mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CORONAVIRUS PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020
Richard C. Shelby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2020-3-5

we face a serious global crisis today with the spread of the coronavirus. We all know that. The American people, I believe, expect us here in the U.S. Senate to set aside politics and set into motion a swift and sweeping response to this danger. Yesterday was a big step in that direction. prgtoken I and Vice Chairman Leahy, who is on the floor here with me, in conjunction with the leaders on both sides and with our House counterparts, introduced a comprehensive plan that provides our experts and agencies on the frontlines with the resources they tell us they need to combat this crisis. prgtoken The package we introduced includes $7.8 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the State Department, the USAID, and the Small Business Administration. The package also authorizes an additional $500 million in mandatory spending for telehealth through Medicare. Combined, this emergency supplemental provides $8.3 billion in resources to attack the crisis at the local, State, Federal, and international levels. prgtoken In situations like this, I believe no expense should be spared to protect the American people, and in crafting this package, none was. It is an aggressive plan, a vigorous plan, that has received an overwhelming positive reaction in the House and in the marketplace. It is prgtoken the Senate's responsibility today to keep the momentum going. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to vote yes and demonstrate to the American people that we here in the Senate are unified and have their backs on this crisis.
RIGHTS FOR TRANSPORTATION SECURITY OFFICERS ACT OF 2020
Debbie Lesko (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2020-3-5

I first want to say that the vast majority of TSA officers are good, hardworking professionals, but there are some bad actors. prgtoken On February 6, 2020, the State of California announced the arrest and prosecution of a former TSA screener, resulting from an FBI investigation. According to the criminal complaint, the TSA screener used ``fraud or deceit to falsely imprison a woman going through security'' while stationed as a travel document checker at Los Angeles International Airport in June 2019. prgtoken The screener insisted that the woman passenger needed extra screening in a private elevator, where he told the passenger to reveal her ``full breasts'' and to ``lift her pants and underwear.'' The victim in the case stated that she complied with the TSO's instructions out of fear. prgtoken Fortunately, this offender was immediately fired by the TSA. However, under this bill, H.R. 1140, if it passed, this predator could be on the Federal payroll for months or even years. prgtoken But this is not an isolated incident. In addition to the sexual predator at LAX, in the last 5 years alone, a screener in Boston was caught luring teenage girls into posing for nude photos; a screener at LaGuardia molested a female college student in the airport bathroom; and two screeners in Denver plotted to grope attractive men. prgtoken My amendment is simple. It would enhance aviation security and protect the flying public by preventing the TSA from hiring any candidate with a history of sexual misconduct, offenses involving minors, or terrorism. prgtoken This amendment is identical to an amendment offered by my ic colleague, Ms. Underwood, which was not offered here today. The Underwood amendment was made in order by the Rules Committee. The rule was supported by every in the House. prgtoken s strongly support the Underwood amendment. We were disappointed we did not have an opportunity to vote on it earlier. prgtoken The Underwood amendment preserves the authority TSA currently has to prevent the hiring of candidates with a history of sexual misconduct, offenses involving minors, or terrorism. prgtoken The Underwood amendment is so important because current law bars a litany of criminals from working in sensitive roles at airports. The amendment simply ensures that current safeguards remain in place. prgtoken There is no reason that someone with a conviction for sexual assault or terrorism should be a TSA employee. To be clear, the Underwood amendment, my amendment, would prevent the hiring of sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein. prgtoken We have two options today: adopt the Underwood amendment and keep sexual predators off the Federal payroll, or reject it and reward sexual predators with a paycheck from the taxpayers. prgtoken , I urge all Members to support the motion to recommit, and .
BUDGET ENFORCEMENT LEVELS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020
Michael B. Enzi (Republican, WY) \u2014 2020-3-5

section 251 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, BBEDCA, establishes statutory limits on discretionary spending and allows for various adjustments to those limits. In addition, sections 302 and 314(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 allow the chairman of the Budget Committee to establish and make revisions to allocations, aggregates, and levels consistent with those adjustments. prgtoken The Senate will soon consider H.R. 6074, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020. This measure provides supplemental appropriations to support activities related to public health and response to the coronavirus that qualify for cap adjustments under current statute. prgtoken This measure includes $7,767 million in budget authority that is designated as being for emergency purposes pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of BBEDCA. The entirety of this budget authority falls within the revised nonsecurity category. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that these appropriations will result in $1,041 million in outlays in fiscal year 2020. prgtoken As a result of the emergency designations, I am revising the budget authority and outlay allocations to the Committee on Appropriations by increasing revised nonsecurity budget authority by $7,767 million and outlays by $1,041 million in fiscal year 2020. Further, I am increasing the budgetary aggregate for fiscal year 2020 by equivalent amounts. prgtoken I ask unanimous consent that the accompanying tables, which provide details about the adjustment, be printed in the Record.
AUTHORITY FOR COMMITTEES TO MEET
John Kennedy (Republican, LA) \u2014 2020-3-5

I have 6 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders. prgtoken Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: Committee on Armed Services prgtoken The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 9:30 a.m to conduct a hearing. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs prgtoken The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 10 a.m to conduct a hearing. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources prgtoken The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 9:30 a.m to conduct a hearing. Committee on Foreign Relations prgtoken The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 10 a.m to conduct a hearing. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs prgtoken The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 9:30 a.m to conduct a hearing. Committee on the Judiciary prgtoken The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, January 16, 2020, at 10 a.m to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Fernando L. Aenlle- Rocha, Stanley Blumenfeld, and Mark C. Scarsi, each to be a United prgtoken States District Judge for the Central District of California, John Charles Hinderaker, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, John Leonard Badalamenti, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, William Scott Hardy, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, John F. Heil III, to be United States District Judge for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, David Cleveland Joseph, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, Anna M. Manasco, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama, Drew B. Tipton, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, and Grace Karaffa Obermann, of Virginia, Stephen Sidney Schwartz, of Virginia, Kathryn C. Davis, of Maryland, and Edward Hulvey Meyers, of Maryland, each to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
CONGRATULATING STEVE STAMAN ON RECEIPT OF THE FNB COMMUNITY SPIRIT AWARD
Daniel Meuser (Republican, PA) \u2014 2020-3-5

. Madam , it is with great respect that I rise today to recognize Steve Staman of First National Bank of Pennsylvania on receiving the FNB Community Spirit Award. prgtoken Each year, the First National Bank of Pennsylvania presents the FNB Community Spirit Award to an employee who provides excellent service to customers and contributes positively to their community through charitable endeavors. FNB selects two recipients from each region and donates $4,000 to a charity of their choice. prgtoken Mr. Staman serves as a Regional Commercial Loan Manager serving Berks, Schuylkill, Lancaster and York Counties. A founding Board Member and dedicated volunteer for the North Museum of Nature and Science, Mr. Staman has devoted countless hours to the museum's governance and development. He has also been active in the Lancaster Rotary Club since 1996, most recently serving as their Paul Fellow. As a community-focused employee, Mr. Staman often assists FNB's local efforts including wrapping gifts for Toys for Tots and participating in the Coats for Kids Telethon at WGAL. Whenever his community is in need, Mr. Staman answers the call. prgtoken On behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and the citizens of Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mr. Steve Staman on this great honor and thank him for his dedication to the betterment of our communities.
GAME CHANGERS STUDY
Rand Paul (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-3-5

I recently had the honor of being welcomed by Game Changers, an organization based in Louisville, KY, devoted to guiding our youth toward productive and meaningful lives, for a panel discussion on the impact of violence in our community. The executive director of Game Changers is Christopher 2X, whom I have known for many years and watched change the lives of so many Kentuckians through his advocacy, leadership, and community building efforts. In December of 2019, just a few months ago, Christopher showed me the findings of Game Changers's study on the impact of youth violence recently released by his organization. Subsequently, I asked him to organize prgtoken an event in West Louisville with a panel of community leaders and parents to discuss the report and how violent crime affects the lives of Louisville youth. prgtoken At the event, we not only discussed the findings but also heard from Louisvillians whose real-life stories are contained in the pages of those reports. Earnestine ``Tina'' Tyus described how the ongoing physical and the mental suffering of her grandson, Ki'Anthony Tyus resulted after being shot. Rather than excelling at football and basketball, Ki'Anthony was focused on learning how to walk again. Violence also has indirect consequences. Stevonte Wood started failing out of school, treating those around him poorly, and had trouble sleeping at night. This downward spiral was a result of witnessing the murders of his mother and older brother. Jarron Jones, a behavioral therapist, recounts a story of how a once-promising baseball career for one student may now never come to fruition because he is too afraid of violence to continue playing the sport. Only personal stories such as these truly demonstrate the extreme toll taken on children exposed to violence. prgtoken That is why I feel compelled to share Game Changers's findings on violence and its impact on our youth with my colleagues. Tragically, children are exposed to violence in every corner of our Nation. I ask unanimous consent that this report be printed in the Congressional Record with the hope that every Member of Congress will read it and work with me to create safer communities for our children.
ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019--Resumed
Kelly Loeffler (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-3-5

I was sworn in 2 months ago and left behind a nearly three-decade business career to serve the people of Georgia in our Nation's Capital. It is truly my honor to support and defend the Constitution. prgtoken I arrived as impeachment began, one of the most divided and partisan times in the history of Congress. Now, with impeachment behind us and the President's having been acquitted, ongoing partisanship is undermining the American people's access to facts during a public health emergency. prgtoken What I have seen in the last few weeks has been alarming. Day after day, I witness exactly why the American people are fed up with Washington--the partisan rhetoric, the media's sensationalism, the negative political news--all while America is facing a public health emergency. prgtoken The government at all levels must carry out the responsibility to keep Americans safe. Federal agencies and the Vice President and our President are working relentlessly to do just that. We need to be united in our efforts to protect the health and safety of all Americans. This is not a time to score political points through baseless commentary. It is a time for facts. prgtoken I hope my colleagues, the media, and political leaders across America will continue to put Americans first and put politics aside while we prepare to combat this outbreak. prgtoken .
ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019--Resumed
David Perdue (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-3-5

I rise today to talk about what turns into a perennial topic, and that is how we fund our military. prgtoken We are in a situation that in the last 45 years, we have only funded the Federal Government four times on time. Yet we see a situation where the world is more dangerous than at any time in my lifetime. We face five threats across five domains--this has increased over the last 15 or 20 years--and at the same time, we have been at work for 20 years against terrorism. That war has not abated. It has not gone away. It is still there. prgtoken We now face five threats--primarily, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorism--across five domains: air, land, sea, cyber, and now space. Yet, with that backdrop, the world being more dangerous than at any time in my lifetime--and I remember the Cold War. I remember the Cuban missile crisis. These are things that, in my childhood, really imprinted on my brain how dangerous the world can be. Yet, today, I say with some qualification, the world is more dangerous than at any time in my lifetime. Yet, three times in the last 50 years--the last three ic Presidents cut spending in our military by 25 percent. That was in the late 1970s, in the mid-1990s, and just in the last decade. This is devastating. We saw that in readiness in January of 2017. Two- thirds of our F/A-18s couldn't fly. We had only 3 Army brigades ready to fight out of 59. prgtoken This was a devastating thing we did to the U.S. military, and it hasn't gone away today. Today--even today--under leadership in this Senate, this is something that has been going on for decades; that is, we use something called continuing resolutions. prgtoken Let me describe where we are today. The reason I am here speaking to the body is that we are beginning the authorization process for defense and other authorizing functions within committees, leading to the appropriations process, which was supposed to be completed by September 30 this year, the end of our fiscal year. Well, we are in the sixth fiscal month of this fiscal year, which ends September 30, and we are just now beginning this process--for a lot of reasons, impeachment being one. There are several other reasons contributing to the fact that we are late in this process. So we are staring down the barrel of another continuing resolution, which we now know costs the U.S. military $5 billion per quarter. prgtoken For 12 of the last 13 years, the Congress has put a continuing resolution in place for the first quarter of each new fiscal year. Only in 2018, when this body stayed here in August and wrestled this issue to the ground, did we fund the military by the end of the fiscal year-- only one time in the last 13 years. As a matter of fact, in 2018 when we got 75 percent of the budget funded, that was the first time in 22 years we had gotten that much funded. prgtoken This is ridiculous. It is broken. We have to fix it. The victim
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Lindsey Graham (Republican, SC) \u2014 2020-3-5

I wrap up by saying that Senator Paul is consistent. Every time he wants to pay for something, he comes to the foreign assistance account. I understand the argument: Why are we spending over there when we have problems here? That sounds good until you realize how the world is. prgtoken On September 10, 2001, the day before 9/11, we didn't have one soldier in Afghanistan, not an embassy, not an ambassador, not a dime of aid. The Taliban were in charge, and they gave al-Qaida safe haven. That is where the planning of the attacks and 9/11 originated. Looking back, wouldn't it have been nice to have had some influence in Afghanistan on September 10? prgtoken All I can say is, I will never go back to that pre-9/11 mindset of ignoring the world, because I have learned, like most Americans, the world can come here in a very bad way or very good way, depending on how we defend ourselves. prgtoken This 1 percent of the budget--foreign assistance to deal with problems over there--is absolutely essential in terms of global health. He exempted the global health component of the foreign assistance account, but the money--$7.76 billion--will destroy other things in the account that I think are vital to our public health here and our national security and our alliances. You cannot fight problems like this by yourself. You need partners. You need to get involved over there so the virus doesn't spread any more here than necessary. prgtoken I hope that people will listen to what Senator Leahy just said, that this was a negotiated agreement. We all came together to get a budget. Senators Shelby and Leahy did a wonderful job working with the House and the White House to get us to where we are today. This amendment would upset everything. I am going to move to table it at the appropriate time. prgtoken With that, .
RIGHTS FOR TRANSPORTATION SECURITY OFFICERS ACT OF 2020
Mike Rogers (Republican, AL) \u2014 2020-3-5

to the amendment. prgtoken Here is another example of a messaging amendment that doesn't fix the veterans' hiring problem in the underlying bill. All this does is restate the veterans preference language in title 5. It does not restore the full veterans preference that exist under current law. prgtoken I don't understand why the majority keeps restating this instead of fixing the underlying bill and allowing the veterans preference--which is broader--to remain in place without the impediment imposed by this underlying bill. prgtoken So, , I oppose the amendment, and .
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Steve Scalise (Republican, LA) \u2014 2020-3-5

clearly, the gentleman from Maryland and I both agree that this FISA law has a strong role to play in our national security, but there is also acknowledgment that there were abuses that happened. Not only was there the Horowitz investigation, but now you do have the Durham investigation that will, hopefully, conclude and identify where those abuses took place and that those people would be held accountable. prgtoken We have had talks with the Attorney General, who recognizes, yes, he also agrees that this FISA law is critically important, wants to have this section renewed, but he does recognize that reforms can be made. prgtoken How exactly we can come to an agreement--just like with your side, we are having those negotiations. And so, if people do acknowledge that abuses occurred, I think it would be in all of our best interest, as we are addressing this law that has had detractors on both sides, that we strengthen the integrity of the law, because it has been exposed now. It has been exposed that there were problems that occurred. prgtoken The other sections where those problems occurred are permanent law. This is not. This is coming up for renewal, but it is part of the FISA law. And, clearly, as we debate the FISA law, all of this becomes part of that debate, and, hopefully, all of it can get resolved within the debate on the components that expire March 15. prgtoken I am confident we can get this done because I have seen the bipartisan interest. We just need to make sure that what we bring to the floor addresses the problems that occurred so that it, hopefully, never happens again. prgtoken if the gentleman had anything else on that.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2020-3-5

this week I have the honor of recognizing Jerry Ronning, of Ronning Auto, Truck and Tractor in Carbon County for winning business of the year at the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce Awards. prgtoken Jerry was nominated for the award because of his commitment to the community and the excellent services he provides for locals and tourists in the Red Lodge area. prgtoken Red Lodge Assistant Police Chief Scott Cope nominated Jerry saying, ``Whatever the time of day or the time of year they go all out to help the community. They routinely drop everything to help trapped motorists on the Beartooth Pass. They embody the definition of small town, hometown pride.'' prgtoken Assistant Police Chief Cope's words describe exactly why the folks of Red Lodge are proud of Jerry and Ronning Auto, Truck and Tractor. prgtoken It is my honor to recognize Jerry for earning the Business of the Year prgtoken Award, and I, along with all of the folks of Red Lodge, are grateful for the services Ronning Auto, Truck and Tractor provide for the community.
CORONAVIRUS RELIEF
Norma J. Torres (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2020-3-9

I am glad that President is meeting with his team to figure out how to save corporate America from the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak. After the worst economic collapse in over a decade, I would expect nothing less. But a corporate bailout doesn't help the everyday workers I represent. prgtoken What about the independent contractors working two or three jobs just to get by? Or the warehouse workers who are laid off because China is exporting fewer goods to the Port of LA or Long Beach? Or the Uber drivers who lose business when a convention is canceled or are forced to self-quarantine? prgtoken These workers don't have workplace benefits such as paid sick leave. The option to self-quarantine isn't an option at all when you have to work and live every day paycheck to paycheck. prgtoken , these are the stories of real Americans who are bearing the brunt of this crisis, and they deserve relief, too. They deserve your attention, too. I urge you to work with in the House to pass a real plan to help all Americans.