mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
RECOGNIZING THE RICHWOODS GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM ON WINNING THE ILLINOIS 3A STATE TITLE
Darin LaHood (Republican, IL) \u2014 2018-3-15

today, I would like to recognize Peoria, Illinois' Richwoods High School girls basketball team on winning the 2018 Class 3A state title. prgtoken Returning to the state title game for the second straight year, the Lady Knights capped off the 35-1 season with a 55-46 win over LaGrange Park Nazareth. In a back and forth game, the fourth quarter proved pivotal with Richwoods going on a 17-0 run to start the quarter. Over the course of the game, the Richwoods' Knights had an amazing team effort on both offense and defense, with Senior Kourtney Crane led the Knights with 19 points. prgtoken Richwoods' win is the 1,001st in school history and they will add a fourth Class 3A state title to their trophy case, becoming only the third high school in Illinois history to achieve this milestone. Richwoods' continued success on the hardwood is a testament to the leadership of Coach Todd Hursey and the determination of the young women he coaches. prgtoken The Richwoods girls basketball team serves as a reminder to the people of our community that when we believe in ourselves and dedicate our time and effort to the goals that we set, we can achieve even the most daring outcomes. These young women exemplify the strong work ethic rooted in Central Illinois and we could not be prouder. Again, congratulations to Coach Todd Hursey and the Richwoods girls basketball team their remarkable state championship win.
IN MEMORIAM: TEXAS STATE SENATOR JACK OGG
Ted Poe (Republican, TX) \u2014 2018-3-15

today we honor the life and memory of longtime Texas lawmaker and my friend, Jack Ogg of Houston, Texas who recently passed away at the age of 84. prgtoken Jack Ogg was a political icon who had a 52-year career in Texas politics and law. He represented the Houston area for 16 years, first as a State Representative and then as a State Senator. His love for the State of Texas and the law prompted him to further serve with a run for Texas Attorney General. After an unsuccessful race, Jack returned to his renowned law practice in Houston. prgtoken When I was a criminal court judge in Houston, Senator Ogg practiced in my court. prgtoken Jack was also the father of County District Attorney Kim Ogg. Kim worked alongside her father at the Ogg Law Firm and remembers her father not only as a great statesman, but a wonderful father who kept his family as his top priority. Kim said her father, ``was my closest confidante.'' , when I saw Jack recently at the funeral of our friend, the late Texas Governor Mark White, you could tell he was beaming with pride for Kim and how she was carrying on the Ogg tradition of public service. prgtoken Those who served in the legislature alongside Jack said he did what he thought was best for his district and worked inside the rules of the legislature instead of concerning himself with partisan fights. He did what was right and stuck to his principles. prgtoken Jack told friends he was proud of authoring the bilingual education act in Texas; the bill to create Metro in County; and a measure re-instating the death penalty in the state. Jack's friend Houston attorney Robert Pelton described Ogg as, ``one of the finest human beings I've ever met in my life'' who did many good things for the state of Texas. prgtoken I admired Jack's adventurous spirit and determination. He suffered from congestive heart failure for many years, but that didn't stop him from being active not only in Houston, but across the globe. Just a few months ago, , he took a cruise to Spain and Italy. His family said he was born with an explorer's heart and he traveled to more than 225 countries and islands, and visited all seven continents. prgtoken Senator Ogg was born in 1933 during the Depression. His family moved to Houston in the 1950s. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas then worked his way through the University of Houston, where he was twice elected class president. He went to law school at night at South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1962. He lost his beloved wife of more than 50 years, philanthropist Connie Harner Ogg, to cancer in 2010. prgtoken , those who worked with Jack in the State Legislature and at his law practice prgtoken agree he was larger than life with a sharp mind and keen craft. Today, I salute Senator Ogg's many contributions to our state and the city of Houston. My prayers are with District Attorney Ogg, her brother
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS EXAMINATION FAIRNESS AND REFORM ACT
Jeb Hensarling (Republican, TX) \u2014 2018-3-15

. Madam , such time as I may consume. prgtoken Madam , I rise today in very strong support of H.R. 4545, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act. prgtoken It is a strongly bipartisan bill, having come out of our committee by a vote of 50-10. It is authored by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), who serves as the vice chairman of our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and is, indeed, one of the leaders in the House in bringing regulatory relief to our community financial institutions. I want to thank him for his leadership on this very, very important issue. prgtoken H.R. 4545 creates transparency and accountability among regulators by improving the timeliness of examinations, while also creating a new more independent examination appeals process. prgtoken Madam , this is about, again, transparency. It is about due process. The Office of Independent Examination Review created under this bill will ensure accountability and fairness for financial institutions during their supervisory examinations. It does so by providing the right for these institutions to obtain an independent review of a material supervisory determination contained in a final examination report. prgtoken The creation of this independent review process is particularly important for our Nation's community banks and credit unions that will now be able to appeal their examination decisions without fear of reprisal from their regulator. prgtoken By reforming the process for examining financial institutions to ensure it is fair and consistent, Congress will indeed enhance the safety and soundness of the financial system overall while ensuring Main Street businesses can access the liquidity and capital resources they need to grow and create jobs. Again, Madam , this is why this is so important. Ultimately, this is about ensuring a free flow of credit to Main Street businesses and families. prgtoken Many of our community financial institutions have felt a very, very heavy hand of burdensome Federal regulations that were intended--or so we were told--for the largest and most complex institutions; and regulators, unfortunately, seem to ignore congressional directive and apply each one of these standards to our smallest institutions. Thus, yesterday, Madam , we voted on the TAILOR Act, also authored by the gentleman from Colorado, that would also help ensure these regulations are tailored to the size and complexity of the institution. prgtoken Without having due process and fairness in this exam review, the result has been catastrophic. This regulatory burden, of which this is a part, has been resulting in the closing or merger of one community bank or credit union per day, on average. And again, they are not being lost to natural causes. prgtoken Our community financial institutions serve as the backbone of our American economy, and we simply cannot afford to lose them. As chairman of the Financial
WORKERS AND FAMILIES ARE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE NEW TAX CUT LAW
Tim Walberg (Republican, MI) \u2014 2018-3-15

. Madam , as I travel to each corner of my district, I hear from workers and families who are optimistic about the new tax cut law and what it means for their pocketbooks. prgtoken There is a momentum in our economy, and the latest jobs report from February is another piece of positive news. Last month, the economy added 313,000 jobs, far exceeding expectations; the unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low for the fifth consecutive month; and labor force participation increased by more than 800,000 workers, the biggest surge in 15 years. prgtoken Earlier this week, the National Federation of Independent Business released a survey that found small-business owners' confidence in the economy is soaring, and they are prepared to hire and raise wages without a government mandate. Imagine that. prgtoken Madam , these are encouraging signs that our policies of reducing excessive red tape and cutting taxes are working. prgtoken Let's build on these results and continue to advance solutions that improve the lives of the people we represent.
ALLOW STATES AND VICTIMS TO FIGHT ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2017-- MOTION TO PROCEED
Orrin G. Hatch (Republican, UT) \u2014 2018-3-15

I rise in support of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which passed the Senate yesterday. This bipartisan bill protects and boosts the U.S. economy. I commend Chairman Crapo, members of the Banking Committee, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the hard work in getting this particular bill proposal across the finish line. prgtoken Making the rules simpler and fairer for small and midsized financial institutions is a commonsense idea that has garnered broad bipartisan support. That is because, done right, it helps hardworking Americans who aspire to invent things, start businesses, and manufacture goods and services--exactly the kind of entrepreneurship and growth America needs more of. prgtoken There are plenty of people with different viewpoints on how to improve the financial system. Some, however, say that almost any modification to the 849-page Dodd-Frank Act equates to a bonfire financial regulation, a gift to Wall Street, and so on. I think we need to cut through such patronizing, derisive mudslinging, and instead focus on commonsense solutions for the American people. prgtoken Let me tell you a plain truth: The bill the Senate passed yesterday is the result of sensible debate, reasonable compromise, and hard policy choices. Without compromising the safety and soundness of our financial system, it provides regulatory relief to small and midsized banks, credit unions, and financial institutions--the kind most familiar on Main Street in my home State of Utah. prgtoken Our constituents deserve regulatory relief. Between 2010 and 2016, compliance with Dodd-Frank cost $36 billion and required 73 million paperwork hours. Dodd-Frank alone enacted more than five times as many restrictions as any other law passed by the administration and more than 22,000 pages of regulations. prgtoken With their vast resources, large banks could stomach these regulations mainly through automation, but smaller banks could not. Saddled with extra compliance requirements and no material benefit to resilience, many buckled under the weight of these burdensome regulations. prgtoken Consider that there are 1,736 fewer community banks today than when Dodd-Frank was signed into law. Since 2010, the number of FDIC-insured commercial banks in Utah dropped from 53 to 42. In a similar timespan, the number of NCUA-insured credit unions in my home State fell from 94 to 66. Over the past decade, the percentage of small business and commercial loans dropped more than 15 percent. prgtoken Indeed, 8 years since the passage of Dodd-Frank, it is high time for Congress to reflect and make adjustments, as necessary, to improve our financial prgtoken regulatory system. Let's focus on resilience and efficiency. This bill does just that. prgtoken I would like to briefly highlight three reforms in the bill that benefit our national and local economies. First, the bill provides relief and f
TRIBUTE TO BILL PAVKOV
David Young (Republican, IA) \u2014 2018-3-15

I rise today to recognize and congratulate Bill Pavkov of Hastings, Iowa for his dedicated service to our country in World War II and the Korean War. Bill turned 90 in 2017 and has the rare distinction of serving his country in two wars. prgtoken Bill was born and raised in Doylestown, Ohio. He left school in the l0th grade to join the U.S. Army Transport Service in 1944. He was only 17 years old and his father had to give his permission in order for Bill to serve. Bill was aboard Army Transport ships that delivered both troops and supplies around the world. After his service to our country, Bill returned to Ohio, married and began his career as an over-the-road semi-truck driver. In 1960, Bill and his family moved to Iowa where he started farming and continued driving trucks. He served his community as a volunteer firefighter and as Mayor of Hastings. When Bill prgtoken retired in the 1990s he had logged 52 years as a truck driver and 30 years as a farmer. prgtoken , I commend and congratulate Bill for his many years of dedicated and devoted service to the United States of America, his family, and his community. It is with great honor that I recognize him today. I ask that my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives join me in applauding his service as a veteran and in wishing him and his family nothing but the best.
ALLOW STATES AND VICTIMS TO FIGHT ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2017-- MOTION TO PROCEED
Roy Blunt (Republican, MO) \u2014 2018-3-15

in the next few days, we will begin to debate this important bill on sex trafficking. This is something that, for whatever reason, the country turned its back on for too long. As the ways to communicate and the ways to offer so-called adult services grew, the government and law enforcement didn't have the new tools they needed to fight back. prgtoken This is a bill that Senator Portman and others have worked so hard on, on this side of the building. We are actually taking up the House bill. The principal sponsor of the House bill is Missouri Congresswoman Ann Wagner, with whom I have worked closely and who has been a good friend of mine--she and her family--for a long time. prgtoken When the House passed this bill overwhelmingly, Ann Wagner said that they ``sent a clear message to trafficking victims: you are not alone, and justice is no longer out of reach.'' It is hard to imagine a more lonely place, I would think, than someone who is being trafficked, some young woman, young child, boy or girl, who has fallen into the hands of traffickers and who, for drugs or whatever reason, has been sold into this or become dependent in a way that put them into this. prgtoken Congresswoman Wagner went on to say about this bill that ``FOSTA will produce more prosecutions of bad actor websites and more convictions and put more predators behind bars.'' She said: ``It will give victims a pathway to justice and provide a meaningful criminal deterrent, so that fewer businesses will ever enter the sex trade and fewer victims will ever be sold.'' prgtoken The whole idea that people are being sold to be used in whatever terrible way someone else wants to use them is so offensive. The idea that we have websites that people can go to that have some description of some person who is helplessly in this system and how they would be used--that is something Congress should stand up on. By voting for Congresswoman Wagner's bill, the House has already done that. prgtoken On our side of the building, Senator Portman and others have worked so hard to draw attention to the fact that we need to find time to get this bill on the floor. Now we have a bill that has already passed the House, and all we have to do is pass that bill and send it right to the President, or we can make prgtoken some changes that Senator Portman and others may want to suggest, and then we can send the bill back to the House, where hopefully it can be dealt with in the same overwhelming way they passed it the first time. Then we can get this bill on the President's desk and do exactly what Congresswoman Wagner said this bill will do. It is time for us to do everything we can to end this. prgtoken We would be foolish to think that one piece of legislation will end this problem. By working with law enforcement, looking at trafficking, looking at locations like the intersections of major interstate highways, where it is easy to bring people, to pass people alo
ALLOW STATES AND VICTIMS TO FIGHT ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2017-- MOTION TO PROCEED
Rob Portman (Republican, OH) \u2014 2018-3-15

I rise today to talk about the issue before the Senate, and I am very pleased the Senate is finally taking up this legislation. It has to do with stopping sex trafficking specifically--a growing scourge in our country and really a stain on our national character--which is girls, women being sold online. prgtoken The legislation is called the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act. It includes the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, or SESTA. That has gone through a process here in the Senate. We had hearings on it. We had a markup. This is an issue many of us have been working on for many months--in fact, for the last couple of years--doing the investigations to come up with how to deal with this problem. prgtoken I am very pleased that we now have the opportunity here in the Senate to take up this legislation and begin the process of turning the tide, changing this horrific situation where, in this country, in this century, we actually have an increase in the trafficking of human beings--specifically women and children being trafficked online. I thought the speech earlier by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid this out very well. He talked about the fact that there has been an eightfold increase, in the most recent data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; that is, between 2010 and 2015, there was an eightfold increase in the incidence of trafficking. He also talked about the fact that this is growing because of this growth of the internet, that the internet--specifically this one website--has caused this increase that Congress has the ability to address through a change in a Federal law that can be targeted and focused and can make a huge difference in the lives of those who would be trafficked and undergo the intense trauma that results. prgtoken I am very pleased we are taking up this legislation. I thank Majority Leader McConnell for putting the bill on the floor. prgtoken I know we have an important omnibus spending bill coming up, and I know the Senate needs to focus on that, but first let's get this commonsense legislation passed. Let's take this opportunity to do something that is actually going to help immediately on this issue of sex trafficking. prgtoken I also thank Senator John Thune. He is the chairman of the Commerce Committee, which had the hearings and marked up this legislation. I also thank his colleague, Ranking Member Bill Nelson, for his work on this. We held a powerful hearing. I had a chance to testify there and testify about the work we had done in another committee investigating this issue. We heard from victims, and we heard from experts. At the end of the day, that vote in the Commerce Committee was unanimous-- s and alike saying: We get it. We need to address this issue. prgtoken We have had a lot of collaboration on this over the last couple of years. I would say it has been a truly nonpartisan effor
HONORING CONGRESSWOMAN MARCY KAPTUR
Jim Jordan (Republican, OH) \u2014 2018-3-15

I am proud to join my colleagues from Ohio and across the nation in paying tribute to the dean of the Ohio delegation, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, as she becomes the longest- serving woman in the history of the House of Representatives. prgtoken Congresswoman Kaptur has been tireless in her promotion of Toledo and the people of Ohio's Ninth Congressional District. I am grateful to my colleagues who have already spoken about her many accomplishments on behalf of her constituents throughout her congressional career. prgtoken I want to especially highlight her advocacy work on behalf of Lima's Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in my district, which is the only facility in the nation capable of producing large combat vehicles for the Department of Defense. Marcy has used her seniority on the House Appropriations Committee to stave off cuts to JSMC programs that would have devastated military readiness and destroyed the plant's supplier base. I thank her for her longstanding bipartisan work to save money for the taxpayer while keeping the skilled workers of JSMC on the job building modem, safer vehicles on which our servicemembers rely. prgtoken On behalf of the people of Ohio's Fourth Congressional District, I congratulate Congresswoman Kaptur on achieving this milestone. Her decency and civility are a model for all who commit their lives to public service.
CIVIL WAR IN SYRIA
Susan W. Brooks (Republican, IN) \u2014 2018-3-15

. Madam , I rise today to shine light on the ongoing tragedy in Syria. prgtoken Today marks 7 years of civil war in Syria, 7 years of indiscriminate killing of women and children, 7 years of intermittent chemical attacks on civilians by the Assad regime, 7 years of bombings, of people thrown out of their homes, of children whose youth has been stolen from them. prgtoken The ongoing tragedy in eastern Ghouta is just the most recent of horrific events perpetrated by the Assad regime and their Iranian- backed militia. prgtoken The White Helmets group reports that 800 civilians have been killed in the past 2 weeks as the Assad regime continues to pound the rebel- held area, despite the ongoing humanitarian cease-fire. prgtoken The blatant disregard regime forces have for civilian life is nothing short of despicable. prgtoken We must continue to be engaged in efforts to support the Syrian ic Forces and other allies that believe in a free, democratic, and independent Syria. prgtoken Without U.S. leadership, the carnage will continue and we will be left with meaningless U.N. resolutions. We must stand with our allies to stop this devastating carnage that is tearing apart families and ruining countless lives.