mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Cornyn (Republican, TX) \u2014 2021-2-3

as we all have learned, the devastation caused by COVID-19 reaches far beyond the health impact of the virus itself. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs or other sources of income. Countless small businesses no longer exist, and the stress and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of every American. That is especially true for children, whose worlds have been flipped upside down. prgtoken Last spring, schools in Texas and across the country transitioned from in-person to virtual instruction in order to help stop the spread of the virus. In the beginning, we thought this was a short-term measure, a way to keep students, teachers, and their families safe from the virus we knew very little about at the time. I don't think any of us expected that those closures would last as long as they have, with many students across the country coming up on their 1-year anniversary of virtual learning. prgtoken As weeks turned into months, it became clear that online instruction was no replacement for classroom learning. We know many families just don't have the ability either to access broadband or they don't have the supervision at home of family members to help keep children on task when it comes to virtual learning. It is a poor substitute, in most instances, unless it is just absolutely necessary. prgtoken Last spring, schools in Texas and across the country transitioned to virtual instruction, as I said, to stop the spread of the virus. We thought this would be a way to stop the spread, but as weeks turned into months, it became clear that many kids were falling behind, especially in foundational subjects like math and reading, and the learning deficit is even greater for students of color and those in high poverty communities. prgtoken One study found that for math, White students began this year about 1 to 3 months behind in their learning, while students of color fell 3 to 5 months behind. prgtoken We know that the impact is not purely academic. There is also a serious mental and emotional toll. The Texas Tribune recently shared a story of one student, a boy they refer to as Jordan. He was a student in the Frisco Independent School District, and like kids across the country, he struggled with the challenge of virtual learning. This fall, his normal A's and B's dropped to F's, and the further he fell behind, the harder it was for him to catch up. prgtoken In October, Jordan opened up a Google doc and typed an absolutely agonizing message. He said ``give me 10 GOOD reasons why I shuldnt kill myself here.'' prgtoken And when you think that can't get any more heartbreaking, it does. The list was blank. An 11-year-old boy felt prgtoken so lost and defeated, he couldn't come up with a single reason to continue living. prgtoken Well, if there is a bright spot in this otherwise very dark story, it is that this incident did not go unnoticed. Jordan was using a schoo
SETTING FORTH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021--Continued
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2021-2-3

I want to thank my colleague from Utah, Senator Mike Lee, for his remarks. prgtoken Last week, with the stroke of a pen, President eliminated critical pro-life protections. He reversed the Mexico City policy and began the process of dismantling title X protections against abortion. prgtoken I am glad to join Senator Lee, Senator Blackburn, along with several other pro-life Senators fighting back and calling on the Senate to pass the important bills today to reverse President 's pro-abortion actions. prgtoken The bottom line is, President 's actions were basically a handout to Planned Parenthood. It is no surprise, as Planned Parenthood spent millions to get the President elected. Now they are simply cashing in--this time, on the taxpayer's dime. prgtoken The United States should not spend taxpayer dollars to support a radical abortion agenda throughout the world, and we should absolutely not allow a slush fund of taxpayer dollars to line the pockets of Planned Parenthood. prgtoken I also want to thank my colleague Senator Inhofe, who urged the Senate to pass his bill today to protect babies with Down syndrome from being targeted for abortion. prgtoken Now, I watched what happened here just minutes ago. The objected. It is truly astounding. This bill should have passed unanimously, and it really exposes a terrible hypocrisy. prgtoken Most s and today in Congress are unified in support for the Special Olympics. We are unified in supporting protecting those individuals with disabilities. Yet my colleagues across the aisle today opposed this commonsense legislation that would stop the most lethal kind of discrimination--the most lethal kind of discrimination imaginable--and that is being singled out and brutally killed simply because of a Down syndrome diagnosis. prgtoken Last week, I stood right here to bring attention to this very chilling issue. Today, babies with Down syndrome are the most endangered on Earth. In fact, prgtoken sadly, in the United States, 67 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. That is two out of three. prgtoken And, for me, this is personal. Last week, I shared the story of a sweet baby boy named Andrew. He is the son of some of my very good friends. Andrew has Down's. He brings light and joy to his family's life every day. He has an older brother, an older sister. I can tell you, this world, their family would not be the same without him. prgtoken I am deeply concerned that for babies with Down syndrome, abortion has become a tool of eugenics. It is the duty of this body to end this lethal discrimination. It is our duty to protect every innocent life, no matter how small, no matter how many chromosomes they may have. prgtoken I believe every human being is created with God-given dignity and God-given protection. No court, no legislature, no law can take that away. prgtoken I will not give up this fight, and I know ma
SETTING FORTH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021--Continued
Marsha Blackburn (Republican, TN) \u2014 2021-2-3

since 1976, Federal law has prohibited the use of Federal funds--taxpayer dollars--for abortion. prgtoken Section 1008 of the Public Health Service Act explicitly States that title X funds ``shall not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.'' prgtoken But, as often happens in Federal law, there is a loophole: Federal regulations do allow abortion facilities to be colocated within clinics that are following the title X rules, and those prgtoken rules are providing healthcare to women. prgtoken The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act would close that loophole by prohibiting the awarding of these funds to entities that perform abortions or that provide funds to entities that perform abortions. prgtoken The bill allows for exceptions to be mad in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. It would also require HHS to provide an annual report to Congress listing entities receiving grant funds, and specifying which of those grantees performed abortions under the exceptions. prgtoken This is not a big change. As I said, this is a simple change. It is one that would add to the protections of women and their unborn children. It is a statutory fix that will redirect tens of millions of dollars in funding to providers, our community care clinics that are offering comprehensive healthcare services for women. prgtoken , I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 88, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021
Byron Donalds (Republican, FL) \u2014 2021-2-3

as I walked onto the House floor today, I heard the talk from the other side, talking about wanting to share in good ideas. But what is interesting is, as this budget resolution has come forth, there has been no sharing of ideas. prgtoken We have seen a general framework coming from the administration calling for $1.9 trillion, but that completely flies in the face of the fact that there is $1 trillion that this very body, the last Congress, appropriated last year that is still unspent. That money has not gone out the door. Yet, we are talking about solutions to help our country through COVID-19. prgtoken Now, my career before politics was actually in finance and economics. I spent 17 years in that field. If you are going to talk about stimulating an economy, the first thing you want to do is actually study the current state of your economy. One of the metrics we always like to use in financial services is the unemployment rate. It is a pretty popular statistic. prgtoken Let's take a look at the unemployment rates going on around the country. In my State of Florida, it is 6.1 percent. In Alabama, it is 3.9 percent. In South Carolina, it is 4.6 percent. In Texas, it is 7.2 percent. prgtoken Compare that to blue States in our country, New York and California, where they soar over 8 percent. prgtoken Why is that happening? prgtoken Because their governors and their mayors have refused to reopen their economies. prgtoken If you want to stimulate something, actually let the American people get back to work. Let them run their businesses, and you would be surprised at what actually would happen in our economy. prgtoken Let's talk about the $15 minimum wage, which is in the plan. I don't know how a $15 minimum wage is going to help struggling small businesses continue to thrive in the current environment. Furthermore, what we have already seen with the $15 minimum wage is that it has led to workers actually getting less hours, less hours at the jobs that they have. I don't see how that is actually helping anybody stimulate an economy. prgtoken Let's talk about education. In this plan, right now there is $170 billion, give or take, to go to local school districts to reopen. prgtoken But guess what? If they are picketing outside of the school district's school board in Chicago to not go back into the classroom, what is this additional money actually doing? prgtoken In Florida, we have been open in our schools. We have done this. There are tens of billions of dollars already available to help school districts reopen. All they need is leadership. They don't need more money. prgtoken The last thing I want to add is with respect to State and local governments. Every State government and every local government either gets their money from income taxes, sales taxes; like in the great State of Florida, property taxes on the local level. This is typically how you get your revenue. If you want to help State and local
SETTING FORTH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021--Continued
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2021-2-3

. Thank you. The actions of my ic colleagues this week make it clear that they do not have any intention of working with s on a bipartisan COVID package. There is no other explanation for the budget resolution that was introduced this week. prgtoken We are not considering this budget resolution for the usual purpose of establishing overall spending and revenue levels for the fiscal year. That has already been done. The sole purpose, then, of this budget is to establish reconciliation instructions whereby the majority can pass a partisan COVID package on a party-line vote, quite contrary to the inaugural address of President where he said he was going to be reaching out to s. prgtoken I know there has been some discussion with s but not a serious effort to compromise. Embarking down this inherently partisan path of going the budgetary reconciliation route now poisons the well for any fruitful bipartisan negotiation. And you can't say it too many times that it is completely at odds with President 's call for unity and bipartisanship during the campaign and told to the people of the United States in the inaugural address. prgtoken It doesn't have to be this way. My colleagues and I stand ready to engage in bipartisan discussions to reach an agreement to provide targeted COVID relief. A consensus package could be done very quickly, just as happened with the bipartisan CARES package back in March of last year. The relief package Congress passed in December came together very quickly once both sides agreed to set aside partisan poison pills. s did that for things we wanted, and did that for things they wanted. prgtoken Now, hardly 6 weeks later, here we are back on a partisan approach to helping the needy people because of the pandemic and helping the healthcare crisis because of the pandemic. In the past year or so, we have done a lot. We have been able to come together in a bipartisan way to pass around $4 trillion in COVID-focused relief, and we did that all--you can't say it too many times--with strong bipartisan support. Why not now? There is no reason we can't come together for the American people and do it once more and probably have to do it again after something would be passed the early part of this year. prgtoken Instead of wasting our time with a weeklong partisan exercise, we could be working together today to forge a bipartisan compromise. If this was the course that the majority were to take, I think there is much that we could agree to with near universal support and do it in short order. Everyone recognizes we need to get control of the virus as a first priority. That is necessary to save lives and get back to anything close to resembling a normally functioning economy. prgtoken Rapid deployment of the vaccine is our best hope for our getting there to prgtoken get the economy functioning. I doubt a single Member of this Sena
ROE V. WADE
Christopher H. Smith (Republican, NJ) \u2014 2021-2-3

. Madam , I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert) for that very passionate defense of life and the passionate and beautiful story of life. prgtoken Madam , we know that Dr. John Joyce is on his way. Congressman Joyce should be here momentarily. prgtoken Madam , I just want to point out one final thing. I just want to point out to my colleagues that we know that this is a difficult time for the pro-life movement in this Chamber. I have been here when we have had majorities and when we have had minorities. Based on what we think are the votes, we probably are in the minority right now. But I have to tell you, Madam , that any victory that results in more child deaths is a Pyrrhic victory. It is no victory at all. These children deserve our respect and our love, and the mothers as well, not the violence of abortion. prgtoken I would point out, too, that we do face these enormous challenges. I have been in the movement for 48 years. So I can say this with some sense of knowing the people who make up the pro-life movement. We love those who disagree with us. We respect even those with whom we fundamentally disagree, even when it is not reciprocated. prgtoken It is all about respect from womb to tomb and for each other. So as the debates heat up and as we go through this session of Congress, we will, with respect, hear you. We disagree fundamentally because we do believe that it is a truth and a fact that these children are deserving of respect. So I want you to know, Madam , this will be a very rough couple of years for the pro-life movement in this House. prgtoken It has happened before. I was here when Bill Clinton had majorities in both Houses and when had majorities in both Houses. But we will persevere and we will never quit because these children's lives are worth it. prgtoken Madam , from Georgia (Mr. Allen), who is a member of the Agriculture Committee and the Education and Labor Committee.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021
Bob Good (Republican, VA) \u2014 2021-2-3

I rise in opposition to H. Con. Res. 11, the House budget for fiscal year 2021. prgtoken , in response to a previous speaker, it is always time to talk about the deficit. Our national debt has already climbed to $28 trillion, representing about $85,000 per American citizen. This is over $200,000 per American family or household. prgtoken How can we ever hope to repay that? prgtoken The spending on our interest payments alone on this debt, even with the current artificially low interest rates, amounts to about 8 percent of our annual budget as recently as fiscal year '19. It is projected to rise to 26 percent of our budget over the next 30 years or by fiscal year `50. prgtoken This path of fiscal insanity is simply not sustainable. Without our currently artificial rates, we simply couldn't even afford to pay our existing debt right now. Our national debt and current fiscal situation truly represents one of the greatest threats to our country. The science, as we like to say, or more specifically the math, confirms this reality because a day of reckoning is coming. prgtoken We are the first generation to ever leave a legacy of debt to our children and grandchildren. The Greatest Generation, the World War II generation, who also faced down the Great Depression crisis, didn't even do this to us. prgtoken So where do we find ourselves today? prgtoken We are contemplating a $2 trillion spending package that will cost every American citizen an average of about $6,000 apiece, or $15,000 per family. prgtoken For what? What will they be getting for their share of this new debt? prgtoken Some will get a $1,400 check in return for their $6,000 share of the debt. That is not a very good deal. prgtoken This proposal comes from the same folks who continue to unjustifiably clamp down on our freedoms, economically and otherwise. In fact, in my own home State of Virginia, 25 percent of businesses have permanently closed since the lockdowns began. There is simply no substitute for the American economy, and no relief or spending package will ever be sufficient. prgtoken When has government spending ever truly fixed a problem or not made it worse? prgtoken We have to turn the American worker, the American businessperson, and the American economy loose. We have to stop spending our citizens' futures.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021
David Schweikert (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2021-2-3

I would like to say that Congresswoman Beatty has a great mask. It is wonderfully sparkly. prgtoken I did want to share one thing very, very quickly. This is our CBO projection of where we are at right now. With the moneys that have already been authorized right now, by the end of this year, we will be close to a 4 percent GDP growth. So last quarter wasn't anywhere where we wanted it. The quarter before that was miserable. But you have to understand that this is where we are at. prgtoken We keep hearing our fellow Members make comments, saying the economists said, ``Go big.'' But if you actually listen to their second line, multiple economists said, ``Go big, but go targeted.'' prgtoken This document isn't targeted. It is all over the board. prgtoken , I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).
HONORING OFFICER ADAM TACK
Tom Rice (Republican, SC) \u2014 2021-2-3

. Madam , I rise today to honor an extraordinary South Carolinian, Officer Adam Tack of the Horry County Police Department. prgtoken Last night, Officer Tack was awarded the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award. Officer Tack puts his life at risk daily while upholding his oath to protect his community. He is a true hero. prgtoken September 17, 2020, Officer Tack saved the lives of Liam and Levi Cannon trapped in a car sinking in the floodwaters of Hurricane Sally. He dove in the water and using his baton broke the window to pull the two children from the car. Tack only had minor injuries and all five Cannon family members survived. prgtoken Madam , I join the people of Horry County in recognizing Officer Adam Tack. We thank him for his service and commitment to our community.
SETTING FORTH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021--Continued
James M. Inhofe (Republican, OK) \u2014 2021-2-3

I have a hard time with that, I say to my friend from Connecticut. prgtoken Somehow, in protecting those with Down syndrome, you are killing those with Down syndrome. prgtoken Right now, I am really shocked that people would talk about protecting children. The previous speaker was from Pennsylvania. He had a bill on childcare and taking care of kids. Yet now we are talking about the fact that a baby, in having been diagnosed with having Down syndrome, somehow should be aborted. I can't think of how anyone could oppose this bill, especially because the American people overwhelmingly--70 percent of them--oppose aborting a child on the basis that the child would be born with Down syndrome. That includes 56 percent of the people who consider themselves to be pro-abortion people. Fifty-six percent of the people who support abortion oppose this on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis. prgtoken In the United States, over two-thirds of the unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted right now. Why? Instead of receiving information, resources, and support, mothers often resort to feeling pressure to abort. prgtoken Justice Clarence Thomas put it a little bit more directly. He said: ``I am deeply concerned that for babies with Down syndrome, abortion has become `a tool of modern day eugenics.' '' That was from a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. prgtoken My bill would protect these innocent lives from systematic discrimination through abortion. We say that we support equality in the United States. Yet countless babies' lives have been stolen because of their chromosome counts. So I am surprised that my colleagues can object to this commonsense bill and that they reject protecting the most vulnerable among us, and, certainly, those who are born with Down syndrome are among the most vulnerable among us. prgtoken I just want the people to know out there, our friends in the Down syndrome community--and there is a community--that a lot of people are concerned about this. I am going to keep fighting for you even though some are using any kind of excuse that they can think of from protecting these babies. prgtoken Before , I will respond to any comments from the Senator from Connecticut. prgtoken Hearing none, .