mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
OBAMACARE
Tom Udall (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2017-1-9

I rise, along with Senator Warren and my other colleagues this evening, to oppose this action by President-Elect and congressional s to take health care away from tens of thousands of New Mexicans. prgtoken Let me be clear. What President-Elect and s are doing now will throw health care into chaos. It is reckless. It will hurt thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans. The worst part is, the s have no plan to replace care they will take away. prgtoken The Affordable Care Act is not a perfect law. I have always said we should work to improve it. It has helped thousands of people in my home State of New Mexico. Before we passed the Affordable Care Act, New Mexico had a high rate of people without health insurance. It was one of the highest in our region and in the country. Since 2010, that number has gone down 44 percent--pretty incredible. prgtoken Countless people have written me, called my office, and stopped me on the street to tell me how relieved they are to have health care. Others tell me we can't afford to go back to having insurance companies in charge, we can't go back to caps on coverage, back to allowing corporations to deny care because of a preexisting condition, and back to lifetime limits. prgtoken Tonight I want to share what just a few of my constituents have told me. ``Save my daughter.'' That was the heartbreaking plea that came to me from one of my constituents, Kevin from Albuquerque. Kevin's 33-year- old daughter Amber has multiple sclerosis. It is a tough disease, as we all know. prgtoken To treat her MS, Amber must follow an exact and rigorous drug regimen, coupled with regular visits to her neurologist and annual MRIs. The retail cost of her drugs is $60,000 per year. Her doctor visits and MRIs would run into the thousands of dollars. prgtoken Amber works. In fact, she has a good-paying job, but her employer does not provide health insurance. Amber purchases health insurance through the individual open market without Affordable Care Act subsidies. Amber is able to work because she gets the medical care she needs through insurance. Kevin fears his daughter will lose the right to health insurance if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. The ACA makes it illegal for an insurance company to deny you coverage if you have a preexisting condition such as MS. prgtoken The Affordable Care Act provides assurance that Amber will get the coverage she needs to remain healthy, to lead a normal life, to work, to contribute to society, and to stay off public assistance, and to survive. This one provision protects an estimated 861,000 New Mexicans and an estimated 134 million Americans. It is a safe bet that all of us here know at least one person like Amber. It isn't surprising that the vast majority of Americans--close to 70 percent--want to keep this protection. prgtoken The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates more than one-quarter of
NECESSARY STEPS TO RESTORE OUR DEMOCRACY
Ro Khanna (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2017-1-9

I am the son of immigrants, born in Philadelphia as the Nation celebrated our bicentennial. I ran for Congress because we have lost sight of our founding ideals. In Federalist 10, James Madison warned that factions, with their own special interests, may undermine the public good. prgtoken Today, Congress is crippled by these factions: powerful PACs and lobbyists. This must change. I am proud to be one of six Members who refuse all contributions from PACs, and we need a bipartisan caucus to eradicate their influence. prgtoken We also cannot let congressional seats become feudal estates. The turnover rate here in the people's House is less than European monarchies. Congress desperately needs a 12-year term limit like there is in the California legislature. prgtoken , banning PAC money and instituting term limits are necessary steps to restore our democracy.
IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2017-1-9

let me thank Mr. Veasey for his leadership. Let also thank the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Richmond, for his leadership. prgtoken Before I start, let me offer my appreciation to law enforcement officers across America--this is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day--and join my colleague, Val Demings, particularly acknowledging the sadness in Orlando today in the loss of two law enforcement officers in the line of duty. prgtoken I rise today for not a personal statement or a statement that has to do with personality. As the President-elect said of Mr. Sessions, he is a fine and decent fellow. I have no interest in determining whether that is true or false. But I do want to hold the President-elect accountable for the words that he said on election night that he pledged to the Nation that he would be a President for all Americans. That pledge, I believe, will ring hollow for tens upon tens of millions of Americans with the nomination of the Secretary of Education, who is against public schools, the nomination of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has no plan for health care, and, finally, the nomination for Attorney General. prgtoken Rather than select someone who is championing and protecting, rather than opposing and undermining the precious right to vote, the constitutionally guaranteed right of privacy, criminal justice reform, and the support for reform of the Nation's immigration system, it is quite the contrary in the nomination of Senator Sessions--a person who opposed Shelby County v. Holder in terms of the basis of trying to constructively support voting rights, an individual who is hostile to comprehensive immigration reform, and certainly someone who has constantly not sought to fix, but has sought to undermine. prgtoken So, for example, as a U.S. attorney, he was the first prosecutor in the country to bring charges against civil rights activists of voter fraud. But, , listen to this: he didn't just bring charges; he had 29 counts of voter fraud that resulted in civil rights activists facing 100 years in prison. prgtoken He has repeatedly denied the disproportionate impact of voting restrictions on minorities and has been a leader in the effort to undermine the protections of the Voting Rights Act, and he did nothing to reconstruct the Voting Rights Act and restore section 5 when tens upon tens of Members of Congress worked diligently to try to fix the Shelby case. prgtoken He criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for challenging State election laws, claiming they are necessary to fight voter fraud. Evidence supports that voter fraud is almost nonexistent, with 31 confirmed cases out of more than a billion ballots cast. prgtoken Senator Sessions fought to continue practices that harm schools predominantly attended by African American students. He led the fight to uphold the State of Alabama's inequitable school funding mechanism after it had been deemed unconstitutional
REMEMBERING TONY REYNA
Martin Heinrich (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2017-1-9

for generations, Tony Reyna served his people in Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico as a respected community leader and constant source of wisdom and kindness. prgtoken Last year, Mr. Reyna joined friends, family, and community members to celebrate his 100th birthday, which the New Mexico State Legislature officially proclaimed as Tony Reyna Day. After a full life of service and dedication to his community Mr. Reyna passed away last month surrounded by his family and loved ones. prgtoken Mr. Reyna was the last remaining survivor from Taos Pueblo of the Bataan death march. On April 9, 1942, Mr. Reyna and 1,800 other members of the New Mexico National Guard were among the more than 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war by Japanese forces. prgtoken The Bataan death marchers were forced to endure 3 and a half years of brutal captivity. They were marched for days in the scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. Thousands died. Those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. Others were wounded or killed when unmarked enemy ships transporting prisoners of war to Japan were sunk by U.S. air and naval forces. prgtoken After returning to Taos after the war, Mr. Reyna opened Tony Reyna's Indian Shop in 1950, which has remained open to this day. He served two terms as governor of Taos Pueblo. He also served the Town of Taos as a police commissioner and as a museum board member. He was a lifetime member of the Taos Pueblo tribal council. prgtoken He leaves behind an enduring legacy thanks to his lifelong efforts to preserve the culture, resources, and traditions of Taos Pueblo. He played a vital role in the return of Blue Lake, the Pueblo's sacred headwaters in 1970. And prgtoken in 1992, when Mr. Reyna was serving his second term as governor, UNESCO designated Taos Pueblo as a World Heritage Site. prgtoken In 2015, at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, Mr. Reyna, then age 99, said, ``I served my country. I served my people. I'm still serving. I'm available anytime they ask me!'' prgtoken The people of Taos Pueblo and all of us in New Mexico owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Mr. Reyna for his full lifetime of service.
WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017
Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2017-1-9

I rise in support of H.R. 353, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. prgtoken This bill is the culmination of more than four years of compromise and negotiation, and demonstrates that the issues of weather and climate can be addressed in a bi-partisan way. prgtoken In that regard, I want to recognize the efforts of Jim Bridenstine and Suzanne Bonamici, as well as the bill's sponsor, Frank Lucas. Their leadership and commitment has really driven this process forward. prgtoken , weather affects all of us everyday. It is a constant presence in our lives. prgtoken Tropical storms batter homes and disrupt lives from my home state of Texas all the way to Maine. States like Oklahoma, Illinois, and again Texas are some of the most tornado prone areas in the entire world. prgtoken Sadly, turning on the television to see a part of our country devastated by tornados, or hurricanes, or other severe weather incidents, has become a far too familiar occurrence. To help Americans avoid and cope with these potentially devastating events, we need to have the very best weather forecasting and warning capabilities. prgtoken The National Weather Service and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA play a central role in protecting the lives and property of every American. prgtoken The bill before us today will help accelerate innovation, and turn cutting-edge weather research into essential weather forecasting tools and products; tools which forecasters can then use to protect American lives. prgtoken The legislation removes barriers that exist between the weather research community, our nation's forecasters, and the private-sector weather enterprise. Improving collaboration and cooperation within NOAA, and also between the agency and the broader weather community, will impact the accuracy and timing of our weather predictions. These improvements will ultimately save lives and make our communities safer. prgtoken Strengthening our resilience to severe weather events is both vital and necessary to strengthen our nation's economic security. H.R. 353 will advance our weather forecasting capabilities and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS
Gwen Moore (Democrat, WI) \u2014 2017-1-9

. I thank Mr. Veasey so much, and I thank our new chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for his tremendous effort in putting this very important Special Order hour together. prgtoken , I rise this evening because I am extremely concerned about the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions. prgtoken Certainly, President-elect has a right to nominate people and have them be presented before our Senate, and, certainly, you don't expect a to necessarily agree with all of your positions; but I am concerned about Senator Sessions because I think he has aligned himself with extreme ideological views that won't best serve all of the people of the United States. prgtoken During the last 7 years, the Department of Justice has investigated at least 23 law enforcement agencies in response to rampant civil rights abuses. I fear that, under an Attorney General Jeff Sessions, those consent decrees and that very important work in resolving the conflicts between, particularly, African American communities and police officers will be lost. prgtoken I am extremely concerned, as are at least 70 civil rights organizations and organizations that serve women, with an Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They are concerned about not just the anti- abortion views that Senator Sessions has displayed, but about the zealous anti-choice positions that he has taken--his association and alignment, again, with extreme anti-abortion organizations. They believe that he is not capable of fair and impartial action as Attorney General. prgtoken What is so chilling, as an example, is when Senator Sessions was asked about President-elect 's Access Hollywood scandal in that he said he didn't characterize the grabbing of a woman's genitals as necessarily a sexual assault. Very, very chilling and disturbing. prgtoken In being from Wisconsin, where we have fought egregious and unfair voter ID laws that were designed to disenfranchise, particularly, African Americans, Mr. Sessions has indicated that the gutting of the Voting Rights Act has actually had no impact and that no one has been denied the right to vote. He seems to be tone deaf to the cries of African Americans across this country to protect their voting rights. prgtoken I encourage the Senate to look very carefully at this nominee, because, in fact, the United States Attorney General's only charge is to protect the civil rights of all of the citizens. I don't know that he will be willing or able to do that.
IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS
Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (Democrat, GA) \u2014 2017-1-9

I congratulate Representative Cedric Richmond as he takes the helm of the CBC and manages this exercise tonight; and also Representative Marc Veasey, who will be the point man for doing these Special Orders. prgtoken We are called upon tonight at a critical time in the Nation's history. We have a new President coming in who is polarizing, divisive, inexperienced, and immature. He is making some selections for his appointments, and the Senate has the opportunity to weigh in on those appointments. prgtoken So what is happening is that there are incomplete and missing answers to the Senate questionnaires that appointees like Senator Jeff Sessions, who I rise in opposition to, have completed and sent in. This puts the Office of Government Ethics that vets these candidates at a severe disadvantage of not having the information that they need in order to vet these appointees, like Senator Jeff Sessions. They don't have the information that they need. prgtoken So we also have a compressed schedule of nominees to be considered over the next few days. This, combined with the incomplete answers, puts us in a position of not having enough information to conduct full, fair, thorough, and sifting analysis and vetting for the American people. These are the people who are going to serve them into the future. prgtoken So I am very concerned, especially about a guy like Senator Sessions who has a history of being opposed to civil rights for certain Americans. Now, there are those who would say that this took place 30 years ago, all of the things that he said and did prior to becoming a Senator 20 years ago. Some will say that all of these things that have been cited about Senator Sessions are 30 years old. prgtoken We have to look at what has occurred in the life of Senator Sessions to make prgtoken us think that he has changed. It takes a courageous person like George Wallace to come forward and say: I was wrong for being a racist. It takes a strong person like Lee Atwater to say: I was wrong. prgtoken Senator Sessions has not said he was wrong. There is nothing that Senator Sessions has written that says: I apologize for what I did back then. There is nothing that he said. Certainly his legislative record, which is only nine bills over the last 20 years--three of which were ceremonial in nature--there is nothing in that legislation that would lead us to conclude that he has changed. So he is going to be bad for the Attorney General's office. prgtoken I conclude by asking my Senate colleagues to think carefully about what you are about to do and say ``no'' to Senator Jeff Sessions.
OBAMACARE
Mazie K. Hirono (Democrat, HI) \u2014 2017-1-9

I rise today to ask the Senate to adopt the Hirono-Donnelly amendment to protect Medicare and Medicaid. During his campaign, President-Elect made the American people a promise that he will protect Medicare and Medicaid. prgtoken Today, we are giving Senate s an opportunity to reaffirm this promise to the American people, but I am deeply skeptical that they will do the right thing because they are committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act. Senate s fought for years to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would drastically cut Medicaid funding for the States, and the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services is the architect of the plan to privatize Medicare. The assault on the ACA is an assault on Medicare and Medicaid. Both of these programs can be dismantled through the language in the budget that Congress is debating right now. prgtoken The President-elect and congressional s might be willing to break their promise to the American people. Instead, I, along with my like-minded colleagues, will do whatever we can, whenever we can, to protect these social safety net programs. prgtoken I am fighting for seniors like Anne and Lanny Bruder from Kauai. Lanny is 80 years old, but he is still working three jobs to make ends meet after losing the family home during the 2008 mortgage crisis. Anne has glaucoma and pays what she calls a ridiculous amount for eye drops. Lanny survived a heart attack and has two artificial knees. prgtoken Like many of our kupuna--or seniors--living on a fixed income, they simply could not afford the extra $6,000 prgtoken a year they would be forced to pay if s succeed in their effort to privatize and voucherize Medicare. prgtoken I am also fighting for young people like Anne, who walked into the Kokua Kalihi Valley Clinic 3 years ago. She had no health insurance, and she was pregnant at the age of 15. The doctors at the clinic helped Anne apply for Medicaid, which helped her afford prenatal care and gave her support to stay healthy and, very importantly, to stay in school. Medicaid helped Anne and her husband Dan, age 17, welcome a healthy baby boy named Joseph. Today Anne is a graduate of Farrington High School, works part time, and has plans to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. Anne, Dan, and Joseph now have insurance through Dan's employer. prgtoken These stories--and there are thousands of similar stories in Hawaii-- demonstrate just how important Medicare and Medicaid are to millions of people across the country. It is why we are fighting tooth and nail to prevent any cuts that would jeopardize these social safety net programs. prgtoken The Hirono-Donnelly amendment would prevent any partisan attempt to harm Medicare and Medicaid. Specifically, it would block congressional s from using budget reconciliation to privatize Medicare or increase eligibility standards. It wo
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-1-9

last week, I expressed my sincere hope that the majority leader and I could come to some agreement on the process of nominations. He has negotiated in good faith, and we have made some progress. I sincerely appreciate his willingness to work with us so far. I do want to clarify why are doing this. prgtoken Yesterday, my friend the majority leader went on television and suggested that we were raising concerns about the nominations out of pique or anger. He chalked up these ``little procedural complaints'' to ``sour grapes,'' and he suggested that ``grow up.'' prgtoken We are not doing this for sport. feel very strongly that pushing for a thorough and thoughtful vetting process is the right thing to do. Here is why. The ic minority was and is concerned about the hearing schedule, which is so jammed right now that several high-importance hearings will fall on the same day, depriving Senators and the American people a chance to properly participate in the vetting process of these nominees. prgtoken Our caucus was and is concerned about the timely completion of the standard paperwork and ethics clearance for nominees before proceeding full steam ahead with confirmation hearings and votes. Bear in mind, President-Elect 's nominees pose particularly difficult ethics and conflict-of-interest challenges. Many of them come from enormous wealth. Many have vast holdings in stocks, and very few have experience in government so they have not been appropriately vetted for something like a Cabinet post before. prgtoken What had been standard practice for the vast majority of nominees-- the completion of a preliminary ethics review before their nomination-- was skipped over for the vast majority of President-Elect 's nominees. In fact, the independent Office of Government Ethics went so far as to send a letter warning that ``their [the s] schedule has created undue pressure on OGE's staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews.'' prgtoken The OGE office is nonpartisan. It has never been political so this has nothing to do with politics. ``I am not aware,'' wrote the Director, Walter Schaub, ``of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review process.'' prgtoken The very same majority leader, my friend Senator McConnell, who suggested that were raising concerns out of pique or resentment, in fact, raised the same concerns in 2009 when he was minority leader. In fact, then-Minority Leader McConnell sent then- Majority Leader Reid a letter laying out his prerequisites for time agreements on the floor for President 's nominees. They are almost exactly what requested. prgtoken I don't bring this up to play gotcha. I am doing it to show that our requests are eminently reasonable and, in fact, prgtoken have be