter of his life.
IN HONOR OF DONNA KELLY-WILLIAMS, RN, PRESIDENT, MASSACHUSETTS NURSES ASSOCIATION
Stephen F. Lynch (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2020-9-30

. Madam , I rise today in honor of Donna Kelly- Williams in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the American Labor Movement, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and for nearly fifty years of dedicated service to her community. prgtoken The daughter of Louise and John Kelly of Somerville, MA, Donna was born on September 19, 1954. Her family lived on Marion Street in Somerville until they moved to Arlington, MA. Donna and her husband Bill bought a house just a few doors down from her parents where they reside today. prgtoken Donna attended St. Joseph's High School in Somerville. Subsequently, she enrolled at LaSalle College where she earned her nursing degree. She then enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, earning her undergraduate degree, and then earning a Masters' Degree at Cambridge College. In 2007, she attended the Harvard Trade Union Labor Program. prgtoken Madam , Donna took a job at Cambridge Hospital and observed a strike by a union at the hospital. She called her father and he instructed her to come home immediately and not cross the picket line. This incident sparked her fire for collective bargaining, workers' rights and fair representation. prgtoken Donna accepted a nursing position at Cambridge Hospital, becoming the President of the Cambridge Hospital MNA Bargaining Committee. Not surprisingly, she rose to the position of Vice-President of the MNA, and for the past twelve years has been President of the MNA. prgtoken During her tenure as MNA President, Donna has worked ferociously to represent the nurses and health care professionals in this state. She has accomplished much: legislation banning mandatory overtime was passed as well as legislation limiting the number of patients assigned to ICU nurses across the Commonwealth. prgtoken Throughout this COVID 19 pandemic, Donna has fought for PPE for healthcare professionals, for legislation to limit occupational exposure to COVID 19, and to eliminate the re-use of n95 masks which endangers the safety of those who use them. She has worked to secure housing for nurses who are fearful of carrying the virus home, and for counseling for those who are in need. prgtoken Madam , Donna is known for her kind smile, quick sense of humor, her relentless energy when fighting for her nurses and her affection for Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee. She has had the good fortune to be married to Bill for 42 years. They are the proud parents of four children and three grandchildren. prgtoken It is my distinct honor to join with Donna Kelly-Williams' family, friends, and contemporaries to thank her for her service to the American Labor Movement, and for her dedication to nurses and patients across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
UYGHUR FORCED LABOR DISCLOSURE ACT OF 2020
Al Green (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2020-9-30

I thank the gentlewoman, Ms. Wexton, for bringing this legislation before the House. prgtoken To be very candid with you, upon reviewing the materials that have been submitted to me, I was absolutely amazed that this kind of activity is taking place. prgtoken Forced labor. Is that what they are calling it now when you force people to work, when you separate families, when you have persons denounce their religion, when you put them in reeducation centers? Is that what this is all about, forced labor? prgtoken I have a history that requires me to speak up and speak out on these issues. Forced labor is how I got to this country. If you understand my history, you have to understand why I am absolutely, totally, and completely opposed to what is happening to the Uyghurs. This is unconscionable, and it is unacceptable. prgtoken I am proud to be a person who will strongly recommend to my colleagues that we not allow this to continue. It is one thing to have the forced labor, and then to compound it by having American companies benefit from the forced labor, that is sinful. It is criminal in international courts, but it is also just sinful that American companies would participate in this kind of activity. prgtoken I think this notion that they should be audited, their supply chains should be audited, is more than reasonable. Why would we not want to know whether American companies are participating in this kind of behavior? We need to know. prgtoken How do we find out? Audit the supply chain. It just makes sense that we would do this. prgtoken I don't understand how we can oppose trying to find out if this kind of activity is being engaged in by American companies. prgtoken Finally, this: I don't understand how we consistently find people opposed to making inquiries about the suffering of other people. At some point, the people who are suffering have to be given some opportunity to have their suffering addressed. And it doesn't matter where they are in the world. Suffering has to be addressed. We cannot allow it to happen there because, if we do, it can happen here. prgtoken I am absolutely supportive of H.R. 6270, and I strongly encourage my colleagues to help us end the suffering of the Uyghur people. prgtoken I just spoke to a constituent who is of Chinese ancestry who said to me that she believes all of this to be true. prgtoken I just don't understand how we can oppose this piece of legislation, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it.
COVID PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND EFFECTIVE PLANNING FOR ADVANCED REQUIREMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACT OF 2020
Gerald E. Connolly (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2020-9-30

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I do think it is important when we talk about Operation Warp Speed and we talk about the promise of vaccines, that we remind ourselves that not all vaccines are curative. In fact, many vaccines exist to lessen the severity of the illness that could follow. prgtoken We are 100 years after the Spanish flu, and we still don't have a cure for the flu. We have an annual vaccine to lessen the severity of the illness should you get it and to prevent it in some cases, but not a cure. prgtoken We have been grappling with AIDS for over 40 years. We don't have a drug or a vaccine that completely cures AIDS. prgtoken So when we talk to the American public, we have to be careful about the implied promise or explicit promise those of us in public life make. prgtoken That is why I think Mr. Schneider's bill and Mr. Katko's bill is so important. In the event we don't have a vaccine that is efficacious, we need to have contingency planning. prgtoken , I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider), the author of this bill and my friend.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM ACT
Ro Khanna (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-9-30

I thank Chairman Connolly for his leadership on this, on FITARA, and on so many efforts to bring technology to our government. I thank the gentlewoman from West Virginia and the bipartisan committee that has helped bring this legislation to the floor, including the majority and minority staffs. prgtoken , we worked with the White House Office of Innovation and Matt Lira on this. The idea was very simple. We in the Federal Government should have cutting-edge technology in our Federal agencies. As a representative of Silicon Valley, it has always perplexed me why the world's greatest institution, the strongest institution, the United States Government, can't adopt the latest technology. prgtoken What this bill does is says that we need to have digital expertise in the General Service Administration, about 50 to 150 individuals who will help all of our Federal agencies adopt cloud computing, adopt artificial intelligence, adopt the latest technology modernization and infrastructure, adopt the best digital practices for customer service. prgtoken We want our Federal Government to be user friendly. We want our Federal Government to use all the tools of technology to be competitive, to be the leader in the world. That is what this bill does. prgtoken I want to applaud the bipartisan spirit in which this bill came to the floor. It was originally the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who was the cosponsor of the legislation. I thank him, as well as the cosponsor, now the ranking member, Representative Rice. On the Senate side, we have bipartisan commitment from the leadership of Senator Portman and Senator Maggie Hassan. So I am hopeful that this will actually become law and allow us to continue to compete. prgtoken I just want to end by thanking Geo Saba, a staff member who was extraordinarily helpful on this; as well as, again, the committee staff that has been excellent to work with; and, of course, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, who helped bring this to the floor.
HONORING AMERICANS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES TO COVID-19
Betty McCollum (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2020-9-30

I rise to honor the over 200,000 Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19 and the over 7 million people who have been infected. prgtoken The pandemic has put great stress on our communities and wreaked havoc on our economy. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and, with it, their health insurance. prgtoken During the pandemic, common sense would say we should strengthen our national healthcare system. President and the congressional s continue their assault on the Affordable Care Act, urging the courts to strike the law down. prgtoken The House has passed 340 bipartisan health bills. The Senate refuses to take them up. prgtoken The President signs executive orders that do nothing. They do not protect people with preexisting conditions or cover preventative medicine. The ACA does. prgtoken The President claims to have a healthcare plan to replace the ACA, but he only intends to release it after the election. prgtoken This is no way to govern. It is time to end the political stunts, to work across the aisle, and to get serious about the health of the American people.
Cloture Motion (Executive Session)
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2020-10-1

this bill is, on its surface, a privacy bill. It appears to have been introduced 2 days ago, and the sponsor has arrived on the floor of the Senate and says that this bill ought to be passed immediately and without debate. prgtoken My guess is that a small circle of beltway insiders have seen the text, but I just want the Senator to know that passing this bill this way would just make a mockery of the proposition that we ought to have open, public debate on significant laws. We are dealing with a rush job here. prgtoken I will just tell you that based on what we have picked up, the legislation certainly leaves more questions than answers. prgtoken First, who does the Senator from Louisiana intend to target with the bill? On a first reading, it could apply to anybody, from Glassdoor, to Spotify, to Cloudflare, to my neighbor's blog, to local media outlets. prgtoken At a higher level, if my colleague wants to protect Americans' data from collection and abuse, this bill certainly doesn't do that. On the contrary, his legislation would push the platforms to simply force users to consent to their data being collected and used as a condition of using their service. That is already being done now, and this bill wouldn't change a thing for Americans' privacy. prgtoken Very significantly, our reading is that the Kennedy bill only requires consent if user data is both collected and used by the same company, and it has a massive loophole for data brokers and other shady middlemen who are already compiling dossiers of Americans' sensitive data and selling it to just about anybody with a credit card. prgtoken For the last several years, I have been blowing the whistle on these data brokers and these shady middlemen. We have investigated sector after sector where we are seeing these people who really adhere to some of the sleaziest business practices engaging in these tactics where they can get their hands on Americans' sensitive data and basically just sell it to anybody with a credit card. prgtoken I guarantee you, there is not a Senator in this body who is going to go home this weekend and tell their constituents: Gee, I want those data brokers and those middlemen to be able to sell my sensitive data to hither and yon, whatever nefarious purposes somebody might want to buy it for. prgtoken The Facebooks, the Googles, and the Twitters of the world have all the resources to pay these guys to outsource their data collection and be A-OK. Yet again, as I have said for some time, it is the startups and the little guys who are going to be left behind. prgtoken I have been working on these issues since I came to the Senate, and the only person here, really, who knew how to use the computer was the wonderful Senator from Vermont, Senator Leahy. So as we began to write these formative laws, I said that my interest is the startup and the little guy because the big guys always do great. prgtoken That is why, when we were on
REINVIGORATING LENDING FOR THE FUTURE ACT
Salud O. Carbajal (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-10-1

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise today in support of S. 4075, the Reinvigorating Lending for the Future Act. prgtoken This bipartisan legislation will help cut the red tape and allow greater levels of local investment in economic development projects by allowing the Economic Development Administration to waive Federal interest in certain revolving loan funds. prgtoken The EDA supports economic development by providing seed capital to revolving loan funds that offer low-interest loans to help new businesses get off the ground. Those loans are repaid with interest to the RLF manager, which then loans the funds out again to other businesses. This strategy has been highly effective, and more than 500 RLFs are in operation today. prgtoken But unlike other EDA grants, the Federal interest in these funds remain in perpetuity. RLF managers must report and the EDA must track these funds, no matter how many times they are lent out and repaid. The funds can never be repurposed for other economic development projects. prgtoken The RLF Act fixes this bureaucratic nightmare by allowing the Secretary of Commerce to release the Federal interest in these funds after 7 years, provided that the funds are used for other approved economic development projects like the development of public infrastructure or workforce training. prgtoken This bill cuts through the red tape and allows for the local control our regions need to invest in the most beneficial economic development projects for their communities. prgtoken This legislation has broad bipartisan support and is endorsed by the National Association of Development Organizations and the International Economic Development Council, two of the largest economic development advocacy groups in the country. prgtoken , I urge my fellow colleagues to support this bill, and .
NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS CONSERVATION EXTENSION ACT
Steny H. Hoyer (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2020-10-1

we live in an interesting age. prgtoken I rise in strong support of this legislation. prgtoken I have heard my friends lament the fact that we have things in this bill that they don't like and apparently that the Senate doesn't like. I have been here long enough to know and to serve when the s were in charge. prgtoken They passed bill after bill with partisan provisions that they knew President wouldn't sign and that could not pass the United States Senate because they couldn't get enough to get to 60 votes. They knew that. prgtoken So both sides pass legislation that they think is good, notwithstanding the fact that the other side does not agree with some of the provisions in the bill. prgtoken But, , this bill responds to the needs of the American people at a time of crisis. The House passed the Heroes Act more than 4\1/2\ months ago. prgtoken Normally what would happen is when a bill goes to the Senate, they would pass a bill of their own unless they believed: Ladies and gentlemen of America, you are on your own. And States, as Senator McConnell said, you can go bankrupt. prgtoken The minority leader of this House said: Let's wait and see what happens. prgtoken And we waited and we waited and we waited, and 120,000 additional Americans have died since May 15. prgtoken How long are we going to wait? prgtoken The House did its job in May for the American people, yet the Senate and President have still not done theirs. prgtoken They talk about compromise on that side of the aisle and working together. So what did the leader of the Senate do? There was a trillion-dollar offer on the table, so he came back with a compromise and cut it in half to $500 billion. And the only reason that bill got a majority of s in the United States Senate--it didn't get a majority of the United States Senate; it did, because there are enough s--is because they thought it wouldn't go anywhere, it was a message bill. That is the only reason it passed with 51. It didn't pass, of course, because it needed 60. prgtoken Now, let me tell you what John Boehner did and what Paul Ryan did when the Freedom Caucus wouldn't give them the votes, , for the s to pass legislation that they knew was needed, the debt limit, fiscal bills. They knew they were needed. So what did John Boehner do? He walked across the aisle, talked to the , talked to me, and said, ``We need some votes,'' and we made a deal. prgtoken The ranking member of the Appropriations Committee is one of those people who wants the House to work. I am a friend of hers and I respect her, because she is a Member that I have experienced who wants to make it work. prgtoken But Senator McConnell doesn't walk across the aisle and say, Let's make a compromise. prgtoken So don't preach at us, . Don't preach at us about reaching across the aisle. We have seen tax bills that slam bam, there it goes, and
FIGHT NOTARIO FRAUD ACT OF 2020
Sylvia R. Garcia (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2020-10-1

I rise today on the House floor to express my strong and unwavering support for the Fight Notario Fraud Act of 2020. prgtoken This bill would hold public notaries accountable that abuse their power to take advantage of vulnerable communities with language barriers or who cannot read or who cannot fully understand the legal system. prgtoken Many Spanish-speaking immigrants, for example, turn to notaries because in their home countries a notario publico refers to a lawyer. prgtoken H.R. 8225 criminalizes notario fraud schemes to ensure that no one can take advantage of the literal-sounding translation of notario publico. prgtoken Significantly, some grifters have fraudulently used the notary public title to hold themselves out as authorized to provide advice and services. prgtoken When I was a legal aid lawyer, I remember seeing firsthand many deceitful practices at the expense of poor prgtoken people due to the language barrier, due to the immigration status, or due to the fact that people could not read the papers that they brought to the notario publicos. That was wrong then, and it is still wrong today. prgtoken As Members of Congress, we have a responsibility to protect the well- being and livelihoods of the most vulnerable among us, including American families across the country. Certainly, courts have recognized the widespread prevalence of notario fraud, and the negative impact on immigrants and their families is clear. prgtoken , I want to thank my comadre and good friend, Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of south Florida, for exemplary leadership on this issue and for sponsoring this bill. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this very important legislation. Let's put an end to these fraudulent schemes.