mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
FORCED FAMILY SEPARATION
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2018-6-20

I begin tonight by thanking my colleague Senator Merkley for his leadership on this issue. prgtoken I rise to join my ic colleagues and millions of Americans who have been appalled and outraged at the humanitarian crisis that President has created on our southern border. prgtoken Make no mistake, these past few weeks have truly been an affront to our American values. By now, we have all witnessed the horrifying reality--the images of children being held in cages, the cries of screaming kids who have no idea where their parents are being taken or if they will ever see them again. prgtoken The Department of Homeland Security announced that between May 5 and June 9, the Department took 2,300 children--approximately 70 children per day--from their parents. Pediatricians, psychologists, and health professionals have made clear the lasting harm of these forced separations. According to experts, when children are forcibly removed from their parents, the amount of toxic stress can cause neurons in the brain to be killed off, leaving damage that impacts brain development and can cause long-term behavioral health issues, although no parent needs a doctor to tell them that. prgtoken The fact that our government has engaged in this type of physical and psychological damage to children is morally reprehensible. These actions have been unacceptable and completely unnecessary. prgtoken Let's be clear. The President created this crisis, and over the past days and weeks, the President and his administration made false claim after false claim, saying that there was nothing they could do to reverse the President's own actions. The fact that the President bowed to pressure and signed an Executive order today cannot undo the trauma that has already been inflicted. prgtoken We cannot forget about the children and parents that remain separated tonight, and immediate action must be taken to reunite children with their families. Earlier tonight, there were reports that the Department of Health and Human Services will not--will not--make special efforts to reunite children who have already been separated from families because of the President's actions. We cannot and will not accept this continued brutality. The President must act immediately to reunite these children with their parents. Surely the U.S. Government is capable of that. prgtoken In the United States of America, we must work to secure our border in a manner that reflects our values, and I am committed to working with anyone on comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform. prgtoken Separating children from their families was an abhorrent policy to pursue, and it will forever mark a dark and shameful period in our country's history. prgtoken Thank you. prgtoken .
FAMILY SEPARATION
Suzanne Bonamici (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2018-6-20

. Madam , I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. prgtoken I spent the day before Father's Day at the Federal prison in Oregon, meeting the 123 asylum-seeking immigrant men who are incarcerated in prison. They were fleeing horrific violence and religious persecution. They were Christian and Sikh men from India. There was an LGBTQ man from Honduras and a man from Mexico whose property was burned because he has been targeted by gangs. We spoke with men who were separated from their wives and children and who, on Father's Day, had no idea where they were or how they were. prgtoken Criminalizing asylum seekers and separating families is cruel, and it is appalling. prgtoken Now we find out that there are tender-age shelters. Babies don't need their own jail. They need their own parents. This must stop. The President and the Department of Justice could stop it right now. prgtoken The American Academy of Pediatrics said that separating families in this way causes irreparable harm. Mistreating children for political leverage is outside of moral bounds, even for this administration. prgtoken As a mother, it breaks my heart. As an American and granddaughter of immigrants, it makes me furious. prgtoken And if the President won't sign something today, which he could, then, Ryan, bring us the Keeping Families Together Act, and let us do something to stop this horrific atrocity that is happening to children and to people who are coming to this country.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 6, SUBSTANCE USE-DISORDER PREVENTION THAT PROMOTES OPIOID RECOVERY AND TREATMENT FOR PATIENTS AND COMMUNITIES ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5797...
James P. McGovern (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2018-6-20

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , again, none of what we are doing here today is going to matter if the s and the administration are successful in cutting Medicaid and in basically removing the guarantee that people who have preexisting conditions cannot be denied insurance. prgtoken I mean, if the administration is successful, individuals with preexisting conditions all across the country, including individuals suffering from opioid use disorders, both in the individual and in the employer market, could face a denial of coverage or skyrocketing premiums beyond anything anybody could afford. prgtoken I don't get it. I don't understand the hypocrisy here. I know that the efforts here today are well intentioned and people are trying to do the right thing, but then you ruin it all when you gut the funding sources that help people deal with the treatment they need. prgtoken This has to stop. prgtoken I know some of my friends have ideological blinders on when it comes to anything that was passed during the administration, but we have got to put the American people first, and this is a crisis that affects every single community in this country. If this administration is successful in what they are trying to do to undercut the ACA, then countless people will not have access to healthcare and will not have access to the treatment they need. prgtoken , our Nation is in the midst of a devastating opioid crisis that is spiraling out of control. Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also found that opioids are responsible for 6 out of 10 overdose deaths in the United States. prgtoken The American people are in desperate need of strong action by Congress to stem the tide of the opioid scourge. We need serious public investment to quell this exploding crisis, not just legislation on the peripherals. We must direct resources to the States and local communities on the front lines of this devastating public health crisis where assistance is needed the most. prgtoken , I am going to ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question, and if we do, I will offer an amendment to bring up Representative Loebsack's legislation, H.R. 4501, the Combating the Opioid Epidemic Act. This bill would provide badly needed funding for State grants for the prevention, detection, surveillance, and treatment of opioid abuse. prgtoken , I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
COORDINATED RESPONSE THROUGH INTERAGENCY STRATEGY AND INFORMATION SHARING ACT
Elijah E. Cummings (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-6-20

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I want to take a moment, before I yield to my distinguished colleague, Mr. Connolly, to echo what my good friend just said about our staffs. prgtoken I, too, thank our staffs for all that they have done. So often they are unseen, unnoticed, and feel, I am sure, unappreciated and unapplauded. But our staffs worked very, very hard on this, and I, too, give the ultimate applause to them. I want to thank you for recognizing them. prgtoken , I also thank Mr. Meadows for working so hard to bring all this together. prgtoken , I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a man who has just been tireless on this issue and so many others, but who has done such a phenomenal job.
I AM STANDING FOR THE CHILDREN
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-6-20

America is listening to the pain of so many of the Members, my colleagues, as we have experienced the devastation of watching families torn apart from their babies, their toddlers, their young children. prgtoken I spent my Sunday and Monday, Father's Day, looking at those who just simply wanted an opportunity, holding baby Roger in my hands, whose mother had died and whose sister was ripped away from him and prosecuted criminally for entering the United States. Or baby Leah, who was 1 year old and was obviously fussy and had been in such a way that she was experiencing trauma. prgtoken And yet, we now have this executive order that looks as if the President has done something that he could not have done a few hours ago, which is picking up the telephone and telling the people at the border to cease and desist. prgtoken Those are good people who work there. They are only following orders. But this is a tragic executive order--it has no heart to it--because what it does is, yes, it keeps the families together in a criminal posture and houses them in the same conditions, now on military bases, rather than allowing them to proceed through court proceedings. In my southern district of Texas we have 50,000 cases in backlog because, as I go to the Budget Committee, this administration refuses to give us more judges. prgtoken Well, they are trying to open one of these places in my congressional district. And I want to congratulate Houston, because Houston is standing for humanity; it is standing, as the Pope has said, because everyone deserves dignity. prgtoken This executive order is not worth the paper it is written on because it could have been a phone call, not a demand that it is all of Congress' fault. prgtoken But I am standing for the children, and we are going to save them.
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2018-6-20

I would like to thank the Senator from Indiana for this amendment. It is a good amendment and is an amendment we need to pass in this body. As Senator Young pointed out, issues around mental health are very prevalent. It is the signature injury coming out of the Middle East. When these folks come back home, our men and women who have served need to have access, especially when they are in crisis. I thank Senator Young. Amendment No. 2971 prgtoken , I have a different amendment. This amendment does one simple thing. It stresses the importance of the independence of the Office of the Inspector General at the VA. To be honest, I am not sure we should ever have had to have this amendment, but we do because it is clear the VA is denying access to the Office of Inspector General to get the information it needs to carry out its mission of oversight. Over the past week, there have been a flurry of letters back and forth from the VA to the IG about access to information about the nature of the relationship between the two. prgtoken This is what I have to say. The rhetoric coming out of the VA is a bit troubling. Sunlight, bringing information to light, is the best antiseptic for good government. When the IG is doing its job correctly, that is exactly what happens. So with the rhetoric that is coming out of the VA, it opens the door to the VA to be able to control or interfere for political reasons what should be the OIG's independent oversight efforts. I am here to state that the VA is not above the law or exempt from independent oversight. Despite the Acting Secretary directing the inspector general to act like he is his subordinate, he is not. This amendment No. 2971 simply prohibits funds appropriated in this bill to be used in a way that limits the access of the Office of Inspector General to the information or documents it deems necessary to investigate and do the oversight of the VA's work. prgtoken As we have seen, the Department cannot be trusted to police itself. It must be held accountable to the veterans and taxpayers, and the Office of Inspector General is an important watchdog that should not be undermined. prgtoken I would like to add to the Record the cosponsors of this bill: Senators Isakson, Murray, Blumenthal, Hirono, Manchin, Duckworth, Baldwin, King, Gillibrand, Warren, Brown, McCaskill, Jones, Durbin, and Wyden. prgtoken This is a good amendment. It is a good governance amendment. It is an amendment to allow us, the folks in the Senate, to offer the kind of oversight we need to offer to the VA to make sure it is serving the veterans of this country. prgtoken With that, . Vote on Amendment No. 2926
FORCED FAMILY SEPARATION
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2018-6-20

I want to thank my colleague from Hawaii for sharing her personal experience of how that felt because that is so important for us to hear. from Oregon and all the Senators who are out here tonight to speak on this. prgtoken I may be only one person, but today I bring to the floor of the Senate the outrage, the pain, and the frustration of millions of people in my home State of Washington and across the country who see what President has been doing on our southern border, who have been watching the pain this forced family separation has caused so many innocent children, who have begged the President to pick up the phone, sign a piece of paper, do whatever it takes to make it stop, who have refused to be silenced as President carries out his hateful and divisive attacks on immigrants, and who heard a recording with desperate cries of children calling for their parents. When I heard that, my heart stopped. Like every mom, like every human being, I just wanted to reach out and comfort that child. I could only think of how his mother felt because I assure you, whether she was in that room, a room 100 miles away, or a room 3,000 miles away, like every mom, she heard her child's cry, too, and her heart was broken. prgtoken While today we saw President change his story about whether he did, in fact, have the ability to make it stop, there are a lot of questions that remain--questions that actually I and others have been asking the administration for weeks that have gone unanswered, like exactly how these parents are being informed about their children's safety. Where are they? Where are they being located? When will they be reunited? Those are just a few. There are more. prgtoken President says the Executive order stops the separation. Does that mean starting today? Next month? When? What about the thousands of children who have been removed? Will they ever see their parents again? When? Where? How? prgtoken I have not gotten answers from the Secretary of Health, Alex Azar, whose Department should be focused on families' health and well-being but has instead spent that time complicit in a policy of separating families and traumatizing parents and children alike. prgtoken Even experts, such as the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said that the practice of intentionally inflicting trauma on young children is child abuse. prgtoken While it is a good thing that President dialed back his systematic child abuse, it is not enough. We are not going to say everything is OK now. We are not going to stay quiet because while we are still digging into this new Executive order, here is what we do know right now: If this is implemented, there will continue to be zero tolerance for all asylum seekers, including domestic violence survivors. It is a system of locking up children by the thousands, all carried out in our great country's name. prgtoken
INDIVIDUALS IN MEDICAID DESERVE CARE THAT IS APPROPRIATE AND RESPONSIBLE IN ITS EXECUTION ACT
Daniel T. Kildee (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2018-6-20

I appreciate the comments of both of my colleagues. prgtoken This is an effort to make sure that, as we take on this epidemic, whatever path we may take, we do so in a way that gets us the best information we can to determine whether or not we are making the progress that this intends. We have our thoughts about that. This legislation, and this particular amendment, would ensure that Congress has the information it needs. prgtoken I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment, and .
INDIVIDUALS IN MEDICAID DESERVE CARE THAT IS APPROPRIATE AND RESPONSIBLE IN ITS EXECUTION ACT
Brian K. Fitzpatrick (Republican, PA) \u2014 2018-6-20

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I intend to withdraw the amendment, but I want to take a moment to highlight an issue of critical importance to my home State of Pennsylvania where communities across the Commonwealth have been suffering from the scourge of the opioid crisis. prgtoken First, I want to thank the committee for tackling the IMD exclusion problem. We must ensure access to treatment to get people suffering with addiction on the road to recovery. Going forward, we must ensure that States have the flexibility that they need to provide access to treatment and not unintentionally create obstacles or bureaucratic barriers to care. prgtoken This is exactly what I had in mind when I introduced my Road to Recovery Act last year. I worked with various stakeholders across the Nation and in Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania State Representative Gene DiGirolamo and Deb Beck, the head of the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania. prgtoken I determined that States deliberately tailoring criteria to meet their unique situation, whether it be specific local realities or socioeconomic factors, need flexibility and should not be bound solely to the proprietary criteria of one organization--which, in fact, endorsed my Road to Recovery Act that included this same State flexibility criteria provision. prgtoken I am concerned for Pennsylvania and other similarly situated States that could be left behind, especially in the public patient and residential treatment context. prgtoken For instance, in Pennsylvania, we currently use the Pennsylvania client placement criteria tool for determining the appropriate level of care for an individual seeking treatment or already within Pennsylvania's treatment system. And there are simply differences between the ASAM standard specified in this bill and the criteria used by my home State of Pennsylvania. prgtoken Additionally, in States that may be transitioning to the ASAM guidelines, much work is needed to implement these changes. So, States need the flexibility and assurances to be able to address facility needs during this transition period. This would ensure access to care if the State sees a necessity for it. prgtoken Furthermore, the CMS guidance for the States applying for 1115 waivers already gives the ability to use either the ASAM criteria or other patient placement assessment tools. prgtoken A manual published by SAMHSA discusses the ASAM criteria and notes the following: ``. . . The ASAM criteria were not as applicable to publicly funded programs as to hospitals, practices of private practitioners, group practices, or other medical settings. Therefore, some States supplemented or adapted ASAM criteria.'' prgtoken The same manual goes on to say that several States have adopted variations of the ASAM criteria to fit their systems and that many States have made significant improvements in the ASAM criteria
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2018-6-20

as some of my colleagues mentioned already, today marks 6 months since Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and sent it to the President's desk to become law. When the President signed the legislation, he helped usher in the first major overhaul of the Tax Code in three decades. prgtoken Here are some of the results we have seen so far: Over 1 million new jobs have been created since the package of tax reform; at least 101 utilities across the country are lowering rates for customers, including Entergy Arkansas in my home State, as a result of the savings they are seeing from the tax reform bill; and 75 percent of small and independent business owners believe that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will have a positive impact on their businesses, which is leading them to make plans to invest in hiring and increase employees' compensation. prgtoken I could go on highlighting the good news related to our overhaul of the Tax Code, but instead I want to spend just a few minutes talking about what I have heard from small business owners and employees-- beneficiaries of this historic reform--on a recent visit I made to Arkansas in the south and southwest regions. prgtoken Last month, I had the opportunity to travel around Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District with Congressman Bruce Westerman. We embarked on a tour called the ``Talk Small Y'all'' Small Business Tour to highlight the importance of small businesses to our State's economy and to local communities where they make such a significant impact. The tour was designed to be an opportunity for us to listen and learn, which is exactly what we did. We visited with business owners, managers, and employees of manufacturing companies, an oilfield and industrial products supplier, a food service distributor, dining establishments, and retail stores. prgtoken Everywhere we went, we heard a sense of optimism and excitement in the voices of those we were fortunate to meet. In addition to eliminating burdensome regulations through the Congressional Review Act, the passage of meaningful, historic tax reform--which makes our Nation's businesses more competitive globally--is providing cause for business owners to feel more confident about the current economic climate. Tax reform is helping to provide them with the certainty they need to grow and to succeed. prgtoken I came to the floor in February to talk about the developments we were seeing in Arkansas as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, just 2 months after it was signed into law. Despite the dire warnings from our friends on the other side of the aisle who opposed our changes to the Tax Code, businesses across the country and in Arkansas were already beginning to reap the benefits and passing them along to their employees, their customers, and the communities they operate in. prgtoken I am pleased to say that this trend is continuing. More companies based in Arkansas or with a significant presence in the
OVERDOSE PREVENTION AND PATIENT SAFETY ACT
Larry Bucshon (Republican, IN) \u2014 2018-6-20

I rise today to speak in strong support of H.R. 6082, the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act. This legislation will improve the ability of medical professionals to properly care for patients by allowing physicians access to a patient's full medical record, including information about substance use disorder treatment, while ensuring robust privacy protections. prgtoken As a physician, I know that patients don't always notify their doctors of all the medications they are taking, and not having a complete medical record or knowing a patient's background can result in potentially life-threatening complications related to medical treatment. I have seen this in my own practice, and my wife sees this almost daily in her anesthesia practice. prgtoken This is commonsense legislation which will ensure patients receive appropriate healthcare, while also ensuring the medical information remains private I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6082.