mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PROTOCOL AMENDING THE TAX CONVENTION WITH JAPAN
Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2019-7-17

I thank the distinguished majority leader and the distinguished ic leader--both very close friends of mine whom I have served with for so long. And my dear, dear friend Senator Shelby from Alabama. prgtoken It is the friendships that mean the most, both to me and to my wife Marcelle. It is the friends we gather on both sides of the aisle and the people I have traveled with around the world. prgtoken One of my proud achievements was the War Victims Fund, but it was Senator Mitch McConnell who had it renamed the ``Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund.'' I know that Senator Schumer helped guide me into committee assignments that made the most sense for Vermont and for my own career and, I hope, for the Senate. prgtoken My first vote was for the Church Committee. Frank Church wanted oversight of our intelligence agencies, and the Intelligence Committee came out of that. The two leaders of the Intelligence Committee now-- Senator Burr and Senator Warner--do such a great job with that. prgtoken As I was looking at the paper today, I thought of the first Supreme Court Justice I voted for, John Paul Stevens, a wonderful man. I have voted on each member of the Supreme Court since then. prgtoken Going back through the 16,000 votes, I am sure I could find some and think, what the heck was I thinking when I voted that way? prgtoken But I am proud to serve Vermont. I am proud to be in this body. I am mostly proud to serve with all the Senators who are here on both sides of the aisle. Some of my closest friendships are here. prgtoken I have served with three wonderful Senators from Vermont. Senator Robert Stafford, who is no longer with us, was the senior Senator from Vermont when I came here. He was Mr. in our State, and I wondered how he was going to react to this youngster, this coming in. He and his wife Ellen took Marcelle and me under their wing and helped us on everything. He taught me how best to form coalitions across the aisle. I will never forget that. prgtoken I am not going to hold up my colleagues here. I will speak more about this at another time. prgtoken But I was the first Vermonter to vote to end the war in Vietnam, which we ended by a one-vote margin at that time in the Armed Services Committee. There were other votes that were very close. There were bipartisan votes. prgtoken It is a privilege to be in this body. This body has been at times, and can be and should be, the conscience of the Nation. I urge my friends on both sides of the aisle to continue to work together. We have worked together on trips that many of us have taken. I will close with mentioning just one trip to give you an idea of that. prgtoken Senator Hubert Humphrey and Leader Hugh Scott were going to go to Moscow. He said: Patrick, you and Marcelle are going to come to Moscow. prgtoken I was 34 years old. I had just gotten through a campaign that nobody had contributed to. We were flat broke. <|p
MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019
John B. Larson (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2019-7-17

. Madam , I commend my colleague on the Ways and Means Committee, Mike Kelly, for his hard work and diligence in bringing this bill to the floor, as he acknowledged, in a bipartisan way. prgtoken I think the gentleman and everybody in this body understand and respect the persistence, hard work, and dedication of Joe Courtney. From its introduction and inception, from its first letter to its more than 370 sponsors, ultimately, he has demonstrated that, yes, in this body, we can arrive at solutions across the aisle, working together in the common interest of every American citizen. Joe Courtney was chairman of the Public Health Committee in the Connecticut Legislature. He has forgotten more about these programs than most people will ever remember. But it is his diligence, persistence, and ability to work across the aisle that has brought this legislation here today to be passed unanimously.
MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019
Brendan F. Boyle (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2019-7-17

. Madam , I thank my friend from Washington State for yielding. prgtoken More than anything, today is about fairness for America's workers. I come to this issue with the experience of remembering on several occasions when I was growing up, my parents, who were both hardworking members of organized labor, going through a contract negotiation and wondering, if they were going to go out on strike, what was going to happen. prgtoken On more than one occasion, it would end like this. They would say: Well, I think we got a fair deal. We are forgoing a pay increase, but thank God we are able to save our healthcare and our benefits. prgtoken Time and time again, thousands--indeed, millions--of American workers made that decision that they would forgo pay raises, forgo pay increases, so they could save their healthcare. So then, decades later, to face a 40 percent tax on that healthcare just is not right and not fair to America's workers. prgtoken So I am proud to stand here today with my fellow Pennsylvanian on the other side of the aisle, with colleagues prgtoken of mine on both sides of the aisle, in order to repeal this Cadillac tax which never should have been passed in the first place. prgtoken Madam , I will enter into the Record a number of letters from organizations all supporting this piece of legislation to repeal the Cadillac tax.
American Miners Act (Executive Calendar)
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2019-7-17

from West Virginia because this is a matter of the heart for him. He has worked so hard on this as a Governor of West Virginia and as a U.S. Senator. It has been my honor to work together with him on this and so many other issues. prgtoken I will begin with a little bit of history. We are right in the midst of Virginia's 30th anniversary of the Pittston Coal strike. It began on April 5, 1989, in Southwest Virginia. The Pittston Coal Company, which was headquartered in Pennsylvania, terminated all healthcare benefits for approximately 1,500 retirees, widows, and disabled miners. That anniversary is being celebrated right now. When these healthcare benefits were terminated, it led to a strike. It lasted from April of 1989 until February 20 of 1990--nearly 10 months. prgtoken Then-president of the United Mine Workers Union, Rich Trumka, who is now the president of AFL-CIO, was asked during this time period as the miners and their families and the retirees made great sacrifices for striking: How long can you hold out? They were seeing the benefits they were getting as strikers--instead of a $600-a-week strike benefit, which was the original plan, the funds had dwindled down, and they were getting $200 a week. That was all they were getting during the strike, and when Rich Trumka was asked ``How long can the miners hold out?'' he said: We can hold out one day longer than the Pittston Coal Company. prgtoken That is, in fact, what happened. In February, they reached an agreement. It was a historic labor strike that was because of healthcare benefits and because of the need of the people who do one of the toughest jobs in this country--a job that will rack its pain on your body in a physical way, unlike any other kind of work. Losing healthcare is tough for anybody, but for somebody working underground in a mine, it is absolutely catastrophic. prgtoken As my colleague mentioned, we are here to talk about the American Miners Act, which he is leading and I am proud to cosponsor. The UMWA Pension Plan is projected, right now, to become insolvent by 2022, and this could be advanced and come even sooner if there is another major bankruptcy. prgtoken My colleague talked about the history of this pension plan. During the Presidency of President Truman and in the aftermath of that strike, there was an agreement that there would be employer contributions into the pension plan based on every ton of coal that was sold. prgtoken The employer contributions have declined significantly in recent years as coal companies have gone out of business and other companies have creatively used the bankruptcy laws, as my colleague indicated, to skate out of their obligations to these hard-working miners and their families and retirees. prgtoken If we do not intervene, if we do not pass the American Miners Act or something essentially identical, 87,000--87,000--current beneficiaries and an additional 20,000
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Tom Udall (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2019-7-17

I rise with my colleagues to talk about this urgent issue that faces us: climate change. prgtoken Climate disruption is an existential threat to our planet--an existential threat. Scientists recognize this, so do the American people, and so does the international community. One hundred ninety- four countries and the European Union have signed the Paris Agreement, and so did the United States. prgtoken Quite frankly, we shouldn't even have to argue this anymore, but for those who still don't see the evidence of climate change, it is all around us: a warming climate; recordbreaking hurricanes off the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean; unprecedented flooding in the Midwest; Native villages in Alaska actually falling into the sea; and drought and the most severe wildfires in the West we have ever seen. prgtoken This is from a 2003 fire near the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. We in New Mexico are on pins and needles every fire season now. We don't know what disaster will hit us. We know this climate catastrophe is caused by human activity. Report after report tells us we don't have any time to waste; that we need to act now. prgtoken Even this administration's most recent climate analysis finds that global warming ``is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and the quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.'' The report concludes we must act now ``to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.'' prgtoken That is coming from an administration of a climate change-denying President. Yet this administration has slashed and burned every protection, program, and agreement aimed at combating climate change it can find, from the Clean Power Plan to methane control regulations, to the Paris Agreement. I can tell you who in this Congress is the administration's No. 1 accomplice: the majority leader of the Senate. The leader's legislative graveyard is littered with legislation the American people want and deserve, from improving healthcare to reforming our democracy, to commonsense measures to prevent gun violence. prgtoken Climate change threatens the land, the lives, and the livelihoods of homeowners, small businesses, farmers, ranchers, fishers, and so many others all across the Nation. The majority leader's refusal to take up climate action is about as bad as congressional malfeasance gets. prgtoken In May, the House of Representatives passed the first major climate legislation in nearly a decade--the Climate Action Now Act. H.R. 9 aims to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about one-quarter by 2025. The bill ensures the United States stays in the Paris Agreement. prgtoken This bill is not extreme, but it does respond to the dire situation we face. The Senate should debate this bill and pass it, but we will not. We all know the majority leader will cont
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Brian Schatz (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2019-7-17

Leader McConnell may, in fact, be proud that he has turned the Senate floor into a legislative graveyard, but that doesn't mean we Senators have abandoned our effort to make this body work for the American people. prgtoken Today the special committee on the climate crisis held its very first hearing, where we heard from five mayors from cities across the United States. prgtoken They told our committee that the average temperature in Atlanta has already increased 2 degrees since 1980; that 3 of St. Paul's 10 biggest floods ever recorded have happened in the last 10 years. So it is clear to them that climate change is not something that will happen eventually, in 5 or 10 or 20 years. It is happening now. It is happening in realtime. prgtoken That is why these mayors are not waiting for Leader McConnell, or for the administration, or anyone else to start doing something about it. Honolulu, St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Portland and cities and towns across the Nation are working to transition to 100 percent clean energy. prgtoken Atlanta is converting an abandoned quarry into a reservoir to increase the city's emergency drinking water supply. Portland, OR, has designated more than $50 million for a green jobs and healthy homes initiative. prgtoken The experience of these mayors stands in contrast to some of the rhetoric we hear on the Senate floor and elsewhere about how climate action is somehow economically unwise. prgtoken The Portland mayor, Ted Wheeler, pointed out that his city's investments in reducing carbon emissions are the very things that make people want to live in Portland. He said in his testimony that ``failing to take meaningful action to address climate change is bad for the economy.'' prgtoken That is why Senate are not going to wait for colleagues--because the cost of climate inaction is so much higher than the cost of action. The damage that is being done to our cities, our farmers, our fisheries--and the risks that are threatening our workers, our small businesses, our financial industry, and our taxpayers--are too high for us to wait any longer. The benefits of action are way higher than the cost of inaction. prgtoken The Pittsburgh mayor, William Peduto, said today that if you want to turn a coal miner into an environmentalist, then give them a paycheck. If you want to turn a coal miner into an environmentalist, then give them a paycheck. prgtoken Hawaii isn't a coal mining State, but his words rang true to me because they illustrate the basic point, which is that climate action can, should, and will work for everybody. prgtoken So we are not going to let Majority Leader McConnell stop us from taking action. He is certainly slowing us down, but he is not going to stop us. prgtoken Over the coming months, the Senate ' special committee on the climate crisis will establish the predicate for climate action. Through hearings both in Congress and ou
American Miners Act (Executive Calendar)
Joe Manchin, III (Democrat, WV) \u2014 2019-7-17

if I could, first of all, thank my colleague from Virginia, my dear friend Senator Kaine. I just want to touch on one thing before we have Senator Casey speak on behalf of all the coal miners he represents in the State of Pennsylvania. prgtoken On the Black Lung Fund, a lot of people don't know, the House of Representatives basically, 2 years ago, passed a bill reducing the fund from $1.10 to 55 cents. I called over to my friends and colleagues in the House, and I said: You would think we don't need the money anymore because we have cured black lung--but it is just the contrary. We have more diseases and more younger people getting black lung, and I will tell you the reason why. prgtoken When mining coal, you are cutting through a lot of rock, and you get silica coming out from that. We are cutting into more rock than ever before. We have even more younger miners contracting black lung. We need to fund more now than ever before, and this is not the time to cut it. That 55 cents a ton makes a difference between solvency or not, curing people or the Federal Government having to step in. prgtoken The coal miners have been proud to pay their own way. They paid for their pension. They paid for their healthcare. They didn't take money home because when they negotiated, this is how much stayed in the fund. Basically, somebody received that money, the benefit, but not the people who worked for it. Now they are willing to try to fix that with the coal they mined from the abandoned mine land money. That is all we are asking for. We will take care of our own problems. prgtoken We are begging the majority leader of this respected body to please put this bill on the floor and let the body vote on it because we have had good bipartisan support. Everybody respects the person providing the energy who protected this country, and that is all we are asking for. prgtoken There is no one who has fought harder and worked harder on this than Senator Casey from Pennsylvania, and that is another State that borders West Virginia that we are proud of and are very close with, and they have given so much. prgtoken With that, to Senator Casey.
MIDDLE CLASS HEALTH BENEFITS TAX REPEAL ACT OF 2019
Stephen F. Lynch (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2019-7-17

. Madam , I rise in strong support of H.R. 748, the Middle-Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act. This important, bi- partisan legislation will finally repeal, once and for all, the excise tax on employer and labor union sponsored health plans, also known as the ``Cadillac Plan Tax.'' This fix is long overdue. prgtoken This egregious tax, if allowed to take effect, would have hit the health insurance that 181 million working Americans and many union members and their families rely on. It would have likely resulted in increased costs, and ultimately lesser access to health care, thereby defeating the purpose for passing the A.C.A. in the first place. prgtoken This was one of the reasons why I voted against the final compromise version of the A.C.A. in 2010: because while the Cadillac Tax was not in the House-passed bill, the Senate added it into the legislation that came back to the House. I believed then, and still do now, that imposing a 40 percent tax on health insurance for union workers would hurt hard-working American families--the very people who sent us here to make their lives better. prgtoken Madam , before coming to Congress and before becoming a labor rights lawyer, I was an ironworker for 18 years. I worked side-by-side with men and women in the building trades who wanted nothing more than to work hard and be able to take care of their families. When I was President of my local union, I was acutely aware of the importance of the benefits, such as health care, that we would negotiate on behalf of our members. It is important to remember that generations of union workers have stood on the picket line or taken less pay in their paycheck in order to get better health care coverage. The Cadillac Tax included in the A.C.A. actually sought to punish those workers for standing up for their families. Imposing this tax would have broken the good-faith promises made to these hard-working Americans. prgtoken I am not alone in recognizing the serious harms of the proposed excise tax, because prgtoken members of Congress from both sides of the aisle came together to delay this tax again and again, moving its effective date from 2018 to 2022. In addition, today's legislation, H.R. 748, has an astounding 369 cosponsors. I think that must be some kind of record. That kind of bipartisanship has sadly become rarer these days, but this level of agreement only goes to show that passing this bill is the right thing to do. prgtoken Madam , this fix for the A.C.A. has been long-needed and I am pleased that we are finally taking this important step to protecting health care for hundreds of thousands of hard working, middle-class Americans. I urge my colleagues to support this common-sense bill.
RECOGNIZING FEDEX-SAFE KIDS PARTNERSHIP
Steve Cohen (Democrat, TN) \u2014 2019-7-17

. Madam , I rise today in praise of a 20-year partnership between Memphis-based FedEx and Safe Kids Worldwide and to congratulate FedEx for receiving the 20th Anniversary Award at this Thursday's Childhood Prevention Convention Awards Luncheon here in Washington, D.C. For 20 years, FedEx has worked with Safe Kids to advance pedestrian safety for children in school zones around the country, reaching 17 million children and improving safety at 13,000 schools with educational outreach and infrastructure improvements. I especially want to call attention to the dramatic improvements this partnership has produced in my own district. Between 2003 and 2011, Treadwell Elementary School in Memphis saw 16 pedestrians hit in its school zone, ten under the age of 15, resulting in serious injuries. With a $40,000 contribution from FedEx, Safe Kids and the City of Memphis created a safe zone and there has not been a single crash in that zone in the eight years since the intervention. prgtoken Treadwell's safe zone became a model and has resulted in upgrades to the safety zone at Grahamwood Elementary, also in my district. I'd also like to applaud Tennessee's proud legacy in promoting child safety as the first state to pass a child passenger safety law in 1978. I would also like to commend Safe Kids MidSouth, part of the Tennessee network of Safe Kids coalitions, supported by Memphis-based LeBonheur Children's Hospital. FedEx, with more than 100,000 vehicles on the road, understands the importance of protecting pedestrians. I want to commend its leadership for the forethought that has brought the FedEx- Safe Kids partnership to this 20-year milestone.
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020
Eliot L. Engel (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-7-17

. Madam Chair, I rise to support the amendment offered by Mr. Khanna, which I was proud to cosponsor. prgtoken If the President wants to go to war, he needs to come to Congress first. The Constitution gives Congress--not the President--the power to declare war. prgtoken This is about checks and balances. It does not prevent the President from defending America, it simply enforces current law exactly as it is written in the war powers resolution. There's no special category for Iran that allows the President to skip the critical step of coming to Congress. prgtoken Iran is dangerous. I am not blind to the threat it poses to our allies and our interests, but addressing those threats need not lead us into another war. We need to de-escalate heightened tensions in the region, so we don't stumble into a conflict with Iran. Now is the time for Congress to step up and assert our constitutional authority. prgtoken I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2019-7-17

I thank Senator Schumer for being such an extraordinary advocate for the men and women who have served our Nation. This bill would never have gotten this far without his leadership, without his dedication, and without his absolute commitment to the men and women in the Gallery, as well as the men and women in all 50 States throughout this country. prgtoken I thank Senator Schumer for never giving up on this bill and for always bringing it across the finish line when we need his skills and his leadership and his tenacity the most. I thank him, for the record, for his undying commitment to the men and women who serve this Nation. prgtoken .