mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Lisa Murkowski (Republican, AK) \u2014 2021-8-2

I am on the floor this afternoon as we are waiting to learn when we might be able to proceed to a series of amendments as they relate to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. prgtoken This is a significant measure, one that I have been very proud to be involved with for a period of time, working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in our working groups--G-10, G-22--working with the committee chairman and ranking member, working with other Members to get where we are today, which is a long-awaited--really, a long-away-- investment in our Nation's infrastructure. prgtoken I know that Members are looking through the significant legislation that is in front of us. You don't need to take my word for it. You can look at the number of inches of the document in front of me. It is significant. prgtoken , I would suggest to you the need in this country is significant when it comes to investments in our Nation's infrastructure--our core infrastructure--what we define to be our roads, our rails, our bridges, our ports, our water and sewer, our broadband. I think we recognize that we talk a lot in this Chamber and perhaps on the other side, as well, and Presidents have come and gone and all talked about the need for more investment in our infrastructure. But truth be told, we really haven't done a real wholesale effort toward that goal until this year. We saw significant work come out of committees this year. prgtoken I want to commend the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Carper, my friend from Delaware. His committee worked hard, not only on the surface transportation measure but also the water infrastructure measure that had passed through. prgtoken We have seen other good work in other areas of infrastructure. prgtoken I am on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. That committee was able to move out a significant--what we call the power infrastructure--piece that became one of the anchor tenets, if you will, within this measure. prgtoken There has been good, collaborative work through the committees. Then that has been built on by Members, again, across the aisle over these past months to get us to where we are today. prgtoken I ask Members, as they are going through the bill itself, the language that we had hoped we would get a little bit earlier for colleagues to go through--but in fairness, we really needed to take the time to make sure prgtoken that we had gotten it right. It really does matter. So it did cause some delay that we wish we could have avoided, but we are where we are. prgtoken It is Monday afternoon, and what I am hearing from colleagues is that they want an opportunity to engage in this process. Many in this body have not been part of the working groups. Perhaps, they weren't part of the committees that had advanced some of these pieces of legislation that we have incorporated. They want to be participants, and rightly so. This is
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2021-8-2

I come to the floor today to address the amendment on which we will be voting in the next 15 or 20 minutes. It is the Barrasso amendment to No. 2137. It has to do with building codes in the bill that is on the floor tonight for our discussion and debate, the bipartisan infrastructure bill. prgtoken There is money in this bill that is being debated today for building codes, and this amendment is quite simple. It is a consumer protection amendment, and it just says no money--no money in this bill--can be used to bar natural gas hookups to your home. You can't block commercial use, residential use, and new constructions. So no money in the bill can be used to restrict or prohibit the direct use of natural gas in residential and commercial buildings in support of it--space heating, water heating or cooking, and for other purposes. And you can't also use money to compel the adoption of modern building energy codes. Those are local decisions that are made. prgtoken Why I come to the floor to speak specifically about that is that people all around the country are very concerned about what is in this bill and how it is going to affect them at home and how they live and their pocketbooks. No matter where you are from, people are saying: How is this going to impact me? prgtoken People who are living under the times of this massive inflation that they are hitting--they are paying more for groceries, they are paying more for gasoline, and now they are looking at, if they come out with building codes that block natural gas hookups, what is that going to do to the cost of energy to heat their home, to cook, and all of those sorts of things? prgtoken And for people who are not necessarily tuned into this who may be Members of this body but who don't think about how so many of the decisions here impact hard-working American families, I come to a story that was in this morning's Wall Street Journal. The headline is ``Natural-Gas Phaseouts Are Facing Resistance.'' And there is a reason they are facing resistance. They are facing resistance because people do not want to have to pay more money for energy to heat their homes, to cook, and all of those things. prgtoken And the article points out that Massachusetts is emerging as a key battleground in this U.S. fight over whether to phase out natural gas for home cooking and heating, with fears of unknown costs. That is what people are concerned about--unknown costs and unfamiliar technologies fueling much of the opposition as the country is being encouraged to go all electric. prgtoken So what we are seeing is that more towns around Boston are debating measures to block or limit the use of gas in new construction, and they talk about climate change as a reason for that. Well, builders and realtors will tell you that construction costs go up and the cost of heating and cooking go up if you are not allowed to use natural gas in the construction. As a matter of fact,
TRIBUTE TO BUD OLSON
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2021-8-2

today I have the distinct honor of recognizing Bud Olson of Teton County as Montanan of the Month for his service to our country during World War II. prgtoken Bud was a member of the 82nd Airborne's 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, which participated in Operation Overlord, better known as D- Day. During that fateful operation, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment sustained many crash landings, including Bud's glider. prgtoken Bud was the sole survivor after his glider crash landed. Following this tragic event, Bud went on to help secure the bridge in Sainte- Mere-Eglise, which was the first village in France to be liberated by the Allies. Bud continued his service in campaigns throughout France, Holland, and Belgium and took part in the liberation of the Wobbelin concentration camp. prgtoken Military service has always had an influence on Bud. He is a 60-year member of the Choteau American Legion. For many years, Bud had ``D Day 44'' on the license plate of his car. prgtoken After the war, Bud returned to Teton County where he and his wife, Vi, worked the family's ranch outside of Choteau and has been an active member of his community. He served as a Teton County commissioner for 15 years, from 1965 to 1980. Bud has been an avid supporter of Choteau School District's athletics program, attending games in town and even traveling to cheer on his beloved Bulldogs. prgtoken Bud celebrated his 100th birthday on July 29, 2021. In celebration, Choteau Mayor Chris Hindoein declared it ``Bud Olson Day.'' Residents were encouraged to fly flags in honor of Bud and to wear maroon and gold acknowledging his support of the Bulldogs. prgtoken Bud epitomizes the heart of a veteran--a Montana hero--whose selfless service will not be forgotten. On behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank Bud for his service to our country, and I wish him a very happy 100th birthday.
TRIBUTE TO ROGER BEGIN
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2021-8-2

I rise today to recognize a constituent and friend, Roger Begin. Roger serves as the Honorary Consul of France in Providence. In September, the French Government will award him the Legion of Honor, the country's highest order of merit, for his long and distinguished career in public service. I congratulate Roger on earning this recognition and thank him for his many contributions to civic life in Rhode Island. prgtoken As the Honorary Consul of France, Roger is a liaison to the French Government and helps Rhode Islanders with passports, immigration, and other government business. Roger previously had a lengthy and productive career in public service. A son of Woonsocket and graduate of CCRI and Bryant University, he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives at the age of 19. After serving several terms, he went on to win election as Rhode Island's general treasurer and then Lieutenant Governor. prgtoken I served as legal counsel to Governor Bruce Sundlun during tumultuous years of crisis and reform, while Roger was Lieutenant Governor. Serving in government in times of crisis is a bonding experience. prgtoken Outside of his time in government, Roger has served on the boards of many mission-driven organizations in our community. From the Meeting prgtoken Street School, to the Rhode Island Historical Society, to the Rhode Island Hospital Association, there is hardly a comer of the State that has not been made better by Roger's energy and contributions. prgtoken Roger also enjoyed a successful business career in the financial sector. He is truly a man of many parts. And he is a gregarious, cheerful good person on top of it all. prgtoken I wish Roger all the best as he accepts the French Legion of Honor and look forward to celebrating with him next month.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2021-8-2

``socialism,'' it is a label we hear a lot. It has been around a while--a long time--but in American politics, it is kind of applied in an unusual way. The notion that every American would pay into an insurance fund so that everyone who retired could live in basic dignity--we called it Social Security as ; the s called it socialism. prgtoken Do they want to remove Social Security as a socialist program? I don't know. I listened carefully as the leader started talking about the weaknesses of the ic philosophy. prgtoken And then, in the 1960s, Lyndon Baines Johnson looked around America and saw a new class of impoverished Americans growing by the day. They were our parents and grandparents. And he decided one of their biggest problems was paying for their medical expenses and their prescription drugs eventually. So he proposed a Federal program called Medicare for everyone who reached the age of 65 in America, regardless of whether they were rich or poor. Boy, think about that. prgtoken The critics called that socialism--the notion that we would help everybody, that we would collect money during their work experience and then take care of our parents and grandparents so they could live longer, more independently. Socialism. prgtoken Now, we are discussing--and we are at an early stage--changing that Medicare Program to extend its benefits to include fundamental and basic things that have been sitting there for decades waiting to be addressed. Eyeglasses, hearing aids, dental work--we know what a difference those things make in the lives of everyone but how critically important they are to those who are elderly. prgtoken And, yes, the junior Senator from Vermont has proposed that we extend Medicare benefits to include those protections, but he is not alone. Moderates within the ic caucus across the board agree, it is time to take a serious look at that, and the leader tells us we are flirting with socialism again. prgtoken I don't think that a poor, elderly person without dentures who can't eat their food can be ignored--or that helping them is socialism. prgtoken I might add one thing that is important. He cites the CARES Act. I remember it well. It was a little over a year ago, it was last year. The pandemic was just kicking off, and it was proposed. This CARES Act, it was over $1 trillion. It might have been the biggest bill when it was passed. It was proposed with the administration, with a ic Congress, and it ended up with a strong bipartisan rollcall. I voted for it. Virtually every prgtoken ic Senator joined every Senator to make it a reality: billions of dollars to deal with the pandemic. Socialist? I don't think so. It was America coming together to address a crisis. That is exactly what happened. prgtoken So what happened when we had a new President, when was gone--and, yes, he is gone, despi
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Brian Schatz (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2021-8-2

last week, the world saw something that it had never seen before: surfing as an Olympic sport. The story of how this happened begins with a native Hawaiian named Duke Kahanamoku. prgtoken Duke was a natural athlete. He learned to swim at Waikiki Beach, and he went on to win five Olympic swimming medals, including three golds. He was an innovator who pioneered something called the ``Kahanamoku kick,'' or the flutter kick, now used by most freestyle swimmers. prgtoken He was a visionary who, after winning gold at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, pressed the International Olympic Committee to make surfing an Olympic sport. He traveled the world to promote surfing, bringing it to the continental United States and Australia and elsewhere, and became known as the father of modern surfing. prgtoken But, more than anything else, Duke Kahanamoku was an ambassador of aloha and the spirit of Hawaii. A reporter once asked him if it was a bigger thrill to win gold medals or ``ride some of those giant waves,'' and he answered that surfing was a bigger thrill. prgtoken One century later, Duke's vision of Olympic surfing became reality, and there is nothing more fitting than Hawaii's own Carissa Moore winning the first Olympic Gold Medal. prgtoken If you want to see what the embodiment of aloha looks like, look no further than Carissa Moore. Like Duke, she shares his native Hawaiian roots and started surfing at Waikiki Beach as a young child. By the time she reached high school, she was already world-class. prgtoken She attended my alma mater, Punahou, a school that has graduated more than 30 Olympians and President . Carissa also became the youngest person ever to win a world surfing title, at age 18, and went on to win three more. prgtoken Today, she stands alone as the world's top-ranked surfer, but it is not just talent that sets her apart. There is a saying that the best surfer is the one having the most fun, and that is unquestionably the case with Carissa. She is actually the best surfer, and she is also having the most fun. prgtoken She has this incredible combination of speed and power in the water and a remarkable humility that she carries with her everywhere that she goes. She is an intense competitor who wants to win every event that she enters but also wants to see her opponents and, more importantly, the sport of surfing itself succeed. prgtoken She has a passion to be admired and a joy that is infectious. She is, in short, the rare athlete who must be seen to be believed. And I know because I have seen it in Hawaii, and now the whole world knows too. prgtoken After she won the gold medal last week, Carissa spoke of Duke Kahanamoku. ``It was beautiful to see his dream come true a century later,'' she said. She might as well have been speaking for all of Hawaii. prgtoken So, today, we honor Duke and the incredible legacy that he left. We honor Carissa Moore for her athleticism and her commitment to inspire
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Alex Padilla (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2021-8-2

thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important bipartisan amendment. I want to thank Senators Lankford, Moran, Rounds, Schatz, Feinstein, and Smith for joining me in this effort. prgtoken Tribal communities face grave and unjust disparities in access to all kinds of infrastructure, but the disparities and access to healthcare and health infrastructure are increasingly stark. This amendment is very simple. It is common sense, in my opinion. It is a technical fix that would allow urban Indian organizations to use the Indian Health Service funds that they already receive for infrastructure and facilities improvements. prgtoken So I want to be clear. This amendment would not give urban Indian organizations more funding or take away funding from anybody else. It would simply give them additional flexibility to use the funding they already receive for necessary infrastructure improvements. prgtoken Urban Indian organizations provide culturally competent care for over 70 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives who live in urban centers. Many of those served live in low-income, medically underserved areas. According to recent congressional testimony from the Indian Health Service, ``expanding the current authority to be consistent with the authority for other government contractors. . . . would allow [urban Indian organizations] to make renovations, construction, or expansion of facilities necessary to improve the safety and quality of care provided to urban Indian patients.'' prgtoken In fact, the Deputy Director of the Indian Health Service went on to state: Providing [urban Indian organizations] with broader authority . . . to improve their health care facilities will assist in providing the high quality, safe, and culturally relevant health care for the Urban Indian population.'' prgtoken This amendment, I believe, is particularly relevant in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when items like ventilation, along with social distancing and other infrastructure upgrades, are desperately needed. This is an easy, no-cost, bipartisan way to help ensure that this package bolsters infrastructure in Indian Country, because no infrastructure package would be complete without robust, strategic improvements to Tribal infrastructure. It has the support of the chairman and ranking member of the Indian Affairs Committee, which just held a hearing on this issue last month, and I urge my colleagues to support it. prgtoken .
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2021-8-2

I rise in support of the legislation that is before us, the bipartisan infrastructure package. I applaud all of those who have worked so hard so that we could have this legislation before us. prgtoken It is desperately needed when we look at the status of our infrastructure today, the aged systems that we have across our Nation. In Maryland, we have some infrastructure that dates back over a century and a half ago. prgtoken We need a generational investment to modernize our infrastructure, and the legislation before us does exactly that. It will make the United States more competitive and create a lot of good-paying jobs. It will deal with the growing backlog of infrastructure projects that we have in each one of our States. prgtoken I applaud the work that brought us to this point. I particularly am pleased that the legislation incorporates the work done by the Environment and Public Works Committee as it relates to transportation, infrastructure, and water infrastructure. prgtoken I particularly want to acknowledge the leadership of our committee, Senators Carper and Capito. I was proud to be the chair of the subcommittee on infrastructure, working with Senator Cramer and Senator Duckworth, which contributed greatly, particularly to the water infrastructure. prgtoken I also want to applaud the leadership of President . It was his leadership that has brought us to this moment, his vision for America's future, what we need, and he found a way for us to move forward on modernizing infrastructure. prgtoken So let me first, if I might, talk a little bit about the transportation parts of this bill that I am particularly pleased about. Clearly, we see a significant increase in our investments in roads, bridges, transit systems, rail, airports, ports, and waterways. We can talk about some of the specifics, and I am going to do that. prgtoken But first I want to applaud the efforts that we have made to move forward in new directions. This bill, for the first time, in a major reauthorization of our surface transportation, acknowledges the realities of climate change. We know what is happening in our communities. The increasing amount of flooding, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events are frightening to all of us. prgtoken In my State of Maryland, I can point to one community, Ellicott City, which has seen two 100-year floods in less than 24 months. The situation is dire, and we need to act on it. prgtoken The legislation before us provides $18 billion in reducing carbon emissions and strengthening resilience and building electric charging stations and alternative fuel infrastructure. That is what we need to do, and I am pleased that the legislation addresses those issues. prgtoken In a second area, I was pleased that this bill has a significant increase in the transportation alternative programs that I authored. This increased funding will make it easier for our local governments to move fo
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2021-8-2

yesterday evening, as everyone knows, the group of bipartisan Senators working on infrastructure finished the text of the bill. I immediately moved to make that text the base of the bill here on the floor, as promised. prgtoken Last night, offered to begin the amendment process right away. There are three bipartisan amendments to the bill ready to consider. Two were led by s: a Rounds-Smith amendment and Thune-Tester amendment, and another from Senators Padilla and Moran. prgtoken Let me be clear. These three amendments would constitute only the first prgtoken tranche of potential amendments. The Senate can and should consider more amendments afterward. prgtoken I encourage Senators from both sides of the aisle to submit potential amendments to the bill. And, as we have already done several times this year--on the anti-Asian hate crimes bill and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, just to name two examples--the majority will work with the minority to put together packages of amendments for the Senate to vote on. prgtoken At the moment, we need consent from our colleagues to start the amendment process, and we await their answer. I hope we can use our time in the Senate efficiently. prgtoken Let's start voting on amendments. The longer it takes to finish the bill, the longer we will be here. prgtoken . prgtoken .