mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
TRID IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2017
Bruce Poliquin (Republican, ME) \u2014 2018-2-14

. Madam , I thank the chairman for moving this very important package of bills through the Financial Services Committee and now to the floor. prgtoken Madam , I want to congratulate a terrific Congressman from the State of Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for the great work he has done in reconstituting the TRID Improvement Act. This bill, Madam , is designed to help our homeowners or would-be homeowners go through the process comfortably and efficiently, and also help our financial professionals who help them, in turn, to secure residential mortgages. prgtoken This bill, as has been noted earlier, Madam , passed with very strong bipartisan support, and I encourage everybody on the floor, s and , to weigh in with a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 3978. prgtoken Now, Madam , Mr. Hill's bill has two very important pieces that help our families and also help our economy grow. prgtoken First, in title I, section 101, this bill allows title insurance companies to accurately disclose the premiums they charge for their service and also the discounts that are available to our home buyers across the country. Right now, the CFPB does not allow such disclosures, which is unfair and confusing for our home buyers. prgtoken Madam , secondly, in title V, section 501, this bill includes the Eliminating Barriers to Jobs for Loan Originators Act, of which I am proudly a cosponsor. This bill, Madam , allows mortgage loan officers at a bank to move to do the same work at a nonbank financial institution without sometimes waiting weeks or months for redundant and unnecessary relicensing. prgtoken Now, that is just not fair, Madam , to the folks who are trying to help our families secure mortgages so they can move into a new place to work. prgtoken I encourage everybody on both sides of the aisle to support this excellent bill. It is bipartisan. Again, I congratulate the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), and I salute our chairman for moving this so quickly through the process.
AMERICANS SUPPORT WELFARE REFORM
Lamar Smith (Republican, TX) \u2014 2018-2-14

the welfare system in America has a problem and the great majority of Americans want to fix it. prgtoken Since 2000, the amount of Federal dollars spent on Medicaid that goes to able-bodied adults has increased 713 percent. The amount spent on food stamps for able-bodied adults has increased nearly 500 percent. These figures do not include seniors or individuals with disabilities. prgtoken Every welfare dollar that is spent on able-bodied, working-age adults diverts resources from the very individuals the program was designed to help--the truly needy--and from other important priorities such as education and public safety. prgtoken The solution is a work requirement. Able-bodied adults on welfare should be required to work, get training, or perform community service to receive benefits. An overwhelming 90 percent of voters support this reform, which could move 10 million able-bodied adults off of welfare. prgtoken Those who can work, should. Work is essential to helping individuals regain their independence and self-worth.
ADDRESSING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Martha Roby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2018-2-14

this week, the Senate is taking action to address prgtoken our illegal immigration problem, so I rise today to share some feedback from the people I represent in Alabama's Second Congressional District. prgtoken I recently held two telephone townhall events to hear directly from some of my constituents. Let me start by thanking every person who took the time to participate and ask questions. prgtoken During both townhalls, I asked everyone what their top priority was regarding our country's illegal immigration issue, and the vast majority of participants said they are most concerned about securing our border. prgtoken I couldn't agree more. I have always said that, in order to truly fix our immigration system, we absolutely have to start by securing our border. If I had a leak in my house, I wouldn't start by replacing the damaged drywall. I would fix the leak first. prgtoken , the same idea applies for our illegal immigration problem. We will only be able to make real progress towards fixing the issue once we secure our border once and for all. prgtoken I am proud to support these efforts in the House, and I stand ready to continue to work to tackle this problem where it starts: at the border.
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2018-2-14

it seems as though just about every day we get more good news about the tax relief law that s passed. This week, the news is getting even better for a lot of people all across the country. prgtoken By the end of this month, 90 percent of workers across the country will see more money in their take-home paychecks. It doesn't matter where they are. They can be in Meeteetse, WY, and they will see an increase in their paychecks this week. That is because this Thursday, February 15, is the deadline for employers to start using the new IRS tax withholding tables. The IRS tells employers how much money to withhold from people's paychecks so that their taxes work out pretty close at the end of the year. That is the way it is set up. Well, the IRS looked at the new tax law and saw that people are going to be paying lower taxes at the end of the year, so they put out the new tax tables. They told businesses to adjust how much money to withhold from a person's paycheck and to do it by February 15, tomorrow. For 90 percent of Americans, this tax amount is going to be lower, which means their paychecks are going to be larger. A tax cut is the same as a raise. That is what we are seeing all across the country--people getting a raise in their pay. prgtoken Some people have already gotten a paycheck with the new, higher wages. Others are going to get it very soon. The website Yahoo Finance crunched the numbers. They found that a typical worker making $60,000 a year will get an extra $112 in their paychecks every month because of the tax law. That is over $1,300 for the year. To me, that is very good news for American workers. prgtoken I was at home in Wyoming this past weekend, traveling around the State, and I am hearing about it in all the different communities I go to. People are saying: This has been better for me and my family personally. prgtoken On top of this, a lot of workers are getting special bonuses and raises because of the tax law. So not only are they getting more money because of the fact that the tax rates have been lowered, additionally, they are getting more money because they have gotten a raise or a bonus. It seems there are about 4 million hard-working Americans who are getting bonuses of hundreds or even thousands of dollars as a result of the new tax reform law. They are also getting extra money in their retirement plans. They are getting higher starting wages. We are seeing many places increasing the starting wages, some up to $15 an hour. More than 300 companies have said they are increasing all of these kinds of compensations as a direct result of the tax law. prgtoken In my home State of Wyoming, people across the State are getting bonuses--bonuses. These are people who work at Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Starbucks, Wells Fargo, and other businesses that have familiar names to people across the country. They are also people who are working in smaller businesses, like t
REMEMBERING GLADYS LLANES
Marco Rubio (Republican, FL) \u2014 2018-2-14

today I want to commemorate the life of Gladys Llanes, who passed away last week in Miami, FL. As she was in life, in the end, she was surrounded by family and friends who loved and cared for her deeply. Gladys served as a senior constituent services representative in my office specializing in immigration issues. prgtoken I was not the first Senator for whom Gladys worked. That honor goes to the senior Senator from New Jersey. Even though she had lived in South Florida for a number of years, Gladys remained a Jersey girl through and through. prgtoken I was fortunate to have Gladys in my office, and the people of Florida were fortunate to have Gladys working for them because she was the best at what she did. I do not say that as conjecture; I know she was the best. I heard it from her colleagues, from the constituents she served, from the attorneys she assisted, and from the agency with which she worked daily. Gladys was so good at her job that, when the agency wanted to train their own staff on how to work with congressional offices, they brought Gladys to their training throughout the country to help teach agency staff. That is high praise and an acknowledgment of professional excellence. The stories have come rushing out as people have heard of her passing: families reunited who thought they would never see each other again, daughters able to spend the last moments of their parent's life with them because of a visa issued, family members who needed admittance to this country to donate organs to loved ones, children who are alive today because Gladys helped them get into this country to receive the lifesaving treatment they needed. Repeatedly, Gladys found ways to make the seemingly impossible possible. She lived an impactful and meaningful life and touched thousands of lives for the better. prgtoken But there was so much more to Gladys than just her professional success. Gladys was fiercely patriotic and loved America--not the ideals of America or America in theory, she loved America, and she made it her mission to see as much of it as possible. In her 50th year, Gladys met her goal of seeing each of the 50 States. Just driving through a State or transferring in an airport did not count; she actually had to spend time there. She loved to visit lighthouses, national parks, and Major League Baseball stadiums. Thwarted constantly in her goal to see all the ballparks because they kept opening new ones, she had a ready excuse to go back to those cities again and see another game. prgtoken Gladys did not just love America; she loved Americans. She could not visit to a town, eat a meal, fly on a plane, or stand in a line without making a friend. Funny and full of life, Gladys attracted friends like few others. She knew someone almost everywhere and stayed in touch constantly. When she would go back through their State, she would go out of her way to visit, share a meal, and stay at their homes.
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2018-2-14

some of what I just heard, I can readily agree to. Certain things, such as that we are a nation of immigrants-- no doubt about that. We need immigrants. We take roughly 800,000 to 1 million legal immigrants a year. They are welcomed. We also, though, are a nation of laws, and as a nation of laws, we want people to come here according to our laws and abide by the laws. prgtoken We are working with a group of people. If you call them DACAs, it would be about 800,000. If you refer to them as Dreamers, it is maybe 1.8 million. We obviously have sympathy for them because as a baby brought here in diapers by a person or family who crossed our border without papers, hence entering our country illegally--we don't attribute the sin and the unlawfulness of the parent to the baby. A lot of that has happened. prgtoken There is a general agreement--maybe not everybody in my political party agrees with this, but I think 80 percent of them do--that we need to deal with people who are here through no fault of their own and give them legal status. That is the compassion we are showing for people who broke our laws by their parents doing it but not the kids doing it. prgtoken I also didn't ever think we would be here today debating this because I went through the 2013 debate on immigration. The Senate passed a bill; the House of Representatives didn't take it up. I was in the minority at that time, both in the caucus that was in the minority as well as in the minority that voted against that bill, because I didn't think it did things the way I would do them. Everything died in the House of Representatives. Then, 2 years later, I became chairman of the Judiciary Committee. We have jurisdiction over immigration legislation. I could have spent 3 months on immigration during 2015 or 2016 and sent a bill to the House of Representatives that probably would have died, but I made up my mind early in my chairmanship that I wanted to do things that we could get passed. So over the period of the last Congress, my committee voted out 31 bills, all bipartisan, and 18 of them got to a ic President. In 2015 and 2016, I felt, why go through that process if it is going to die in the House of Representatives? prgtoken Now, a year later, after the election of a President who campaigned so much against anything dealing with immigration and legalization of people who are here--even young people, whom he has now come to the conclusion we ought to legalize--I didn't think we would be having this debate, and somehow I think Members of the ic Party didn't think we would be having this debate. I think they probably were shocked 2 or 3 weeks ago when the government shut down and when the majority leader decided to make an agreement to bring up this issue. But here we are, debating an immigration bill that, quite frankly, I didn't think we would be debating. Here we are. prgtoken Then, of course, we didn't do anything Mond
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
Thom Tillis (Republican, NC) \u2014 2018-2-14

in a moment, I am going to talk about the immigration debate we are going to have here. prgtoken Before I do that, though, I want to recognize that this is Valentine's Day. I happen to be several hundred miles away from my sweetheart, but I want to wish my wife a happy Valentine's Day. I made her a little card. I am sure I probably just violated a rule, but I don't think anybody can fire me. I want my wife to know I love her and wish I was with her. prgtoken Now, , I want to talk a little about immigration reform. We just heard a discussion. I tell you, sometimes I think I teleport from this Chamber to the Kennedy Center because there are more theatrics going on here than you can find down there on any given day. prgtoken Let me give you one example of that. The whole indignant position that the Member from New Jersey just had on ``chain migration'' and somehow that mean s came up with this term because we wanted to make a point. Demographers came up with this term decades ago. People on the other side of the aisle even have references to chain migration in bills they proposed. End the theatrics. Solve this problem. prgtoken Let's talk about the President's framework. I was presiding just before I got up here. I heard the word ``hard-line'' used--the hard- line demand of President . I don't agree with everything President has done. In fact, I said a year and a half ago--and I got criticized for it--that when you sit down and talk border patrol and talk homeland security, you are going to find out you don't need a large, monolithic wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. prgtoken After the President was elected and after he got into office, he listened to homeland security and border patrol, and he came up with a plan that isn't a long, monolithic wall across the southern border. It is a strategic plan that actually lets us improve the security of the homeland along the northern and southern borders. It is a plan that tries to confiscate tons of drugs that are poisoning Americans in the tens of thousands of every year. It is a plan that makes sure gang members are more likely to be incarcerated when they cross the border illegally and less likely to go into the very communities that many of the people who immigrate to this country go into. It is a plan to make those communities safer. prgtoken It is a plan to make sure we know the thousands of people that cross the border illegally are not carrying illicit drugs in a truck or car or a wheel well, the way they do it today, because it is using technology to be able to search more vehicles to make sure our homeland is safe. prgtoken It is also a plan that shows more compassion than President 's DACA plan. Right now, they are saying: Let's keep DACA going. Well, there are 690,000 people who are in DACA. Their future is uncertain because it is an Executive order. It doesn't have the force of law. It cou
WELCOME SLOANE DACHISEN BRAVO
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2018-2-14

I am happy to congratulate Summer Buchanan Bravo and her husband, Matthew Edward Bravo, on the birth of their new baby girl, Sloane Dachisen Bravo. Sloane Dachisen Bravo was born on February 3, 2018, at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. Sloane weighed seven pounds and eight ounces and measured 19 and \3/4\ inches long. prgtoken I would also like to congratulate Sloane's grandparents, Steve and Barbara Buchanan of Birmingham, Alabama, and Charles and Linda Bravo of Fairfax, Virginia. Congratulations to the entire family as they welcome their newest addition of pure pride and joy.
NOMINATIONS DISCHARGED
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2018-2-14

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from and the Senate proceed to the consideration of PN474-2; that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
James Lankford (Republican, OK) \u2014 2018-2-14

the Senate is probably interested in the status of the debate on immigration. This debate started in September in hallways, committee rooms, and in our offices--opportunities for us to talk about these issues now for months. prgtoken Several weeks ago, there was a government shutdown demanding that we actually have a vote on immigration right now or that we don't reopen the government. After 3 days of government shutdown, the government was reopened, demanding that we move the immigration debate earlier to make sure we would get this done earlier. Now it is Wednesday of the week that it was supposed to occur, and the proposals are not out on the table. It has been a frustrating journey. prgtoken I can't even begin to count the number of hours I have spent in bipartisan conversations trying to circle around a simple set of issues. How do we resolve a small group of issues related to immigration? prgtoken I thought this was resolved in some ways. Back in early January, there was a large bipartisan meeting with the House and Senate to discuss what was widely televised as the scope for immigration and the key issues we were going to address. It came down to four issues, and there was agreement among the leaders, among those in the room, that these are the only four issues we are going to deal with: DACA and those DACA-eligible and how we move them toward citizenship, border security and all the things around border security, diversity visa lottery, and family reunification. All of those have been dealt with in legislation before--in fact, for decades, in one version or another-- except for the issue of DACA. That one is new. That is the only one that hasn't been done with legislation before. The others all have. prgtoken The Gang of 8 bill in 2013 had border security and all kinds of different issues related to both construction of walls, technology, and legal loopholes. It had diversity lottery. It had chain migration in it. If you want to go back to an immigration study during the Clinton administration, in 1995, there was a proposal put out by Barbara Jordan, the ic House Member from Texas, who led that particular study during the Clinton administration dealing with chain migration, dealing with how we transition to merit-based immigration. prgtoken This has been dealt with literally in hearings for decades, but what I have heard for the past several months is that there is no time to do any of those things. The only time that we have is to deal with DACA. We can't even discuss anything else. Meeting after meeting after meeting since early November, I have heard the same thing: There is no time. There is no time. There is no time. prgtoken Now we are getting down to the day, and there is still a conversation about how we deal with these four simple issues that we have talked about for months, that the House and Senate have debated for decades, and on which we have had an untold number of
PROTECTING CONSUMERS' ACCESS TO CREDIT ACT OF 2017
Robert Pittenger (Republican, NC) \u2014 2018-2-14

I thank the chairman for his leadership, and I thank Congressman McHenry, also. prgtoken , I rise today to just, regretfully, say that this ruling, Madden v. Midland, is just another layer of Big Brother, a misguided ruling by some people of good intentions and goodwill, but the net effect is fewer choices for the American people. prgtoken , I think we have seen what has happened as a result of Dodd-Frank. We saw what happened to the American economy. We saw what happened to the American consumers. prgtoken , regrettably, it is the low-income, minority people who have suffered the most in the last decade as a result of the misguided regulations that were put upon the American people. Big Brother really doesn't have the answers. prgtoken What we do have is the opportunity to provide choices for the American people, and that is what H.R. 3299 is all about. prgtoken , in North Carolina, we have lost 50 percent of our banks because of this misguided regulatory overmanagement by the Federal Government. There is less access to capital and credit for small business. There is less access to capital for that individual who has a real need. Maybe they want to start something, or maybe they have an emergency in their family. prgtoken This is what this bill is all about, and we need to be behind it. We need to support it. We need to understand that the American people know how to make good choices. We need to trust the American people and not trust Big Brother and the Big Government.