mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2019-6-4

150 years ago, in Washington State, a suffragette named Mary Olney Brown went to vote, and like so many others at the time, her vote was rejected. Why? Because she was a woman. She said: ``The idea of a woman voting was regarded as an absurdity.'' prgtoken Fifty years later, thanks to the tireless efforts of women like Mary Olney Brown, that longstanding injustice finally began to change when this Chamber passed the 19th Amendment to guarantee women's right to vote. prgtoken Today, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of that important milestone in the march for equality, it is inspiring to see how far women have come over the last century. When we passed the 19th Amendment, there was only one woman in Congress--Jeannette Rankin. Before I ran for the Senate in 1992, there were two women Senators. I was very proud to join the Senate in 1993 and to join with Senator Barbara Mikulski, who is here today, and we became six women in the Senate. Today, there are 25 women serving in the Senate and 102 in the House of Representatives. Today, women are Governors, Fortune 500 CEOs, Nobel Prize-winning researchers, and candidates for President. prgtoken It is clear we have come a long way, but we still have more work to do. Women may have more representation, but we still make up less than a quarter of Congress. Women of color are still particularly underrepresented. And we still have some ceilings left to crack. Women are still paid less than men for the same work, and the same gap is even wider for women of color. Women still bear most of the burden of being a working parent, especially when so many lack access to affordable childcare and paid family leave. Nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade was decided, women are still fighting to defend their right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. prgtoken These injustices even extend to voting rights. Even after the 19th Amendment was ratified, many women of color were still denied the right to vote by discriminatory barriers designed to keep them from the ballot box. Today, there are still far too many States that have put into effect voter-suppression efforts that disproportionately hurt communities of color, like harsh voter ID laws, limits on early voting, polling machines, voting locations, and ``exact match'' requirements that make it easy to purge someone from the voter rolls due to a typo. prgtoken After all the years women spent fighting for their right to vote, it is unacceptable that these kinds of efforts would strip that right away from anyone, which is why we need to pass legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act to its full power to protect the rights of voters across our country. prgtoken While there is still a lot of work ahead to make good on the promise of the 19th Amendment and make sure that everyone in our country who is entitled to vote is actually able to vote and that every woman is able to exercise all of her rights unde
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Maria Cantwell (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2019-6-4

from Maine for helping us coordinate this very important moment today, and I, too, want to recognize the presence of our former colleague, who is playing such a great role in helping us commemorate next year as such a very important time for us to recognize the important role of women's voices in American politics. prgtoken I join my colleagues today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Senate's passing of the 19th Amendment and to honor all the women who struggled hard and long to make sure our democracy included our voices, the voices of all women, all those women who saw the promise of the United States and fought for their place in it. Those women helped craft a more perfect union. For nearly a century, these women fought to be heard, and their efforts fundamentally transformed our democracy and our country. prgtoken I am very proud to represent a State with a long tradition of women activists and leaders. Today, I want to recognize two influential suffragists from my State--Emma Smith DeVoe and May Hutton. Both women were pioneers in the struggle to get the right to vote. In an era when women were given few opportunities, these two women refused to be held back. They instead paved a way for women to fully engage in the political process. prgtoken Tacoma resident Emma Smith DeVoe built the Washington Equal Suffrage Association and led the successful campaign to enshrine women's suffrage in Washington's State Constitution a full 10 years ahead of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She helped win the right to vote for women in Idaho in 1896 and led campaigns in other States, speaking and organizing rallies and sit-ins, and she helped found the National Council of Women Voters to continue the nationwide suffrage movement and educate newly enfranchised women about politics across the country. Her efforts got her the nickname ``the Mother of Woman's Suffrage.'' prgtoken May Hutton, the other activist from our State, overcame a very difficult childhood. She and her husband became successful entrepreneurs and devoted much of their self-made wealth to activism. prgtoken When they moved to Spokane from Idaho in 1906, May actually lost her right to vote in the process. She quickly set out to work to change that injustice and win the franchise for women in every State in the territory. prgtoken She wrote: Women should vote because they have the intelligence to vote. They should vote because it gives them responsibilities, and responsibilities better fit women for all conditions of life. Equality before the law gives women a fair chance with men in a question of wages for the same work. prgtoken There you go--a century ago, someone standing up for women to have the same wage in work, and that is the work we continue here today. prgtoken She continued: In other words, the enfranchisement of women means a square deal for all.
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2019-6-4

I come to the floor today to honor some of the Founders of our Nation who all too often don't get their due-- prgtoken Founders whose gender or skin tone may not be represented on Mount Rushmore but whose brilliance, whose resilience, helped ensure that the democracy we have today is strong and true. prgtoken This democracy wasn't just built by George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. It wasn't perfected in the 18th century when the ink dried on the four original pages of the Constitution. prgtoken It was shaped by women like Abigail Adams, whom I named my first daughter after. It was strengthened by suffragists like Sojourner Truth, who worked tirelessly to better the country that had kept her in chains, who used her emancipation to call for freedom and a voice for all women--Black, White, you name it. It was formed by Illinoisans like Ida B. Wells, who demanded that women of color have a place at the forefront of the suffrage movement. It was forged by women like Mary Livermore, who channeled her frustration over women's inequality into action, spearheading Chicago's first-ever suffrage convention 150 years ago and marking Illinois as a leader in the fight for women's rights. prgtoken Our democracy was sharpened by a group of Illinoisans who traveled to Washington, DC, in 1913, joining thousands of other women in their march down Pennsylvania Avenue--protesters who were vilified, berated, jostled, tripped, and even jailed but who withstood it all to call for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. prgtoken This Union was made more perfect when the 19th Amendment finally passed Congress 100 years ago today. prgtoken These women raised their voices on the picket lines so that we could make ours heard at the polls. They risked safety and security, withstood hypocrisy and overcame misogyny, refusing to stay silent so that their daughters and their daughters' daughters would inherit the democracy they deserved. For that, we are forever in their debt. prgtoken Of course, every American's right to vote wasn't truly secured that day in 1919, nor was it secured later that week, when Illinois became one of the first States to ratify the amendment, or in 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson picked up a pen and signed the Voting Rights Act into law. prgtoken It still is not secure today--not when voter suppression tactics still block so many people of color from the ballot, when voter roll purges are still common and some in power are still fighting to install modern-day poll taxes. prgtoken So we can't get complacent. What began at Seneca Falls continues with us today, as it now falls to our generation to keep alive the work of yesterday's suffragists, to keep pushing for bills like the Voting Rights Advancement Act to ensure that bigoted State laws don't disenfranchise any American. It falls on us to keep fighting for that more perfect Union, to keep making our voices heard--whether that is here
REMEMBERING RYAN KEITH COX
Christopher Murphy (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2019-6-5

Ryan Keith Cox was 50 years old when he was shot and killed on May 31. He was known for his soft-spoken nature and his powerful singing voice in his church choir, and he was constantly affecting those around him with small but meaningful gestures of kindness. prgtoken The day that he was killed in Virginia Beach, a close coworker of Ryan's, Christi Dewar, was with him when the shooting started. Ryan told Christi and other colleagues to barricade themselves in the break room. Christi implored Keith to join them in the break room, but he said to her ``I have to go check on the other ones.'' Keith left and was soon shot by the gunman as he was assisting other coworkers in reaching safety. prgtoken Christi said: Every time I was upset, [Ryan] would give me a [big] hug. When I was upset about something, he knew exactly what to say to make you smile. He's the type of person who you know would lay down his life for someone, just like he did. prgtoken Bishop Williams of Faith World Ministries in Norfolk said that he had known Keith and his family for years. They were close, a very loving family, and had just been ``leaders in the church world,'' Bishop Williams said. prgtoken Ryan Keith Cox was 50 years old when he was shot in Virginia Beach.
COASTAL COMMUNITIES OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ACT OF 2019
Suzanne Bonamici (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2019-6-5

I thank the chairwoman for yielding time and for her support of this bill. prgtoken , I rise today in support of Congresswoman Pingree's Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act. prgtoken I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill, which would direct NOAA to conduct a vulnerability assessment to identify communities that are dependent on coastal and ocean resources that may be affected by ocean acidification. prgtoken The Pacific Coast is more vulnerable to ocean acidification than other coastal regions, and it can be used as a testing ground for different strategies and models to manage and adapt to ocean acidification. prgtoken But ocean acidification is fundamentally a global phenomenon. We must strengthen our understanding of the socioeconomic effects of ocean acidification on a range of geographically diverse coastal communities. prgtoken Importantly, this bill directs NOAA to work with States, like my home State of Oregon, that are already developing ocean acidification response plans. prgtoken I thank members of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee for including my amendment during the full markup to authorize $2.7 million annually for fiscal years 2020 through 2024. prgtoken I hope that my COAST Research Act will complement this bill and address some of the gaps in our understanding of the socioeconomic effects of ocean acidification. But there must be a separate authorization for vulnerability studies. prgtoken Finally, and importantly, I thank all the staff who worked on not only this bill but also the COAST Research Act and the other two ocean acidification bills, especially, in my office, Maxine Sugarman, but all the staff on both sides of the aisle in our offices and the hardworking committee staff. prgtoken Finally, I thank Congresswoman Pingree for her continued leadership on protecting the health of oceans and improving research on ocean acidification. prgtoken , I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
TRIBUTE TO PETER MELVIN THOMPSON, JR.
Tina Smith (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2019-6-5

today I wish to recognize and celebrate the life of Peter Melvin Thompson, Jr a decorated Vietnam war veteran and proud member of the White Earth Nation, who passed away on Wednesday, January 30, 2019. Today, on June 5, 2019, Mr. Thompson will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery for his service to this country. He is the first member of the White Earth Nation to receive this honor. prgtoken Mr. Thompson served in the Army for 12 years, during which time he received six Purple Hearts, one Silver Star with valor device, and 3 Bronze Stars with valor device. In 1960, at the age of 17, Mr. Thompson talked his dad into signing papers allowing him to enlist in the U.S. Army. He attended basic training and was posted to Fort Leonard Wood, MO, before volunteering to go to fight in the Vietnam war. Mr. Thompson deployed twice to Vietnam, first with the First Cavalry Regiment in central Vietnam from January 1968 to 1969. During this deployment, Mr. Thompson was wounded twice and earned a Bronze Star. prgtoken Soon after returning to the States, Mr. Thompson volunteered for a second tour in Vietnam. During his second tour, Mr. Thompson served as platoon leader in charge of seven armored personnel carriers and three tanks. He was wounded four more times. In 1970, while on a rescue mission, Mr. Thompson was injured in combat for the last time. He was airlifted to Hawk Hill, where he helped identify all the lost men in his platoon before being sent to a field hospital to begin recovery. Mr. Thompson was transferred to Colorado, where he finished his recuperation and served as a probation officer at Fort Carson before being discharged in 1972. prgtoken Mr. Thompson met and married Evelyn Auginaush on July 10, 1973 at St. Phillips Church in Rice Lake, MN. Together they moved throughout Minnesota before returning to Mr. Thompson's home in Rice Lake. Never one to be idle, Mr. Thompson found work as a trapper for the State and Tribe Predator Control and also worked at the Leech Lake Indian Health Hospital Facilities as a manager, where he won two awards for his service. Mr. Thompson's time in the military also left an indelible mark on his life and led him to start the White Earth Honor Guard, which he remained a part of throughout his life. prgtoken Today, Mr. Thompson is being laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery by his wife Evelyn, daughters Cheryl and Carol, 15 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, and many others. I am proud today to recognize Peter Thompson for his service to this country, to Minnesota, and to the White Earth Nation.
Ukraine (Executive Session)
Catherine Cortez Masto (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2019-6-5

let me just say, on behalf of the State of Nevada, that I am so appreciative that I get to work with my colleagues from Wisconsin and Oregon. I thank them for their commitment because this is the No. 1 issue in the State of Nevada. prgtoken I say to Senator Baldwin: What you are doing is really standing up for people and their right to have access to affordable healthcare in this country when they need it, access to medication when they need it, and the comfort in knowing that if they purchase a plan, if something, God forbid, should happen to them, then, they will have access to that medication and those doctors when they need it. Thank you for your hard work. prgtoken I stand today because I want to tell you about one of these people in the State of Nevada. Her name is Carol Elewski. She is from Reno, NV. Carol has chronic asthma. She manages it with medications that cost up to $400 a month--$400 a month. prgtoken In October of 2016, Carol had such a bad asthma attack that she was admitted to the hospital for 10 days as doctors struggled to get her breathing under control. Thankfully, today Carol's health is stable, but because of her preexisting condition and high prescription drug costs, she depends on the protections of the Affordable Care Act to keep her healthcare costs in check. prgtoken This administration, as we have heard today from my colleagues, keeps chipping away at those protections. Literally, we have heard from the President that he is proud of sabotaging the Affordable Care Act. He has weakened the ACA by expanding access to these junk plans. These short-term, limited-duration plans don't cover essential services, like prescription drugs, emergency rooms visits, and maternity care. prgtoken Today, I am joining my colleagues to, once again, urge that we do away with these scam insurance policies. These plans appeal to consumers because they are low cost, but they are also low benefit, as we have heard. Many people who purchase them don't realize just how limited the coverage is. All those details are in the fine print of the policies in dense legal jargon, and it is nearly impossible to understand. I am an attorney, and I will tell you that even attorneys have difficulty understanding that dense legal jargon in some of these policies. Consumers don't know that the plans they are signing up for-- because of the dense legal jargon and because they are not given specifics, and there is not enough transparency--don't even cover their preexisting conditions. Consumers may not realize that their coverage has annual or lifetime spending caps. prgtoken Take Carol, for instance. Let's say she had signed up for a junk plan instead of an ACA-compliant plan--an easy mistake to make, since companies hide the differences between the two. With the junk plan, Carol's insurance could have refused to cover her healthcare costs because of her asthma. They could have denied payment for the emergenc
HONORING THE WORK OF KOJO NNAMDI
Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC) \u2014 2019-6-5

. Madam , I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Kojo Nnamdi and The Kojo Nnamdi Show for two decades on air with WAMU 88.5, Washington's National Public Radio news station. prgtoken No other local radio program brings the depth, sensitivity and familiarity with the important issues of the Washington, D.C. region better than The Kojo Nnamdi Show. Hosted by the universally beloved Kojo Nnamdi, the show has been at the center of critical conversations about society, community, race, housing, education, politics, the arts and more for 20 years. prgtoken While divisiveness has become the talk show norm, Nnamdi takes the time to create thoughtful dialogue--engendering trust among guests and listeners alike. Whether talking to citizens or politicians, he generates honest, productive discussions with guests, incorporating engagement with listeners. prgtoken Nnamdi makes it a priority to meet people where their lives happen-- in the community. Nnamdi's conversations in communities around the region amplify the voices of those who would not be. prgtoken A native of Guyana, Nnamdi moved to D.C. in 1969 to engage with the civil rights movement. Now a longtime D.C. resident, Nnamdi brings both a global perspective and vast knowledge of the region to front page headlines and explores emerging stories before they are news. prgtoken From 1973 to 1985, Nnamdi worked at WHUR-FM, where he served as news editor and then news director, producing the award-winning local news program The Daily Drum. From 1985 to 2011, he hosted Evening Exchange, a public affairs television program broadcast by WHUT-TV at Howard University. Nnamdi became host of a WAMU program called Public Interest in August 1998, and the name was changed to The Kojo Nnamdi Show in September 2002. prgtoken In 2001, Nnamdi was honored as a civil rights hero by the National Council for Community Justice. In 2003, the Library of Congress selected Nnamdi as the keynote speaker for African American History Month. In addition to his hosting duties, Nnamdi has chaired the board of the Public Access Corporation of Washington, D.C. for the past 25 years. In 2014, Nnamdi was inducted into the Hall of prgtoken Fame of the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in 2018, he was inducted into the D.C. Hall of Fame Society. prgtoken The Kojo Nnamdi Show has won numerous awards, including multiple Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and Associated Press honors, as well as the National Association of Black Broadcasters Salute to Excellence Award. prgtoken Over the years, Nnamdi has taken listeners on both intellectual and emotional journeys around the rapidly evolving Washington region. He has convened critical conversations for 20 years at the heart of change. prgtoken Madam , I ask the House to please join me in recognizing Kojo Nnamdi and The Kojo Nnamdi Show for 20 years of dedicated work in the Washington, D.C. area.
FEDERAL FUNDS FOR PUERTO RICO
Brendan F. Boyle (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2019-6-5

. Madam , it has been, now, well over a year since the devastation of Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. It ripped apart the homes and lives of millions of Puerto Ricans, leaving tens of thousands struggling without jobs and housing. prgtoken Thousands of Puerto Ricans are feeling the sting of insufficient Federal funds to help the island recover from Hurricane Maria. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that helps Puerto Ricans buy food, get medical treatment, and recover from the hurricane, when the money trust ran out, Puerto Rico's government had to start cutting benefits just last month. prgtoken Madam , I am proud to support and see this House just pass, finally, the Disaster Relief Act, which provides approximately $1.4 billion for our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico. It provides $600 million for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, $5 million for a study of the disaster nutrition assistance provided to the Commonwealth in 2017, and approximately $500 million to the Coast Guard. prgtoken Madam , we must do more for Puerto Rico.