mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
Mike Lee (Republican, UT) \u2014 2020-9-17

tomorrow marks an important day in our Nation's history--the birth of the U.S. Air Force. prgtoken For 73 years, countless brave American women and men have protected our liberty and our homeland from the skies. They have embarked on air combat missions, guarded our bases and missile sites, and undertaken heroic rescues. They have flown, fought, and won in the air on behalf of our great country. This year also marks another important anniversary in my home State--the 80th year of Hill Air Force Base's service to that mission. prgtoken In 1939, Congress approved the construction of an air depot in Northern Utah. The following year, on January 12, the surrounding community came together and broke ground to create what is now known as Hill Air Force Base. Ever since then, it has played an invaluable role in building up our Air Force and supporting our air men and women throughout World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the conflicts that we still face today. prgtoken Tucked between the beautiful Wasatch Mountains on the east and the Great Salt Lake on the west, Hill Air Force Base is today home to 22,000 U.S. military personnel. It is the largest single-site employer in the State of Utah--providing nearly $1.5 billion in jobs each year, with an overall economic impact of about $3.7 billion annually. Hill houses and ensures mission readiness for some of our best and brightest personnel, including the 75th Air Base Wing, the 388th Fighter Wing, and the 419th Reserve Fighter Wing. prgtoken It is also home to the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, which repairs and maintains some of our most cutting-edge aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the T-38 Talon, and, of course, the F-35A Lightening II, the most advanced fighter jet in the world. prgtoken The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center on Hill has since 1959 been responsible for supporting the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, the ground-based leg of our nuclear triad. prgtoken Just a short distance west of the base, the Utah Test and Training Range contains the largest block of special-use airspace in the continental United States. The range provides an ideal location for the testing and evaluation of weapons and training grounds for combat, ensuring that our airmen are prepared to win any conflict we enter into with decisive and conclusive airpower. prgtoken There is no question that Hill Air Force Base oversees vital national security assets for the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force and our country are better off as a result of its existence. Yet there is something even more important that makes Hill the exceptional place that it is, and that is its people. The patriotism, work ethic, and community support are unmatched anywhere else in the country--or in the world for that matter. prgtoken Every commander who serves a 2-year rotation at Hill always says the same thing--that the community's support
STAND UP FOR POLICE
Michael Guest (Republican, MS) \u2014 2020-9-17

. Madam , no matter your political affiliations in 2001, there were no greater heroes than our first responders who risked their own lives to save their fellow citizens on 9/11. s and thanked our first responders, while children across our Nation looked up to them as examples of what it meant to be heroes, to risk their own well-being in service to their fellow citizens. prgtoken Now, across the Nation, we see a stark contrast to that scene from almost 20 years ago. Radicals now seek to defund the police. They threaten the men and women who risk their lives in service to our community, and, at times, they target our officers with violence, which, in the most tragic of cases, means these officers who are also fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters never return home to their family. prgtoken I am calling on Members of Congress who have remained silent in recent months to now publicly oppose the violence against our law enforcement community so that we can put an end to the basic attacks against our first responders.
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
Tom Cotton (Republican, AR) \u2014 2020-9-17

20 years ago this week, and other politicians from both parties gave a gift to the Communist Party: permanent most favored nation status. prgtoken Permanent most favored nation status is a trade privilege we grant most countries that are members of the World Trade Organization. It places lower tariffs and fewer restrictions on those countries' goods. But historically our trade laws have treated hostile countries differently--Communist countries, countries that cheat on trade, human rights abusers; in other words, countries exactly like Communist China. prgtoken A few of those countries, like Cuba and North Korea, are denied most favored nation status outright. What few goods their miserable socialist economies produce face steep tariffs, sanctions, and other restrictions, which is one reason you don't see too many ``Made in North Korea'' items on your local store shelves. prgtoken Other countries historically have faced a yearly review of their trading privileges with the United States in which the President and Congress can assess the human rights and trade abuses ongoing in those countries and then determine whether it is in our interests to grant those trading privileges for another year. prgtoken Communist China was one of those countries subject to yearly review-- at least it was until 20 years ago. This yearly review led the spirited debates about whether Communist China should be stripped of its trading privileges or whether it deserved a temporary reprieve. It put a spotlight on the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party, and it used our market as leverage to advance our interests. Of course the Chinese Communist Party didn't like that--not one bit; neither, sadly, did many bankers and businessmen here in America, who seemed a little more concerned about making money than pressuring Communist China to reform. This China lobby pushed hard to get rid of the annual vote and give China permanent most favored nation status, and 20 years ago this week, they finally won. prgtoken Here is how Senator defended his vote at the time to give a big gift to Communist China. He said: Trade concessions are all one-way in this deal. They drop tariffs. They drop non-market barriers. They agree to increased protection of our intellectual property laws. prgtoken That is what said at the time, but is that what actually happened? Were all the trade concessions ``one way,'' as he predicted? In fact, they were, but not the way intended because all the trade concessions ended up benefiting Beijing, while devastating America. prgtoken The main consequence of that decision was to make it harder to put tariffs on China in response to human rights and trade abuses, and it sent a strong signal to businesses and banks that China was open for business for good. The gold rush to China was on. prgtoken In the two decades that followed, America invested more than $200
Agriculture (Executive Session)
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2020-9-17

. I thank Senator Hoeven and Senator Roberts for organizing this and getting us down here to talk about a topic that is so, so very important. prgtoken I am not going to say anything new. I am going to be saying that we need to include reimbursement to the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation in the upcoming continuing resolution. The CCC is the funding mechanism for the bulk of our Nation's agriculture and conservation programs that are authorized with broad bipartisan support in the farm bill. prgtoken In order for these programs to work as intended, the CCC must be reimbursed by Congress on an annual basis. For decades, the CCC has been reimbursed by Congress without fanfare, and I am hopeful this year will be a continuation. Earlier this year, the Senate voted unanimously to allow the USDA to use $14 billion from the CCC to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus. This provision was included in the CARES Act. prgtoken As our farmers and ranchers face the most challenging year in recent history, we have an obligation to advance this provision so the important farm and conservation program payments are made on time and in full to our farmers and ranchers. prgtoken Earlier this week, over 40 agricultural organizations representing farmers and ranchers across the country sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee, urging this provision be included in the continuing resolution. prgtoken Preventing a CCC reimbursement would only exacerbate the tremendous hardship and challenges facing our farmers and ranchers. So I am here with so many other members of the Senate Ag Committee and Members who represent rural States to urge the Senate to help farmers and ranchers and prevent the uncertainty that would come from not including this important provision. prgtoken .
FAFSA
Lamar Alexander (Republican, TN) \u2014 2020-9-17

I am here this morning to talk about a hearing that we had in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee this morning that affects 20 million families who have to fill this out every year. This is called the FAFSA. Usually, there is an adjective ahead of it. It is called the ``dreaded'' FAFSA. prgtoken There are 400,000 Tennessee families who fill it out every year. If you want to go to college and you need a Pell grant or a student loan, you have to fill this out--108 questions. And then after you fill it out, the way it has been working and still works today, you have to send in the information on 22 of the questions to two different agencies: one to the IRS and one to the Education Department. And then they go through an elaborate process to check to see whether you have made any mistake. prgtoken So let's say you are a homeless student or a student in foster care or you are not able to identify your parents or you are living with your grandparents or any of those people have an aversion to filling out 108-question Federal forms or giving their information to the government twice, then you don't go to college. That is what happens. prgtoken In Tennessee, we have had a Governor named Bill Haslam in the legislature that said everybody in Tennessee without a degree, that you can have 2 more years of college free, but first you have to fill out this Federal form. They say this is the single biggest impediment to having the opportunity to have those 2 free years of higher education in our State. prgtoken So you would think somebody would do something about that, right? Well, somebody has or at least has been trying to. Here is what it could be. This is 33 questions. Almost everybody agrees that this is better than this--the State counselors, the Governors, the teachers, the students, the families. You could fill it out more easily. It keeps many fewer students from walking away from the opportunity to go to college. prgtoken So you would ask: Why don't you pass it? Well, , that is exactly what Senator Michael Bennet, the ic Senator from Colorado, and I said 7 years ago in a hearing before the Senate Education Committee when we had four witnesses and we talked about this. And I said at the end: There seems to be a lot of agreement about this. Why don't the four of you experts--and these are people who work in financial aid who try to help students and who try to help minority students. I mean, this is the kind of stuff we are talking about all over America today. What do we do about racial justice? What do we do to help low-income students? How do we help people who are especially hurt by a pandemic? prgtoken Well, 7 years ago, I said: Would you be willing to write us a letter, each of you, and tell us exactly what to do to eliminate the complexity of this FAFSA? What they said was that most of these questions are unnecessary and that the Federal Government doesn't n
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Steve Scalise (Republican, LA) \u2014 2020-9-17

. Madam , I would just remind the gentleman, with all due respect to Dr. Redfield, he is not the head of the FDA. prgtoken The FDA is the agency that approves drugs, and in fact, the FDA is the agency working every day with these companies. There is a very strict protocol for going through phases of testing. prgtoken Now, one thing that is important to point out on the testing, because, again, some people wonder because Operation Warp Speed has gotten us to a point quicker, maybe in the history of the world, at finding a vaccine for a disease we knew nothing about 8 months ago, but the reason they are doing it is not because they are cutting corners. No one in science that I have heard has suggested that they are cutting corners because they are not. They have strict protocols. prgtoken What they are doing, number one, the President put real money in place behind making sure that each of these drug companies has direct communication with the FDA every step of the way so they know if tests need to be run on more people or different demographic groups, as is done with other drugs, they can do it quickly. They have a wide range of people willing to be tested. prgtoken To the tribute of all Americans, over 300,000 Americans have signed up for these tests. This isn't being tested on just a few people. Sometimes, a drug takes years and years to get to market for a lot of reasons. One is red tape. prgtoken President has done a great job of getting the red tape out of the way to let the scientists actually do their job in real time. Something could sit on somebody's desk for months, in many cases, delaying lifesaving drugs. We have gotten that red tape out of the way. prgtoken Frankly, we ought to look at working together as s and at making that the norm, not the exception, to actually be able to get red tape out of the way to help save lives. prgtoken But as they are doing it, they are testing it on more people than is normally the case. Sometimes, you might only have a few thousand people who are willing or in a position to be tested. Today, you have hundreds of thousands of people who are being tested. prgtoken If they make it through each step, it is not based on who is in the White House. It is based on what the doctors at the FDA, working with the smart people in these drug companies, have come up with based on the test results. If they test people and there are problems, it doesn't even make it to phase 2. prgtoken These are all in phase 3. They are all showing tremendous promise, but if one of them makes it through or if all of them make it through, it is not because somebody rushed it. It is because the doctors and the scientists said it works. Not one of these companies would put their name on that vaccine, not one of them. prgtoken Again, I would challenge anybody, Madam , if they think any of these companies would cut a corner, please let us know right now because that is not the case. T
Agriculture (Executive Session)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican, MS) \u2014 2020-9-17

as a former commissioner of agriculture in Mississippi, this is so vital and so important. In Mississippi, agriculture is the No. 1 industry. One in every four jobs is related to agriculture. So this is very vital for my State. prgtoken With the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, we must act to ensure important agriculture and conservation programs administered by the Department of Agriculture do not come to a screeching halt on October 1. prgtoken The 2018 farm bill, which was supported by 87 Members of the Senate, authorized important safety-net programs to protect producers against sharp price and revenue declines; provide short-term loans and interim financing to help producers meet cash flow needs; assist dairy producers affected by low milk prices and high feed costs; compensate landowners for taking fragile land out of production and implementing conservation improvements to help the environment; and assist producers when natural disasters destroy feed for livestock, cause above-average livestock mortality, and damage commercial orchards and fruit trees. prgtoken Current law requires many of these program payments to be made annually after October 1, which highlights the importance of this matter on this day. prgtoken As Congress discusses measures to keep the government open and Federal programs operating beyond the current fiscal year, it is essential for any continuing resolution to include a provision allowing the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation to continue financing these programs. Failure to include such a provision would pose a serious risk to America's farmers and ranchers in these already challenging times. It would cause harmful delays in program funding and benefits at a time when many producers across the country simply cannot afford to wait months to recover for these losses. prgtoken This issue is not just about supporting American agriculture; it is about Congress living up to its promises. More than 1.7 million producers signed contracts for the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage Programs. Millions of private landowners have signed conservation contracts to take their land out of production. These are contracts, and the terms of those contracts must be met. prgtoken I remind my colleagues that this is not a situation to be taken lightly. In recent years, America's farmers and ranchers have experienced unfair foreign tariffs, depressed prices, catastrophic flooding and other natural disasters, market disruptions, and now COVID-19. prgtoken I applaud my fellow colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee for raising awareness on this issue. It is our job to feed this country. We need to be allowed to do that. prgtoken Thank you.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2020-9-17

for our friends and allies in Israel, the Abraham Accords are the first agreement with a neighboring Arab country since 1994. Peace agreements between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates bring a significant shift in the balance of power in the Middle East, and strengthens the American position against Iran, which is a leading sponsor of terror in the world. prgtoken Thanks to President 's bold vision for American foreign policy, we have rebuilt trust with our regional partners and show a united front against the oppressive regime in Tehran. prgtoken After decades of division in the Middle East, the Abraham Accords will lay the foundation for peace and prosperity in the region for decades to come. Normalized relations across the region will accelerate growth by expanding diplomatic, economic, and financial ties. prgtoken , there is much to be optimistic about, these recent historic Abraham Accords will bring a new wave of peace and prosperity in the Middle East.
Agriculture (Executive Session)
Pat Roberts (Republican, KS) \u2014 2020-9-17

I want to thank Senator Thune for his very pertinent and cogent remarks. This is an important time to make a decision that affects all farmers and ranchers and growers all across our country during a time in which we are going through some very difficult times--weather and everything else that you can imagine. prgtoken I see Senator Ernst over there, who will be following me, I am assuming. prgtoken I want to thank Senator Hoeven for reserving this time, as other members of the Agricultural Committee come and speak on an issue that we shouldn't really be having an issue. prgtoken As I said, I rise to engage in a colloquy on the importance of providing certainty and predictability. Those were the watch words we used when we passed the farm bill. To our Nation's farmers, ranchers, and growers, by replenishing the Commodity Credit Corporation, there should not be an issue. prgtoken First, I would like to thank Senator Hoeven, who has just arrived on the floor, for his leadership and speaking to this issue, and other Senators for their commitment to agriculture in their respective States and across the country. No matter what they grow or where they live, farmers, ranchers, and growers have done their part to ensure the U.S. food, fiber, and fuel supply continues without disruption during these unprecedented times. prgtoken I think everybody is familiar with the situation. Every 5 years, Congress passes legislation that sets the national agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy--commonly referred to as the farm bill. That is our commitment, and we did that. These are for the folks on the frontlines, in the fields, caring for livestock, managing the lands day in and day out, despite all the weather problems we are having today. prgtoken As chairman of this committee--the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee--we were successful in passing the 2018 farm bill in a bipartisan manner. Everybody says: Oh, we have to work together to get back to where we were bipartisan. We were. Eighty-seven Members in this Chamber voted in favor of this legislation. prgtoken That vote demonstrated that the 2018 farm bill did provide much certainty and predictability to all farmers and ranchers across all regions and all crops. However, it is no secret that times continue to remain tough in farm country. Farmers and ranchers continue to experience low commodity prices, a global pandemic, natural disasters, and the effects of retaliatory tariffs. That is a terrible combination. prgtoken The 2018 farm bill does provide essential programs to producers that allow them to mitigate some of the risks--some of the risks--that are outside their control. Many of these programs are implemented through the authority prgtoken and the annual funding Congress provides to Commodity Credit Corporation, or the CCC prgtoken I want to stress to my colleagues that now is not the time for partisan gamesmanship. If