mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PORK PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2023-7-20

it used to be California was the land of really good ideas and innovation, but the last 30 or so years it has been a place where a lot of really bad ideas come from and impact the rest of the country. prgtoken This morning I am talking about pork production in this country and California deciding that it should dictate to the rest of the country how it is done. There is not even that much pork produced in my home State, yet they want to dictate how it works. prgtoken A proposition passed that says you cannot use gestation crates for pork production. Gestation crates help piglets to not be squashed by their mother, but it has been interpreted to be something completely different. prgtoken We need H.R. 4417, the EATS Act, in order to have pork production in this country that isn't dictated by some crazies at Berkeley in California that say we can't have you produce like that. prgtoken We have already went through this with eggs. What this will produce is shortages of eggs, shortages of pork, higher prices, and even possibly lead to the importation of it because one State trying to dictate and reach across State lines to all of the others with its tentacles of its crazy ideas on how things should be done business- wise. prgtoken What will stop them from banning oil and gas being used to produce things in other States? It will keep going and going until we stop it.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE TRUTH, TRANSPARENCY, AND ANSWERS
Mike Collins (Republican, GA) \u2014 2023-7-20

. Madam , I rise today to encourage Congress to continue investigations into potential criminal conduct by President or his family. prgtoken The web of deceit that is being spun surrounding this issue must be unraveled, and House s are doing just that. prgtoken Yesterday, House Oversight heard from two credible IRS whistleblowers with knowledge of the criminal investigation. prgtoken According to the whistleblower, Hunter and his associates raked in a total of $17 million from China, Romania, and other sources between 2014 and 2019. prgtoken Knowing whether or not President has been compromised or targeted by foreign actors is critical to our national security. prgtoken Madam , I urge my colleagues in the House to continue the investigations and pursue all reliable evidence. The American people deserve truth, transparency, and answers.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Mike Lee (Republican, UT) \u2014 2023-7-20

. My amendment, Lee No. 376, is a measure that drives accountability and fairness in supporting Ukraine. My amendment creatively incentivizes our NATO allied nations to shoulder their fair share of the security burden in securing Europe. prgtoken This isn't about withholding funds from Ukraine; it is about encouraging allies to meet their 2 percent of GDP spending thresholds with regard to their national security. prgtoken Within Congress, we respond to the call of duty by urging NATO allies to step up and to meet their obligations--obligations that they have made and obligations that, when they go unmet, result in the United States of America shouldering a disproportionate, unfair share of the burden. We have been doing this for years, just as we have provided and held a disproportionate share of the burden specifically with regard to Ukraine. prgtoken Let me be very clear. My amendment ensures that funds for Ukraine remain untouched while allies contribute their fair share. prgtoken Europe's security is indeed a collective endeavor, and Lee No. 376 motivates our allies to meet or exceed the 2 percent pledge. But for it to be a collective endeavor, they have to pay their way. They haven't been. This would incentivize them to do so. prgtoken I urge its passage.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Ted Cruz (Republican, TX) \u2014 2023-7-20

I want to say a few words in support of this bipartisan bill. This is a Cruz-Manchin-Ernst-Fetterman bill, which demonstrates the breadth of agreement we can have in this body. prgtoken This amendment would prevent the sale of our Nation's emergency crude oil stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to four countries that are unequivocally U.S. adversaries. prgtoken We know that China has been amassing the largest stockpile of crude in the world. At the same time, our own reserves have fallen to only 347 million barrels--the lowest since 1983. prgtoken Last year, the United States sold off part of our reserves to China. One would think that existing law would prevent this, but that isn't yet the case. prgtoken For some time now, Senator Manchin and I have been working together to try to fix this issue. Our amendment prevents the Federal Government from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, to Russia, to Iran, or to North Korea and their related entities, while giving the Department of Energy flexibility to waive these restrictions in the event doing so serves our national security interests. prgtoken I want to thank Senator Manchin for working closely with me on this amendment and also Senators Ernst and Fetterman. prgtoken I also want to note briefly--I know there are some Members of this body who believe we should ban all oil sales overseas. I would note that doing so would be spectacularly harmful not only to U.S. interests, but it would also hurt our friends and allies. It would hurt Ukraine, it would hurt Europe, and it would benefit our enemies, including Russia, to force our friends to have to purchase oil from Russia. prgtoken I urge adoption of the amendment. prgtoken .
SECURING GROWTH AND ROBUST LEADERSHIP IN AMERICAN AVIATION ACT
Mike Johnson (Republican, LA) \u2014 2023-7-20

. I wish to include in the Record the following letter from the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association expressing opposition to Section 813 of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. July 18, 2023. Dear Members of Congress: We write to urge you to oppose the weakening of a law that protects the millions of sports fans and spectators who attend professional and collegiate spotting events each year. The current statutory ban on aircraft--including unmanned aircraft systems (``UAS'') or drones--flying over large stadium sporting events throughout the country provides necessary safety and security protections against real and potential threats. We are deeply concerned about section 813 of the House version of the Federal Aviation Administration (``FAA'') Reauthorization Act. If adopted, the language would establish a broad and complex waiver program that would permit countless aircraft to fly near and over stadiums during games, putting millions of fans at risk, and unnecessarily so. Congress wisely eliminated a similar waiver program back in 2003, after discovering troubling and persistent failures, gaps, and vulnerabilities in the process for conducting background checks and issuing waivers. The FAA first established flight restrictions over large stadium sporting events immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in response to concerns about terrorists using aircraft as weapons. Congress subsequently twice codified and strengthened these restrictions, providing specific criteria for aircraft operations permitted within the flight restricted area. Section 813 would effectively eliminate the specific criteria and replace it with an open- ended waiver program. The long-standing, congressionally mandated flight restriction enhances the safety and security of large stadium events, while minimizing the disruption to the National Airspace System (''NAS''). Specifically, airspace over large stadiums--with a seating capacity of 30,000 people or more and where a NFL, MLB, and NCAA Division 1 football games or major motor speedway events, such as NASCAR and INDYCAR races, are taking place--is closed to all aircraft from one hour before until one hour after a major sporting event. The flight restrictions extend to three nautical miles from the center of the stadium and from the surface to 3,000 feet above the stadium. The flight restrictions do not apply to authorized aircraft, such as Department of Defense, law enforcement or air ambulance flight operations, or those in contact with air traffic contro
OUR NATIONAL DEBT
Maria Elvira Salazar (Republican, FL) \u2014 2023-7-20

. Madam , he had one of the finest pens in the Cuban exile community in its 60 years of banishment from the island. prgtoken There are very few writers who could capture the suffering of the Cuban people, a country that has paid the consequences of believing in a toxic political idea. prgtoken This was a man who could warn the rest of Latin America what would happen if they followed and believed Fidel Castro's false promises. prgtoken His name was Carlos Alberto Montaner, and he just passed at 80 years old. prgtoken His great political mission was to see a liberated Cuba. prgtoken I wonder how many people like him have died waiting for the island to be freed from the jaws of Communism? prgtoken Thousands upon thousands. prgtoken How will he be remembered? prgtoken We will remember him as a good man, a decent man who was kind and humble. His only preoccupation was to deliver a message of freedom to the Cubans and to his Latin American fellow men. prgtoken His articles were impeccable, profound, and yet accessible to anyone to understand. They were full of content and historical analysis thoroughly explaining the falsehoods that Communism promises and never delivers. prgtoken Montaner's book called ``Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot'' is a classic. It is a manual for Latin Americans to avoid falling for communist tricks and to avoid falling for what Fidel Castro has promised this hemisphere. prgtoken The reality is that the 20 most developed countries in the world are capitalist democracies. They have free markets, and they have freedom of expression and small government where the individual is allowed to decide their fate rather than some unknown bureaucrat in a distant government office. prgtoken The government serves only to establish the rules of the game, and the winner is decided by whomever plays it best. prgtoken Montaner was my teacher. I read his articles meticulously, and by taking notes on his best ideas, I learned so much from his analyses, not just for their brilliance but also because they were full of goodwill for his compatriots. They were full of freedom. prgtoken It was an honor to know him, to interview him, and to be his friend. We will miss him, and I offer my deepest condolences to his widow, Linda and to his daughter Gina. prgtoken In the future, democratic leaders of a liberated Cuba will owe Montaner a prgtoken special place in the island's conscience. He helped pave the road to the idea that democracy is the best system for humanity. prgtoken May God cover him with His glory for he acted with purpose and honor in his time on Earth, always working for the love of his Latin-American family and admiring the American agenda.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (Executive Session)
James Lankford (Republican, OK) \u2014 2023-7-20

I want to talk to most Oklahomans about pharmaceuticals, about the cost of drugs and going to the pharmacy. prgtoken They don't think a lot about supply chain issues--though, I actually have a bill that is working on this, and this is an issue we have got to resolve. prgtoken About 10,000 of the active pharmaceutical ingredients come from communist China. We are very exposed there. That is a very big risk. We have got to work to be able to make sure that we can get access to our pharmaceuticals without being dependent on China to do that. That is a risk that people want to solve, but it is one that they don't really talk about the most. Most of the time, we talk about the cost of a drug and its availability at their local pharmacy. Let me talk about both of those. prgtoken As ironic as it sounds, they are tied up together and not in the way that people think about most of them. Many people think that drug companies produce drugs, and then they sell it to the pharmacy, and then the pharmacy sells the drug. They think that that is the way it works. It is really not, actually. Those are two elements. There are drug companies that do research, that develop the drugs, and do all of the clinical trials and get it approved, and they are ready to go, but then there is a wholesale network back there that actually handles the distribution. prgtoken Then there is this group that almost no one has heard of called the pharmacy benefit manager. The pharmacy benefit manager actually, oftentimes, sets the real price for the drug. The drug company may produce it at one price, and the pharmacy is ready to be able to sell it at a price, but there is this group in between, the pharmacy benefits manager, that actually controls how it works. prgtoken Now, if I am at the pharmacy in Atoka, OK, the patients who are coming into that rural, beautiful community just know what they are paying at the counter; but if you go behind the counter and talk to the pharmacist there or in any other number of communities there, they will tell you they are struggling as an independent pharmacy, especially in rural areas, because there is a game happening with the pharmacy benefit manager that is to the benefit of what is called a PBM and to the detriment of the local pharmacy and of the patient. It is an issue that has got to be resolved. prgtoken About 80 percent of all of the drugs that move across the country right now are managed by three different pharmacy benefit managers. Now, I am not opposed to competition, but here is what they have actually done over the last several years: The insurer has purchased the insurance company, the pharmacy benefit manager, the group that actually does the purchasing of the drugs, then, often, the retail pharmacy as well for some of those big chain retail pharmacies. So they, literally, own the entire network there, and they can make money through the whole network. prgtoken Again, I am a free ma
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3935, SECURING GROWTH AND ROBUST LEADERSHIP IN AMERICAN AVIATION ACT, AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3941, SCHOOLS NOT SHELTERS ACT
Bennie G. Thompson (Democrat, MS) \u2014 2023-7-24

I rise in opposition to H. Res. 597, the rule providing for consideration of the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, H.R. 3935. prgtoken The rule blocks a large number of amendments that would make important reforms, including two germane amendments I offered that are critical to ensuring the Transportation Security Administration can continue to carry out its mission to secure aviation. prgtoken The first amendment would add the text of my legislation, the ``Fund the TSA Act'' (H.R. 3394). prgtoken TSA is facing major budget challenges as it works to implement essential reforms to pay and labor rights for its workforce. prgtoken That amendment would provide TSA with the funding it needs by making a modest increase to passenger security fees and ending the diversion of fee collections from TSA's coffers. prgtoken The other amendment would add the text of my ``Rights for the TSA Workforce Act'' from the 117th Congress. prgtoken For too long, TSA workers have labored under unfair working conditions and on little pay, leading to low morale and high attrition. prgtoken Though the - Administration has thankfully taken action to address those disparities, the ongoing changes must be codified to ensure their permanence. prgtoken My amendment would do so by putting that workforce under the same personnel management system used by most Federal agencies. prgtoken TSA's security efforts underlie the entire aviation system, so as we work to reauthorize the FAA and modernize that aviation system, it is a shame that s' Leadership refuses to allow this body to consider desperately needed changes to support the TSA. prgtoken Additionally, I am concerned that the rule precludes consideration of a bipartisan amendment submitted by the gentleman from Michigan, Congressman Bergman, to keep the retirement age of pilots at 65. prgtoken The current retirement age conforms with international standards, and Congress should maintain it to ensure the continued safety of aviation passengers. prgtoken Finally, I have strong concerns with section 813 of the underlying bill, and this rule does nothing to address those concerns. prgtoken Section 813 would severely weaken the existing regime for applying temporary flight restrictions to protect major sports events across the country. prgtoken Since the FAA established flight restrictions over open-air stadiums after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, they have helped protect millions upon millions of Americans attending large-scale events, with minimal disruptions to general aviation. prgtoken Section 813 risks undermining this long-successful security program by introducing a broad, complex, and unnecessary waiver program for aircraft, including drones, to fly near, over, and above crowded stadiums. prgtoken To the extent some may have concerns regarding scheduling conflicts between sporting events and airshows, a much more tailored solution could
HONORING THE SACRIFICE OF U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICERS, OFFICER JACOB CHESTNUT AND DETECTIVE JOHN M. GIBSON
Bryan Steil (Republican, WI) \u2014 2023-7-24

I rise to honor 2 Capitol Police officers, Officer Jacob J. Chestnut, Jr and Detective John M. Gibson, who were shot and killed by a gunman in the Capitol on July 24, 1998. prgtoken In the afternoon of July 24, 1998, a lone gunman forced his way past a security checkpoint, fatally shooting Officer Chestnut. The assailant ran toward an entrance that led to the offices of Tom DeLay of Texas, the Majority Whip. Detective Gibson, a member of DeLay's protective team, told others to hide and find cover. The gunman shot Gibson, and although mortally wounded, Gibson returned fire, striking the gunman. Detective Gibson's selfless acts resulted in lives saved and provided an opportunity for responding officers to restrain the gunman and end the horrific events that day. prgtoken Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut, Jr was a 20-year Air Force veteran, having served 2 tours in Vietnam, and retired as a Master Sergeant. He has the distinction of being the first African American to lie in honor at the Capitol. He was 58 years old. prgtoken Detective John Michael Gibson had been selected as part of the dignitary protection team for Congressman Tom DeLay and had served with the United States Capitol Police for 18 years. He left behind his wife, a 17-year-old daughter, and 2 sons, 14 and 15 years old. He laid in honor with Officer Chestnut in the Capitol rotunda. prgtoken Both men were buried with full honors in Arlington National Cemetery. These men gave their lives in defense of the democracy that serves all of us while defending the lives of congressmen and -women, congressional staffers, and other United States Capitol Police officers. prgtoken In the days that followed, Representative DeLay stated that the death of these officers symbolized, ``the sacrifices of thousands of police officers across the Nation who do their duty to serve and protect the public, sometimes under great abuse, sometimes under great disregard, and many times people take them for granted. It all comes together when an incident like this happens and we realize how much we owe to police officers all over this country.'' prgtoken I'll say that the women and men who comprise the United States Capitol Police Department continue to be a very important component in safeguarding the form of government that allows us daily and routine freedoms. prgtoken Today we remember Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson while thanking all who are a part of the United States Capitol Police Department.
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Raphael G. Warnock (Democrat, GA) \u2014 2023-7-25

today I pay tribute to the Center for Transportation and the Environment in Atlanta, GA, on their 30th anniversary. prgtoken Since 1993, the Center for Transportation and the Environment has supported the commercialization of clean and zero-emissions transportation technologies that have driven the development of green energy economies in Georgia and across the United States. Using its engineering and planning expertise, the center has helped connect innovative thinkers, create jobs in emerging sectors, and foster energy independence over its long and storied history. prgtoken Though the Center for Transportation and the Environment calls Atlanta home, it has an extensive national network and imprint. The center currently manages 115 zero-emission development and deployment projects across 35 States. Over the past 30 years, the center has helped more than 300 U.S. companies move their technologies into the global energy and transportation mainstream and has supported countless cities, transit agencies, airports, municipal entities, and vehicle manufacturers as they adopt these technologies and advance our clean energy future. prgtoken Recently, the Center for Transportation and the Environment offered its unbiased expertise and insight in support of the development of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, and resulting Low- and No-Emissions Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Thanks in part to their recommendations, Congress delivered the largest infrastructure investment in our Nation's history and advanced bipartisan and transformative low-emissions transportation policies that will help keep our planet healthy for generations to come. prgtoken On their 30th anniversary, I would like to thank the Center for Transportation and Environment for their monumental efforts to reduce emissions in our Nation's transportation sector and their commitment to being a good steward for our planet. I look forward to working with the center for another 30 years as we continue to develop green energy economies in Georgia and across the country.