mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
WILLIE O'REE SHOULD BE INDUCTED INTO THE HOCKEY HALL OF FAME
Mike Quigley (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-3-6

60 years ago, Willie O'Ree broke the color barrier in professional hockey, all while overcoming racial slurs, doubt, and blindness in his right eye. prgtoken Often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of hockey, Willie has been a trusted champion for diversity, a proponent of inclusion, and an inspiration for so many young players both off and on the ice. prgtoken Each February, we celebrate Black History Month as well as Hockey is for Everyone Month, and no one embodies both of those tributes as profoundly as living legend Willie O'Ree. prgtoken He is as humble as he is inspiring, often reminding fans that he only played in the NHL for 45 games, and while that may be true, he changed the game forever. prgtoken There are few players worthier of being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and it is long overdue that Willie's name be added to that list. prgtoken As the Hockey Hall of Fame continues to accept and review nominee submissions before the March 15 deadline, I want to remind everyone of the countless ways Willie strengthened and supported this sport. prgtoken I thank him for his continued efforts to increase access for all people of all backgrounds to get out on the ice and play the greatest game.
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Ron Wyden (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2018-3-6

as I was walking into the Chamber tonight, the press outside was telling me that they had just been told--and I hope to hear otherwise tomorrow--that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on which the distinguished Presiding Officer and I both serve, would not be holding any public hearings on the financial issues so central to holding the President of the United States accountable. prgtoken What I am going to describe for a few minutes is how the executive branch, particularly officials such as Secretary Mnuchin, are ducking these issues, and now it appears the President's allies on the Hill are ducking the issues as well. prgtoken I especially believe it is a great mistake for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on which the distinguished Presiding Officer and I both serve, to fail to follow up on the follow-the-money questions. Following the money, as the Presiding Officer knows, is counterintelligence 101. Right at the heart of our duties on the Intelligence Committee is our mandate to vigorously pursue issues relating to counterintelligence. The reason that is so extraordinarily important, it is money that is one of the best and easiest tools to compromise people, to take advantage of counterintelligence measures that, for example, would compromise American public officials. prgtoken I believe it is a great mistake for the executive branch, particularly Treasury Secretary Mnuchin--and as the ranking on the Finance Committee, we have jurisdiction over his agency--and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to just punt on these issues that are central to the question tonight, that Senator Whitehouse deserves great credit in terms of pursuing, which is holding the President accountable. prgtoken The public, in particular, deserves the full story about financial entanglements between Russia and the President and his associates. Obviously, the American people are constantly reading stories in the press about these connections. The special counsel's indictments of the campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and the campaign aide, Richard Gates, contained voluminous information about money laundering and tax evasion intended to hide money from pro-Russian Ukrainian entities. prgtoken The distinguished Presiding Officer and I know a bit about money laundering because we have introduced bipartisan legislation to deal with shell companies and money laundering. It is clear that this is a serious matter because when you are talking about money laundering and tax evasion, particularly as it relates to national security and American sovereignty, it has great implications. prgtoken and his administration have consistently tried to prevent the American people from seeing not only his finances but the activities of Russian oligarchs. The President's allies, both here in the Senate and elsewhere in Washington, are just going along with it. Americans need t
RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE
Bill Nelson (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2018-3-6

I join our colleagues who have spoken about the concern of the Russian cyber attacks on this country. prgtoken Every day that passes, we gather new information about how Russia, at Vladimir Putin's direction, has gone about interfering by committing cyber attacks on this country, not only in its stealing names and personal information but now in its interfering in our elections. prgtoken In a long indictment, Special Counsel Robert Mueller spelled out how the so-called Internet Research Agency--a front in Russia--created fake accounts on social media and other internet platforms. It spread divisive content, and it even organized political rallies in the United States with the help of unwitting Americans--all backed by one of Putin's cronies through a so-called catering company. This indictment tells a pretty remarkable and alarming story, and if you are still not prgtoken sure what this was all about, just read the Internet Research Agency's own words: ``information warfare against the United States of America.'' That says it all. prgtoken I know there has been a lot of discussion about Russian interference in our elections, and there should be. We have to get to the bottom of this. It is coming fast and furious, and it is going to be happening in the elections this year. We know what Russia did in the last election. Just as the CIA Director and the Director of National Intelligence told us, we know, in their words, that Russia will do it again. The more we learn, though, the more it becomes clear that we are not doing enough to protect ourselves from further attacks. prgtoken This is not a partisan issue; it is an attack on the very foundation of our democracy. At a time when it is getting harder and harder to come together as a country--when polarization is so rampant, when excessive partisanship is so evident--what Russia is doing is particularly sinister. It is trying to exacerbate our divisions and undermine Americans' faith in their institutions. prgtoken Months away from an election, the question is, What are we going to do about it? We are just days away from an election in Texas and about 8 months away from the November general election. What are we going to do? One thing we ought to do is to start defending ourselves. prgtoken Last month, Senator Shaheen, Senator Blumenthal, and I wrote to the Secretary of Defense and urged him to use our cyber forces--U.S. Cyber Command, which is the one instructed with protecting us--to disrupt Russian cyber operations that target our elections. We urged the Secretary of Defense to implement the recommendations of the Department's own task force to deter these cyber operations. Those were the recommendations of the Department of Defense's own task force. prgtoken Just a few days ago, four-star Admiral Rogers, commander of Cyber Command, told our Armed Services Committee that he had still not been directed to counter these cyber operations and that he need
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Jon Tester (Democrat, MT) \u2014 2018-3-6

I thank Chairman Crapo. I want to associate myself with my good friend from Tennessee, Senator Bob Corker. We always say ``good friend,'' but the truth is that Senator Corker has truly been a good friend. We came to this body together, and he has exhibited uncommon common sense in this body time and again, and once again, he has today. I thank Senator Corker for his remarks about this bill. prgtoken , time and again over the past year, I have been here on the Senate floor raising my concerns about the direction this body is heading--secret backroom deals on the healthcare bill, a ``take it or leave it'' tax bill that was dropped on our desks literally hours before the vote, and the floor time that has been wasted to score political points. Quite frankly, this dysfunction has turned the world's most deliberative body into a shell of its former self. prgtoken Folks in Washington have shied away from the big debates and refused to tackle the tough issues that are facing hard-working Americans every day, but this week I am hopeful that can change. prgtoken Today we begin the debate on the bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This bill is the product of years of bipartisan negotiations, hearings, and compromises. Under the leadership of Chairman Crapo and my good friends Senators Heitkamp, Donnelly, and Warner, we have struck a bipartisan agreement that is needed to provide an economic boost for rural America. Folks from both parties put their differences aside. We negotiated from our points of agreement, and we emphasized common ground. We kept working toward our shared goal of strengthening America's economy by providing commonsense regulatory reform to small- and medium-sized banks, community banks, and credit unions. prgtoken During the committee process, this bill was marked up and debated for 7 hours. We voted on 36 amendments during an open amendment process. The chairman handled that committee process incredibly professionally. prgtoken Since this bill was introduced in the Banking Committee last year, it has been strengthened by Senators who are not on that committee, and it has been endorsed by regulators, veterans groups, and job creators from both parties. This bipartisan bill has support from folks of all walks of life and is cosponsored by more than a quarter of this body because they know that reform is desperately needed. prgtoken In my home State of Montana, prior to the financial crisis in 2008, there were 72 chartered banks. Today that number has dropped to 49. What we have seen in Montana is not unique throughout this country. Across rural America, bank consolidation is leaving communities underserved. Community banks and credit unions didn't cause the financial crisis back in 2008, but they have suffered under a one-size- fits-all set of regulations specifically designed to rein in the behavior on Wall Street. As a result of comp
RECOGNIZING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF EDMUND L. REGALIA
Mark DeSaulnier (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-3-6

I rise today to recognize the life and service of a longtime Contra Costa resident, Mr. Edmund Regalia. prgtoken At an early age, Ed committed to his passion for serving others by participating in school leadership, acting as President of a social- civil rights club, and joining the Naval ROTC while attending U.C. Berkeley. He spent his summers with the Navy in locations around the country and abroad, including travel through the Panama Canal. After graduating with a degree in Political Science in 1952, Ed reported for duty immediately to San Diego where he served mainly on destroyers in the Pacific during the Korean War. Toward the end of his tour, he served as Legal Officer on his ship, the Laws. During his time with the Navy, Ed visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hawaii. Ed retired from active service in 1955 as a Lieutenant. prgtoken After he left the military, Ed enrolled at Boalt Hall Law School at U.C. Berkeley, and in 1964 was a co-founder of Miller Starr Regalia, a law firm focusing on real property cases. During his time as a practicing attorney, Ed received numerous awards for his work and contributions to the legal field. Ed went on to serve two terms on the California Law Revision Commission, appointed first by Governor Davis and re-appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger. prgtoken Motivated by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, Ed and other members of the Walnut Creek ic Club formed the Kennedy-King Memorial Scholarship Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. From 1968 through 2017, he served continuously on the Board where he oversaw $4.4 million in scholarships awarded to assist 750 students from Contra Costa County Community Colleges transition to four-year universities. Ed also served on Homeowner's Boards, both as President and pro-bono legal advisor, and the Board of both the Diablo Symphony and the Walnut Creek Library Foundation. prgtoken Ed's dedication to his job, his family, and his community was admirable. Ed passed away on February 6, 2018. He will be missed sincerely by those who had the pleasure of knowing him, including his wife Gwen; children Doug, Ken, Phil, and Connie; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Mark R. Warner (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2018-3-6

. I thank the distinguished chair. prgtoken , first of all, let me thank my good friend, the Senator Indiana, for his great work on this and actually getting rid of half of my speech. I think he started to go through, in very good detail, a number of the new consumer protections that are put into this legislation, and a lot of that is due to his good work. prgtoken The truth is, in a few days, we may actually do something that hasn't been seen in a really long time--the Senate producing a meaningful piece of legislation with a strong bipartisan coalition. prgtoken Now, neither side got everything they wanted. I compliment the chairman for his good work, but as my friend from Indiana--you should have seen the original list of wants of the Senator from Idaho. The truth is, we are only here because, at the end of the day, we all went back and recognized the people we work for--our constituents in our respective States and, for that matter, Americans at large--one, they want to see the Senate work; and, two, they want to see it work in a meaningful way to protect people's lives. What this legislation will do is, bottom line, make sure there is more access to capital on Main Street by cutting some of the excessive regulations on community banks and credit unions, as well as a number of the consumer protection items and others that have been put forward. It also provides some relief for regional banks and, as mentioned, major expansion of consumer protections. prgtoken Let me also step back. As somebody who got to the Senate right after the financial crisis, we all know the system needed stronger financial reform a decade ago, and I am very proud of the role I played, in some small way, on drafting Dodd-Frank. Title I and title II were areas that then-Chairman Dodd gave me a great deal of responsibility. prgtoken Let me be clear that I will do nothing and support no legislation that seriously undermines or cuts back on the provisions and the systemic protections that were put in place by title I and title II and, for that matter, for all of Dodd-Frank, but 8 years later--2 years it took us to do the bill--there is widespread agreement that some of the standards we set in Dodd-Frank needed time for review. prgtoken One of those was the standard we put in place at the $50 billion threshold for enhanced prudential standards. We know, 8 years later, that number is just too low. There is a legitimate debate about where that standard should be reset, but recognizing that this standard was set 8 years ago at $50 billion, if you just take inflation and growth in the economy, it would be dramatically different. That is a view shared by Federal Reserve Gov. Dan Tarullo, who is the architect of much of the legislation implementing Dodd-Frank. It is also the view of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and current Reserve Chair Jay Powell. prgtoken The fact is, there is an awful lot of difference even between some
FLORIDA HOUSE PASSES GUN SAFETY BILL
Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC) \u2014 2018-3-6

Marco Rubio's Florida State Senate got shocked enough by the Parkland shooting to pass a token gun safety bill. The Florida House has yet to act. Whatever Florida does, Rubio's token gun bill in Washington is belied by his pending bill to eliminate virtually all of the District of Columbia's gun safety laws. Worse, Rubio has put his D.C. bill in the Congress to raise his NRA rating for the last two Congresses. It did raise his NRA rating from B plus to A. prgtoken I have managed to save D.C.'s gun safety laws, but Rubio's shamefully token responses in the Senate to the Parkland tragedy will be seen as one more act of hypocrisy until he stops meddling in the District of Columbia's affairs and withdraws his D.C. gun bill.
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
Mike Rounds (Republican, SD) \u2014 2018-3-7

today I rise in support of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act which is being considered on the Senate floor for this week. As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this important legislation which will provide much needed regulatory relief to our community banks and credit unions whose ability to serve their customers has been made more difficult since the passage of the Dodd- Frank Act. prgtoken Enacted in 2010, Dodd-Frank was an overreaction to the 2008 financial crisis. Rather than actually addressing the underlying issues that caused the financial crisis, Dodd-Frank created a massive new bureaucracy and saddled our financial institutions with burdensome and onerous new regulations. It is 2,300 pages in length and created more than 400 new rulemakings, which led to 27,000 new Federal mandates on American businesses. This limits the ability of our financial institutions to grow and serve their customers, especially for smaller banks in rural areas such as in my home State of South Dakota. prgtoken Just last summer, the U.S. Department of Treasury reported that the regulatory burdens of Dodd-Frank have reduced economic growth and ``undermined the ability of banks to deliver attractively priced credit in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the economy.'' prgtoken Without question, no one wants to repeat the events that contributed to the economic recession that began in 2008. We are only now beginning to lift out of that nearly decade-long economic slump, thanks to the tax relief law and President 's focus on regulatory reform. prgtoken Just in the last year, we have enacted historic tax reform, we have undone burdensome and unnecessary regulations at a record pace, and we are restoring the American people's confidence at levels not seen in decades, but we must do more, which is why our bipartisan legislation is so important. prgtoken Making sure American families and businesses have access to credit when they need it is critical as we work to grow our economy and create jobs. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act will strengthen America's financial system and expand economic opportunities across the entire country, especially in rural areas which are often the most underserved. prgtoken Of the many fatal flaws of Dodd-Frank, perhaps most damaging was its one-size-fits-all approach. By taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Dodd-Frank imposed disproportionate compliance costs on our smaller community banks and credit unions, especially given the improbability that these smaller institutions pose a significant risk to our financial system. This type of approach is particularly harmful to our smaller financial institutions which are so vital to our communities. prgtoken With more than 6,500 community banks throughout the country supporting even the remotest areas, we must make certai
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2018-3-7

probably every single one of us in the Senate would agree that it is hard to get here, it is hard to stay here, and it is wonderful to be able to accomplish something worthwhile while you are here. That is why I am here today--because I want to call attention to an announcement that was made this morning by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, which could take away prgtoken the $11.6 billion of national park maintenance backlog in the 417 national parks that we have. The proposal we made this morning could eliminate that backlog over the next 10 years. prgtoken I want to give Secretary Zinke and the President a lot of credit for this because they have agreed to do something that no other President and no other Secretary of the Interior have ever agreed to do, as far as I know, and that is to allow us to use revenues from energy development on Federal lands as mandatory spending to pay for the maintenance backlog in our National Park System. prgtoken Ken Burns called our national parks ``America's Best Idea.'' I would say that the best idea to support America's best idea is the proposal that Secretary Zinke has made to take care of the maintenance backlog in our national parks. prgtoken Half of that maintenance backlog is our roads. Of course, when we pay for the roads this way, that means all the money that is now being taken away from all the other purposes at our national parks--I am talking about the National Mall, where I get up in the morning and walk every day, or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where I walk when I go home on the weekends--could be used for other purposes there, in all 417 of those parks. prgtoken If we don't do this, we will never catch up because this backlog-- this $11.6 billion backlog--is four times the annual appropriations for the National Park Service. Everyone who cares about our national parks--and that should be almost every American--should welcome this proposal. prgtoken As I said, our use of Federal dollars in this way is unprecedented, but the principle is not unprecedented. The principle is a very simple principle, and that is this: If we create an environmental burden, which energy exploration does, whether it is wind turbines or whether it is spreading solar panels all over hundreds and hundreds of acres or whether it is oil and gas exploration. If we create an environmental burden, we should create a corresponding environmental benefit. That principle is well established in our laws and has been supported by almost every major environmental and conservation group I know of. prgtoken Let's start with the 1962 Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission that Laurance Rockefeller chaired. That Commission, which took a look at America for the next generation to see what we should do to protect the outdoors so we could all enjoy it, recommended, and the Congress adopted, the idea of the Land and Water Co