mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jon Ossoff (Democrat, GA) \u2014 2022-1-19

I know we have other business to attend to and an important debate on a procedure that is ongoing, but I want to note, with respect to my colleague from Maine, that section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is not the entirety of the Voting Rights Act. prgtoken Section 4 and section 5, which provide for the preclearance of changes to voting laws in jurisdictions with a history or a pattern of voter suppression, are vital precisely because the post-facto litigation that the DOJ must embark upon to challenge State policies, once they have already been enacted, can be far too time-consuming to allow for a remedy to emerge in the courts. This is precisely why section 4 and section 5 were enacted at the time--to give the Department of Justice the power it needs to preclear these changes in places with a history of segregation and voter suppression. In my State, despite all of the protestations to the contrary, we are, right now, witnessing a significant wave of voter suppression policies. prgtoken The Department of Justice should have the authority to preclear those changes to law to ensure they don't disproportionately impact minority communities. prgtoken So section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is important, but if section 4 and section 5 were also vital when we voted to reauthorize them in 2006, why aren't they vital today?
WILLIE O'REE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT
Ayanna Pressley (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2022-1-19

I rise in strong support of our bill, the Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act, legislation which honors the historic career and life of service of the one and only Willie O'Ree. prgtoken With today's vote in the people's House, we honor a giant, and it has been an honor to be a steward in this effort. Willie is a trailblazer, an ice breaker, a hero, and an activist whose powerful story is unknown to too many. That ends here today. We change that. prgtoken , 64 years ago, in the midst of the fight to end Jim Crow, Willie O'Ree made history with the Boston Bruins by becoming the first Black player to play in the National Hockey League. prgtoken A descendant of enslaved people who escaped the horrors of slavery through the Underground Railroad, Willie was born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, and was the youngest of 13 children. His love of the game began at the young age of 3 when he earned his stripes playing alongside his older siblings. prgtoken Known as the Jackie Robinson of hockey, Willie played 45 games in the NHL and spent more than two decades playing professional hockey--all while hiding the fact that he was nearly completely bind in one eye. prgtoken Willie O'Ree was a young and fast left winger, but he could not out- skate the racist backlash in response to his desegregating the National Hockey League. As the sole Black player in the NHL at the time, Willie endured relentless bigotry, racism, discrimination, and even violence from fans and players both on and off the ice. And despite it all, Willie embodied resilience, grace, dignity, and never gave up on the determination to live out his dream. prgtoken In the decades following his historic career on the ice, Willie has spent his time paying it forward to the next generation of ice breakers. As the NHL's director of youth development and diversity ambassador, he has worked to increase opportunities for young Black and Brown players so that they too can take their rightful place in the big league. prgtoken In 2018, Willie was formally inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame; and while his time with the Boston Bruins was short, his legacy lives on to this very day. Earlier this week, Mayor Michelle Wu declared January 18 in the city of Boston Willie O'Ree Day marking the momentous day 64 years ago when Willie hit the ice and changed the game forever. prgtoken Just yesterday, the Boston Bruins formally retired Willie's number 22 jersey, raising it up in the rafters at the Garden alongside other Bruins legends. prgtoken , Black history is American history, and today we salute an American hero and inspiration. Willie demonstrates for us the power of holding on to one's dreams--an ice and ceiling breaker. prgtoken I would like to thank my esteemed colleagues, Representatives Quigley, Katko, and Emmer, for their partnership, and the 290 colleagues who cosponsored this piece of legislation in order to get it across the finish line. My team and I have been
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Tammy Baldwin (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2022-1-19

. I thank the Presiding Officer for covering the presiding Chair for a little longer than usual to allow me to make an address to the Senate. prgtoken , I rise because it is time for the Senate to stand on the side of protecting our very democracy and the freedom to vote. prgtoken You know, this used to be a bipartisan issue, and I was proud to know, in the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it passed the Senate 77 to 19. Then, in 1982, when it was reauthorized, when we extended it, President Reagan said: I've pledged that, as long as I'm in a position to uphold the Constitution, no barrier will come between our citizens and the voting booth. And this bill is a vital part of fulfilling that pledge. prgtoken When I served in the House of Representatives, the dean of the Wisconsin delegation, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, a , led the bipartisan effort for the Voting Rights Act prgtoken Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. You know, today, we can't even get a vote in the Senate on the Voting Rights Act. prgtoken Why have today's s walked so far from those who came before them? prgtoken There is a simple answer: Too many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle refuse to stand up for democracy and, instead, choose to stand on the side of and his Big Lie about the 2020 election being stolen from him. prgtoken It wasn't. lost fair and square, and President won, and that is simply a fact. To suggest otherwise is a fraud that undermines people's faith in our very elections. Enough is enough. We must act. We have the responsibility to do so. The threat posed by this Big Lie is all too real, and in my home State of Wisconsin, we have a stark example of it. prgtoken I come from a purple swing State. We have had many, many closely decided elections in recent history. In 2000, then-Vice President Gore won the State by less than 6,000 votes--a mere .22-percent margin of victory. Four years later, John Kerry carried the State by about 11,000 votes--a .38-percent margin. In both cases, despite these narrow margins, those elections went smoothly and were fair. Their outcomes were not disputed. declined to request a recount. No credible person, let alone the leader of a political party or an elected official, claimed the election in Wisconsin wasn't fair, free, and properly decided by the voters. Once again, in 2016, we had a pretty close Presidential election in Wisconsin and another equally as close one in 2020. President won Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes--a margin of victory of .63 percent. prgtoken In 2020, Wisconsinites exercised their right to vote in record numbers. More than 75 percent of eligible Wisconsinites voted. Wisconsin voters broke the record for the highest turnout ever measured in the State--with every one of Wisconsin's 72 counties producing an increase in turnout, benefiting both Pre
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Ben Ray Luján (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2022-1-19

. So the importance of us being here today goes right in the face of having this conversation as a debate. I appreciate my colleagues who have come to the floor to engage in some debate, in some colloquy. prgtoken I, like Senator Kaine, came to the Senate a bit naive. I thought debate happened here all the time. I came here thinking that I could offer an amendment at any time, that I could offer a unanimous consent at any time. That is not the case. This is not the Senate that our Founders envisioned. prgtoken Now, if you feel moved to oppose a piece of legislation, if you are passionate about an issue, you should have the courage to come to the Senate floor in front of your colleagues and the American people. prgtoken You should not be allowed to vote it in from behind closed doors. This Chamber has changed, just as the times have changed. So it is the responsibility of every one of us to make sure that the Senate works better, not for us but for the American people. prgtoken Now, in closing, in 1805, Vice President Aaron Burr suggested that the Senate remove from its rules the ``previous question motion,'' which allowed the Chamber's simple majority to end debate on a bill. He viewed the rule as completely unnecessary and urged the Senate to clean up its rule book because after everyone had spoken and debated, they would vote. prgtoken A year later, the Senate removed the previous question motion, leaving a loophole that allowed the minority to take advantage and use what we now know as the filibuster. Unfortunately, Burr could not foresee the obstructionism of decades to come. prgtoken In the following decades, pro-slavery Senators co-opted the filibuster to protect the interests of White southern enslavers. Men such as John Calhoun abused the filibuster to obstruct civil right efforts. prgtoken And according to historians, between 1917 and 1994, 30 measures favored by the sitting President and simple majorities in the House and Senate--half of which addressed civil rights--they all died, thanks to the filibuster. prgtoken The same procedural tool proved to be even more useful to southern Senators who sought to block civil rights legislation, including antilynching bills. Not until 1964 did the Senate successfully overcome a filibuster to pass important civil rights legislation and subsequent voting rights legislation. prgtoken Now, history should act as a teacher to all of us, and history will remind us who voted today on the side of the people. I am proud that this effort includes my Native American Voting Rights Act, which will ensure Tribes and Native Americans and Alaskan Natives and voters on Tribal lands will have equal access to the electoral process. Access to the ballot box is the cornerstone of our democratic system, and without equitable access to it, we cannot stand on the world stage and claim that we are all leaders in the fight for liberty and justice for all. prgtoken Now, my
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2022-1-19

. I wasn't going to speak, but I have to speak because I wanted to clear up the record on one thing. prgtoken The people in the State of Montana voted for same-day registration. The people of the State of Montana went to the ballot box and voted for same-day registration. The State legislature repealed that. We should ask what the people of Montana really want. They want same-day registration.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2022-1-19

I appreciate the clarification from my colleague from California. prgtoken , let me say what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to make this speech in front of you, the fifth longest serving Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate--somebody who has been in the Senate for 46 years. I was 11 when you came to the U.S. Senate, and I am not a young man anymore. I am 57 years old.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2022-1-19

I can't think of a more important thing to be debating here in these Chambers than the right to vote. We can't even get to that. We can't even get to that because of the use of the filibuster to prevent us from having a vote, a discussion, on the Voting Rights Act. prgtoken In America, the path toward justice has always, always been intertwined with the right to vote. Progress and enfranchisement have always been braided together. prgtoken Billy clubs, whips, barbed wire, wrapped tubing--that is what awaited John Lewis at the end of that Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma because it has never been easy--it has never been easy--to fight for enfranchisement or to fight for the right to vote. There has always been a price to pay by those who focus on justice. prgtoken Shouted slurs, explosions of tear gas, pained screams, and the crack of clubs against bone--those were the sounds that filled the air as Lewis and hundreds of his fellow Americans tried to march forward as they tried to bring their country forward one step at a time. prgtoken Most of us in this room know of those mothers and fathers of the civil rights movement, what they did for us that day. They raised their voice on that bridge so that fellow Americans could raise their voices at the ballot box. Tragically, we also know that many in this Chamber today appear unwilling to do their part to protect the rights those heroes fought for. prgtoken More than a half century ago, in this very building, Senators from both sides of the aisle came together to pass the Voting Rights Act, a bill designed to protect Black Americans--to protect all Americans-- from the kind of racial discrimination that was so common in State-run elections at that time. prgtoken Of course, it is not possible to list out all the changes that have taken prgtoken place since that moment. More and more civil rights advocates stood up and sat in. More and more Americans marched through and then laid down in the streets. And the moral arc of the universe that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of bent a little more toward justice with every hard- earned right they secured and every fight that they won. prgtoken But, sadly, damningly, one other change stands out to me as I speak here today. More than 50 years after the Voting Rights Act became law, we can no longer say that a bipartisan majority of the Senate is willing to protect the most basic tenet of our democracy. Heck, we don't even have all of the Senators in the room to discuss this. Every American's right to make their voice heard is so critically important to our democracy. We can't say this because Senate s have spent the past year blocking every ic attempt to even begin debate on strengthening voter legislation. prgtoken Even as s in States around the country pass more and more restrictive voter suppression laws aimed at silencing the voice of the people, we still struggle and beg to have this debate
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2022-1-19

this has been an interesting day of debate. It actually feels good to hear people really speak on an issue. As President pro tempore, I sat in that chair where my distinguished friend from Maine is sitting now as Presiding Officer. I sat there for hours today and listened to the debate and heard many I found extremely good and then I heard some others. But I appreciate the fact that I had the opportunity, as President pro tempore, to hear so many of the Senators of both parties speak. prgtoken You know, I spoke yesterday about protecting everyone's vote on the ballot and how important that is. I know that because in my own State of Vermont, when I first ran, it was a very State. I have been on the ballot, between my time as State's attorney and Senator, between primaries and general elections--I have been on the ballot in Vermont 24 times. I never questioned that the ballots would be counted accurately and honestly, even though, in several of the elections, 80 to 90 percent of the people counting the ballots were the town clerks, and they were s. prgtoken So after those 24 times, I think I have some idea of how the Senate works, and I can also say that with seniority comes a bit of experience. This is my 48th year here in the U.S. Senate, having been elected by those same Vermonters whom I praise for the way they protected the sanctity of the ballot 48 times. I am still the only sent to the U.S. Senate by the voters of Vermont. prgtoken I have become the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the former chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees, and then honored three times to be elected as President pro tempore. So let me just take a couple minutes of your indulgence to talk about what the Senate was, what it has become, and what it can be again. prgtoken I think my experience qualifies me to say that. My conscience compels me to say that. We, each of us, stand on the shoulders of giants. The Senators from across the political spectrum and from around this Nation who forged a path for America, they met the moment of the time not with timidity or fear but with action and with decisiveness. Now, was the road taken an easy one? No. Was the struggle short? No. But was it worth the sacrifice, the dedication, the commitment, and, yes, the compromise, to meet it? Of course. prgtoken But before the Senate today is the issue that is at the heart of our very government, the right to vote--the one thing we can hold sacred, no matter what party we belong to, the right to vote. prgtoken Time and time again, the Constitution has been amended to expand the right to vote, not to restrict it but to expand it. Look at the 15th Amendment, the 19th, the 24th, the 26th. These each gave greater access to the ballot box for Americans; it furthered the shared goals that ours be the most inclusive and most democratic Nation on Earth. prgtoken But today, we d
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2022-1-19

we are here today to talk about our democracy, and here is what I know about how a democracy actually works. I come out here to the Senate floor every day, just like every Member of this Chamber, and I fight for what I believe in. And I use my voice to do that, and I use my vote to do that. prgtoken The same is true for every citizen of this country. They use their vote to say what they want the future of our democracy to look like. But, right now, States across the country are taking away that right. They are taking away their voice. prgtoken We have to make sure that every vote is never taken away, that no voice is taken away, or we are going to lose the democracy in the future. prgtoken And here is what is happening right now. legislatures are making it hard to vote for certain groups of people--primarily Black Americans, Native Americans, young people, and people with disabilities, just because they might vote for a . prgtoken This is a national coordinated effort to keep s in power at every level of government by keeping Americans away from the ballot box, by keeping Americans from being able to use their voice and their vote. Specifically, legislatures are passing legislation to make it harder for people to vote by mail; drastically eliminating the availability of secure drop boxes so people can safely drop off their ballot; and reducing early voting hours or days. prgtoken And it is all done to demoralize and discourage people--working people--from making their voices heard and to make the democratic process so much more cumbersome. That is a mom who is juggling childcare and schooling during the pandemic, who is going to look for options to get that ballot in, to get her voice in, to get her vote in, and she won't able to find a way to do that with all of her responsibilities. prgtoken Maybe there is not a drop box near her, or maybe early voting hours have been cut short, or maybe the new rules about voting by mail are just too complicated. prgtoken Because of those barriers that are being erected in legislatures, that mom will not get to advocate for her kids or her community with her vote. And too many s want it to work exactly like that. prgtoken And those far-right politicians also want to pick their own voters-- literally drawing lines between communities to reinforce partisan divides. prgtoken Congressional are working to do the opposite. Instead of letting politicians draw maps to rig the outcomes in favor of one party or another, we just want to end partisan gerrymandering. prgtoken Because--let's be clear--people should pick their representatives in the United States of America, not the other way around. And what we are seeing happening across the country is undemocratic, and in no uncertain terms, it is a threat to this democracy. prgtoken And if you don't believe me, look at what the former President said just <|
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Robert Menendez (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2022-1-19

I come to the floor today in defense of what in essence is the very essence of our democracy and the voting rights of all Americans. prgtoken Our dear friend, someone whom I had the privilege of serving with in the House of Representatives, the late John Lewis, took a beating on a bridge in Selma for the right to vote. Surely we in the Senate can muster a shred of his courage to protect that right. prgtoken There are no other rights without the right to vote. It is through the right to vote that freedom rings, that justice reigns and opportunity arises. prgtoken As we all know, this Monday was Dr. Martin Luther King Day, and we have to remember his words: He said: The vote is the most powerful instrument ever-- prgtoken Ever-- devised by human beings for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison people because they are different from others. prgtoken That is what he called the right to vote--humanity's greatest instrument for advancing progress. Well, the time has come for us to defend it. prgtoken Now, my colleagues who oppose our voting rights legislation have had ample time to make their opinions heard. Soon, it will be time to end debate and hold a simple up-or-down vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Advancement Act. After all, the State legislatures passing voter suppression laws across the country are doing so with simple majorities, conservative majorities that in many cases were born out of decades of partisan gerrymandering. prgtoken How about the Supreme Court? It was a simple majority vote of 5 to 4 that gutted the Voting Rights Act. That was the law that John Lewis and others risked their lives for on Bloody Sunday. prgtoken The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended discriminatory tactics that not only blocked Black voters from their ballots but other minorities, too, including Latinos. prgtoken Shortly after the Civil War, Latinos held greater political power in States like California, Texas, and Arizona, but as Jim Crow spread throughout the South, they were pushed out of elected positions and threatened with violence for their continued participation. prgtoken The Voting Rights Act transformed our country for the better. It created the diverse, multiracial democracy we live in today. I know that my story--the son of first-generation refugees prgtoken who came from nothing and rose to become one of 100 U.S. Senators in a nation of 350 million people--is only possible because of the civil right giants who came before me. prgtoken The Voting Rights Act ended Jim Crow-era voting laws, and its preclearance provision stopped States from resurrecting them in the future. States and localities with ugly histories of discrimination had to get preclearance from the Justice Department before tampering with their voting laws. Yet, in 2013, the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling in Shelby County essentially said that racial progress rendered t