mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
HONORING THE SPIRITED LEADERSHIP OF DEBBIE MacCOY
Joe Courtney (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , I rise today to shine a bright light on the ultimate example of leadership set by a resident of eastern Connecticut's second district, Debbie MacCoy. For more than six years, Debbie has been on the front lines of the crumbling foundations crisis affecting the State of Connecticut, and now we know, the State of Massachusetts as well. Throughout this crisis, Debbie has acted as a leading figure on the issue, dedicating countless hours in advocacy, education, and communication with local, state, and federal leaders, leading researchers, and international communities impacted by similar crises. Debbie has operated as a volunteer throughout this entire period and will soon retire from her role as one of the preeminent community advocates on this issue. prgtoken In part due to Debbie's leadership, hundreds of families have now been able to remain in their home with a remodeled foundation, with thousands more in the pipeline. prgtoken Organizing purely from a grassroots level, Debbie left her career of more than 30 years to allow the time necessary to focus on the issue of crumbling foundations. Each week, she has poured through correspondence from homeowners writing to her under duress seeking guidance or assistance. prgtoken Madam , it is an honor to represent constituents as dedicated as Debbie. I have had the privilege of knowing her personally for many years and can attest to her compassion for others and her high ethical standards in the way she conducts herself in the community. If it were not for advocates like her, there would be far fewer solutions available to those affected by this crisis. I am grateful for Debbie's fierce example of altruism and her decades-long friendship. To that end, I ask that my colleagues in the House join me in memorializing Deborah MacCoy's efforts, setting them further into stone and thanking her for all those who have benefitted from those efforts. Debbie will forever be a ``concrete queen'' for Connecticut residents. I thank her.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2022-1-19

this past weekend is our annual reminder as a country of the courage, suffering, sacrifice, passion, love, and energy that so many of our fellow Americans put into protecting our democracy. prgtoken When in a democracy, one group of citizens can deliberately, purposefully make it more difficult for another group of citizens to vote, they have put a dagger into that democracy. We cannot let that happen. prgtoken I am here today to focus, in particular, on one voting right that we have in this country, and that voting right is, when you are voting, to know what the hell is going on around you in that election, to know who is saying what, to know who the players are around you. If we are supposed to sit here, as Americans, and just act like indolent consumers, passive in this democracy, that is not the way it is supposed to work. Citizenship is an office, and that office has duties, and the duties include being informed of what is going on around you. prgtoken And what is stopping American citizens from knowing what is going on around them is the cascade, the torrent, the Nile River of dark money that has begun to flow into our democracy since Citizens United. prgtoken It wasn't enough that the Members of the Court let unlimited money flow. They then had to refuse to react when that unlimited dark money went underground, when it went dark, when it became anonymous. prgtoken They have had chance after chance to fix it and they refuse and we are left with this mess. It matters that citizens know who is talking in a democracy. prgtoken In my circuit, the First Circuit Court of Appeals--where Jack Reed and I have the honor, occasionally, to recommend nominees to the President--there is a judge who I believe is the dean of the First Circuit Court of Appeals named Bruce Selya. He is a Rhode Islander. He was a Reagan appointee. He is a . He is a very distinguished judge. And he has said: It is crucial that the electorate can understand who is speaking and, thus, to give proper weight to different speakers and messages when deciding how to vote. prgtoken That crucial right is denied to Americans wholesale because of an unprecedented dark money campaign of interference in our democracy. prgtoken You see it whenever it is election season. You are watching a television show and suddenly your TV screen is occupied by an advertisement that tells you that somebody is a bum, that somebody is no good, that somebody is terrible, that smears them. And at the end it says, ``This advertisement was brought to you by Americans for peace and puppies and prosperity,'' some completely imaginary group that was cooked up just to launch those advertisements, and whatever filth those advertisements contain is then disappeared with the end of that front group. prgtoken It is the political equivalent of toilet paper. You flush it when you are done with the filth, and whoever is behind it keeps their hands cle
WILLIE O'REE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT
Brian Higgins (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2022-1-19

I rise today in support of S. 452, the Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act. prgtoken Willie O'Ree, which has been already said, was a trailblazer for hockey both on and off the ice. He was to the National Hockey League what Jackie Robinson was to Major League Baseball. prgtoken As the first Black player in the National Hockey League, he endured racism, bigotry, and prejudice from both players and fans. Despite this, he played more than two decades in the National Hockey League and in the minor leagues developing his skills and later becoming the National Hockey League's diversity ambassador. prgtoken Willie O'Ree broke down historic barriers and paved the way for young athletes in marginalized communities. In 2012, he visited my community for the Willie O'Ree Skills Weekend hosted by the National Hockey League Buffalo Sabres. Today we honor his dedication to improving diversity and accessibility in sports which makes him most deserving of this high honor. prgtoken He is an inspiration to all athletes, and particularly to young athletes of color in western New York and throughout the Nation. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2022-1-19

. I mean, in what country are we, where a certain minority in predominantly minority communities has to wait 10 times as long? prgtoken And so when you read--and I have heard my colleagues read these laws. They read: Well, what is wrong with having no drop boxes because, hey, we didn't have them before the pandemic. What is wrong with not having that many days to vote by mail? prgtoken What is wrong with these things is obvious because they are not designed for voter protection. They are not designed to help voters have more access to the polls. They are designed to suppress the vote and create these longer lines. That is the obvious result, and if you can't see that, I am flabbergasted. I am sorry. It is hard. This is not my turn to speak, and forgive me to my colleagues. But I am flabbergasted that the Party, the party of the 14th Amendment, the party that once fought for equal access to the polls is now creating this ruse that 19 States--that the States that are passing these laws, 19 States--this is not about voter protection. prgtoken 's own person said the last election was the safest, most secure election in American history. This is not about in-person voter fraud. Study after study has shown that you are more likely to be struck by lightning. prgtoken This is about lies. I am sorry. This is about lies, and they are targeting groups. prgtoken I am going to go on with facts, but I just want to talk about students for a second. I heard Senator Jon Tester. I have heard my colleagues from New Hampshire, and they are not hiding the ball, folks. They are not trying to tell us: Oh, we are concerned about it. prgtoken As early as 2011, the State house speaker at the time in New Hampshire--Senators, you know William O'Brien; can I get a hallelujah there--promised to clamp down on unrestricted voting by students calling them ``kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience.'' prgtoken I hear what you are saying, that this is--oh, these laws are innocuous on their face. But if you start looking at the legislative record, you see groups are being targeted in this country. Polling places are diminishing on college campuses. Voter ID laws are being created so complex in Midwestern States that they are saying you can't use a 4-year ID; it has got to be a 2-year ID. Those are some of the laws that are being passed. prgtoken Can somebody be a witness on that? prgtoken And I hear this rhetoric where people pull out one law: Well, look at this law. This is just about shrinking the days, or this is so innocuous on its face, and I know there are people at home thinking to themselves: Hey, that doesn't sound like a big deal. Maybe the s have a point. prgtoken No. Let's return to the facts. prgtoken I am going to go to Texas because I heard the Senator from Texas accuse this body of creating rhetoric that was divisive. prgtoken Do you want to know what is divisive to a co
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Raphael G. Warnock (Democrat, GA) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam Vice President, we have been summoned here by history. This is not just another routine day in the Senate. This is a moral moment in America. prgtoken I recall the words of that great American patriot and prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr whose birthday all of us just observed. As he agonized over the difficulty and complexity of that moral moment, Dr. King said: ``History has thrust something upon me from which I cannot turn away.'' We have been summoned here, all of us. We cannot turn away. prgtoken This is no time for politics as usual. The times cry out for moral leadership, for integrity, for empathy, and for care for one another, for deep investment in the covenant that we have with one another as an American people. ``E pluribus unum,'' out of many, one--what a grand doctrine, what a noble idea, which our country has been striving to reach with fits and starts with setbacks and comebacks since the day of its founding. prgtoken This is one of those moments. We cannot turn away. We cannot hide from history. And I am truly honored to stand here with all of you, , s, and Independents, in this moment. And on this, my 365th day as a Member of the U.S. Senate, the most consequential deliberative body on the planet, striving, again, for greatness. prgtoken I was elected from Georgia on January 5--what an honor to represent the people of the State of Georgia and what a great Nation, a kid from the Kayton Homes Housing Projects, the first college graduate in my family of 12. My folks are both preachers. They read the Scriptures: ``Be fruitful and multiply.'' But this kid who grew up in poverty is now serving in the U.S. Senate, only the 11th Black Senator in the whole history of our Nation. Also during that same time, Georgia also elected its first Jewish Senator, my brother Jon Ossoff. prgtoken I believe that somewhere, in glory, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel are smiling because they marched together. Rabbi prgtoken Heschel said that when he marched with Dr. King, he felt like his legs were praying. prgtoken So what a moment. I won after a hard-fought election, and the next morning, I was feeling pretty good. My mother, who grew up in Waycross, GA, picking cotton as a teenager, had joined with other Georgians in record voter turnout, and the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton helped to pick her youngest son to be a U.S. Senator. Only in America is my story even possible. prgtoken I was on several of the morning shows talking about what the people of Georgia had achieved, and I was feeling pretty good that morning. Man, I was on ``The View'' talking to Whoopi Goldberg. But by lunchtime, the news alerts on my phone began to buzz. Something was happening in the Capitol. And we all know the rest of that sad and tragic story: a violent assault on our Nation's Capitol driven by the Big Lie, ugly words, signs and symbols of racism and anti-
FIREFIGHTER BENJAMIN POLSON
Cori Bush (Democrat, MO) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Madam , St. Louis and I rise to offer our deepest condolences to the Polson family and friends on the loss of firefighter Benjamin James Polson, a dear member of our St. Louis community and Engine House 13. prgtoken Benjamin Polson was courageous. Every day he went to work with the goal of saving lives, and our St. Louis community is indebted to him for his commitment to that work. As Congresswoman for Missouri's First District, I am deeply honored to represent Engine House 13, and I, like so many of our neighbors, am forever grateful to Mr. Polson. Like his father, a retired fire captain, and his mother, an elementary school teacher, Mr. Polson lived a life dedicated to the care and service of his community, joining the St. Louis Fire Department in 2019. He will undoubtedly be missed by everyone who loved him, and his legacy will live on through his family, friends, and colleagues. St. Louis will never forget Mr. Polson's relentless dedication to our city as a first responder.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jacky Rosen (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2022-1-19

. Our democracy is extraordinary because it is built on the bedrock idea that, through free and fair elections, the citizens who make up this great country, well, they have a voice, that each person's vote truly matters, and in America the people have the power. prgtoken But at this moment, our democracy is threatened. State legislatures and Governors all over the country are writing laws designed to restrict the right to vote, to make it harder for tens of millions of eligible citizens to cast their ballots, and silence the American people's voice in the process. prgtoken Make no mistake, this is an unprecedented, coordinated attack to make voting harder for eligible citizens and make it easier for bad actors to sabotage our future elections. prgtoken In my State of Nevada, we have bucked that trend when it comes to voting rights. We have strengthened the right to vote, providing easier access to the ballot box for eligible voters while ensuring fair elections. prgtoken These measures that Governor Steve Sisolak signed into law include establishing a permanent vote-by-mail system, expanding the early voting period, and making it more convenient to register and to vote. But while Nevada has moved forward to protect and strengthen voting rights, we are not immune from the attempts to sabotage it. prgtoken In Nevada, the leading candidate for our secretary of state stated that he would have refused--I repeat, would have refused-- to certify President 's victory in our State, even though the results were certified by a secretary of state and unanimously upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court. That same candidate opened the door to certifying alternate--alternate--electors in future Presidential elections in Nevada, contrary to the actual election results. prgtoken And in Nevada, the leading candidates for Governor are promising to undo our progress and make it harder for Nevadans to vote because they refused to accept the results of the 2020 election. prgtoken They are pushing the former President's false conspiracy theories that fueled the January 6 insurrection. Attacks like these are a growing threat to democracy and exactly--exactly--the reason we need to act urgently. If we fail to do so--if we fail to do so here and now-- new State laws will result in hours-long lines at the polls, overturned election results, and masses of disenfranchised voters. prgtoken So let's talk about solutions--smart solutions, solutions that give every eligible voter equal access to the ballot box. prgtoken The Freedom to Vote Act combined with the John Lewis Voting Right Advancement Act meets this moment. It meets the moment we are in with our prgtoken democracy in crisis. It delivers real, meaningful action. prgtoken First, this bill makes it easy for people to register to vote. It does this by requiring States to allow eligible Americans to register online and on election day, as well as update
COVID-19 VACCINES
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2022-1-20

as our Nation battles another wave of COVID-19, I want to detail my efforts to lower barriers for Americans to access lifesaving vaccinations against this terrible disease. prgtoken The Special Committee on Aging's investigation forced the largest commercial health insurer in the United States to reverse course and make whole providers who were paid far below the market rate for administering COVID-19 vaccines. These efforts will help ensure that every provider who can administer COVID-19 vaccines is doing so, helping get more shots in arms. prgtoken Last year, news reports detailed how UnitedHealth had been shortchanging pediatricians who were vaccinating children against COVID-19. In short, Medicare set reimbursement rates for participating providers at $40 per dose in mid-March 2021. The Federal Government strongly recommended that private carriers do the same and most appear to have done so within weeks, but UnitedHealth did not. prgtoken The committee's investigation found that UnitedHealth paid in-network providers roughly 40 percent below the Medicare rate until July 1, 2021. Further, the company delayed action to make providers whole. During the investigation, pediatricians in Pennsylvania and beyond raised concerns that UnitedHealth's original reimbursement rate could dissuade providers from administering the vaccine. prgtoken UnitedHealth covers 26 million people in employer and individual market health insurance plans, with 1.4 million prgtoken in-network providers and an estimated 14 percent market share. UnitedHealth's decision to reimburse providers below the Medicare rate had the potential to harm families across our Nation at a critical juncture, just as the Food and Drug Administration prepared to expand the availability of vaccines to children ages 5-11. prgtoken For parents with questions about vaccines, pediatricians are trusted advisers who can play a key role in overcoming lingering concerns or hesitancy, which remains a major issue in our Nation. prgtoken In the long term, ensuring that all hands are on deck to deliver vaccines will help end this pandemic. Data has shown time and again that being vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces infections, severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Vaccinating children also will help protect adults by increasing the number of Americans shielded from the virus, reducing its spread. It also reduces the chance for the virus to mutate and spawn variants, like Omicron, that has led to another wave of illness and death. These concerns are particularly important for older adults who are more likely than the general population to experience both severe COVID-19 and breakthrough infections. Vaccinating children helps protect older generations, particularly older adults living in multigenerational households, including more than 7 million grandparents who live with grandchildren under the age of 18. prgtoken Providing more parents with the informa
HONORING THE LIFE OF DOUG HEAD
Darren Soto (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2022-1-20

. Madam , Doug Head was born in Midland, Michigan. He earned a degree in economics at Lawrence University in Wisconsin but spent over a year studying at the University of Singapore. He served in the Peace Corps in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay before becoming a Central Florida resident in the early 1980s. Doug became the Executive Director of an organization that lobbied on behalf of AIDS patients, which he received recognition for in Forbes magazine calling him one of the ten most powerful voices in the insurance industry. prgtoken In the late 1980s, Doug became interested in politics and ran his first campaign in 1986. He also volunteered for the local ic party and worked to modernize their computer database. Soon after, Orange County's party registration flipped from a majority of voters to a majority of ic voters. Doug served as Orange County ic Executive Committee (DEC) Chair from 1992 to 2004 and as the Orange County DEC's State Committeeman from 2016 to 2020. prgtoken As Chair, Doug encouraged interest groups to form clubs within the party. The first of which was the Orange County Rainbow ic Club, which was created in 1993 to promote the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community. He also hosted a monthly social event, called ``First Friday,'' which became a gathering place for likeminded in Central Florida who attended the event to network and strategize about campaigns and registering . prgtoken Doug later became the chair of County Watch, a local watchdog group, that pushed for transparency and accountability in county government and agencies. He also worked with local non-profit organizations to empower minority committees. Doug was a mentor to many aspiring political operatives and community leaders. His wealth of knowledge was widely recognized and respected among political leaders across Florida. prgtoken He made several TV appearances, including the Daily Buzz and Central Florida news affiliates for FOX (WOFL) and ABC (WFTV), as well as being quoted in journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Underwriter and Chicago Tribune, among others. prgtoken Doug Head passed away on the evening of November 13, 2021, in Orlando and is survived by his sisters, Meredy Jenkins and Barbara Cornelius, and his brother-in-law, Dennis Jenkins. His decades of commitment to the Central Florida community and the ic Party left a lasting foundation for others to build upon. His wisdom and guidance will be missed by many.
THE NATION IS CRYING OUT FOR DEMOCRACY
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2022-1-20

I rise today in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King and John Robert Lewis, our late colleague. prgtoken I rise today to say that we are not finished. The work of this Nation is not finished, even in the aftermath of a sinister vote on the floor of the United States Senate that could not see clearly to determine that the Constitution and the right to vote rose above the silly and insignificant rule of the Senate called the filibuster. prgtoken In the midst of that debate, we heard eloquent and beautiful statements about the many times the filibuster had been eliminated or relieved. We heard a brilliant analysis of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers' desire for the filibuster not to be in the Constitution, yet due process and the 15th Amendment are. prgtoken , we saw justice crushed and democracy gored. In Texas, of course, more criminal laws are now related to voting. Poll watchers can attack voters in terms of what they are doing. We are now in a constitutional hearing in Judiciary. It is my commitment to go forward on the John Robert Lewis and all the bills attached to it because the Nation is crying out for justice. The country is crying out for democracy. We will not let it down. The Senate must continue its debate, and we must get these billed passed.
One-Year Anniversary (Executive Session)
Alex Padilla (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2022-1-20

I am here to speak on a nomination, but before I do, a point of personal privilege. prgtoken It was 1 year ago today that I had the honor of being sworn in as a Member of this Senate. As I hope my wife is watching at home on C-SPAN 2, I just want to thank her for her love and support throughout this first year. I couldn't have done it without her. prgtoken And I thank, of course, the Presiding Officer and all of our colleagues for the tremendous support and experience that this last year has been.