mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Martha McSally (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2020-7-22

. from Ohio and others here from Florida and Iowa for coming together to talk about this important American issue and national security issue. prgtoken I served 26 years in the military. In my last years in service and since then, we have seen the threat of the rise of China. It is a threat to America's security, our jobs, and our role as a leader in the world. They are on a deliberate path to try to dominate the world and shape it into their vision. They need to be stopped. prgtoken When I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy, we had an honor code that said: ``I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate among us anyone who does.'' China has been lying, cheating, and stealing for far too long. Americans are now waking up to this threat and are resolved to change the trajectory and hold China accountable, but this can't be done by us alone. Our European partners and others in the Pacific and elsewhere need to join with us and also wake up to China's dangerous path and work with us to stop them. prgtoken We have been calling this geostrategic shift a return to ``Great Power Competition,'' as if to assume that we are all playing by the same rules. We aren't. China is playing by their own rules and cheating the system for their own gain and power. The Chinese Communist Party is a reckless, predatory adversary that is dedicated to subverting U.S. interests and supplanting our Nation as the world's dominant leader. prgtoken Over the past 10 years, China has increased their military spending by 85 percent. Their investment in defense has been used to build their navy, expand their missile stockpile, and emerge as a leader in technologies like hypersonics, cyber warfare, and artificial intelligence. prgtoken This buildup has been far from defensive alone. From their illegal maritime claims among several sovereign states, then building artificial islands where they didn't exist before to militarize them in the South China Sea with their maneuvers and exercises that are aggressive and belligerent, to their covert attempts to infiltrate the United States through our universities and stealing our technology, Chinese forces are expanding their tentacles far beyond our borders, to the detriment of American national security interests. prgtoken Congress must do our part to respond to this threat. For these reasons, I introduced several pieces of legislation that immediately stopped China from taking advantage of government funds and taxpayer dollars to purchase products and services from Chinese companies with ties to Chinese military. prgtoken To end our reliance on China's control and manufacturing of PPE, I introduced legislation to authorize the President to incentivize American companies to produce medical devices, equipment, and drugs. prgtoken We saw at the onset of the coronavirus that it was clear that outsourcing the production of PPE to an adversary was wrong and risky. I witnessed firsthand the
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021--Continued
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2020-7-22

before the Senator from Colorado leaves the floor, I offer to him my congratulations for his inspired leadership of the Great American Outdoors Act. prgtoken This is something that good people on both sides of the aisle have worked on, literally, for as much as a half a century. Now, people are used to politicians who exaggerate, but that is no exaggeration, because I have been around along enough to know and to understand that--first, with the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was first enacted by Congress in 1964. I was the chairman of President Reagan's Commission on American Outdoors and reiterated support for that in 1986. Senator Gardner, Senator Daines, Senator Portman, Senator Warner, Senator Heinrich, Senator Manchin, Senator Cantwell, and a whole parade of Senators on both sides of the aisle have worked very hard to make this happen. prgtoken And it would not have happened without President 's leadership, either. We would not have been able to spend the money the way that it is spent--energy exploration money for conservation purposes--unless the President's Office of Management and Budget had approved that. prgtoken So it is usually never true that an important piece of legislation is passed by a single Senator. It is usually a parade of Senators. But Senator Gardner has been leading the parade, and I congratulate him for that and salute him on behalf of all of us who want to see our national parks--the 419 different places we have, from the Great Smokies to the Rocky Mountains, to Yellowstone, to Pearl Harbor, to the National Mall--protected, as well as our national forests, our national wildlife refuges, as well as the permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. prgtoken So I wanted to have an opportunity to say that before he left the floor. prgtoken And I see my friend Senator Portman from Ohio here, who really, along with Senator Warner of Virginia, began the work on the other part of the bill--the bill that would take money from energy exploration and reduce the national park backlog by half over 5 years. That had the support, combined with the Land and Water Conservation Fund, of more than 800 different outdoor recreation, conservation, and environmental groups, as well as the President. prgtoken People will say: Well, that was easy to do with all that support. prgtoken It wasn't easy to do. If it had been easy to do, it would have happened 20 or 30 years ago. So it took support from the Senator from North Dakota and leadership from the Senator from Ohio and Senator Warner from Virginia, especially. prgtoken I came to the floor also to talk about something else, but I see the Senator from Ohio so I think I will yield the floor and then speak on the other subject after he has a chance to speak, if he would like to.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Marsha Blackburn (Republican, TN) \u2014 2020-7-22

I was thinking a bit earlier today about what we were doing at this time last year. We were busy hosting Tennessee Tuesdays and welcoming Tennesseans and families and children with such curiosity and bright eyes and lots of questions about our Nation's government, about these beautiful buildings in which we work every day, and about the job that we have in representing them. I like that curiosity, and I like that energy that, generally, is brought to our Chambers and to our work during the summertime. This year, things really are a little bit different. I think it is a very worthwhile exercise--and I appreciate that my colleagues are participating in this exercise--to remind ourselves why this year is different. prgtoken The answer, of course, as to why is this year different is the Chinese Communist Party. It is the one that is to be held responsible, to be blamed for the sickness, the chaos, for this crisis that we have had, which is a health, food, and financial crisis all rolled into one. It has happened because of decisions that China made, decisions that were made by the Chinese Communist Party's leadership. prgtoken There are some things that are the known knowns, if you will. They are the things that we know happened as you look back over what has happened with COVID-19. prgtoken What we know is this: On December 31, 2019, government officials in Wuhan, China, confirmed they were monitoring the spread of a disease that looked a lot like pneumonia. They didn't know exactly what it was. It didn't have all the markers, but a lot. But on New Year's Eve, they let us know: Hey, we have a problem out here. Just days later, they confirmed it was caused by a novel virus that had infected dozens of people. We now know it was hundreds of people. prgtoken It wasn't until January 23, however, that authorities shut off Wuhan from the rest of the country. By this time, the virus was spreading like wildfire. Let's pay close attention to what I just said. They shut off Hubei Province, they shut off Wuhan not from the rest of the world, not from other countries, but from the rest of China. Don't you dare go anywhere else in our country. This is contagious. prgtoken Now, as if that 23-day gap wasn't bad enough, credible watchdog reports revealed that the CCP--Chinese Communist Party--lied--they lied to global health officials about the danger posed by the virus for not just a day or two while they figured it out but for 51 days before they sounded the alarm and said: Listen up. Pandemic. Pandemic. Fifty-one days. This deception allowed a regional outbreak to spread into a global pandemic that has so far killed more than 140,000 Americans. prgtoken It would be easy to chalk all of this up to incompetence and overwhelmed bureaucrats, but every Member of this body knows that is not what happened. That is why, over the past few weeks, more and more of my colleagues here in the Senate have agreed to support le
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Christopher Murphy (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2020-7-22

I am glad to have the opportunity to talk for a bit on the floor of the U.S. Senate on U.S. policy toward China because there has been no better friend for Chinese interests likely in our lifetime than President Donald J. . prgtoken Articles suggest that when you survey Chinese Communist Party leaders, they are, to a person, rooting for the reelection of this President. I don't need to go through the litany of ways in which China has become more influential and more powerful all around the world because of this administration's policies, but at the top of that list is the abdication of the United States' traditional leadership role on human rights, which has allowed the Communist Party to march on the Uighurs and others. It is a failed trade policy that has allowed China to extend its influence into places like Africa and throughout the Silk Road. It is America's break with Europe that has shattered our ability to negotiate together the future rules of the economic order. prgtoken But what China is really ecstatic about is this President's performance since March in the wake of a virus that now shows the United States as having 25 percent of the world's COVID cases while having only 4 percent of the world's population. prgtoken My friend Senator Blackburn recited the early moments of this virus outbreak in China, and she is right that China was nontransparent and unhelpful in those early days. But do you know who the greatest cheerleader for China was in the first 2 to 3 months of COVID-19's outbreak there? President . On 45 occasions he went on social media or gave statements to the press in which he lauded China's response. He talked about how transparent they were and how they were doing a great job. The world community couldn't put pressure on China to open up with respect to what they knew about the virus in large part because the leader of the Nation's most powerful country was doing the bidding of the Chinese Government. prgtoken The second thing that this President has done that makes China very, very pleased is to essentially make the argument for the Chinese that the autocratic model that they are perfecting is the best method by which to organize society around the world, because they say: Listen, we got this virus under control in a matter of months, and the world's greatest democracy is still dealing with an epidemic that looks to be raging newly out of control. So as we engage in this broad fight between models of governance, our inability--this administration's inability--to get this virus under control is maybe the greatest gift that this President has given to China. prgtoken Here is what makes it so unconscionable: We know that democracy is inefficient. We know that capital markets can sometimes be inefficient when pressed up against the wall by emergencies. So we built into the statutes of the United States emergency powers to give to this President--to any
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-7-22

I want to thank my colleagues, Senators Baldwin and Murphy, for their urgent words on this most important issue. I am proud to join them as we seek passage to pass legislation to finally require the President to invoke the full authority of the DPA, the Defense Production Act, so that the Federal Government can more speedily get testing supplies and PPE to the parts of our country struggling under the weight of the pandemic. prgtoken Make no mistake, medical professionals and frontline workers fighting this virus still--still--do not have the protective equipment and the testing supplies they need because the administration failed to fully invoke the DPA earlier this year. This is a crisis of President 's making. prgtoken As we speak, COVID-19 continues to surge across the country. As cases keep growing, our testing supplies and our PPE, already in short supply, are reaching critical levels. From Seattle to Miami, people are waiting in line for hours to get tested, and their results might take days, if not more, to come back. In many places we are missing basic supplies--swabs, gloves. In certain hospitals it has been reported doctors and nurses are being told to reuse their N95 masks as many as 15--15--times. prgtoken It has been 6 months since we have been fighting this virus. How is this still happening? The problem should have been solved months ago, but the President has been derelict in his duty. His administration has been a total failure when it comes to testing and PPE. prgtoken Instead of fully invoking the DPA and ramping up the production of critical supplies early on, President has left doctors, nurses, and medical staff fighting this disease with one hand tied behind their back. He has failed to keep us and those working on the frontline safe. prgtoken This bill, however, would finally--finally--force the President to do what he should have done ages ago. We have been talking about the DPA since way back in April. I called the President in April, got him on the phone, urged him to invoke it. He told me he would and then contradicted himself a few hours later. How typical, but how devastating for the American people. Then he quickly lost interest-- again, typical of this President, whose attention span is much too short for the big fight that we have with COVID. prgtoken So what we say is the President's approach to the pandemic was-- typically here--no followthrough, no strategy, no comprehension of the problem. The President's mind-boggling refusal to invoke the DPA shouldn't be piled on top of the challenges our medical workers and citizens already face. prgtoken I am sorry we didn't pass this legislation. I hope we can do it soon. prgtoken .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Sherrod Brown (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2020-7-22

I thank Senators Murphy and Stabenow and Senator Baldwin's terrific leadership on this. I echo Senator Murphy's earlier comments about China. prgtoken I see on the other side of the aisle Senators and President . It is campaign season. So it is time to bash China, even though they have been in the pockets of China. prgtoken I was in the other body when corporate interests came and lobbied the House of Representatives and lobbied the Senate asking for China to get all of these trade breaks and tax breaks so that American companies could shut down production in Milwaukee or in Cleveland and move overseas to China and get all kinds of tax breaks. And then my colleagues were also pro-China because they wanted these American corporations and their contributors, starting with Senator McConnell down the hall, to get all of these advantages for China. prgtoken Now, if you are thinking about running for President of the United States in 2024 as a , you bash China. If you are in a tough reelection right now for the Senate, you bash China. If you are a House Member and afraid of being defeated, you bash China. If you want to help the cause for , you bash China. It doesn't matter that President has been the best friend of China. It doesn't matter the leadership has been in the pocket of Chinese Communist interests because of their support for American corporations. It is just good politics to bash China. So we know that, and Senator Murphy touched on that.
MEMORIALIZING THE HONORABLE JOHN LEWIS
Doris O. Matsui (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-7-22

I rise to speak in honor of a beloved colleague and wonderful friend, John Lewis. prgtoken I first met John when my husband, Bob Matsui, was a Member of Congress. Bob loved John. He loved him for his humanity, his conviction, and the fact that he was a total human being. prgtoken I had heard so much about John because he was a historic figure, but I saw another side of him, too, when Bob brought him to Sacramento. He met many people. And I remember his walking across a university campus with the president of the university when he ran across, Bob and he and John, a bunch of chickens that the students were advocating to keep on campus. The president was saying: No. We have got to get the chickens out. prgtoken The president said: Excuse me, Mr. Lewis, but we are going to get rid of those chickens. prgtoken And John said: No way are you going to get rid of those chickens. I learned to preach by preaching to chickens. prgtoken That is the part of John that I really loved, too, that humorous part, the part you can laugh with. prgtoken But this gentle giant lived also every single day to overcome injustice, eradicate racism, and give hope to all who prgtoken walked beside him. He is a total person. prgtoken At this moment in our history when speaking truth to power is so vital, it is more important than ever to follow John's words, to ``stand up, speak out, and keep your eyes on the prize.'' prgtoken John taught us all that America is greater than the sum of its parts. When you weave a rich, colorful tapestry, the weaving itself makes it strong. His impact will be forever felt in our Nation's conscience, and we are all better for it. prgtoken At this difficult time, my prayers are with the Lewis family and all his friends. He will be sorely missed. prgtoken I love you, John.
HONORING CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS
James R. Langevin (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2020-7-22

. Madam , from the moment I arrived in Congress, the aura of John Lewis loomed large. He will rightfully be remembered as a giant of the civil rights movement and the conscience of the Congress. prgtoken To me, though, he will always be remembered as a man who I felt privileged and honored and humbled to call colleague and friend. He will always be remembered as the kind, humble, approachable gentleman from Georgia, a tireless fighter who rallied our Caucus at pivotal moments to make positive change, to stand for what is right, to give a voice to the powerless, to protect the rights of the disenfranchised. Of course, he was well-known for making noise and getting into good trouble, necessary trouble. prgtoken It was one of the great privileges of my life to join John Lewis in making some good and necessary trouble when he organized a peaceful sit-in on the House floor to demand action on gun violence. prgtoken John Lewis made a difference in the lives of millions, and his presence was always felt in Congress, but his absence will be felt even more. prgtoken Rest in peace, my friend.
TAXPAYER FIRST ACT OF 2019
Cedric L. Richmond (Democrat, LA) \u2014 2020-7-22

let me say that the goal of the bill is positive, but how it is achieved is just flat wrong. prgtoken To pay for this legislation, what we do is go straight to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and take $1.9 billion a year of potential revenue to those States to uplift their people to pay for this bill. prgtoken Let me be specific about Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. They rank 48th, 49th, and 50th in terms of quality of life for their residents. They rank 1, 2, and 5 in terms of their African-American population. prgtoken So, what are we doing here, in this time of racial inequity? We are going to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana and taking $1.9 billion a year without sharing any of that revenue with their States where: they can improve education, where all three rank last; they can improve healthcare, where all three States rank last; and they can improve their environment, where all three States are in the bottom one-third. prgtoken So, all I am saying is, at some point, equity demands that those States get their fair share.
REPLACING BUST OF ROGER BROOKE TANEY WITH BUST OF THURGOOD MARSHALL
Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-7-22

I rise in support of H.R. 7573, as amended. prgtoken H.R. 7573 directs the Joint Committee on the Library to remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the author of the Dred Scott decision in the Old Supreme Court Chamber with a bust of Justice Thurgood Marshall, and requires the Joint Committee on the Library to remove statues of Charles B. Aycock, James P. Clarke, and John C. Calhoun, as well as a bust of John C. Breckinridge. H.R. 7573 would also amend section 1814 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 2131) to change the criteria for those eligible for inclusion to prohibit those who ``served as an officer or voluntarily with the Confederate States of America or of the military forces or government of a State while the State was in rebellion against the United States.'' The Architect of the Capitol would be charged with identifying those statues which do not meet the revised criteria and the Joint Committee on the Library would remove the statues and turn them over to the Smithsonian Institution or their respective states, if desired. prgtoken As Chairperson of the House Fine Arts Board and the Vice Chairperson of the Joint Committee on the Library I am more than pleased to remove these symbols of cruelty and bigotry from the halls of the Capitol. This has been a long time coming, and it is long past time to act. prgtoken The United States Capitol is one of the most visible, and most visited, symbols of liberty, freedom and democracy in the entire world. Who we choose to honor in this space is uniquely indicative of our values and principles. prgtoken Contrary to those who argue in opposition to this long overdue action, this action does not seek to erase history nor ask that we forget that history. We must never forget the shameful scar of slavery, segregation and racism. Instead this is about who we honor. When we think about the holocaust the words ``never forget'' admonish us to always remember the millions murdered by the Nazis. But we do not accomplish that by erecting a statue of Adolf Hitler to put in a place of honor. prgtoken Those who violently rebelled against our government upon the belief, as Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens infamously said, ``that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition,'' and those who enabled and protected the practice of holding human beings as property deserve no place of honor in the halls of our nation's Capitol. Slavery is the ``original sin'' of our country, and its disastrous effects are felt to this day. prgtoken It is long past time to remove these symbols of bigotry and cruelty from the halls of Congress, and it is long past time to repair the lasting damage their hatred and racism has visited on the fabric of this country. The removal of these symbols from the People's House is a necessary step in this long-overdue work, I urge my colleagues to join me in sup