mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
NOT ATTENDING INAUGURATION
Raúl M. Grijalva (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2017-1-13

I rise today to tell my constituents that I will not be attending the inauguration of as our next President. prgtoken My absence is not motivated by disrespect for the office or motivated by disrespect for the government that we have in this great democracy but as an individual act, yes, of defiance at the disrespect shown to millions and millions of Americans by this incoming administration and by the actions we are taking in this Congress. prgtoken The majority of voters rejected . They deserve respect. The 20 million-plus Americans threatened by the repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement deserve respect. The millions who did not vote because they blame both parties deserve respect. prgtoken I will be at home in Arizona meeting with seniors, the immigrant community, folks who care about the environment and climate change, healthcare providers, and marching in Tucson with folks who will demand respect. I will be talking about the need to defend and protect the future for all Americans. prgtoken Rather than participate in the inauguration, I will be participating in my district and reaffirming and renewing this democracy and the people that are part of it.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017
Frank Pallone, Jr. (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2017-1-13

. Mr. Chair, I have listened to every who spoke during this budget debate, and I am convinced they will repeal the ACA and run. There will never be a replacement because they don't have the votes for it. The s are ideologues. They don't believe we should regulate insurance companies or help people pay for their premiums, so they can never support a replacement plan that would do these things. prgtoken The ACA is a market-based plan to deal with the healthcare crisis that we faced 8 years ago. More and more people didn't have health insurance. Insurance companies wouldn't sell them health insurance if they had a preexisting condition like cancer. People were paying more and more out of pocket, and the fact of the matter is that we stepped in in a practical way, not because we were ideologues, because we were looking at the situation practically to help people. prgtoken What did we do? We provided 20 or 30 million people who didn't have insurance with insurance. For those who had health insurance through their employer, we guaranteed them a good benefit package, and we limited their out-of-pocket costs. We looked at this practically because we are trying to help the American people. We were not ideologues. We didn't care about whether you were on the left or the right. prgtoken But what the s are doing today is really a farce. They don't care about the average American. They don't care about all these people who have insurance now who didn't have it before, about the benefits that they are getting, that their out-of-pocket costs have been limited. No. They are just ideologues. They want to repeal this. They have no intention of ever replacing it, in my opinion, and they want to go back to the good old days when the insurance companies controlled the market. That is what we are going to have. Repeal and run, that is what you are doing.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017
Brendan F. Boyle (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2017-1-13

it is interesting that after 6 years of the mantra of repeal and replace, here we are. And we have repeal and maybe replace at some point when we get around to it; although, that shouldn't be very surprising, considering. prgtoken What is Care? prgtoken More than 20 years ago, Senator Bob Dole, then the leader of the Senate, and a group of his colleagues introduced the alternative to the then-ic plan to expand health insurance to some 40 million Americans who didn't have it. The plan hatched at the Heritage Foundation was, instead of expanding Medicare for all, let's instead create a system of taxes and tax credits where we pool all the uninsured together and we enable them to buy private health insurance on a marketplace. prgtoken Fast-forward about two decades. comes to the White House wanting to compromise, wanting to create a system that would disrupt the existing healthcare system as little as possible, and decides to go in this direction. Then suddenly, all of those on the other side who supported that idea for two decades decided it was socialism and could not possibly be the healthcare law. prgtoken So the reason why they don't have an alternative to Care is because this is the market solution. This was the more moderate approach. This actually isn't a Big Government-run plan. prgtoken So I am extending a hand to the other side. If they really want to come up with a way to improve the Affordable Care Act, there are many of us on this side who genuinely want to work on that. I have already voted, as a Member only here 2 years, on ways we can improve the Affordable Care Act and make some modifications, the same way we have made modifications to Medicare and Medicaid many times since 1965. prgtoken , if the real intent of the other side is just to strip away health insurance to 22 million Americans, we will say ``no'' and continue to fight it.
ACA AND AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
Steny H. Hoyer (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2017-1-13

I absolutely disagree with the previous speaker. He is wrong. He is wrong on the facts. The fact is, the Affordable Care Act was on the table longer than any bill since I have been in Congress--which is 36 years--to read, to review, to analyze, and to make a decision. prgtoken Every American will be adversely affected if we repeal the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans with disabilities depend on access to quality, affordable health care and deserve to have their voices heard in the debate over our healthcare system. prgtoken In fact, only one in five Americans, when polled, think we ought to repeal the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement. There is no replacement. Sixty-four times they voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They still do not have a replacement. prgtoken According to the CDC, 53 million Americans live with some form of disability. Were the Affordable Care Act to be repealed, insurers would again be permitted to discriminate against them, denying coverage for increasing premiums based on their disabilities. Repeal would also allow insurance companies again to impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage for every American. prgtoken Do not repeal the Affordable Care Act. Show us the beef. Show us the alternative.
Louise McIntosh Slaughter (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-1-13

. for yielding me the time. prgtoken , it is unconscionable to me that the majority is prioritizing a repeal of the Affordable Care Act as its top priority for the 115th Congress as the Nation's infrastructure crumbles and as the cost of education continues to skyrocket. It is particularly outrageous that this budget puts the wheels in motion, as my colleague has said, for a repeal of the healthcare law without there being anything to take its place. prgtoken This budget would also increase our Nation's debt by $9.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Apparently the party that has tried to claim the mantle of balanced budgets for years doesn't really care about fiscal responsibility. prgtoken It is the first step toward defunding Planned Parenthood, which serves 2.5 million patients--men and women--across the country every year and provides preventative care, like birth control and cancer screenings. It seems to me, for the majority of my adult life, I have been trying to defend Planned Parenthood. The excuse given that the community health centers can pick up the slack is so enormously wrong that the community health centers are scared to death that they are going to be asked to try to pick up that slack of 2.5 million patients. That is absolutely a cover for something that doesn't make any sense at all. prgtoken I was shocked to read a study over the summer that found that the rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the State of Texas, since they did away with Planned Parenthood, seems to have doubled since 2010, making Texas one of the most dangerous places in the world to have a baby. prgtoken What was happening in Texas during this time? prgtoken The State legislature was not only making cuts to family planning clinics where many low-income women received the only medical care they got, but the State was absolutely refusing to expand its Medicaid program, which would have given lower income women desperately needed access to prenatal services.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017
Steve Cohen (Democrat, TN) \u2014 2017-1-13

I have been listening to the debate, and I see the buzzwords that have been used about the repeal of the Affordable Care Act: ``patient-centered''--that sounds good--and ``against bureaucrats''--that sounds good. What they don't tell you is that it is for the insurance companies. prgtoken They say it leaves it patient-centered and for the people to deal with it, not the government--because the people will have to deal with the insurance companies in the future. The people don't want to have to deal with insurance companies when their claims are denied, when they won't pay them, when they won't allow them to have certain procedures. That is what the American people are against. prgtoken The Affordable Care Act was insurance reform on steroids. And you can't have all of the insurance reform on steroids without government action looking out for the people versus the insurance companies. prgtoken They also don't tell you about rich people, who the other side is always concerned about, who could use tax credits and get a lot more money for their tax credits because they are at a higher tax rate than others. So, in essence, they are going to get more out of this. prgtoken What we ought to be doing--it is what this alternative budget is about--is trying to create jobs, jobs for people in infrastructure, construction jobs for people out there in middle America. prgtoken America used to be first in infrastructure, and now we are 28th in infrastructure. We need to have an infrastructure that gets goods to market and goods to the public for sale. That helps create jobs further. Jobs is what is important, and it is where America used to be first--in infrastructure jobs. prgtoken America has always been last in health care. We were the only industrialized country in the world without a national healthcare policy, and the s never wanted a national healthcare policy until now. prgtoken So the Affordable Care Act did good because it woke the people up on the other side of the aisle to the fact that we needed to have a policy to make sure people got health care because they have never, ever cared about it. prgtoken Teddy Roosevelt cared about it in their party. Richard Nixon cared about it in their party. Mitt Romney cared about it in their party. But they were mute. They didn't say a word about it. All of a sudden-- because they found something they thought is good. prgtoken Two-thirds of the people in Tennessee like the Affordable Care Act. Don't repeal it. prgtoken Pass this alternative budget and create jobs.
SUPPORT FOR ACA--THE STORY OF ONE ALABAMIAN
Terri A. Sewell (Democrat, AL) \u2014 2017-1-13

More than 20 million Americans woke up today with the security of health coverage they didn't have 8 years ago. Of the Americans who stand to lose their health insurance under the GOP repeal plan, 82 percent are from working families, including 150,000 enrollees in my State of Alabama. prgtoken Despite facts, s have done a remarkable job convincing the American people, even those who are on the exchanges, that the ACA only benefits people who don't work. They perpetuate the tired fallacy that ACA, Medicaid, and even Medicare recipients are living off the government without contributing to our economy. prgtoken , this brings me to a story about Hank Adcock. Hank is a life-long farmer who has been working on his family farm in Alabama for the majority of his 62 years. Back in 2015, his hands got stuck in a hay baler and he lost his right hand. Before the ACA, Hank's family hadn't had health coverage since the 1980s. His ACA policy ended up covering his entire hospital bill, which he says could have cost him his farm if he hadn't had insurance. If the farming work that Hank, his wife, Sharon, and their children have committed their lives to isn't enough to qualify as ``hard work'' to my friends, then I suggest we let Hank and Sharon come up here to Washington while we all go down to North Alabama to trade jobs for a few days. prgtoken The ACA is far from perfect. This is why I have worked across the aisle to try to make meaningful changes to the ACA that don't compromise the law's benefits. But after 7 years of engaging in a fact- free, taxpayer-funded crusade against the ACA, the GOP should have a stellar replacement plan that we can all agree on. prgtoken Every member in this body has constituents who have insurance because of the ACA. While I understand that the law is unpopular in many districts across the country, political expediency has no place in this hallowed body, especially when the economy and American lives are at stake. prgtoken The American people deserve a Congress that will work together to fix what's wrong with the ACA and build upon what's working. We need to work towards increased access, market stabilization and cost reduction. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to achieve these goals and protect the millions of Americans who like Hank were at one time just one medical emergency away from financial ruin.
SUPPORT OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Dwight Evans (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2017-1-13

I stood in the well of this House some days ago, when I was sworn in, and basically said that I am not naive. prgtoken Today, I rise in support of the Affordable Care Act and oppose any effort to repeal it, which just took place. Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, the uninsured rate in Pennsylvania has fallen by 37 percent. Additionally, millions more Pennsylvanians, who would otherwise be uninsured, have coverage with an employer, Medicaid, individual market, or Medicare coverage as a result of the new protections provided by the law. prgtoken No matter what lens you look through, Pennsylvanians and individuals throughout our Nation have better health coverage and care today as a result of the ACA. Let us keep moving forward and help our communities have healthcare access, quality, and affordability. prgtoken Recently, our Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Wolf, sent a letter to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to underscore the importance of furthering access to care, keeping prices affordable and spending in check, and improving health care for those in our home State of Pennsylvania. prgtoken Just in Pennsylvania alone, we have had over 670,000 individuals who have enrolled in HealthChoices, Pennsylvania's mandatory managed care Medicaid program. That is 670,000 individuals who previously did not have access to quality of care. prgtoken We do not need the rhetoric of repeal and replace. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of the Governor, burg, PA, December 20, 2016. Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Congressman McCarthy: Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in on the critically important conversation about the future of health care in our country. As Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I am immensely proud of the work we have done to further access to care, keep prices affordable and spending in check, and improve health outcomes since my administration began tackling health care as a top priority. One of my first decisions as Governor was to expand Medicaid to individuals up to 138 percent of Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Since that decision was made in February 2015, more than 670,000 individuals have enrolled in HealthChoices, Pennsylvania's mandatory managed care Medicaid program. That's 670,000 Pennsylvanians that previously did not have access to quality care, if they had access to care at all. Total program enrollment now tops 2.8 million Pennsylvanians. U.S. Census data shows that the commonwealth's uninsured rate has dropped from 10.2 percent in 2010 to 6.4 percent in 2015, and state General Fund costs have been reduced by more than $500 million as a result of Medicaid expansion. Even before the passage of the Affordabl
TRIBUTE TO MARLENE JOHNSON-ODOM
Gwen Moore (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2017-1-17

I rise today to pay tribute to my friend Marlene Johnson-Odom. She served as alderwoman on the City of Milwaukee Common Council for the sixth aldermanic district for more than 24 years. Ms. Johnson-Odom passed away on January 9, 2017. prgtoken Marlene Johnson-Odom was a lifelong Milwaukee resident. She was a product of the public school system and a fellow graduate of North Division High School. Marlene received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. prgtoken Prior to becoming an elected official, Ms. Johnson-Odom worked for Milwaukee Public Schools and was TV Hostess at Channel 18, a local television station. Ms. Johnson-Odom succeeded her first husband Ben Johnson on the Common Council and was known as a quiet but effective leader. While serving on the Common Council, one of the achievements of which she was most proud was the renaming of 3rd Street to Martin Luther King Drive. Always approachable, Marlene provided outstanding service to her constituents. prgtoken Ms. Johnson-Odom was always extremely involved in the community and served on numerous boards and commissions including: Milwaukee Area Technical College Board, United Way Board of Directors, Black Women's Network and Pabst Theater Board. prgtoken Ms. Johnson-Odom leaves behind 3 children: Jan Johnson Carlyle, Paula Darling and Jay Johnson, 2 grandchildren: Amber Brown and Ellis Johnson, 8 great-grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends to mourn her passing. She leaves a strong legacy of leadership for her children and grandchildren to model. prgtoken , Marlene was my friend and a Milwaukee and Wisconsin treasure and I valued her service to the 4th Congressional District. I urge you and my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in a salute to the late Marlene Johnson-Odom.
ORDERS FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-1-17

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 4 p.m Friday, January 20; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
RECOGNIZING THE 27TH ANNIVERSARY OF ``BLACK JANUARY''
Steve Cohen (Democrat, TN) \u2014 2017-1-20

I rise today to recognize the 27th anniversary of ``Black January'' in Azerbaijan, a day that commemorates Azerbaijan's stand against Soviet soldiers for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity over all lands under Azerbaijani jurisdiction, and freedom from communism and dictatorship. prgtoken On the evening of January 19, 1990, the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet Presidium backed by then-President Mikhail Gorbachev declared a state of emergency in response to the growing national independence movement in Azerbaijan. In response to the Azeri people's stand against Soviet aggression, Soviet troops stormed the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku and indiscriminately fired on peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. That night, more than 130 people died with over 700 injured, 841 arrested and five going missing. prgtoken While Soviet invaders attacked peaceful protestors, they also targeted critical infrastructure and workers. According to a report by Human Rights Watch entitled Black January in Azerbaijan, ``among the most heinous violations of human rights during the Baku incursion were the numerous attacks on medical personnel, ambulances and even hospitals.'' Additionally, the Soviet attack served as an act of intimidation for all then-Soviet countries with independence ambitions. The Human Rights Watch report concluded that, ``indeed the violence used by the Soviet Army on the night of January 19-20 constitutes an exercise in collective punishment. The punishment inflicted on Baku by Soviet soldiers may have been intended as a warning to nationalists, not only in Azerbaijan, but in other Republics of the Soviet Union.'' prgtoken Azerbaijani citizens, however, refused to succumb to Soviet aggression. Instead, the invasion gave new life to their nationalism and fight for true independence. In the days after the invasion, thousands of Azerbaijanis surrounded Communist Party headquarters demanding the resignation of the republic's leadership, the Baku City Council demanded that Soviet troops withdraw from Azeri territories and the legislature in Azerbaijan threatened to call a referendum on secession unless Soviet troops were withdrawn within 48 hours. prgtoken Soviet troops eventually withdrew and January 20th became known as ``the Day of the Nationwide Sorrow.'' It would not be for nearly two years, however, before Azerbaijan gained political control from the Soviet Union. In October 1991, Azerbaijan's parliament--the National Assembly--declared its independence. prgtoken While Azerbaijan still faces challenges from its neighbors, today, Azerbaijan has developed into a thriving country with double-digit growth, in large part due to a freely elected president and parliament, and free market reforms led by the energy sector that helps support energy security in Israel and Europe. I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the tragic events of Black January that precipitated the independent Rep
HONORING MICHAEL J. KEENAN
Ruben Gallego (Democrat, AZ) \u2014 2017-1-20

I rise to honor Michael J. Keenan, who is retiring having served the interests of Arizona's working men and women with distinction since the mid-1970s. prgtoken Upon graduating from the University of Arizona, Mike attended Georgetown Law School. Not forgetting his working class roots or union family heritage, Mike returned to Arizona to join the union-side law firm then known as Ward and Contreras. Through the years, Mike provided wise counsel to Arizona unions, enabling them to defend the rights of the Arizona workers to fair wages and safe working conditions. He also has represented well various trust funds which provide health insurance and retirement benefits for Arizona union members. prgtoken By advancing the interests and protecting the dignity of Arizona union members--often during challenging times--Mike earned a reputation as not only a zealous and highly effective advocate, but also as a highly ethical lawyer. Through his hard work and dedication, Mike immeasurably improved the lives of Arizona working men and women. prgtoken It is now time for Mike to enjoy a long retirement with his wife, Becky, his sons Jimmy and Joey, his daughter Katie and his granddaughter Avery. On behalf of our great state's workers, I thank him and wish him all the best.