mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
JUNETEENTH INDEPENDENCE DAY
Bill Nelson (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2018-6-19

I would like to recognize today, June 19, as Juneteenth Independence Day. We are celebrating the 153rd anniversary of the date on which slavery legally came to an end in the United States. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery in the United States, but it still took 2 and a half years for this news to spread throughout all the Southern States. Today, we honor the faith and strength demonstrated by former slaves and the descendants of these individuals, who remain an example for all people of the United States, no matter their background, religion, or race. It is my hope that Juneteenth and the Emancipation Proclamation serve as a reminder of the progress the United States has made towards equality and the ways in which we can still improve.
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2018-6-19

I rise today to speak about the humanitarian crisis that we are facing at this moment in our country. It is a moral crisis. It is a crisis that didn't come about by some natural disaster; it has been manufactured by the actions of the administration and the actions of our President. prgtoken Since this past April, over 2,700 children--some of them just infants--have been forcibly separated from their parents. That is about 45 children every single day. These children have been ripped from the arms of their parents, in some cases literally. These children have been imprisoned or deported, and at this very moment, many of these children are being warehoused. Some of them are put in what amount to cages, and some of them are being covered with thin, tinfoil-like blankets that we see handed out to marathon runners. prgtoken I know these children are experiencing great fear, great trauma, wondering where their parents are, wondering what will happen to them, confused, feeling isolated and alone. They prgtoken are wondering if they did something wrong, and they are wondering what they did to deserve this. But more than that, we know these children are enduring psychological damage, which is literally having a physical effect on their brains. Pediatricians and researchers know trauma like this creates toxic stress. These children are enduring things that affect the development of their brains and their life's well-being. The research is clear. They found that separating children from parents literally changes the makeup of their brains--this level of cortisol, this level of trauma. One pediatric expert called the effect of this kind of family separation ``catastrophic'' on those children. prgtoken At this very moment, so many Americans, these children, and others are wondering what happened to the America that we believe in, that we know, and that we hale. What is happening to this Nation that has for so long been a symbol of hope, a symbol of opportunity? How can we be seeing an America and how can they be experiencing an America that is so different from what we say we are? Well, the answer to the question, unfortunately, is painful, and it is direct. prgtoken A little over 2 months ago, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, and President made the decision to institute what they are calling a zero tolerance policy when it comes to individuals and families who cross the southern border without documentation or authorization. The policy dictates that any adult who illegally crosses the southern border will be subject to Federal prosecution and therefore placed in Federal custody. prgtoken When the administration instituted this policy, they knew exactly what they were doing. They were concerned, probably, with the fallout--what this might mean, what people might say--but they clearly knew, consciously knew what would happen because any
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Thomas R. Carper (Democrat, DE) \u2014 2018-6-19

the amendment Senator Alexander and I are offering is a bipartisan effort, as you can tell. It is the result of discussions between Senator Alexander's Appropriations Committee staff and the staff who works for us on the Environment and Public Works Committee. prgtoken The amendment would require the Corps to report to Congress on the status of Corps project expenses. The amendment would allow project sponsors to receive a final cost accounting of project dollars so that they understand how those dollars are spent and know whether there are excess unspent funds and whether those funds are being returned to State and local government or to the Federal Government. prgtoken As many of our colleagues know, the Senate is getting ready to address soon--probably, if not this month, then next month--the water resources development legislation that Senator Barrasso, our chairman on Environment and Public Works, and I and other colleagues have worked on. It was reported unanimously out of the Environment and Public Works Committee. That bill, which is called America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, makes investments in updating and expanding water infrastructure systems throughout the country. Along with reauthorizing the ongoing work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, our legislation addresses a wide variety of priorities. Again, it was reported unanimously out of our committee about a month or so ago, 21 to 0. prgtoken In the drafting of this legislation, several concerns were raised about how the Corps selects and prioritizes projects for construction, as well as what happens to excess local cost share dollars at the end of a project. For example, in my home State of Delaware, our State agency that sponsors the beach renourishment and other shoreline protection projects has been asking the Corps for a detailed balance sheet for years to understand how funds are being allocated on various projects and how local tax dollars are being spent. Unfortunately, that material has never been provided despite repeated requests. prgtoken Delaware is not alone in this. The Senator from Kansas, Mr. Moran, has brought to my attention an issue of malfunctioning radial arm gates--also called Tainter gates--on a reservoir in his home State of Kansas. The local irrigation district was billed for the repairs of the gates, which was added as an additional cost to their annual share of the operations and maintenance of that project. prgtoken Although the irrigation district has been paying on this bill, they never knew how much it actually cost to repair the gates. It took my staff and Senator Barrasso's staff to find out that the total cost of repairs was $31 million. This means, according to the Corps, that the remaining local cost share is about $5 million. However, because there is not a detailed accounting, the question has been raised about whether the Corps billed the irrigation district correctly. If the Corp
WHAT HAS AMERICA BECOME?
Joaquin Castro (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-6-19

I thank Congressman Garamendi for his passion and his profound words on this very difficult subject, not only for Members of the United States Congress, but also for many Americans across the country. prgtoken I had an opportunity yesterday, along with several other Members of Congress, including Bennie Thompson, the ranking ic Member on the Homeland Security Committee; Sheila Jackson Lee; Frederica Wilson; Ben Ray Lujan; and Filemon Vela, to visit two sites where these young kids are being kept in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas--one of them, Casa Padre; the other one, Casa Presidente. prgtoken When we were there, I and a few other Members of Congress met two young children who were being held without their parents. They were separated from their parents. prgtoken One of them was named Roger, an 8-month-old boy--8 months old. The administrators told us that his mother is actually deceased, and they believe that he had come to the country with his sister, but she was nowhere to be found. prgtoken The other was a young girl named Leah. She was 1 year old, and she was separated from her parents. prgtoken These are among the youngest victims of this brutal policy of President in separating young children from their parents. prgtoken Most Americans believe that we can enforce our immigration laws and still respect human dignity and human rights. But in going down the road that this President has taken us, he is taking us down a road where we are losing our own humanity. He is taking us down a road that is reminiscent of the worst episodes and moral failures in the country's history, the things that, as Americans, we deeply regret. prgtoken Also, we have been asked by many Americans over the last few weeks in particular a common question as Members of Congress: ``What are you doing to stop this?'' We are pushing legislation. We are out on the streets. We are organizing rallies. We are doing every single thing that we can to change this, to end it. prgtoken I want to say thank you to my colleagues that were with me yesterday. Thank you also to Nancy Pelosi and the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who visited San Diego; to Beto O'Rourke and Joe Kennedy, who were in Tonillo near the tent cities, near El Paso; to Frank Pallone, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jerry Nadler who were out in the New York-New Jersey area; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and others who were in Florida. prgtoken Thank you to the folks in the Senate who also made a trip to McAllen, and to Senator Merkley, without whose help and support a few weeks ago in Brownsville, this issue would not nearly have had the same amount of attention. prgtoken This year marks 50 years since we lost two titans in American history, Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F. Kennedy. Fifty-two years ago, in a famous speech that he gave in South Africa on their Day of Affirmation, Senator Robert F. Kennedy said back then: ``Moral courage is a rarer commodity th
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Robert Menendez (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2018-6-19

today I rise in condemnation of the administration's heartless, cruel, and inhumane policy of separating children from their parents when they seek asylum at our southern border. prgtoken I do so as the son of refugees who fled their homeland and came to this country because they longed to be free. I do so as a Catholic appalled by what is being done in the name of my Christian faith. I do so out of concern, as the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the cruelty being conducted in the name of the U.S. Government may cause lasting damage to America's reputation in the prgtoken world. I do so as a parent who knows that there is no love more powerful, no love more universal than love for your child, and it is love that has driven these families to seek asylum in the United States. prgtoken Seeking asylum is not a crime. It is a cry for mercy, an act of desperation. The trauma being inflicted on these children and the anguish being inflicted on these parents is a direct result of the administration's decision to criminalize asylum seekers and persecute families fleeing for their very lives. prgtoken President is lying to the American people when he says that family separation is the law of the land. He is lying when he says that put a law on the books mandating that children be terrorized in this way. prgtoken Under the policies of previous administrations, families remained together while waiting for their asylum claims to proceed through our immigration courts. But this President has broken with the basic standards of decency that have guided past administrations, and alike. prgtoken The criminalizing of asylum seekers is in fact a newly unveiled policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calls it a zero tolerance policy. I say it is a zero humanity policy, a zero compassion policy. prgtoken This policy of persecuting families fleeing for their lives comes straight from the White nationalist fringe. It has been in the works for over a year, going all the way back to when Chief of Staff John Kelly was Secretary of Homeland Security. Back in March of 2017, then- Secretary John Kelly said that the ``name of the game is deterrence.'' He said that if the administration began separating kids from their parents, they could deter migrants from traveling to our southern border. prgtoken We have since heard Attorney General Jeff Sessions double down on this theme of deterrence. He said: If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. . . . If you bring children, you'll still be prosecuted. prgtoken To those who spout this perverse notion of deterrence, I ask: How do you deter a mother trying to protect her child from the brutality of forced servitude? How do you deter a father trying to protect his daughter from being raped and tortured? How do you deter a family so fearful
THE WORLD IS WATCHING
Carol Shea-Porter (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2018-6-19

America is looking on, indeed the world is looking on with horror as they see pictures of children in cages. prgtoken First it was denied. They were saying, No, we weren't separating families. Then they said, Well, we are not putting them in cages. prgtoken And now America and the world sees the truth. And it is up to the President. He could change this tonight if he wanted to. I think we have to ask ourselves: Why won't he? Why won't this Congress do something? prgtoken The world is watching. We are losing our moral authority as we speak. I beg the President and the of the House and others in this Congress to stop this now.
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Michael F. Bennet (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2018-6-19

this past April, Attorney General Sessions announced a new zero tolerance policy--those were his words--for the southern border. Last month, the Chief of Staff to the President said that this new zero tolerance policy ``could be a tough deterrent. . . . The children will be taken care of--put into foster care or whatever.'' That is what he said. To justify his zero tolerance policy, Attorney General Sessions cited Romans 8, a Bible passage that was used throughout our history to justify human slavery. prgtoken The administration knew precisely what the effect of this action would be; yet they did it anyway. The result is that over 2,300 children have been separated by the U.S. Government in the name of the American people since May. prgtoken The results are the images we see of children caged in chain-link enclosures. We hear it in the young boys and girls crying for their parents--all done in the name of America. That is an image that has ricocheted all across the world, just as the image of Bull Connor's dogs tearing at Birmingham's children ricocheted across the world. It said to the world that we actually weren't upholding the high ideals that our Founders set out to create. prgtoken Well, that is terrible, but what is also terrible is that President will take no responsibility for what he has done and instead takes on a cheap political tactic, which I think he thinks he can get away with. There is a lot of evidence he will get away with it because of the repetition on cable news that somehow are responsible for this. The President said: I hate the children being taken away. The have to change their law. That's their law. prgtoken That statement is false. It has no basis in reality. And I will presume that he is not using the children as a negotiating tool. I am not going to come to the floor and make that accusation. There are people who have said that because they are searching for some logic to explain how he could say something that is so false. prgtoken He tweeted: ``The are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda.'' That is what he wrote. That is ridiculous, and we know it is false because until they created this zero tolerance policy, which they thought would deter other immigrants, the United States of America handled this matter in a way that managed to enforce our laws without doing hideous violence to our bedrock values as a nation. prgtoken When migrants with children cross the border unlawfully, the government has broad discretion about whether to charge the violation as a criminal offense or a civil offense, and every American administration--every American administration, including the administration until 6 weeks ago, dealt with it as a civil matter and avoided the trauma of family separation by charging them for illegal entry and deporting them. prgtoken During the
VOTE EXPLANATION
Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-6-19

I was necessarily absent for vote No. 127 on the motion to waive a budget point of order with respect to H.R. 5515, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. On vote No. 127, had I been present, I would have voted yea. prgtoken , I was also necessarily absent for vote No. 128 on passage of H.R. 5515, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, as amended. On vote No. 128, had I been present, I would have voted yea on passage of H.R. 5515, as amended. prgtoken , I was also necessarily absent for vote No. 129 on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5895, the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019. On vote No. 129, had I been present, I would have voted yea. (At the request of Ms the following statement was ordered to be printed in the Record.)
INTRODUCING THE SCHOOL MEALS PARITY ACT
Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Democrat, GU) \u2014 2018-6-19

today I introduce the Federal School Meals Parity Act with my colleague Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands as the original cosponsor. prgtoken Our bill would ensure that Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are reimbursed fairly under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's in-school meal and child nutrition programs. prgtoken These USDA programs provide nutritionally balanced meals to needy K- 12 students each school day, including a breakfast, a lunch, and an after-school snack. prgtoken For many needy school children, these USDA programs often provide their only well-balanced or full meal of the day. prgtoken These important Federal nutrition programs serve millions--millions-- of American schoolchildren nationally, including some 18,000 Guam students and more than 10,000 students from the Virgin Islands. prgtoken However, current USDA regulations reimburse Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands at the rate for the continental United States. At the same time, our peer outlying jurisdictions--Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico--receive a much higher reimbursement rate. prgtoken According to USDA, the higher reimbursement rates for these States and territory reflect higher costs of delivering these programs in those outlying jurisdictions. prgtoken Well, we agree wholeheartedly that all outlying jurisdictions should be reimbursed at higher rates than the mainland United States because of these higher costs. prgtoken All five territories and both States outside the continental United States share the challenges of higher costs of living, fewer locally available resources, and greater percentages of schoolchildren from underserved households. prgtoken Indeed, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands both have higher costs of living, lower median household incomes, and greater unemployment than the mainland United States. Both territories face much higher costs for imported food, transportation, fuel, refrigeration, and other everyday necessities than the mainland. Certainly, Guam is the furthest of the territories. prgtoken To address these inadequacies, our bill would require that the USDA reimburse Guam at the same rate as its peer jurisdictions, Alaska and Hawaii; and the USDA reimburse the U.S. Virgin Islands at the same rate as neighboring Puerto Rico. prgtoken Under the Federal School Meals Parity Act, public, Department of Defense, and private schools on Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands would receive additional Federal funding to provide more in-school nutritious meals to our needy students. prgtoken Lastly, our bill directs USDA to complete a report comparing the costs of providing in-school meals to students in all five U.S. territories with the mainland 48 States and the outlying States of Alaska and Hawaii. prgtoken I continue working in partnership with Congresswoman Plaskett to ensure that parity for Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands under USDA's in-school meal and child nutrition programs. prgtoken So as Congr
ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued
Christopher Murphy (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2018-6-19

I am here to join Senator Daines in recommending the Legislative appropriations bill to our colleagues. I note his history lesson--10 years since we passed a Legislative Branch appropriations bill on the floor of the Senate. During none of those 10 years was Senator Daines chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. Things are changing here, and it has been a real pleasure and honor to work with Senator Daines on this bill, which we bring to the floor in a bipartisan manner. prgtoken Let me be brief in not trying to cover the ground that Senator Daines has already covered, but I agree; I think this is a good bill, one that we can all support. prgtoken Let me add a few pieces to some of the highlights my colleague laid out for you. The first of those is the fact that this bill commits us to finally restoring GAO staffing to its 2011 levels. This is really important because every dollar we appropriate to GAO gets about a $128 taxpayer return because of the efficiencies they recommend that then get adopted. GAO lost about 343 staff from 2002 to 2003 during the sequester. We are putting them back to the place where they can do important work for us. prgtoken Second, let me reiterate the important investments we are making in the Capitol Police. The threats that we face and our staff face and visitors face aren't imaginary. Again, it was a year ago last week when a gunman came after our colleagues in the House and the Senate at a baseball practice off campus. It is important that this bill recognizes the threats we face are not just on campus but are in other places around the Capitol and has some resources to make sure that both the Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms are making sure that Members and staff are protected not only on campus but also at events off campus that may come with certain serious risks. prgtoken In this bill, CRS is put on a path to restore its 13-percent staff loss. Again, over the course of sequester, a lot of the agencies that serve us took some pretty serious hits. They don't make that up in this bill, but they are set on a path where they can get back to the kind of footing we are putting GAO on in this legislation. A long-needed modernization of the copyright office is kicked off in this legislation. Again, that is a long-term plan, but we are kicking it off. It is very, very much overdue. prgtoken We are also beginning another process that I think will be really important to the campus. We are beginning the process of exploring options to expand the size of the Senate childcare center. Pretty much every large employer in the country offers some level of childcare services to employees. The Senate barely does that. We have 6,200 employees and just 68 childcare slots. There are actually only nine infant slots in the Senate. Over the course of the last few years, the House has tripled the size of its childcare center. We are going to