mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Travel Ban (Executive Session)
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2017-1-30

this is the 11th day of the Presidency. To say that these have been tumultuous days is certainly an understatement. What happened over this past weekend really was unsettling to many people all across the United States. prgtoken Candidate made it clear that he had strong feelings about refugees and strong feelings about immigration, but I don't think anyone anticipated the Executive orders that were issued by the administration, by the President, on Friday. The net result of that we saw across the United States at O'Hare International Airport, JFK, Dulles, many other airports. International travelers, en route, learned that the laws of the United States were being changed because of President 's Executive order. As a result, there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty, and hardships were created. Individuals who were coming to the United States as refugees were being turned away. prgtoken For the record, this decision to indefinitely suspend the admission of Syrian refugees into the United States is not a decision based on fact. Since 9/11, since the war in Syria began, we have not had a single--not one--instance of terrorism by a Syrian refugee--not one. The United States has not stepped up as other countries like Canada have in admitting Syrian refugees. We have gone to great lengths, extraordinary lengths, to give background checks that are as consuming as one can imagine, to verify their identity and their safety to the United States. prgtoken Overwhelmingly, these Syrian refugees are the victims of a deadly war which has gone on for years, and overwhelmingly they are children with their mothers. I have met them. I sat down with them in Chicago. It is heartbreaking to think that they have lived through war, may have been lucky enough to make it to a refugee camp, and then waited for years-- for years--to be cleared by the United States and be given a chance to come to this country. prgtoken It has to be a heartbreaking process. Through it all, many of them have endured losses in their families that they will never be able to forget--injuries and deaths of people whom they love. These are men and women in Syria escaping a deadly war and the terrorists who have ravaged that country. They have tried to come to the United States for safety and security. prgtoken The history of refugees in America is one that in modern version is very admirable, but unfortunately before--during World War II--it was a sad chapter in our history. Not only did we inter about 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps during the war for fear that they would betray the United States, but during that war, time and again, the administration of President Roosevelt as well as Congress refused to allow those who were escaping the Holocaust in Nazi Germany to come to the United States. prgtoken Here on this Senate floor where I stand, an effort was made by Senator Robert Wagner of New York to admit 10,000 J
Travel Ban (Executive Session)
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2017-1-30

I rise in gratitude for the opportunity to speak on the Senate floor. I want to express a lot of gratitude toward the Senator from Massachusetts. She has been an advocate for the truth of our country. She has spoken here on this hallowed floor. I have now watched her speak in the streets, at airports, at rallies. She is one of those people--like so many Americans, literally millions of Americans over the course of these last few weeks--who is saying with the force of conviction that they will not be silent when the cause of our country is at stake. prgtoken I join with her tonight, along with some of my other colleagues, to stand up and really speak from the heart. I think this floor has seen many partisan speeches, but this is not going to be about or . This is not a speech I ever imagined I would be giving in the U.S. Senate. I never thought I would be here today talking about something that quite honestly was unimaginable to me just months ago. prgtoken This is a time I could not have foreseen, and I fear my generation of Americans maybe, perhaps, should have known that moments like this are possible; that we who believe in the values of our Nation, we who believe in the ideals enshrined in our Constitution, such as religious liberty, we should know that every generation of Americans has to prove worthy of these ideals and stay forever vigilant in their protection and never get so complacent as to think that this could never happen. The ideals we enjoy were fought for and struggled for and often bled for and died for. We of our generation who have the privileges we enjoy, the blessings of liberty that we luxuriate in, we have the obligation to stay the course to ensure that these moments never come, and when they do, that we stand with conviction to speak out against them, work against them to resist any retrenchment of American values. prgtoken What did in this Executive action issued this past Friday is, in no uncertain terms, a break with American policy. I believe it is a violation of our very Constitution, that it is illegal, unconstitutional, as well as immoral. More than this, it very specifically makes this Nation less safe and not more so. I want to repeat that. It makes this Nation less safe and not more so. prgtoken The ban was put forth in a climate of fear, intending to try to appeal to people's fears, trying to tell people that doing this Executive order was going to make us safer, but in its essence it is illogical when you look at the facts. Not only should it be known that it blocks immigration from seven majority Muslim countries--seven countries. Not a single perpetrator of terrorist attacks on American soil has come from these countries, dating back to well before 9/11. In fact, well before 2000, well before the nineties, well before the eighties and, in fact, not since the seventies, in over 40 years, no American has been killed on Ameri
HONORING MS. ELIZABETH BASILE
Mike Thompson (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-1-30

I, along with Representative Huffman, rise today to honor Ms. Elizabeth Basile and her extraordinary life devoted to education and activism. Her family and friends are gathered with her today in Santa Rosa, California to honor her years of dedicated service to our community. prgtoken Ms. Basile is a native of Stockton, California, and spent much of her early childhood in Brooklyn, New York. At sixteen, her family returned to California, and she spent the rest of her adolescence in Los Angeles. After marrying and starting a family of her own, Ms. Basile enrolled in college at the age of thirty and earned her Bachelor's Degree in English and History and her Master's Degree in Reading Specialization at California State University, Los Angeles. prgtoken Ms. Basile began teaching in East Los Angeles at El Sereno Junior High School. After her family moved to Sonoma County, she continued her teaching career at Casa Grande High School until she retired in 1992. The California Teachers Association recruited Ms. Basile during her first year of teaching, and she rose through the ranks to become Chapter President of the Association of Petaluma Teachers. prgtoken In addition to Ms. Basile's dedication to education, she displayed an exceptional commitment to the Girl Scouts youth organization in our community. She served as her daughter's troop leader for a decade, and worked as a Camp Counselor for Kamp Konocti, a Girl Scout Council's established camp, and volunteered at the Girl Scouts Day Camp in the Whittier area. She proudly maintains her lifetime Girl Scouts membership to this day. prgtoken President John F. Kennedy inspired Ms. Basile to engage in politics. She became a Precinct Captain during his 1960 presidential campaign, and she coordinated with several leaders across California to organize canvasses and phone banks. Ms. Basile has since been involved in every presidential election to register and get voters to the polls, and she is one of the best known figures in our Sonoma County political community. prgtoken , Ms. Basile has dedicated her life to local activism and the betterment of children through education and volunteer work in our community. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor her here today.
TRAVEL BAN
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-1-30

on Friday, the President reshuffled the National Security Council to remove permanent postings for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence and installed a permanent seat for White House Political Adviser Steve Bannon. It is a disturbing and profound departure from past administrations. prgtoken On the most sensitive matters of national security, the President should be relying on the informed counsel of members of the military and intelligence agencies, not political advisers who made their careers promoting a White nationalist Web site. prgtoken The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the President's primary military adviser, and his voice, along with that of the Director of National Intelligence, are the only independent, apolitical voices. President 's move to strip them of their seats is baffling. It endangers our national security and is contrary to the spirit and intent of the National Security Act. prgtoken This morning, Gen. Michael Hayden--I can't think of a more respected general and intelligence leader. He has served bipartisanly, the Clinton, , administrations. He said that the move--and these are his words, not mine, General Hayden's--``puts ideology at the center over the professional kind of information that the DNI and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs bring to the party.'' prgtoken That is a deeply disturbing thought. It reinforces this administration's preference to propagate its own reality, rather than grapple with the facts on the ground, and if that continues, America is going to have real trouble. prgtoken It is one thing when it comes to a dustup about the size of the inauguration crowd; it is an entirely different story when it is the most sensitive activities undertaken by our Nation's government. prgtoken Much like the Muslim ban, this decision was poorly thought out and ill-conceived. It has put a filter on the information going to the President and, like the Executive order, makes us less safe. prgtoken , .
Travel Ban (Executive Session)
Christopher Murphy (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2017-1-30

there is a French farmer by the name of Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. He immigrated to the United States from Normandy, France, in 1759, and he settled in the Hudson Valley. He married an American woman. The astounding diversity of those who settled around him, his fellow farmers, was shocking to him. He said: It is ``a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes.'' prgtoken There was one family he knew who had an English grandfather, a Dutch grandmother, an Anglo-Saxon son who had a French wife, whose four sons all married women who were from different places of different nationalities. Hector said: ``From this promiscuous breed, that race now called Americans has arisen.'' prgtoken He asked: ``What then is the American, this new man?'' prgtoken This farmer who came to America from Normandy in 1759 wrote this: He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is the new man who acts upon new principles. . . . Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men. prgtoken George Washington told us that the bosom of America is open to the oppressed and the persecuted of all nations and religions. prgtoken That great American philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, that observer of American life, said in a letter: Imagine, my dear friend, if you can, a society formed of all the nations of the world . . . people having different languages, beliefs, opinions: in a word, a society without roots, without memories, without prejudices, without routines, without common ideas, without a national character, yet a hundred times happier than our own. prgtoken I am not sure if any of those are completely accurate descriptions of what an American was or is or whether those are commensurate with our understanding as to the foundations of this country, but they speak to this founding ideal of America, this place where you could come from any part of the world with any set of beliefs, with any religion, with any skin color, and become something that is uniquely new. prgtoken There were people here before those who traveled from far-off lands, but to be an American is in many ways an invention--an invention of the amalgamation of faiths of peoples from all over the world. prgtoken Both Hector and de Tocqueville talk about the leaving behind of prejudices when you come to this new country. Inherent in that idea is this belief of new Americans that the discrimination they faced in other places could be washed away upon coming to a country, a land at that time in which everyone was equal, everyone started from the same place. Of course, that has to be true because this country was founded by individuals who were fleeing religious persecution, who thought that
Travel Ban (Executive Session)
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2017-1-30

Mr. 's poorly drawn and implemented Executive order blocking refugees from the United States sacrifices fundamental American values and does not make us safer. prgtoken For the first time in memory, the order imposes a ban on all refugees entering our country, many of whom are fleeing war or who risk persecution for their religious or political beliefs. The order affects many thousands of children, women, and men whom our government has vetted for years and cleared for rescue. prgtoken President 's action--taken in the first days of his new administration, for political reasons, without regard for real world consequences and without the expertise of our national security professionals or even some of those appointed by the President himself--represents a rare, but shameful, departure from a constitutional heritage that has made America strong and a beacon to oppressed people throughout the world. prgtoken For generations, immigrants and refugees have come to our country to flee religious persecution and to seek a better life. Indeed, these are the very people who founded our original colonies. Although, as now, we have occasionally failed to live up to our ideals, over generations the United States has accepted millions of refugees from around the world. prgtoken My own family is part of this story, as so many people's families in this Chamber are. My mom was born in Poland in 1938 while Nazi tanks massed at the border. She and her parents miraculously survived the Holocaust--one of the worst human events in history. prgtoken After the war, after arriving in Sweden and then Mexico City, they were able to come to New York City in 1950. They wanted to come to the United States because it was the only country in the world where they believed they could rebuild their shattered lives. And they did. prgtoken This weekend, my mom joined hundreds of thousands of Americans to call on the President to change course, knowing that our family's struggles in Europe require us to recognize the danger and persecution facing families throughout the Middle East today. prgtoken Out of a population of 22 million, almost 5 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries--some to Europe--and have registered as refugees. More than half of those displaced are children. prgtoken According to the United Nations, more than half of the remaining Syrian population--6 million of them children--require assistance such as food, water, and health care. Nearly one in four people in Lebanon today--tonight--is a Syrian refugee, and the fourth largest city in Jordan is now a refugee camp. prgtoken In the wake of President 's refugee ban, it seems useful to ask--and I am sure the American people are asking--why are so many millions of people fleeing their homes, their countries, and their history? prgtoken They are doing it to save their lives--and, in many cases, their children's lives--from ISIS's medieval barbarism a
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, THE PRESS, AND RUSSIA
Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2017-1-30

's Executive order banning Muslims from seven countries, none of which was a source of terrorists who have carried out attacks in this country, was un-American, arbitrary, inhumane, and it will likely spur an increase in violence targeting Americans. I will have plenty more to say about it and other reckless actions by this White House in the days and weeks ahead. prgtoken In the meantime, I want to say a few words about the bizarre back and forth between the administration and the news media regarding attendance at the inauguration and who is telling the truth and who is not. prgtoken One might think that with all that is happening in the country and the world and the rush by the President to sign Executive orders that would dramatically affect the rights, and the priorities, of millions of Americans, the question of how many people were at the inauguration would not generate such controversy. But it turns out that this is about much more than that, as it goes to the heart of the role of a free press in this country and whether the American people can have confidence that the President is telling the truth. prgtoken We already knew that candidate and now President is prone to bragging and making wildly unrealistic promises and inaccurate claims, many of which he later disavows. He frequently ignores or misstates basic facts and refuses to correct those falsehoods. So it was no surprise when he predicted that the crowd at his inauguration would be ``an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout.'' prgtoken It was also no surprise, as usually happens at inaugurations and large public demonstrations, that high-elevation photographs were used to estimate the number of participants. To anyone who attended both the and inaugurations, it was obvious that the number of people at President 's inauguration was far larger than at President 's inauguration, as photographs clearly showed. prgtoken President , however, insisted the photographs were fabricated. The morning after the inauguration, he said he could see from the stage on the West Front of the Capitol that there were ``a million'' or ``a million and a half'' people on the Mall. prgtoken When reports clearly showed only a fraction of that, he accused news organizations of lying, calling them ``among the most dishonest human beings on Earth,'' and warned that they would regret it. prgtoken Later that day, the President's spokesman, Sean Spicer, also accused the press of lying. He said the photographs were deceptive, and he insisted that President 's inauguration was ``the most watched ever.'' That, of course, was a clever distortion of what the President actually said. prgtoken President was unmistakably talking about the number of people who were actually present on the Mall when he was sworn in, which seems to matter more to him than it does to anyone else. prgtoken Mr. Spicer expanded that
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCTED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-1-30

I have come to the floor as we have just filed a resolution--a bill actually--with 26 cosponsors that would repeal the immigration ban placed by President . President 's Muslim ban is unnecessary, it is unconstitutional, and it is un- American. It should be repealed immediately. prgtoken The Executive order prohibits individuals from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen from entering the country. It even bars relatives of Americans from visiting. The order suspends the entire U.S. refugee program, and most egregiously, Syrian refugees are banned indefinitely unless they are Christian. These provisions are not what America is all about. prgtoken First, the order is unnecessary. Individuals from the 7 targeted countries and 150 other nations are already thoroughly screened. Visitors fill out visa applications. They submit photographs that run through biometric databases. Their personal information is reviewed, including names, addresses, and dates of birth. They are interviewed at a U.S. consulate. The process could take months to complete and eliminates the need for the travel ban. prgtoken In addition, the move to ban refugees has no legitimate national security reason because these refugees undergo an even more thorough screening process that can take up to 2 years to complete. The vast majority of refugees are women and children who have experienced the absolute worst of humanity. prgtoken Let's not forget the heart-wrenching image of the small body of Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy, washed up on a beach, dead. I will never forget this small boy in his short pants, his shoes, and his socks, lying on that beach. To turn away women and children and men in their time of dire need is not what this Nation is all about. prgtoken Let me make this point: The poor execution of this Executive order has resulted in chaos and confusion. It is unclear whether the Justice Department or Homeland Security had any input. There seems to have been a disagreement about whether it would apply to green card holders. There was confusion about whether it applies to prgtoken individuals already in transit or approved for travel. Even airport directors--I have spoken directly with the directors of Los Angeles International and San Francisco International, and there was confusion about how it applies. Even airport directors were left in the dark about how many people were detained and who they were. prgtoken Sara Yarjani was one Californian caught up in this mess. She is an Iranian national studying at the California Institute for Human Science in San Diego under a valid student visa. After being detained at LAX for 23 hours, she was sent back to Europe, a clear violation of the nationwide stay against the order. What I am saying is that the court stay was actually violated. This is just one of more than 100 stories from the weekend. prgtoken I believe this order is also unconstitutional. The