mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Mark Pocan (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2017-12-21

during my medical recovery, I missed the following Roll Call votes. Had I been present, I would have voted: prgtoken November 28, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 638; No on Roll Call No. 639. prgtoken November 29, 2017: No on Roll Call No. 640; No on Roll Call No. 641. prgtoken November 30, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 642; No on Roll Call No. 643; No on Roll Call No. 644; No on Roll Call No. 645; Yea on Roll Call No. 646; Yea on Roll Call No. 647; No on Roll Call No. 648; and Yea on Roll Call No. 649. prgtoken December 1, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 650; No on Roll Call No. 651; Yea on Roll Call No. 652. prgtoken December 4, 2017: No on Roll Call No. 653; Yea on Roll Call No. 654. prgtoken December 5, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 655; Yea on Roll Call No. 656; Yea on Roll Call No. 657. prgtoken December 6, 2017: No on Roll Call No. 658; No on Roll Call No. 659; No on Roll Call No. 660; Yea on Roll Call No. 661; Yea on Roll Call No. 662; No on Roll Call No. 663; and Yea on Roll Call No. 664. prgtoken December 7, 2017: No on Roll Call No. 665; No on Roll Call No. 666; Yea on Roll Call No. 667; Yea on Roll Call No. 668; Yea on Roll Call No. 669; No on Roll Call No. 670; and Yea on Roll Call No. 671. prgtoken December 11, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 672; Yea on Roll Call No. 673. prgtoken December 12, 2017: Yea on Roll Call No. 674; No on Roll Call No. 675.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 1370, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BLUE CAMPAIGN AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2017; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4667, FURTHER SUPPLEMENTAL...
Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-12-21

I thank the gentleman for yielding. prgtoken I also thank all of the members of the Rules Committee for the exceptional service they provide to the House in reviewing legislation that will come to the floor. prgtoken I particularly want to thank my colleagues on the ic side for honoring the values of our country by advocating for an amendment to include the Dream Act as we go forward. I would hope that most of our Members would vote ``no'' on this rule and not allow for the previous question to come forward so that it will allow for the Dream Act to be considered. prgtoken I want to thank the chairman of the committee and the distinguished Members on the side, as well as the ic side, for the hospitality extended to the ic whip, Mr. Hoyer; the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham; and to me. prgtoken At that meeting, , I told the colleagues that we are in a tradition of having great ic and Presidents who have been supportive of newcomers to our country and who recognize that immigration is the constant reinvigoration of America. prgtoken When people come to our country with their hopes and dreams and aspirations to make the future better for their families, they are identifying with an American ideal: all of us having the responsibility to make the future better for the next generation. And their commitment, their courage, their optimism, their determination for a better future makes America more American. Every newcomer who comes here with that determination makes America more American. prgtoken Among those people are our DREAMers. This is a very discrete group that we are hoping to protect in the Dream Act. Certainly, as our colleagues acknowledged this morning, we have important work to do on comprehensive immigration reform. We have a responsibility to protect our borders, North and South, and anything that flies in, East Coast, West Coast, and through the Gulf. But the fact is that--as was pointed out by our colleague, Congresswoman Lujan Grisham, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus: think of the DREAMers as a discrete piece that needs protection now and not wait for the entire comprehensive immigration reform to be resolved before we deal with this emergency. prgtoken Just as we treat CHIP, 9 million children are depending on CHIP, but we are not waiting until we revise the whole healthcare system in order to pass CHIP, nor did we. When we passed CHIP, it was before the Affordable Care Act had passed. prgtoken But let me say why it is really important for this to happen now. Unfortunately--and, really, I was pleased that our registered his disagreement with President when he took the action he did in regard to DACA in September. When he did that and said, ``I will give Congress until March to pass a law,'' what he didn't understand is that he was putting these DREAMers at a distinct disadvantage. prgtoken Every day, o
VETERANS HEALTHCARE
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2017-12-21

I thank Senator Isakson for his words. I thank the Presiding Officer, who is currently sitting in the chair, for his work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. prgtoken I want to talk a little bit about Chairman Isakson before I talk about the Care Act. Over the last year, I have been able to work with a great man from Georgia who has done great work. When we started out, we talked about doing stuff we could agree upon and set the stuff we disagree upon apart, and it has ended up where we have agreed on a lot of stuff, and we have been able to get a lot of stuff done. prgtoken I would just say, in a body that is full of impasse over this last year, Chairman Isakson has been a great guy to work with because the fact is, we have set aside the political labels, and we have worked for our veterans in that committee. It is not only Johnny and myself, but members on both sides of the aisle in that committee have worked very well together and communicated so very well to make sure we could take care of the needs of our veterans across this country, whether it was in rural America or whether it was in urban America, but our work is not done. prgtoken The Care Act Chairman Isakson talked about is a very important piece of legislation. It is a bipartisan compromise. It is a bill we all negotiated on, so not everybody got everything. There are always things in it that you wish would be better, regardless of where you are in the spectrum, but this program does a lot of good things for our veterans. prgtoken It, first of all, will eliminate the Veterans First Program and replace it with one that is much easier for veterans to navigate in a system that puts in place where the veterans can seek care. It puts that system in the hands of a veteran and their doctor. prgtoken This is a bill that passed out of committee 14 to 1, and it has 26 veterans service organizations, representing millions of veterans who have endorsed this bill. It is a good bill. prgtoken I wish the Veterans' Administration, which we worked so closely with on this bill, would come out and forcefully endorse it. I think that would help a lot. prgtoken What it does is it establishes a Veterans Community Care Program. It merges seven VA community care programs into one program, with one set of rules for both providers and the veterans. It puts the decision of where to seek care in the hands of the veteran and their doctor. No more one-size-fits-all eligibility. prgtoken If a local VA doesn't have the equipment for a certain test and there is not another VA locally that can provide that test, the vet can go to the community doc. If the roads to another VA facility are closed for snow, veterans could go to their local doctor rather than waiting for the roads to clear, which is a big issue in rural America. prgtoken If a nearer VA clinic has a type of doc a vet needs to see, but there is a community doc closer and the vet has a bad back, that vet can see
REMEMBERING JOSEPH MEDINA
Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2017-12-21

last week on the Senate floor, I talked about how I have always tried to find examples of Dreamers so that the citizens in my State can understand what we are talking about when we talk about the fact that someone could be brought over to our country and not even realize it and have this Dreamer status. prgtoken I talked about Joseph Medina. He was a decorated Army veteran. He served in World War II. He lived in Minnesota. I am sad to say that he passed away last July at the ripe old age of 103 years old. There was a story about Joe in today's edition of our largest newspaper in Minnesota, honoring his contributions to our Nation during World War II and through his nearly a century as a proud and hard-working Minnesotan. prgtoken Joe lost both of his parents before he was 1 year old. He was brought to the United States from Mexico by his aunt when he was just 5, and he didn't find out that he was undocumented during his whole time growing up. When did he find out? When he tried to join the Army in World War II. prgtoken So what he did then, because he wasn't a citizen--back then, it was pretty simple; what they would do is have people go to Canada, especially if they lived in Minnesota, and that is how they would become citizens. So they sent Joe Medina to Canada for 1 day. I remember his telling me this story--that this is what they did during World War II when they wanted people to sign up and serve. He stayed in a hotel for 1 night, and he came back, and with the help of our military, he became a citizen. prgtoken He then served under General MacArthur in the Pacific. Then he came home, got married, had a son, and that son served in the Vietnam war. prgtoken Joe came to Washington, DC, with his son for the first and last time to see the World War II Memorial at age 99. I stood there by his side as he looked at the Minnesota part of that Memorial and thought of the people he knew who were no longer with us and thought of his service and how much he loved serving our country in World War II. prgtoken At his side, along with his own son who had served in Vietnam, were two Dreamers--two high school students who were in high school in the suburban part of the Twin Cities, and they also wanted to join the military. If I remember right, they wanted to join the Air Force. Do you know what? The way the rules were a few years ago, they weren't allowed to do that. Joseph Medina couldn't understand that because the proudest part of his life was serving in our military, serving despite the fact that he was born in another country but lived almost his entire life--98 years of his 103 years--in America. prgtoken So I join with all those in my State in remembering Joseph Medina and honoring his service to our country as we continue to work toward finding a solution for the Dreamers in the Senate. prgtoken I note that we should also take action here at the end of the year, and we should be staying to get a numbe
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BLUE CAMPAIGN AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2017
Rosa L. DeLauro (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2017-12-21

I strongly oppose this continuing resolution. Yet again we are punting one of our core obligations as Members of Congress: funding government programs. prgtoken The majority has failed to respond to the needs of the American people. They put services and investments that are critical to our families and our communities at risk: from apprenticeships to education for students with disabilities, child care, afterschool programs that help working families make ends meet, and financial aid for students attending college. prgtoken We should be negotiating spending levels for 2018 for both defense and nondefense spending. We should have spent the last 2 months fulfilling our responsibility as legislators by writing bipartisan bills to fund programs that help the middle class and the vulnerable, support evidence-based scientific research, and help working people get the skills that they need to find good jobs with good wages. prgtoken Instead, the majority squandered the last 2 months focused on their tax scam, rewarding big corporations, millionaires, and billionaires who wrote the rules to make government work for them. Our colleagues were their comrades in arms in rigging the game against the middle class. prgtoken I am horrified by the majority's decision to put the future of the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, in jeopardy: kids' checkups, shots, prescriptions, dental and vision care, hospital care, and the list goes on. prgtoken States are beginning to cut children off because of the majority's delay--my own State of Connecticut. The hardworking families that depend on CHIP deserve to know that it will be there for their children for the long term. prgtoken How can the majority go on vacation while millions of children worry about losing their health insurance? prgtoken This is a disgrace. This bill also cuts $750 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which supports programs such as heart disease and stroke prevention, diabetes prevention, immunization and vaccination programs.
HIGHLIGHTING THE ACHIEVEMENT OF A YOUTH GROUP IN NORTHEAST PORTLAND
Earl Blumenauer (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2017-12-21

today I'd like to highlight the achievement of a group of young people in Northeast Portland. prgtoken In 2014, fourteen 6th grade girls at Beverly Cleary School formed the Grant Park chapter of Jane Goodall's ``Roots and Shoots'' youth service organization. Their goal was to raise funds for orphaned chimpanzees at Goodall's Tchimpounga Rehabilitation Center in Africa. prgtoken The girls' idea was to produce a vegetarian cookbook with sales benefiting the chimpanzee sanctuary. They wrote letters to chefs across the country asking for recipes and then spent most Friday evenings together cooking the food and taking notes. They also created artwork and bios for the chefs to go along with each recipe. Three years later, these young women are in 9th grade and the cookbook, called ``Saving Pan,'' is done. prgtoken A first printing of 400 copies of Saving Pan was sold out in a week and raised $4,000 for the Sanctuary. For meeting their goals and making a difference, congratulations to Brooke Abbruzzese, Talia Baskin, Lily Buckenmeyer, Martha Bulkeley, McKenzie Caldicott, Ruby Cooper-Karl, Emma Francioch, Willa Gagnon, Maeve Larco, Matisse Nash, Maya Rashid, Charlotte Stoeger, Hanna Stokes and McKenzie Tell.
DACA
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2017-12-21

I also rise to advocate the passage of a clean Dream Act now. prgtoken I had a youngster say to me--and I am going to tell the stories of a few of the youngsters--at an event in November, a Dreamer in Northern Virginia: ``You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.'' It is a beautiful line, as we know, from the song ``Imagine'' by John Lennon. ``You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.'' prgtoken There are 800,000 Dreamers in this country--more than 800,000. More than 13,000 of the Dreamers live in Virginia, and they are from all corners of the world. I have met with Dreamers in Virginia who were originally born in Sweden, Nigeria, Latin America, many countries in Asia. They are a rainbow but also a source of strength for our country, and we need to act on their behalf. prgtoken I also stand here in the Christmas spirit. We will all, so many of us, hear the retelling of the Christmas story. In the aftermath of the birth of the poor child in a manger, the story goes that he was taken by his parents to another country essentially as a refugee. There were threats of violence against the firstborn children of the land, and so he was spirited across a border into Egypt to be protected. prgtoken I know many of these Dreamers, and I know so many like them. I worked as a missionary in Honduras in 1980 and 1981, and I had the opportunity to work with youngsters in a country that was then and still is beset with violence and poverty and where so many parents have to make an agonizing choice. In some instances, they make the choice to try to find a better land for their children, just as Jesus and Mary did as they fled to Egypt at the Christmas season more than 2,000 years ago. prgtoken So I stand here in that moment, in that spirit, knowing that hundreds of thousands of Dreamers need our protection and, frankly, deserve it. Are we less compassionate than those societies of old that have found refuge for those who have come fleeing hardship? I prgtoken don't believe we are. I know the American public isn't, and I know the Virginia public isn't. The question is, Is Congress as compassionate as we need to be? prgtoken We tell the story of some of the Dreamers in Virginia, and I have made many speeches on this floor and told many of their stories. prgtoken Juan de la Rosa is a DACA recipient--one of our 13,500. He is a Richmonder. I first came to know Juan when I was the mayor of Richmond. He arrived at age 5. In a comment to me, he said: In one way or another, you have always been an active part of teaching me how being involved in the political process is the key toward positive change. prgtoken He started when he arrived here at 5 years old, and he excelled immediately. He went to Manchester High School in Chesterfield County and graduated in 2014. He was a drum major in the marching band, class representative, and a president of several honor societies. prgtoken After graduating at the top of
DACA
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2017-12-21

over the years there has been a lot of debate on the Senate floor, from healthcare to tax reform. There is no doubt that some days it feels impossible to get the majority of s onboard with policies that truly help the families we represent. But there is one thing that unites not only a large bipartisan contingent in Congress but also the vast majority of American people, and that is finding a path forward for the estimated 800,000 young men and women whose lives are right now in limbo--800,000 people, including 17,000 men, women, boys, and girls from my home State of Washington who shared their information, paid a large fee, and upheld their end of the bargain, only to have President rip the rug out from under them 3 months ago when he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the DACA Program. prgtoken This Congress may not be able to change the administration's hateful rhetoric or shortsighted policies overnight, but we can and we should pass the Dream Act as soon as possible. That is why we need more Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle ready to roll up their sleeves and get this done. Because every single day that leaders refuse to bring the Dream Act to the floor to a vote, another 122 young people lose their DACA status, they lose their ability to work legally, and they lose their protection from deportation. That means that every day, 122 of our neighbors, students, coworkers, and friends could be forced from the only country they know, despite the promise the Federal Government made to them when they signed up for DACA and despite their immensurable contributions to our schools, our hospitals, our universities, our stores, our farms, our churches, our offices, and so much more. That means small and large businesses are forced to lay off DACA recipients each day--vital employees in whom businesses have invested money to train and support, employees who help our economy and the small businesses in my State grow. prgtoken My friends on the other side of the aisle are constantly claiming they want to help our small businesses grow. I listened to weeks of their speeches on this as they tried to justify the tax bill. But instead of a giveaway to the wealthiest 1 percent, one way my friends across the aisle could actually help small businesses is to bring the Dream Act up for a vote. prgtoken This morning, I had the great honor of sitting down with Dreamers who traveled all the way here from my State across the Nation to fight for action, young people who had no control over how they came to this country but who have made conscious choices to improve their own lives and make life better for their own community. They are passionate, they are frustrated, and their stories need to be heard. prgtoken Here is just one of them. Paul was brought here to this country at the age of 7 to be reunited with his father. Paul excelled in schools in
FURTHER SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2018
Joseph Crowley (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-12-21

I thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time, and I thank her for her work. I thank Mr. Frelinghuysen, as well, for his work and my colleagues on the other side, but I have reservations, strong reservations about this bill. prgtoken I appreciate the very real needs of those still recovering, our American citizens and friends and family in Florida and Texas, and that concern is genuine. I have always supported aid to other parts of the country, even when some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle refused to help New York and left New York hanging after Superstorm Sandy. I have never let that get in the way of my wanting to be helpful to my fellow citizens anywhere in this country who are under duress. prgtoken But I can't, in good conscience, vote for this bill. It leaves some of the hardest hit and most vulnerable Americans, American citizens, without the help that they need. It treats Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as second-class citizens--not second-class people, but second- class, literally, citizens--and will stall the efforts there to rebuild. prgtoken I appreciate Mr. Culberson saying that the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are a long way from recovery. I am paraphrasing what he said. I do appreciate those words. I do hope that it is an insight for my colleagues and the leadership on the other side of the aisle that more help will be on the way for the people of Puerto Rico, but simply not enough is being done in this bill to help the men and women of Puerto Rico and the children of Puerto Rico today. prgtoken Our fellow citizens of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are no less American than those in any of the 50 States. prgtoken I wonder if anyone would argue that point as to whether they are citizens of the United States or not. I would argue they are no less citizens of the United States than any other individuals in the rest of the 50 States, and they should be treated the same and with the same respect. prgtoken The people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands suffered direct hits not from one, but from two massive hurricanes, the likes of which we have never seen before, not in our modern history. Maybe you have to go back to Alexander Hamilton and the hurricane that he wrote about back in the 1700s that rocketed him to stardom. prgtoken Here we are 3 months later. Millions--not hundreds, not thousands, but millions--of our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands are without power. Far too many still, because they are without power, lack clean drinking water. Thousands are unable to receive adequate healthcare, and earlier this week, the Governor of Puerto Rico ordered a recount of the storm's death toll, which could number, now, into the thousands. If that is not a sign of how neglectful the response has been to this disaster, then I don't know what would be.