mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 849, PROTECTING SENIORS' ACCESS TO MEDICARE ACT OF 2017
Michael C. Burgess (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-11-2

1\1/2\ minutes. prgtoken , I did want to delineate the membership of this board, as is outlined in the Affordable Care Act. The board will be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, with the advice and consent of the Secretary or the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration. All of those individuals will serve as ex officio nonvoting members. But here are the qualifications for the actual board: ``The appointed membership of the board shall include individuals with national recognition for their expertise in health finance and economics, in actuarial science, health facility management, health plans, and integrated delivery systems, and reimbursement of healthcare facilities. . . .'' prgtoken Missing from that picture, of course, are the people who actually provide the care to people who are involved in that doctor-patient relationship. Almost as an afterthought, here at the end of that paragraph, ``allopathic and osteopathic physicians.'' prgtoken The other aspect is that no member of the board can receive outside income. That may be a good idea, but that guarantees there will not be a practicing physician on that board. I think that is a significant oversight. prgtoken , .
NOMINATION OF STEVE GRASZ
Ben Sasse (Republican, NE) \u2014 2017-11-2

I rise on the floor with a simple message. We should completely dispel with the fiction that the American Bar Association is a fair and impartial arbiter of facts. This is a sad reality, but it is the reality. prgtoken Let's back up. We in this body have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Considering judicial nominees who have lifetime appointments is the most important thing this Senate will do over the weeks ahead. It demands the full attention of every single Member--, , and Independent. This ought to be an opportunity for this body to pause and stand back from the frenzy of day-to-day media cycles and cable news shouting and recommit ourselves to basic American civics and some very basic American ideas: the idea that our three branches of government have three separate roles; the idea that we in the article I branch, the lawmakers, make the laws because we stand before the people and can be hired and fired--if the people are going to be in charge of our system, they need to be able to fire the people who make the laws--the idea that judges are explicitly not to make law; the idea that judges do not have R and D, and , behind their names but rather that judges should be dispassionately ruling on the law and the facts; and the idea that all of us, temporary public servants, although the judiciary have lifetime appointments, can be upholding and defending a limited system of government, again, through our three differentiated roles. prgtoken Unfortunately, over the last few days in this body, it has become clear that some of us are attempting to outsource our constitutional duties to an outside organization. That organization, the American Bar Association, purports to prgtoken be a neutral arbiter but is frankly twisting its ratings process to drive a political agenda in an important nomination pending before this body. I am referring specifically to the smear campaign of the ABA against Steve Grasz, a qualified public servant, who has been nominated by the President to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. prgtoken Steve Grasz has decades of honorable service in Nebraska, including more than a decade as the chief deputy attorney general of my State. prgtoken Mr. Grasz is, in fact, eminently qualified for the circuit court bench as has been testified to by s and across our State. prgtoken Let's set the scene first for the ABA's silly decision earlier this week to announce that they regard Steve Grasz as ``not qualified.'' I will highlight three specific items. prgtoken First, we should discuss the two people who interviewed Mr. Grasz and recognize that unfortunately they are blatant partisans with a sad track record of hackery. prgtoken Second, the ABA is trying to paint Mr. Grasz as an extremist simply because he did his job as the chief deputy attorney general of Nebraska and defended Nebraska laws an
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3922, COMMUNITY HEALTH AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS IMPROVE OUR NATION ACT OF 2017
Marsha Blackburn (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-11-2

. Madam , I think one of the things that we know, when you are looking at IPAB, you don't want to give those decisions of how you are going to adjust healthcare for Medicare enrollees to 15 unelected, appointed bureaucrats that really have no responsibility to anyone in this process. prgtoken This is our responsibility. It is appropriate that Congress recoup that responsibility, that we make these decisions. I support the legislation that is in front of us.
SENATE NEEDS TO TAKE UP HOUSE BILLS
Jody B. Hice (Republican, GA) \u2014 2017-11-2

I sincerely appreciate the gentleman's great leadership in this, and I am grateful to be able to speak on this issue of life. prgtoken There have been, as mentioned a few moments ago, some 300, plus or minus, bills sent to the Senate that we have labored here in the House and worked through, negotiated, duked it out, so to speak, gotten ideas on the table, worked it out, sent it over to the Senate, only to see them sit there and do nothing. prgtoken Right in the midst of all of that, at the heart of it all, are a couple of very important bills dealing with the issue of life, which is important to all of us. I firmly believe, and I know my colleagues do as well, that all human life at every stage of development is worthy of protection. I am deeply honored and proud of the fact that this House has passed a couple of extremely important bills in that regard. prgtoken As the gentleman from Colorado just mentioned, H.R. 7, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion, by our friend from New Jersey, Chris Smith, and H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, by Trent Franks of Arizona, prgtoken are fantastic bills. One basically says that the American taxpayer should not be footing the bill to end the life of unborn children. It has been sitting for over 200 days in the Senate without even a debate. prgtoken The other says that, after 20 weeks, when an unborn child is capable of feeling pain, we are not going abort that child in the midst of a period of time where pain is absolutely scientifically proven to be felt. Again, that bill is sitting across the way in the Senate Chamber, and they have not done anything about it whatsoever. prgtoken These are important bills. These bills affect lives. Every day that the Senate does nothing, lives are being lost. prgtoken The question is: Where is the Senate? prgtoken We all sit here and we wait and we wait and we wait. The time has come that the Senate has to take ownership of what the American people elected not only us, but the American people elected them to do, and that is the job, the task, the platform that we all ran on, and at the heart of that is the fight, the battle for life. prgtoken I am also proud of the fact that the House, in our appropriations package, defunded Planned Parenthood. This is a promise that we made the American people after the gruesome discovery of how Planned Parenthood was selling baby body parts. Again, we just recognize that life is a gift from God and it is precious and it is to be protected. It is an inalienable right that we as Members of Congress have the responsibility to defend those inalienable rights. Obviously, without the right to life, there, likewise, is no right to liberty, and certainly no right to the pursuit of happiness. prgtoken Again, the question is: Where is the Senate on these issues? prgtoken It is time that we join together. Again, I thank my friend for having this Special Order and calling on the Senate to deal with this
Tax Reform (Executive Calendar)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2017-11-2

we are about to vote on our fourth circuit court nominee this week, and I am glad to speak in support of the nomination of Professor Bibas to serve on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That court sits in Philadelphia. Professor Bibas is a highly qualified nominee. His background as a well-regarded legal scholar and Supreme Court advocate will serve him well as a judge on that circuit. prgtoken Additionally, Professor Bibas received a rare, unanimously ``well qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association. My ic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee have expressed to me that the ABA's ratings are very important to their evaluation of nominees. Yet all of the ic members of the committee voted against Professor Bibas in the committee, despite his having received the highest rating possible. This is consistent with their votes against Professor Amy Barrett, Justice Joan Larsen and Justice Allison Eid, all of whom received ``well qualified'' ratings. It appears that my ic colleagues don't actually treat the ABA's ratings as particularly important when it comes right down to practice. prgtoken Professor Bibas is the son of a Greek immigrant who came to this country after surviving the Nazi occupation of Greece. He boasts impressive academic credentials. He graduated from Columbia University at the age of 19. He then received degrees from the University of Oxford and Yale Law School. After law school, Professor Bibas clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. prgtoken Following these prestigious clerkships, Professor Bibas became an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. His experience as a prosecutor gave him a firsthand view of the problems and injustices in the American criminal justice system. He decided to pursue a career as an academic, focusing then on improving the criminal justice system for all involved. prgtoken Professor Bibas's first stint as a professor was in my home State of Iowa at the University of Iowa College of Law. He taught criminal law and procedure there for 5 years. We were certainly lucky to have a professor of his caliber. Professor Bibas then took a position on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he has been teaching since. prgtoken Professor Bibas has been prolific in his academic writings, publishing numerous articles on all aspects of criminal law. His academic work culminated in the publication of his book entitled ``The Machinery of Criminal Justice.'' That book was published in 2012. In this book and in many of his articles, Professor Bibas criticized the current model of bureaucratic ``assembly line'' justice and America's high incarceration rate. Much of his work is devoted to finding solutions to these problems. His academic work has certainly had an impact on the law
JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS AND TAX REFORM
Dean Heller (Republican, NV) \u2014 2017-11-2

this week, we have the unique opportunity to move forward on promises we made to the American people last year, confirming judges and providing tax relief to hard-working Americans. The American people sent us to Congress to complete this critical work, and we must stop at nothing to do it. We have already taken significant steps to address both of these issues by confirming 13 judges, with 5 more this week, and passing a budget with instructions for tax reform. prgtoken There is still much more that we need to do, and I stand ready to stay here until that job is done. Most people can't go home until their work is finished; I don't think we should either. Imagine dropping your car off at the auto mechanic and, instead of staying to finish the job, they leave at 3 p.m. to go home because that is convenient for their schedule; yet you still have to pay them for a full day's work. That is effectively what we have been doing here in Congress, and that needs to stop. We need to work as much as possible to ensure that the Federal judiciary is filled with judges that will uphold the Constitution and bring us closer to providing tax relief for the American people. prgtoken We need to have a fully occupied, fully functioning Federal judiciary to ensure that Americans' constitutional rights are upheld. In almost 10 months, we have started to address the issue of judicial vacancies by confirming 13 judges, most notably Justice Gorsuch, who has already served as a strong, conservative voice on the Supreme Court. As a fellow westerner, I was proud to vote for such a qualified judge to serve in our Nation's highest Court. prgtoken Beyond the vacancy we filled on the Supreme Court, there are vacancies on all levels of our Federal judiciary. We cannot forget the importance of every single court that makes up the Federal system. We must prioritize confirming judges to fill these openings, especially those deemed judicial emergencies. The fact that we have so many judicial emergencies is incredibly concerning and should be a wake-up call to all Senators, especially those who are slowing down this important process. prgtoken The President is continuing to send us well-qualified nominees, and Chairman Grassley has done an excellent job of moving nominees through the committee process. I am especially encouraged that this week we are confirming five more judges, including four circuit court judges. This is the pace we need to keep. If that means working 24/7 to continue confirming these constitutionalists, you can count me in. Confirming Federal judges is a unique duty of the U.S. Senate, and we cannot allow obstructionism from the other side of the aisle to prevent us from filling vacancies throughout the country. prgtoken It is clear that when judges are brought to the floor for a vote by a healthy majority, the gridlock being caused is purely political. Because of this, leadership is having to file cloture on al
SAVE Act (Executive Session)
Cory Gardner (Republican, CO) \u2014 2017-11-2

I will be brief in my remarks. We are about to vote on the confirmation of Allison Eid to become a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which is housed in Denver, CO. prgtoken I have had the privilege and honor of knowing Justice Eid for over a decade. Justice Eid now serves on the Colorado Supreme Court. I have known Justice Eid since the time I was a young law student, 6 foot 4 and with black hair. That is how long I have known Justice Eid. I am very honored to have worked with her. prgtoken I know that a lot of my classmates who had her as a professor are people who shared political perspectives that were far different from Justice Eid's, but they never criticized her teaching. They always found her to be openminded and open to debate of other's views. prgtoken Most importantly, what Justice Eid will do, once confirmed to the Tenth Circuit Court, is to make sure that she rules based on the law, not on personal opinion or preferences but how the law dictates. That is the kind of judge she will be and continues to be, from the supreme court to the circuit court. She will be somebody who is a guardian of the Constitution, as our Founders were hoping we would see on our Federal courts when they wrote the Constitution. prgtoken I have a letter that I ask unanimous consent be printed in the Record. It is from the National Native American Bar Association in support of Ms. Eid's nomination.
SENATE NEEDS TO TAKE UP HOUSE BILLS
Ken Buck (Republican, CO) \u2014 2017-11-2

I thank my friend from Georgia for his passionate defense of life. prgtoken , Americans should be able to go about their daily lives without the fear of nuclear or radiological attack. prgtoken Representative Dan Donovan's Securing the Cities Act helps equip our cities to deal with these dangerous weapons, providing training and detection resources. prgtoken On January 31, the House agreed by voice vote to this commonsense legislation. For some reason, the Senate has failed in the last 276 days to move this bill. prgtoken I am proud to have the bill's sponsor, as well as m friend and colleague, Dan Donovan, here to share more about this important legislation. prgtoken , from New York, Mr. Donovan.
SENATE NEEDS TO TAKE UP HOUSE BILLS
Ted Poe (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-11-2

I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Buck) for yielding and for doing this Special Order. prgtoken Most Members of Congress agree, I believe, that the Constitution should be followed. There are certain rights in the Constitution that are very, very important to all of us. One of those is the right of privacy, enumerated specifically in the Fourth Amendment. prgtoken The Fourth Amendment is unique to America. Other countries don't have the Fourth Amendment. We have it in the United States to protect the privacy of Americans. prgtoken Let me give you a little history. prgtoken As Congressman Buck pointed out, back in 1986, which was an eternity ago when you start talking about the digital age, Congress passed legislation to protect the emails that people had on their server for 6 months. The idea was that people wouldn't keep their emails. They would delete them, and 6 months was a good enough time to protect those emails from the spies in our government--I will use that phrase, that is my phrase--and that is the current law. But here is what has happened over that 30 years. prgtoken Many Americans stored their emails after that 6-month period. They store them in the cloud, for example. Americans store their schedules in the cloud. They store photographs in the cloud. prgtoken When Americans store those items that are over 6 months old in the cloud, they are not protected against the search by our government of that email, of those photographs, of that schedule. In fact, searches can take place without the knowledge of the person whose email is being searched, without the approval of that individual, and the government never notifies that individual that that email stored in the cloud was searched because, under current law, the American citizen is only protected for emails stored on their server up to 6 months. prgtoken So after about 4 years of working on this legislation with my friend Zoe Lofgren from California, bipartisan, we presented to Congress H.R. 387, the Email Privacy Act. As Congressman Buck said, on February 7, to be exact, of this year, that passed by voice vote on this floor, and we sent it down the hallway to the siesta Senate to take a vote over there, and they have yet to vote on it. prgtoken So what does that legislation do? It protects the right of privacy of Americans. It requires government to follow the Constitution. prgtoken I was a former criminal court judge in Texas for 22 years. Like Mr. Buck, I was also a prosecutor in the DA's office in Houston. prgtoken The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution--remembering that this is unique to America--protects Americans, their persons, their houses, their papers, and their personal effects from the intrusion of government unless government has probable cause and government gets a search warrant. That is the law. That is the Fourth Amendment. prgtoken If government has a probable cause, go get a warrant from a judge. I signed hundreds of warrant
ARMS SALES NOTIFICATION
Bob Corker (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-11-2

section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. prgtoken In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications which have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 849, PROTECTING SENIORS' ACCESS TO MEDICARE ACT OF 2017
David P. Roe (Republican, TN) \u2014 2017-11-2

I rise today in support of the rule for my bill, H.R. 849, the Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2017. prgtoken , this bill would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which was created solely as a cost containment mechanism as part of the Affordable Care Act. It has nothing to do about quality of care or access to care. I can't think of anything more important, , that this Congress should be doing than providing quality care and access to care for our senior citizens of this country, some 58 million of them. prgtoken Whatever your feelings may be about the ACA, this provision has had strong bipartisan opposition from its beginning, and it was not contained in the House 's version of the bill, but was jammed in by the Senate at the end. prgtoken If you still need convincing on just how unpopular this provision of the law is, ask yourself: How often do we see a bill come to the floor under a rule that has 270 bipartisan cosponsors? prgtoken Passing this bill will send a strong message to our Senate colleagues that the time to act is now. prgtoken , the overwhelming bipartisan support for Members is only outdone by the overwhelming nationwide coalition of support. prgtoken , I include in the Record a letter from the Protect My Doctor and Me coalition, a letter that has been signed by nearly 800 groups representing patients, providers, and all sectors of the healthcare industry with support in all 50 States. September 6, 2017. Dear Member of Congress: The undersigned organizations-- representing Medicare beneficiaries and patients, all sectors of the healthcare industry as well as employers and other purchasers of health care--believe strongly that the Medicare program must protect patient access to quality healthcare. The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), not only poses a threat to that access but also, once activated, will shift healthcare costs to consumers in the private sector and infringe upon the decisionmaking responsibilities and prerogatives of the Congress. We request your support to repeal IPAB. IPAB, as constructed under PPACA, is a board comprised of Presidential appointees who will be charged with making recommendations to cut Medicare expenditures if spending growth reaches an arbitrary level. Once the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) implements an IPAB recommendation, that action is not subject to administrative or judicial review. As constructed, IPAB is granted unprecedented powers--even the ability to change laws previously enacted by Congress--with virtually no oversight. The potential impact of this board causes deep concern among our organizations and the millions of Americans we repr