mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Mike Thompson (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-12-19

this tax bill is bait and switch. prgtoken s said the tax bill would simplify the tax system and help working people, not the rich. Well, that is out the window. With this bill, 86 million middle class households will see their taxes go up. prgtoken Remember when the s said we would be filing our taxes on a postcard? prgtoken The postcard is now gone. Instead of making our Tax Code simpler, s have made it more complicated. They have even added an additional bracket. prgtoken Their claim that this is not a tax bill that favors the rich and the corporations, some of which ship jobs overseas, is malarkey. While there are some tax cuts for the middle class, they are all temporary. But the breaks for corporations are permanent. That is leaving too many people behind. prgtoken Let's not forget about the State and local tax provision. Because of the changes the s are making, some home values in some States are projected to drop by 10 percent. prgtoken The richest of the rich are getting a break. The top bracket is dropping from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. Those folks are not your working, middle class families. To add insult to injury, it raises our debt by $2.3 trillion. prgtoken It is a bad bill. Please vote ``no.''
LIBYAN SLAVE TRADE
Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2017-12-20

I rise today to bring to this body's attention and to the attention of all Americans what can best be characterized as a modern-day slave trade. It is an outrage that is hard to fathom but that still exists today. prgtoken I was recently speaking to a group of pastors from my home State of Illinois who do wonderful work advocating on behalf of human rights and human dignity. One of them, Rev. Walter Johnson of the Greater Institutional Church in Chicago, shared his frustration that abuses and atrocities being inflicted upon migrants and refugees in Libya have received not nearly enough attention or outrage in the American public, government, or in the press. I couldn't agree more. That is why I have come to the Senate floor today to speak on this alarming human rights crisis. prgtoken Every American should be appalled by chilling images of modern-day slave auctions. Earlier this month in an investigative piece, CNN released video of an auction taking place. It was not an auction for a piece of art or another item one might bid on but an auction for human beings--human beings sold for the equivalent of $400. prgtoken The reports were a wake-up call for the world about the gravity of this situation in North Africa as migrants fleeing danger and economic hardship face new horrors on their journey to seek a better future. The wars in the Middle East and instability in North Africa have upended huge swaths of the region, displacing thousands of vulnerable men, women, and children. Thousands of people fleeing Africa and the Middle East make their way through Libya, hoping to cross the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, many of them face horrifying human rights abuses and danger along the way. prgtoken Because of Libya's limited capacity to govern, its restrictive policies against migrants, and its inability or refusal to accommodate the migrants, conditions are ripe for exploitation and abuse in their detention centers. Particularly horrifying have been reports from survivors about the exploitation at the hands of smugglers who are openly engaging in human slavery, preying on the most vulnerable, who have surrendered everything for a shot at the future. Migrants have been subjected to horrible human rights abuses in Libya over the past few years, including forced labor, torture, and sexual violence. prgtoken The administration must put this issue front and center when we engage with Libyan officials and demand accountability and progress. Sadly, it appears the administration missed such an opportunity to address this issue during Prime Minister Fayiz al-Saraj's visit to Washington earlier this month. prgtoken The United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli, however, has taken an important step in acknowledging these abuses and is requesting international support. The European Union and African Union evacuation plan to repatriate the detained migrants that was agreed upon in the Ivory Co
DACA
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-12-20

I rise to speak about an urgent crisis that Congress must solve now for nearly 800,000 Dreamers in this country. I am proud to represent New York State in the U.S. Senate. One of the things I am most proud of is that my State is home to tens of thousands of Dreamers--tens of thousands of young people who have never known any other country as home but this one. prgtoken When President announced that he wanted to end the DACA Program, it was one of the most inhumane actions of his entire Presidency. Let me be clear about what ending DACA will do. Ending DACA will force thousands of Dreamers to lose their jobs. It will force them to go into hiding. It will force them to have to make the unimaginable choice between staying here undocumented or being forced out of the United States. prgtoken I ask my colleagues, are you really OK with letting that happen when you personally have the power to prevent it from happening right now? Attacking Dreamers like this goes against our most basic values as Americans, our most basic sense of right versus wrong. prgtoken I know this Chamber is divided about how to fix our broken immigration system, but just for a second, forget about ideology and think about what it actually means for these young people who have spent their entire lives here. They are waiting and wondering if Congress actually has the guts to stand up to President and do what is right. prgtoken If the President will not lead, then Congress must lead, and we need to lead now. We have to protect our Dreamers, and we need to pass the Dream Act. prgtoken Most of all, we should never allow our Dreamers to be used as political pawns. We should simply do what both parties have said is the right thing to do, which is to pass the Dream Act. This is a matter of basic human rights and human dignity. It is about people's lives, and I am not going to compromise on that. prgtoken , are you willing to compromise on that? prgtoken We need to fix this problem, and we don't have a lot of time to do it. Every week that Congress refuses to take action, more Dreamers lose their DACA status. Very soon, we are going to have to pass a long-term spending bill just to keep the government running, but the leadership has not yet committed to including a provision in the bill to protect our Dreamers. prgtoken I want to say this very clearly: If my colleagues refuse to do the right thing and protect our Dreamers in the upcoming long- term spending bill, I will vote no. I will ask my colleagues to join me in this fight. I will ask all of them to see that this issue is not a political question. It is a basic question of whether or not we are a country that protects children. prgtoken I am never going to compromise when it comes to our Dreamers, not when their lives are literally hanging in the balance. Time is desperately running out. I urge my colleagues to do what is right. We must pro
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
Al Franken (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2017-12-20

I rise to deliver the second in a series of floor speeches that I offer as I close out my time in the Senate. prgtoken This afternoon, I want to talk about Americans' relationship with telecommunications and technology companies and what that means for their access to essential services and for their privacy. prgtoken When I entered the Senate in July of 2009, then-Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me to serve on the Judiciary Committee. I pointed out that there are a lot of lawyers in the Senate and that I wasn't one of them, but he said he needed Members with my perspective on the committee. I wondered how my background could possibly serve me on Judiciary, but it did--almost immediately--when in December of that year, Comcast announced its intention to acquire NBCUniversal. prgtoken I happened to know a lot about the effects of media consolidation because I used to work in media. When powerful corporations are permitted to acquire other powerful corporations, it is the American consumers who are left facing higher prices, fewer choices, and even worse service from their telecommunications providers. I questioned why an already powerful company should be allowed to get even bigger and thus extract more leverage over consumers and the businesses reliant on its platform. prgtoken It was through my work on Comcast and NBCUniversal that I learned about the rising costs of internet, phone, and TV services, as well as the importance of preserving net neutrality. I also became interested in how giant telecommunications companies, as well as ever-evolving tech companies, were treating the massive troves of user data they were collecting on a perpetual basis. prgtoken I believe consumers have a fundamental right to know what information is being collected about them. I believe they have a right to decide whether they want to share that information and with whom they want to share it and when. I believe consumers have a right to expect that companies that store their personal information will store it securely. prgtoken I also believe all Americans deserve affordable access to high- quality telecommunications services--services they depend on to communicate with the world, get an education, and find a job. I believe the internet should remain the open platform for innovation, economic growth, and freedom of expression it has always been. prgtoken Perhaps it was the complex nature of these issues or even the financial incentive to turn a blind eye, but when I came to the Senate, very few Members of Congress were talking about corporate consolidation, commercial privacy, or net neutrality--issues that have gained much deserved attention in more recent years. Whatever the reason for other Members' hesitance, I felt it was incumbent upon me to get into the weeds on these issues so I could be a leader in the Senate and ultimately address the concerns of ordinary Minnesotans. prgtoken That is why, when the intere
CLIMATE CHANGE
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2017-12-20

I am here now for the 190th ``Time to Wake Up'' speech to talk about an issue that falls at the intersection of climate change and jobs and consumer power and protection. You would think that a policy that simultaneously reduces the carbon emissions responsible for climate change and boosts American industrial competitiveness and puts thousands of dollars back into the pockets of American consumers would be pretty universally popular. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. prgtoken The corporate average fuel economy standards, known as the CAFE standards, set a minimum threshold for the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks that are sold in the United States. In 2011, the major automakers here in America--Ford, GM, and the others--enthusiastically endorsed voluntary new fuel efficiency standards which would gradually increase the fuel economy for their cars and light trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon on average by 2025. prgtoken Think about that for a second. In 2011, average fuel economy for these vehicles was stuck below 30 miles per gallon. The CAFE standards hadn't budged in years, and as a result, our automakers had stopped innovating to make cars more fuel efficient. They didn't have to make them more fuel efficient. And when gas prices soared in the mid-2000s, it was consumers who were on the hook. prgtoken Today, thanks to the voluntary agreement that was reached by the automakers, the CAFE standard is presently over 40 miles per gallon for cars and over 30 miles per gallon for light trucks. Consumers have already saved $42 billion at the pump because of those increased fuel economy standards. Consumers who purchase a new car in 2025, on average, will save about $8,000 on gas over the lifetime of that car because of those new fuel economy standards. prgtoken Of course, it is not just the consumers who win under the new CAFE standards; the environment also wins. Already the American auto fleet's increased average fuel economy has resulted in 195 million fewer metric tons of carbon emissions, and, of course, with the carbon emissions come all the rest of the pollution out of a car's tailpipe, so it is a big environmental benefit. Over the life of the CAFE standards program, total carbon emissions reductions should total 6 billion metric tons. This is huge because transportation is now the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States, and carbon emissions from cars and prgtoken light trucks account for almost one-sixth of the Nation's total. prgtoken If we are to be successful in keeping the average global temperature increase under 2 degrees Celsius--the upper bound, beyond which scientists tell us the consequences of climate change will likely be irreversible--then we have to significantly reduce our auto emissions. That is the target of the Paris climate agreement, which is represented here in this graph, from business as usual here, to all of the carbon emissions savings a
VENEZUELA HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2017-12-20

a second subject that I wish to talk about today on human rights deals with the collapse in Venezuela. I come to the floor to speak about Venezuela's growing humanitarian tragedy and accelerating economic collapse. prgtoken Late last June, here on the Senate floor, I described Venezuela as a nearly failed State, where authoritarian leaders profit from links to corruption and drug trafficking, while the Venezuelan people are subject to precarious humanitarian conditions and human rights abuses. Disturbingly, the situation has only deteriorated since the time I was last on the floor talking about the circumstances. prgtoken With Venezuela's humanitarian crisis growing daily, conditions facing Venezuelan children are particularly dire. This week, the New York Times published a heartbreaking investigation of how Venezuelan children dying of hunger. It states: Parents go days without eating, shriveling to the weight of children themselves. Women line up at sterilization clinics to avoid having children they cannot feed. Boys leave home to join street gangs that scavenge for scraps. . . . Crowds of adults storm dumpsters after restaurants close. Babies die because it is hard to find or afford infant formula, even in emergency rooms. prgtoken That is in our hemisphere in Venezuela. prgtoken The Catholic relief organization Caritas has determined that over 50 percent of the children are suffering from nutritional deficiencies. They project that 280,000 Venezuelan children could eventually die of hunger without an urgently needed humanitarian response. prgtoken As the Venezuelans increasingly suffer the ravages of hunger, the country's hospital system is collapsing. Essential medicines are in short supply, and more than half of the Nation's operating facilities no longer function or have sufficient supplies. Disturbingly, international relief organizations have found that over 60 percent of the Venezuelan hospitals don't even have potable water. prgtoken Amid these crisis conditions, Venezuelan President Maduro repeatedly denies the existence of this country's humanitarian crisis. He has even taken to the unprecedented step of setting up a party-controlled food distribution system referred to as CLAPS, and his government now uses food as a tool of political patronage. prgtoken The result is that the United States and our partners in the hemisphere now confront the situation where the Maduro regime would rather see its people go hungry than accept the foreign assistance the Venezuelans desperately need. This man-made tragedy is absolutely unacceptable. prgtoken Today I have written to Ambassador Nikki Haley, our Ambassador to the United Nations, to urge her to call an emergency special session of the U.N. Security Council to evaluate which United Nations mechanisms, including U.N. Security Council resolutions, should be pursued to alleviate the humanitarian suffering
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 1, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT
Lloyd Doggett (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2017-12-20

. In fact, if you turn to the bill, which is a big old thick stack, you see it says ``short title, et cetera,'' and it stops. It is nameless at this point. It is a bill that has no name. And, of course, it has no heart. prgtoken But what is the solution to that? Well, every time touches a tower, he puts his name in bold letters across it: Tower. This is the only accomplishment that President can point to this year. prgtoken Why don't we put his name on this bill? We could call it the ``Donald J. Inequality Act,'' because it will do more than any legislation we have considered here in recent years to widen the gap between those at the very top and the rest of us. prgtoken Or we could call it the ``Donald J. Family Windfall'' bill, because he and his family are going to pocket an immense amount of money. There is no surprise they are over there at the White House celebrating all afternoon. He and his family personally will walk away with a huge amount of resources out of this. prgtoken Or we could just call it ``Fat Cats Get Fatter,'' because one of our colleagues on the side who is closest, perhaps, to President admitted and said quite candidly: I can't go back to my donors if we don't pass this legislation. prgtoken What a study in wise investment. prgtoken The Senate Budget Committee, last night, pointed out that Goldman Sachs contributed over $26 million to s since 1990. They get about a $6 billion tax cut. Where can you get a return like that? Or Pfizer, who contributed $15 million, they get a nearly $39 billion tax cut. prgtoken Yes, this bill is a job creator. It creates more jobs for accountants and tax lawyers than anyone can imagine because they will be going in there trying to undo some of the things that were done and shape the loopholes a little more favorably for their folks. prgtoken What we have here is a bill that is compared also with the other issues that we have here.
ROBERT MUELLER SMEAR CAMPAIGN
Jamie Raskin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2017-12-20

I thank Mr. Ted Lieu for his excellent presentation. I would ask one question, and I hope that the law professor in me isn't showing too much, but I wanted to ask prgtoken Mr. Ted Lieu about one thing he said at the beginning. prgtoken Mr. Ted Lieu made the point very well that Mr. Mueller is a distinguished law enforcement officer, who is also , and he was appointed by a . Mr. Rosenstein is another distinguished and well-respected law enforcement official, who himself had been appointed by Attorney General Sessions, who is a . prgtoken All of that is true. But then Mr. Lieu said this is not a ic investigation, which certainly it is not. It is a investigation. prgtoken But wouldn't it be more appropriate to say it is a law enforcement investigation? prgtoken And if you want to be searching for some kind of partisan tilt, you are going to find that these are s, not .
UNION COUNTY FREEHOLDER VERNELL WRIGHT RETIRES
Donald M. Payne, Jr. (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2017-12-20

I rise to honor a public servant from my district in Union County, New Jersey, Freeholder Vernell Wright, on the occasion of her retirement. prgtoken Freeholder Wright began her career in public service in 1966 as a title 1 teacher at Jefferson School in Union Township, New Jersey. For 36 years, she helped educate the county's public schoolchildren. prgtoken In 2012, the people of Union Township sent their beloved educator to represent them on the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders. prgtoken Freeholder Wright's legacy as an elected official is best characterized by her unselfish devotion to the constituents whom she represents. As recognition for her dedicated work and selfless service, she has been awarded New Jersey's Freeholder of the Year Award and Union County's Chester Holmes Humanitarian Award. prgtoken Freeholder Wright is a model for the next generation of public servants. prgtoken , I ask my colleagues to join me and the people back in Union County tonight at a dinner to honor Freeholder Wright's lifetime of service. I am honored to be her Member of Congress. prgtoken God bless Freeholder Wright.
REMEMBERING POTA VALLAS
David E. Price (Democrat, NC) \u2014 2017-12-20

I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Pota Vurnakes Vallas, who died last week at the age of 109, surrounded by her family. A loving wife, mother and grandmother, pioneering businesswoman, and public-spirited citizen, Mrs. Vallas was one of the Fourth District's oldest residents and the matriarch of Raleigh's Greek community. Lisa and I extend our condolences to her family and her many friends and admirers in the Greek community and beyond. prgtoken Mrs. Vallas was born in 1908 in the small village of Krissfa, Greece, the eldest of ten children. In 1924 her father, Gus Vurnakes, became the first Greek immigrant to settle in Raleigh and Pota soon followed. Gus opened a fruit and soda stop in downtown Raleigh and Pota assisted him, delivering ice cream and chocolates on a horse-drawn wagon to homes and businesses in Raleigh. prgtoken In 1927, she married fellow immigrant George Vallas and began raising her family. She and George were stalwart members of the community, helping to establish a Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Raleigh. Eventually George and Pota donated the land upon which Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church stands today. prgtoken George and Pota lost their home and business in the Great Depression. To provide for her young family, she applied to work for the Singer Sewing Company in 1931 and quickly emerged as a talented salesperson and manager. Her dream of owning her own business finally came to fruition in 1944 when she bought the distributorship of the National Sewing Machine Company and opened National Art Interiors, one of the first interior decorating businesses in Raleigh. Pota's store became a landmark for the finest furniture and fabric companies, furnishing many homes and businesses throughout the state. She ran the business with her daughters and other family members until retiring at the age of 94 in 2002. prgtoken In addition to managing a thriving company, Mrs. Vallas served on the Boards of First Citizens Bank and the North Carolina Community Foundation. She was a lifelong member of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and a member of Philoptochos. She was honored with the Saint Michael's Award, the highest recognition for a layperson, for her years of dedicated service by the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America. prgtoken Mrs. Vallas was one of my most memorable constituents. I often saw her at Raleigh's Greek Festival and treasure the memory of delivering a birthday letter from President to her on one such occasion. She was quick with a smile and an encouraging word. She was a woman of great energy and faith, an indomitable spirit. She leaves behind a community that she loved and that loved her in return. We join with that community in mourning her passing and honoring her exemplary life.