mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
EQUITY AND INCLUSION ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2019
Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2020-9-16

. Madam , such time as I may consume. prgtoken Madam , I rise in support of the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act. This legislation will restore the right of students and parents to address racial inequities in public schools. prgtoken This legislation comes over 66 years after the Supreme Court ruled in 1954, in the Brown v. Board of Education case, that in the field of education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. prgtoken This comes just 4 years after the General Accountability Office found that racial segregation in public schools is now as bad it was in the 1960s and getting worse. prgtoken For almost 40 years, the courts interpreted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title VI, as granting students and parents the right to bring discrimination claims against public schools and any other entities receiving Federal funds for discriminatory policies and practices. prgtoken Victims of federally funded discrimination could use title VI to challenge both discriminatory policies and practices that were created with the intent to discriminate and policies and practices that, while neutral on their face, had the effect of discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. prgtoken To be clear, the mere presence of the policy's disproportionate impact does not alone constitute a violation of title VI, but allowing communities to use disparate impact analysis equipped them with an important tool to combat systemic inequities for decades. prgtoken Unfortunately, in its 2001 decision in the case of Alexander v. Sandoval, the Supreme Court stripped private citizens, including students and parents, of their right to bring disparate impact claims against schools and other federally funded programs. While this ruling did not invalidate the use of disparate impact analysis to prove discrimination, it reserved that power to pursue such claims to the Federal Government through administrative enforcement of prgtoken title VI. In other words, this longstanding protection against discrimination in federally funded programs, including education, can now only be enforced if the administration in power so chooses. prgtoken The effect of this ruling on antidiscrimination enforcement has been particularly acute in education. Since 2001, we have seen an increase in racial isolation in public schools and a decrease in resource equity. As a result, African-American and Hispanic children disproportionately attend schools that are both majority minority and underresourced. prgtoken Whether this trend has been intentional or not is immaterial, but we do know that discrimination in 2020 is not the same as it was in 1964. Discrimination increasingly comes in the form of coded terminology, structural inequality, and implicit bias rather than explicit bigotry. So students and parents must be empowered to hold schools accountable for policies and practice
IN HONOR OF MAYWOOD BATAAN DAY AND NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY
Danny K. Davis (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-9-16

. Madam , today I rise to tell my colleagues during this week that ends with National POW/MIA Recognition Day about my district's 78-year old Maywood Bataan Memorial Day tradition. This service honors the men from the village of Maywood, Illinois who became prisoners of war after fighting from December 7, 1941 to April 9, 1942 against invading Imperial Japanese forces in the Philippines. prgtoken The men of Maywood were members of Company B of the federated Illinois National Guard 33rd Tank Company, 33rd Infantry Division based at the town's Armory. On November 25, 1940, they became part of the 192nd Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army. In October 1941, 89 men from Company ``B'' left the United States for the Philippine Islands. They arrived in the Philippine Islands on November 20, 1941--Thanksgiving Day. On December 8, the war started and the Japanese attacked. prgtoken These Illinois tankers fought valiantly on the Bataan Peninsula with little food, medicine, fuel, or ammunition. Relief from the United States never came. Malaria, scurvy, and dysentery reached epidemic proportions. On April 9, 1942, Bataan was surrendered. The following day, some 85,000 American and Filipino soldiers, as Japanese captives, all became victims of the greatest atrocity of the Pacific War: the Bataan Death March. A seemingly endless line of sick and starving men began their 85 mile trip up from the tip of Bataan to Camp O'Donnell in central Luzon. More than 12,000 died en route. prgtoken Survivors of the March endured three and a half years of death camps, brutal labor, and untold abuse. Many were taken to Japan aboard hell ships to be slave laborers for Japanese companies. Of the more than 10,000 Americans taken prisoner on Bataan, between 6,000 and 7,000 died. Of the 89 men of Company ``B'' who left the U.S. in 1941, only 43 would return from the war. prgtoken This is the first year that the Memorial, which was scheduled for September 13, has had to be postponed. I ask my fellow representatives to join me in commending the hard work and dedication of Maywood Bataan Day Organization President Col. Richard A. McMahon, Jr. and his Board of Directors. And on this Friday, September 18, National POW/MlA Recognition Day may we all pause to remember the men and women of Bataan who gave so much in the fight against tyranny.
RURAL STEM EDUCATION ACT
Ben McAdams (Democrat, UT) \u2014 2020-9-16

. Madam , I rise in support of my bipartisan bill with Representative Lucas, the Rural STEM Education Act. prgtoken More than 9 million students nationwide attend a rural school. And in my home State of Utah, 15 percent of our students live in rural communities. prgtoken Unfortunately, there are many barriers to receiving quality STEM education for rural community students. There is a shortage of math and science teachers and a high rate of teacher turnover. Plus, access to high-speed and reliable internet is more limited in these areas. prgtoken Today, as we live through this pandemic, we know how important reliable internet is for kids and teachers. This bill would provide effective online teaching tools that educators can use in our rural areas. prgtoken It will also increase teacher recruitment and improve internet access. It will task several government agencies to work together to advance research and provide teachers with what they need to effectively teach STEM to more students in rural communities. prgtoken When bright young minds have the opportunity to explore science, technology, engineering, and math, you never know where their intelligence and their curiosity might lead them or what new discoveries we will be able to trace back to the education they received starting in their hometown. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I thank my friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) for championing this.
WILDFIRES
Jacky Rosen (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2020-9-16

the West is on fire. At this very moment, historic wildfires are raging across our Western States. Communities have been devastated. Homes have been destroyed. Businesses have been turned to rubble. In the wake of these disasters, many families have been left with absolutely nothing. prgtoken Nevadans are no strangers to seeing wildfires wreak havoc in our State. Just this year, Nevada has seen over 650 fires. Yet what is happening now is something different. These are some of the largest fires the West has ever seen. Already, in 2020, over 4.7 million acres of land have been burned across prgtoken our Nation, and we have already seen billions of dollars in economic losses and damage. prgtoken Despite what you might hear from our President, these disasters are not blue State issues. That kind of partisan sentiment is just unconscionable. We must take a nonpartisan approach to saving lives and protecting property from fires that know no partisan affiliation. It doesn't matter that these fires are in the State of California or in the State of Oregon or in the State of Washington or in the State of Idaho. These disasters are happening in our United States. These fires are impacting our communities, and in this time of crisis, we have a responsibility to really help one another--to help our communities and to help our friends and our neighbors. prgtoken People have died in these disasters, and some people are still missing. Over 30,000 courageous men and women are risking their lives to fight these fires and to save those families and save those properties. I am really proud to say that Nevada's firefighters have been deployed to assist in combating many of these disasters. I am so proud of them. prgtoken As a result of these fires, the air quality in some of our communities is so poor and so unhealthy that it is exceeding 20-year records. This toxic haze has already impacted air quality in my own State of Nevada, and it is not just in Western States. This harmful smoke is spreading. It has been measured as far away as the east coast--in places like New York City and right here in Washington, DC. These fires put our collective health--all of ours--in jeopardy, especially now, during the pandemic. prgtoken As I have said before, these fires impact every single one of us. Do you know why? It is because this is an environmental issue; this is an economic issue; this is a public health issue; and it is absolutely a climate issue. prgtoken The science speaks for itself. Climate change and increased temperatures directly correlate to the growing intensity of these wildfires, and the longer we fail to address climate change, the more costly and more dangerous and deadly the impact is going to be for our friends, our neighbors, our States, and our communities. prgtoken September is wildfire preparedness month, and make no mistake: We need to get a handle on these disasters. We need to provide resources to ou
Workplace Safety (Executive Session)
Sherrod Brown (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2020-9-16

it is pretty obvious that my colleagues think that the Presiding Officer is going to lose her race and a number of incumbent Senators are going to prgtoken lose their races and because it looks like there is going to be a ic President and a ic Senate and ic House, all of a sudden my far-right colleagues are concerned about the national deficit and the national debt. prgtoken In President 's second year in office, Congress passed a bill that provided about $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. Between 70 and 80 percent of the tax cuts went to the richest 1 percent of the people in this country. It pushed the national debt into a whole new stratosphere. It took money we were going to use to build infrastructure--highways, bridges, water and sewer systems--and just ignored that plan. And now all of a sudden my colleagues are interested in the national debt--not when the s are in control; they want to give more and more and more tax cuts. But when are in control, want to invest in infrastructure; want to save this economy right now, including providing $600 a week for unemployed workers--680,000 of them in my State, close to 400,000 of them in the Presiding Officer's State-- want to invest in infrastructure and job training and protecting Medicare and Social Security. But now that s think they are going to lose, it is all about the national debt and doing nothing to help workers right now. prgtoken I want to talk today specifically about workers and how this President and all the President's enablers--and they are enablers. My colleagues don't even speak up when the President so dishonors our fallen soldiers. They don't speak up when the President has clearly lied, his own words, about the coronavirus--lied to the American people after he was taped, in his own words, by a former reporter and absolutely failed to speak up about workers prgtoken Every day we live with the horrific consequences of leadership failures in this country. So many Americans have lost jobs; they have lost small businesses; they have lost their sense of security; and they have lost much of their faith in their own government; and in nearly 200,000 American families, they have lost a loved one. All because President and his enablers here--all because President has failed to get this pandemic under control, he has failed to protect American workers. prgtoken A few weeks ago, I was talking to a woman in Cincinnati. I was actually home; it was a remote call. She is a grocery store worker. She said: You know, they call me essential, but I don't feel essential. I feel expendable because they pay me so little, and they do so little to keep me safe at work. prgtoken President 's administration, get this, has gotten 8,000--8,000, 8-0-0-0--complaints about unsafe workplaces since the start of this pandemic. We know how
Issues Facing America (Executive Calendar)
Robert Menendez (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2020-9-16

we are here today once again to join Senator Durbin, who has been on the floor with me or I with him I don't know how many times now as it relates to this issue. We are here to urge the Senate to immediately approve legislation that would designate Venezuelans for temporary protected status. prgtoken There are some 200,000 Venezuelans who are currently living in the United States. They are unable to return home safely, and they would benefit from TPS. prgtoken We should be doing the right thing. We should be upholding American values and offering them protection, but once again, our colleagues have blocked our efforts. prgtoken We know what is at stake. Venezuela continues to experience the worst humanitarian crisis in our hemisphere. Its people continue to suffer food and medicine shortages, levels of criminal violence akin to a conflict zone, and grave human rights abuses under the Maduro regime. As if that were not enough, Venezuelans face the alarming spread of COVID-19 with a public health system in ruins. prgtoken For 7 years, Maduro's devastating abuses of the Venezuelan people have left them with little choice but to stay and suffer or flee and have a chance at survival--flee the political persecution, flee the oppression. prgtoken In Maduro's Venezuela, families struggle to feed themselves and children tragically die of treatable diseases. More than half of all Venezuelan doctors have fled the country, and 40 percent of hospitals lack electricity and 70 percent lack regular access to water. Senate s want to leave the Venezuelans who are in the United States at risk of deportation back to Maduro's nightmare rather than take action. Meanwhile, the Maduro regime is using the spread of COVID-19 to further tighten its control. prgtoken Last month, Human Rights Watch reported that dozens of journalists, healthcare workers, human rights lawyers, and political opponents have been detained or prosecuted for merely criticizing or questioning the regime's official statistics on the pandemic. prgtoken Take the case of Ivan Virguez, a 65-year-old human rights attorney who had expressed concern on Facebook about ``quarantine centers'' that had been set up by the regime. In response, police officers handcuffed him to a metal tube in a prison yard, under the Sun for 2 hours, and left him without access to a bathroom for over a day, causing him to become sick with bladder pain. Ivan remains under house arrest and without access to his criminal file and no due process. (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:) prgtoken As Senator Durbin said, ``just today, the United Nations released a report finding that Maduro's yearslong campaign of extrajudicial killings and torture amounts to crimes against humanity.'' Yet President and Senate s refuse to provide humanitarian protection to Venezuelans in the United States. prgtoken The extraordinary cond
Issues Facing America (Executive Calendar)
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-9-16

I am going to make a unanimous consent request in a moment, but I would like to preface it by saying what it is about so that as we explain it after the unanimous consent request is objected to, it will be clearer. prgtoken In the nation of Venezuela, there exists today an incredible political situation. I have been there to see it. There is a dictator in charge, and life on the street is deadly--so deadly that millions of Venezuelans are fleeing the country as fast as possible. prgtoken There is a limitation on food and medicine. There is so much suffering and starvation and deprivation that these people have given up everything, and they are just leaving. The United States knows that this is under the leader, Maduro. It reached a point where it is physically dangerous--so much so that we have a warning to American travelers not to go to Venezuela, to stay away because it is too dangerous. prgtoken Yet thousands of Venezuelans now in the United States are facing the threat of being forced return to this deadly, dangerous situation. The same State Department that warns Americans not to travel to Venezuela is now trying to force those Venezuelans who are here as students and others to go back to this deadly situation. prgtoken Senator Menendez and I and others think it just makes sense for us to give these people a shelter until it is safe for them to return to their home. That is what this request is about. prgtoken , as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 549 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
RECOGNIZING TOM SEAVER
Jim Costa (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-9-16

I also rise today to draw attention to the devastating wildfires burning in the West, throughout Washington, Oregon, and California, and other Western States, and, more precisely, this fire, the Creek fire, that is burning near my district in the central Sierra Nevada. prgtoken Let me first salute the incredible men and women, the firefighters, the first responders, all of those volunteers who are doing their best, over 14,000 of them throughout California, and many more throughout Western States. They are putting their lives on the line trying to protect us and trying to protect our forests. prgtoken Last Friday, I toured the devastation firsthand and spent 6 hours in the southern perimeter of the Creek fire in the Shaver and Huntington Lake areas. I witnessed the devastating damage that has been done, not only in this picture that is illustrated here, but the many homes that have been lost, as you see here, 1400-degree tornado firestorms that literally melted homes, such as this one here, and many, many other structures. prgtoken This summer alone, clearly, has indicated that the numbers of fires that we see, not only in California, but throughout the West, are growing both in quantity and the scope of the devastation. This summer alone, with record heat and extreme conditions made worse by climate change, California has experienced 6 of the largest 20 wildfires in its history--and, sadly, most of those wildfires are still burning. prgtoken In the foothills in the high Sierra Nevada outside my home in Fresno, California, the Creek fire continues to grow, and we only have, as of today, about 15 percent containment. But that is similar not only in California but Oregon and Washington and other States, and it is making the air quality something that you have to see to understand and believe. When I left Monday, the air index was 304. prgtoken So, what must we do? prgtoken We must learn the lessons from these devastating fires, these wildfires. And I think, first of all, it requires much better forest management. We have tried to make changes within the U.S. Forest Service, but much more needs to be done in terms of resources to better manage our forest. prgtoken We also must do better land management planning. We have hundreds and thousands of people in the last 30 years living where they didn't live before, and it requires better land use planning. prgtoken And, finally, we must address the issues of climate change. When we have extended draught periods and dry conditions, the beetle bark and other factors play into a situation which, in California, from Lassen down to Lake Isabella, we have over 100 million dead trees, and that creates the fuel that adds to the problem. prgtoken These are among the lessons that we must learn to better manage our forests for future generations to come.
Unanimous Consent Request (Executive Calendar)
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-9-16

. I am aware of it. Everything I have stated here is factual--everything, every single thing. prgtoken So, this afternoon, my colleagues and I have drafted a simple resolution that calls for the cessation of any Senate investigation or activity that allows the U.S. Congress to act as a conduit for Russian disinformation. prgtoken I cannot fathom how any Member of this Chamber could justify blocking such a resolution. There must not be a single aspect of this Chamber that wittingly or unwittingly furthers the propaganda machine of Vladimir Putin. prgtoken Now, I know what my friend from Wisconsin might say. He will deny receiving information from the particular Russian agent that I have mentioned, Mr. Derkach, but Chairman Johnson has never provided a full accounting of all the Russian- and Ukrainian-linked individuals he sought information from. One of the chairman's subpoenas, for example, targeted a Ukrainian national who is an associate of Mr. Derkach. prgtoken So anticipating his objection to this resolution, I would simply ask the chairman to provide a full accounting of whom he sought information from, so we can know who they are, what their motives are, and, therefore, the Senate can see if they are trying to interfere with our elections. prgtoken The chairman should have no issue furthering a complete accounting of his contacts with Russian and Ukrainian sources. The American people ought to know whether the U.S. Senate has been sullied by potentially receiving information from discredited Russian agents. The American people should expect the Senate to pass this resolution today. prgtoken What were our Founding Fathers most worried about? One of the top things--top things--was interference by foreign powers in our elections. Back then, their concerns were about bribery or treason or a foreign actor who infiltrated our government. Today, in our information age, the methods of foreign interference are different, but the risks are the same. prgtoken Our chief adversaries--Russia, China, Iran, North Korea--have found that disinformation and misinformation are a weak point in open societies like ours. That makes it incumbent on us--all of us--here in the Congress to be careful about the information we receive and repeat. prgtoken In the zeal for partisan advantage, we hope the majority on the Homeland Security Committee has not become a sympathetic audience and a potential entrance point to foreign influence campaigns, wittingly or unwittingly. What a disastrous and disgraceful state of affairs. The Senate should pass this resolution today. prgtoken to my colleague from Oregon.