mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Remembering John Edward Porter (Executive Session)
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2022-6-6

the name ``John Edward Porter'' may not be well known to many people now, but there was a time when he had a special impact on America. prgtoken I was proud to call him a colleague and my friend. John Porter was a Congressman from Illinois who served at the same time I was a Member of the House. He did some remarkable things in his life. In the famous 10th District, he was a real leader on many issues. He represented that district in Chicago's northern suburbs from 1980 until the year 2001 and for most of the time we served together in the House. I admired him. We always had a good, positive working relationship although we were of different political faiths. He was a leader and a voice for principled, bipartisan cooperation within our Illinois congressional delegation. prgtoken John Porter passed away last Friday. He was raised in a family where public service was a way of life. He took it to heart. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1958 to 1964 and as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice during the Kennedy administration. prgtoken He was elected to the House in 1980 when his predecessor, Abner Mikva, resigned to become a Federal judge. The two men were different in political faith, but in many regards, they were the same. Ab Mikva, you see, was a legendary liberal , the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine who relied on welfare to survive the Great Depression. John Porter was a fiscally conservative whose father was a judge. But they shared many values. They believed that public service was a noble profession and that government could make life better and that America must remain a beacon of hope for the world. prgtoken John Porter supported efforts to protect the environment in the earliest days. He championed human rights efforts across the globe and efforts to protect the environment at home. He was the founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. He was a key supporter of the Americans with Disabilities Act. prgtoken John Porter was an independent thinker who defied the National Rifle Association to support a national ban on assault weapons in 1994. It took guts. John Porter did the right thing. prgtoken His greatest and most visionary contribution to America was in the field of biomedical research. He was chair of the powerful House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. He was a driving force in the House behind the successful effort to double the funding for the National Institutes of Health. prgtoken For those who may not know, the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC, is the leading medical research agency in the world--in the world--and John Porter, this Congressman from Illinois, teamed up with two Senators to take on what seemed like an impossible assignment. He joined with Tom Harkin, a Senator from Iowa, a , and Arlen Specter, a Senator from Pennsylvania, a . They set o
ORDERS FOR TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2022-6-6

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 7; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Wagner nomination postcloture; further, that all postcloture time on the Wagner nomination be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and the Senate recess following the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3967 until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meeting; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, at 4 p.m the Senate vote on confirmation of the Jacobs-Young, Wainstein, and Baker nominations as provided under the previous order; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Tuesday's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.
Gun Control (Executive Session)
Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2022-6-6

I will speak more on this subject later this week, but I spent much of last week, both Marcelle and I did, in Vermont. It is a very peaceful State. prgtoken We walk across the fields at our home, walk down the dirt road where we live, and then go to various places just meeting with people all over the State. A lot of it was in what is called Chittenden County. That is about a quarter of the State's population. That is where I was a prosecutor, State's attorney is what we called it. prgtoken I made it a point during that time that if we had a violent crime, a gun crime, I would go to the scene, whether it was 3 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Some of the most violent ones were, of course, at 3 o'clock in the morning. I can still remember every single one of them like it was yesterday, but they were a tiny fraction of what we see every day. prgtoken I hear people say we should pray for these children. I would say pray that the Congress has the guts to stand up and pass real gun control legislation. prgtoken In Vermont, we limit the number of rounds you can have in a semiautomatic weapon during deer season. We ought to try to protect children as much as we do deer. prgtoken Again, fortunately in our State, the number of murders and shootings I went to were nothing like we see today. But I have awakened in the middle of the night remembering the scenes. When you are at a murder scene and it is a child who has been murdered and it is 3 o'clock in the morning, the grieving family is there, there is no way you forget it. prgtoken That is more than 50 years ago I was doing that. I can tell you exactly what each of those rooms looked like. I can tell you exactly who the person was I prosecuted for it. And I can tell you exactly how many times I prayed, Why prgtoken did this have to happen and never let it happen again. prgtoken As I said, I will speak further on this. I know in my State of Vermont, we do have a very large percentage of gun owners. Most of them tell me, ``Do something.'' prgtoken As I said, of course, pray for the children. Pray that the Congress does the right thing with real--with real--gun control. prgtoken . prgtoken .
TRIBUTE TO THE REV. DR. PHILLIP WEBSTER DAVIS, SR.
Chris Van Hollen (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2022-6-6

I rise to recognize the 100th birthday of my constituent the Reverend Doctor Phillip Webster Davis, Sr. It is my pleasure to celebrate him on this special occasion and to share the details of his extraordinary life, his dedication to our community, and his service to our country. prgtoken The Rev. Dr. Davis grew up in a household guided by family and faith. He was born the seventh of eight sons--and even at an early age, he quickly learned the values of brotherhood, community, loyalty, and love. His father, Reverend James William Davis, pastored at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Rockville, and together with his wife Mary, the older Reverend Davis instilled in his children many core teachings of the scriptures, among them: love thy neighbor, pursue a life of service, and strive to achieve your inner potential. prgtoken The Rev. Dr. Davis marshalled the wisdom of those core teachings to steer the course of his extraordinary life and career. The arc of his career began in the Armed Services. In 1944, the Rev. Dr. Davis was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the New Guinea and Philippines region during World War II. In a moment of crisis, he was called by his country to fight back against the forces of fascism and totalitarianism that had pulled the world into war--and he answered that call with action. The State of Maryland is deeply proud of the Rev. Dr. Davis' service to our country, and our entire Nation is grateful for his commitment to defending freedom everywhere. prgtoken After he was honorably discharged from the Army, the Rev. Dr. Davis entered the private sector and owned several businesses over the years, including a restaurant, a barber shop, a charter bus service, and an automotive body shop. prgtoken The Rev. Dr. Davis has been many things: a protector of freedom overseas, a community leader at home, an entrepreneur, and a business owner. But today, the Rev. Dr. Davis is most well-known throughout Marylander as the founder and former senior pastor of the Inter- Denominational Church of God. In building that community from the ground up, the Rev. Dr. Davis set out to grow a congregation that would accept all people, regardless of background and culture. His vision has been realized through the many dedicated parishioners of the Inter- Denominational Church of God, who continue working together to create an inclusive community of worship. After 38 years of exceptional service, the Rev. Dr. Davis stepped down as senior pastor during the week of his 90th birthday. Now, his legacy lives on under new leadership that will sustain and build on the Rev. Dr. Davis' vision for years to come. prgtoken As a result of the Rev. Dr. Davis's work in the ministry and community, he has received numerous recognitions and honors. But despite these achievements, the Rev. Dr. Davis has always stayed humble and remained true to those guiding principles of family and faith that he first learned a young b
TRIBUTE TO MILLIE BROTHER
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2022-6-6

I rise today to recognize Millie Brother, the founder of Children of Deaf Adults, also known as CODA. As the name implies, CODA is an international group that works to support children of deaf adults, including helping them pursue higher education. prgtoken Millie grew up in Palo Alto, CA, where I first met her in high school. She was raised in a household with two deaf parents and a hearing sister. Describing her life moving between the deaf and hearing worlds, Millie said ``I felt comfortable in both but not fully immersed in either. The CODA world would become my third option where I felt balance between my Deaf and hearing cultural experiences.'' prgtoken After Millie finished her graduate program at Gallaudet University, she established CODA in 1983. It began its work to serve both the hearing and nonhearing community. prgtoken Millie's vision and leadership has allowed CODA to grow from a small, grassroots organization to a worldwide entity with strong familial bonds reaching across global borders, international languages, and societal boundaries. It has become a respected, well-regarded, and vital resource for families that navigate both the hearing and deaf world. prgtoken CODA works to connect children of deaf parents and support them by organizing conferences and retreats, as well as providing scholarships and financial aid. The Millie Brother Scholarship is an annual financial award given to hearing children of deaf adults to help them pursue their postsecondary education. Over the past few years, scholarships have been awarded to students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Zambia, and the United States. prgtoken I want to express my profound appreciation to Millie Brother for her life's work, dedication, and advocacy for CODAs around the world. The recent Academy Award-winning movie ``CODA'' underscored the numerous challenges facing families with deaf parents and hearing children. Millie Brother personally understood those challenges and used them as fuel to create a global organization that provides support, compassion, and friendship to CODAs everywhere.
HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2021-- MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2022-6-7

I have been on the floor quite a few times about an industry which is controversial: for-profit schools. If you want to know about for-profit colleges and universities, you have to remember two numbers, and the numbers are these: 8 and 33. Eight percent of the graduates of high schools go to for-profit colleges and universities; 33 percent of all the student loan defaults are students who started out at for-profit colleges and universities. prgtoken They are students who didn't finish or ended up with a worthless degree, couldn't make enough money, and defaulted on their student loans. That is an industry that deserves close scrutiny, because, you see, they operate almost exclusively with Federal taxpayers' dollars. prgtoken I believe that they have really posed an unscrupulous threat to unsuspecting students, to taxpayers, and to the solvency of Federal student aid programs. prgtoken Corinthian Colleges, sounds great, doesn't it? That was one of them, one of the largest for-profit college companies, and one of the worst. prgtoken It operated more than a hundred campuses, including six in my home State of Illinois, under names like Everest Colleges, WyoTech, and Heald Colleges. prgtoken At its peak, Corinthian enrolled more than 110,000 students, raking in a $1.4 billion sum from the Federal Treasury every year, 1.4 billion for Corinthian. How did Corinthian attract its students? It lied. It invested heavily in marketing and advertising. It created a business model that relied heavily on predatory sales practices. It deliberately misled students into taking on more debt than they could ever, ever repay. prgtoken They lied to potential students about the school's job placement rates. They lied about the students' future salary prospects. They lied about whether Corinthian credits could be transferred to another college. Most appallingly, Corinthian recruiters were sent out to look for the most vulnerable targets: high school students whose families had no experience with higher education--minority students. prgtoken An internal company document described Corinthian's target demographic as ``isolated people'' with ``low self-esteem.'' People who have ``few people in their lives who care about them'' and people who are ``stuck, unable to see and plan for the future.'' They preyed on these people. prgtoken Single moms living close to poverty were the best targets. In 2013, Vice President , who was then California's attorney general, sued this company for predatory and deceptive business practices. That lawsuit was followed by investigations by four different Federal agencies and more than 20 State attorneys general for consumer fraud on all of their campuses. prgtoken Corinthian's enrollment numbers and stock prices tumbled with these investigations, and on April 26, 2015, the whole Corinthian College house of cards collapsed. The company announced abruptly it would close all of its schoo
ORDERS FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2022-6-7

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it recess until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8; and that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3967, as provided under the previous order; further, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2021-- MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2022-6-7

I want to thank my colleagues who have worked with us on a bipartisan basis to bring the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 to the floor for a vote. That is a mouthful. The PACT Act is the way it is known more colloquially. prgtoken The PACT Act is a profoundly significant measure. It is a milestone in our dealing with the health and benefits that our veterans deserve. prgtoken We know that the modern battlefield is filled with toxins and poison that could cause grave injury, and many of the afflictions that result from those toxins or chemicals are manifested only years after a veteran leaves Active-Duty service. In fact, cancer, hypertension, skin disease--the list is long, and so are the number of years when the illnesses can arrive. They are latent. They are hidden. Like many wounds of war, they are invisible at the time. But these brave men and women who serve us on the modern battlefield experience them at higher rates because there are more of those toxins and chemicals. prgtoken We have seen them, for example, in the burn pit. One of my sons, a Marine Corps officer in Afghanistan, saw them firsthand, described them to me, and worried about the effects on him. So far he is fine, but the years ahead are an unknown for him and for countless other men and women who may have been exposed. In fact, they may not even know that they have been exposed to these chemicals and toxins. prgtoken The fact of the matter is that the Veterans Administration has resisted taking responsibility for these illnesses. It has erected thresholds of proof and barriers of evidence for veterans who suffer the effects of the burn pit and the other sources of toxic chemicals that can inflict such grievous pain and worry on so many of them. That is why this legislation is so significant--because it will begin to right the inaction of the government in helping veterans afflicted by toxic exposure. prgtoken We have been here before. We have fought year after year after year for veterans who were afflicted with the results of Agent Orange over the resistance and the opposition of the VA. And even after we passed the measure, righting those wrongs, the VA resisted implementing the law, not under this administration, fortunately, but previous ones. prgtoken I am immensely grateful to this VA for its seeming support of this measure, but I am most grateful to the veterans themselves, the veterans service prgtoken organizations that have been at our side and have had our back, including the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, their organization. The IAVA has played an important role; likewise, the VFW--Veterans of Foreign Wars--the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and others. They are among the main rulers who deserve predominant thanks. prgtoken Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran and our counterparts in the House Committee on Veterans Affairs have been instrumental i
Gun Violence (Executive Session)
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2022-6-7

as the Senate's June work period begins, the American people have one question front of mind: After years and decades of gridlock, will the Senate do something about our Nation's gun violence epidemic? prgtoken are ready to take action, and soon every single Member of this Chamber is going to have to answer that question. prgtoken Today is June 7, 2022. It is the 158th day of the year. Already-- already--this year, we have had over 250 mass shootings--over 250. That is more than one a day. prgtoken Two weeks ago, we saw the worst school shooting in America since the tragedy at Sandy Hook. An 18-year-old boy bought two assault rifles for his birthday and gunned down 19 children in Uvalde, TX--9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds. You see the pictures of kids with their sweatshirts, with their awards, with their trophies. Every parent has seen pictures of children that age, and to know that they are no longer--that they were wiped out, that they were brutally murdered-- breaks your heart. It just sends shivers down your spine. A few hours later, after it happened, the parents realized and were told they would never see their children again. prgtoken Ten days before that, eleven more people were gunned down while grocery shopping in Buffalo, simply because of the color of their skin. I still can't get out of my mind the 3-year-old I met, when I visited Buffalo, who lost his dad because his dad made a quick stop to the Tops Supermarket to get his son a birthday cake. It was his son's birthday. He will never see his dad again and will live with that his whole life--knowing that his dad was killed in order to get him a birthday cake. prgtoken And for every tragedy that traumatizes the Nation's collective psyche, there are countless others that take place outside the national spotlight. They happen every single day in homes and communities in every part of this country. Across every neighborhood, every school, every small town, every large city, Americans of all persuasions are wondering the same thing: When is it going to be enough? When will Congress find the will to act? One party has that will and soon will determine whether the other side on the aisle will join. That is the challenge that faces this Chamber as we begin this work period. prgtoken Before Memorial Day, I made clear that the Senate will vote on gun safety prgtoken legislation in the near future. To that end, a handful of my ic colleagues, led by Senator Murphy, including the great work of Senators Blumenthal, Sinema, Manchin, Coons, Heinrich, and others, have been holding extended and substantive talks with s to see what we can pass in this Chamber that will meaningfully address our Nation's gunfire epidemic. prgtoken I am encouraging my ic colleagues to keep talking to see if s will work with us to come up with something that will make a meaningful change in the lives of the American peop