mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Gary C. Peters (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2017-10-31

. today, I wish to recognize a crusader and legal titan, the Honorable Damon J. Keith of Detroit, MI, for his legendary 50-year career as a Federal judge. prgtoken Judge Keith's career in public service began during World War II, when he served in a segregated military where he faced discrimination as he served his Nation. The injustice he experienced led him to dedicate his life to equality for all Americans. prgtoken Judge Keith received his law degree from the prestigious Howard University. His professor and mentor was none other than the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education and the first African-American Justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Just like his mentor, Judge Keith would go on to make groundbreaking rulings. prgtoken While African-American citizens in the South suffered through the institutionalized practices of segregation, Michigan was not immune from racial discrimination. After his 1970 decision in Davis v. School District of Pontiac, allowing busing to help integrate schools, Judge Keith faced threats of violence from the Ku Klux Klan. Despite threats placed against his own life, Judge Keith stood firm. Judge Keith continued his fight for civil rights in 1971 when he found that the city of Hamtramck practiced discriminatory community development which largely displaced African American residents. He ordered the city to replace the homes that were demolished. After the civil unrest in Detroit in 1967, actions were taken to improve racial inequality in the city. African-Americans accounted for one-third of Detroit's population but were underrepresented in its government and police force. Judge Keith ruled to uphold the city of Detroit's affirmative action plan and its good faith effort to promote diversity in its police force. prgtoken Judge Keith heard cases that presented new questions and challenged long-held interpretations of the Constitution. In the 1971 landmark case, United States v. United States District Court, widely known as the Keith Case, the Supreme Court upheld Judge Keith's ruling that the Nixon administration could not wiretap citizens without a court order, even in cases involving domestic terrorism. This ruling protected Fourth Amendment rights for all Americans and enforced the boundaries of warrantless surveillance, paving the way for the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, of 1978, which provides judicial and congressional oversight of the government's foreign intelligence surveillance activities. prgtoken After the tragedy of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent war on terror, we once again faced circumstances that tested the balance between the power of the government and fundamental civil liberties. Judge Keith found himself ruling against another administration in the 2002 case, Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Chief Immigration
AIR CARGO SECURITY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2017
Bennie G. Thompson (Democrat, MS) \u2014 2017-10-31

thirteen years ago, the 9/ 11 Commission raised red flags ``regarding the screening and transport of checked bags and cargo'' and called for ``[m]ore attention and resources'' to ``be directed to reducing or mitigating the threat posed by explosives in vessels' cargo holds.'' prgtoken Today, the threat of a terrorist attack using air cargo is significant. In fact, in July, then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly identified cargo-based aviation attacks as a major concern, explaining ``there are people out there, very smart people, very sophisticated people who do nothing but try to figure out how to blow up an airplane in flight. . . . [T]here is a fair amount of cargo, what we would attribute to just cargo flown on passenger airplane on space available. [Terrorists] are constantly looking for ways to do this.'' prgtoken That same month, Australian authorities arrested four men on charges that that they plotted to detonate a bomb to bring down an Etihad Airways passenger plane on behalf of ISIS on July 15. Reportedly, ``a senior ISIS commander shipped partially assembled components of a bomb on a commercial cargo plane from Turkey to Australia . . . [and] two men in Australia assembled the parts into a functional explosive device.'' In response to the foiled Australia attack, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a security directive requiring any air cargo from Turkey bound for the U.S. to undergo enhanced screening. The Australia plot came seven years after a terrorist plot to ship bombs hidden in printer cartridges from Yemen to the United States onboard cargo planes was thwarted. prgtoken This increase in the air cargo security risk comes at a time when the volume of goods being moved by air cargo has increased, with the volume, as of 2016 back to approximately 98.4 percent of pre-recession levels with airlines transporting 52 million metric tons of goods. prgtoken In response to this security risk, I am introducing the ``Air Cargo Security Improvement Act of 2017.'' My legislation would direct the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to take a number of steps to enhance its responsibilities for air cargo and require the agency to aggressively move towards addressing current and future threats to air cargo. Specifically, my legislation would clarify air cargo security responsibilities at TSA, encourage further technological developments for screening air cargo, review existing air cargo programs, and require the Department of Homeland Security to make permanent the Air Cargo Advance Screening Program. prgtoken , a decade ago, I was the lead sponsor of legislation that addressed the concerns raised by the 9/11 Commission about the threat of an air cargo-based attack. The ``Implementing 9/11 Recommendations Act of 2007'' directed TSA to, for the first time, ensure that all cargo carried on passenger planes was screened. My bill recognizes the need to revisit that law and
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON OUR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM
Ralph Lee Abraham (Republican, LA) \u2014 2017-11-1

I have a map beside me. It is not a Verizon or an AT&T map showing its coverage. What this is is a snapshot, a moment in time, of the number of airplanes in the United States' airspace at any moment, over 90,000 flights a day. Think about that. That is over 200,000 takeoffs and landings. prgtoken We, in the United States, have the safest and the busiest airspace in the world; yet there are some in Congress who want to privatize this to a board made up of 13 members only. I personally think it is more of a monopolization, not a privatization of our airspace. prgtoken This is the taxpayers' airspace. This is not the airspace that we should be giving away to a 13-member board, or the control of. prgtoken Those who want to pass this AIRR Act, H.R. 2997, want us to compare it to Canada. Well, I have flown in Canada. Look at the map: below the line in the United States, above the line in Canada. It is not even apples to apples. It is not apples to oranges. It is apples to elephants. prgtoken And you say, well, that makes no sense. No, it doesn't. It does not make any sense to give control of this airspace, where our wonderful men in uniform and women who fly the military aircraft, the pilots like myself, but, more importantly, the carriers that carry all of us to here and there, the ability to control this airspace. prgtoken I am a small-government guy, , but there are three instances where government needs to be involved in the lives of our citizens: national defense, national intelligence, and national airspace. prgtoken I would argue that I have probably been in more control towers than any Member of Congress, and when you walk in, there are wonderful controllers who are looking at modern equipment, computer screens, display lights, who are moving aircraft here and there, very efficiently, very professionally. prgtoken There are those who have stood at this podium, , and held up pieces of paper like this and have scared our people into saying: Oh, this is the way controllers transfer control of airplanes from airspace to airspace. prgtoken That is a gross mischaracterization of what is happening. They use this as a backup if a grid goes down, but they don't use it to move traffic. They use modern computers. prgtoken The NextGen, or what we call the next generation of modernization of FAA, is called ADS-B, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. It allows separation of aircraft to come down. It has saved billions--that is with a B--in fuel and other costs, and yet we want to give all this modern equipment to the control of a 13-member board? I think not. prgtoken We have all had delays in airports. Most of them, I will tell you, are weather. But how many of us have pulled up in a plane and we are waiting for another plane to back out of a gate? That is not an air traffic control issue. That is an issue with controlling the gates at the airport, and that goes back to the airlines. prgtoken How many of us have be
HONORING IOANNIS IOANNOPOULOS
Gus M. Bilirakis (Republican, FL) \u2014 2017-11-1

I rise today to commemorate the important mark that Ioannis Ioannopoulos had on American society, as the original founder of one of the oldest known wooden school houses in the country. In order to fully understand the cultural motivation to establish this historic treasure, one must examine Ioannopoulos's early life. A carpenter by trade, Ioannis Ioannopoulos was the son of George and Maria-Canelas and hailed from the Petalidi area in Messinia that was then known as ``Koroni'' (the village of Skoutari, Mani). He was known by the Spanish as Juan Genopoly. Ioannopoulos--at the age of 13--was one of a group of indentured laborers brought to the New World by Andrew Turnbull to work an indigo plantation at New Smyrna. This group of 1,403 Minorcans, Greeks and Italians suffered mistreatment, starvation and overextended servitudes at Turnbull's plantation. The people were reduced to slavery, and treated with great cruelty by Trumbull, whose partner in the enterprise was the English Governor of the territory, who kept the colonists in subjection with English troops. This slavery lasted nine years, during which time nearly two- thirds of these colonists perished; but large crops of indigo were raised for the company--one year 30,000 lbs. it is stated. prgtoken In 1776, a new Governor having arrived, the petitions of these people for relief were listened to, and they were released from the tyranny of their master. One year later six hundred refugees, led by Ioannis Ioannopoulos, Francisco Pellicer and Antonio Llambias, walked to St Augustine and were granted asylum by Governor Tonyn. They became the largest group of immigrants to settle in America in one group at one time. Collectively called ``Minorcans'', they were an important part of the fabric of St. Augustine history. It was on Saint George Street where the survivors of the New Smyrna Colony first settled after their escape. Since that time, this area of Old St. Augustine has been called ``the Greek Quarter'' and alternately ``the Minorcan Quarter.'' prgtoken Ioannis Giannopoulos built a little house out of red cedar and cypress and put it together with wooden pegs and handmade nails, sometime around 1800. This building was a home first but, as early as 1811, members of the Genopoly family taught the children of other Minorcan families in the first floor ``schoolroom'' of this building. As the story goes, Genopoly, in typical Greek fashion, was worried his children would grow up without an education. Genopoly and his daughter Maria Manuela Barbara ``Mary'' Genopoly Darling were the first teachers. Then Genopoly hired a school teacher, and generations of children from St. Augustine went to school in this building. Juan Genopoly died in 1820. prgtoken Today, this preserved building is recognized as one of the oldest schoolhouses in North America. It has become the symbol of their hard work and perseverance. It's now the main attraction of the historical pre
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2936, RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT OF 2017
Dan Newhouse (Republican, WA) \u2014 2017-11-1

on Tuesday, just yesterday, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 595, providing for consideration of an important piece of legislation, H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017. prgtoken The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2936 under a structured rule, with four ic amendments made in order and two bipartisan amendments and one -led amendment made in order. prgtoken , this rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017, a bill that is critically important to my district in central Washington State and to rural, forested districts like it across the United States who continue to face devastation from catastrophic wildfires as we have seen, just this last year, a great example of. prgtoken This bipartisan, comprehensive legislation is aimed at addressing the disastrous consequences of wildfires by utilizing the tools the Forest Service and other agencies have to reduce the threats posed by these wildfires, by insects, by disease infestation, and by dangerous old forest overgrowth that serves as a literal tinderbox for wildfires. This legislation will expedite and improve forest management activities in Federal forests to counteract these threats. prgtoken This legislation, spearheaded by my friend and colleague from Arkansas, Representative Bruce Westerman, who is a trained forester himself, is comprised of a truly comprehensive effort developed here in the people's House. It is bipartisan. This bipartisan support demonstrates that the threat of catastrophic wildfires does not just impact a red or a blue district, but, rather, it poses a threat to communities across the United States. prgtoken H.R. 2936 would provide Federal land management agencies immediate tools to increase the pace and the scale of forest management projects to dramatically improve the health and resiliency of our national forests, ensuring robust protection of the environment. Active management leads to healthier forests. It is that simple. prgtoken This legislation also allows expedited review for collaborative projects in Federal forests and removes incentives for special interest groups to file frivolous lawsuits. By requiring litigants opposing active management projects to propose an alternative management option, we can instill accountability into a system that is wrought with litigation. prgtoken Additionally, the legislation bolsters locally led forest management and hazardous fuel reduction projects to improve forest health. prgtoken By engaging local stakeholders, we can lessen the severity and the costs of wildfires, while protecting the communities and the environment. prgtoken , another major component of our Nation's wildfire crisis is the broken system with which we fund firefighting suppression. When these firefighting costs exceed the existing budget, the U.S. Forest Service transfers funds from other vital forest ma
RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT OF 2017
Doug LaMalfa (Republican, CA) \u2014 2017-11-1

believe it or not, according to Federal agencies, the wildland firefighter does not exist. That is correct. There are men and women around this Nation who work daily to protect our communities from the fires that devastate especially the Western United States, but they are not allowed to call themselves firefighters. prgtoken Instead of ``firefighter,'' the Forest Service, BLM, and other agencies use bureaucratic terms like ``forestry technician,'' which fails to recognize the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make to protect others. prgtoken My amendment, which I am pleased to offer with my colleague, Representative Mark DeSaulnier from California, represents a bill we have both sponsored, H.R. 3907, as well; which seeks simply to designate these brave men and women the title they have earned by directing the Office of Personnel Management to create employee classes designated as ``wildland firefighters.'' prgtoken , 15 ``technicians'' have passed away this last year fighting wildfires. Several of them are from California. It is unconscionable that, while they perished fighting fires, the agencies that employ them refuse to call them firefighters. We should take action to rectify that failure, and I urge Members to consider our bill, H.R. 3907, to do so. prgtoken However, , I know that there is additional work to be done with the very bureaucracies which refuse to use the term ``firefighter'' with last-minute concerns and clarifications needed so that the firefighters indeed don't lose benefits, and I note that we will be back. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment from further consideration at this time.
Antiterrorism Funding (Executive Session)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2017-11-1

this week the Senate is moving through a series of votes to fill vacancies in the Federal appeals court. President has nominated highly qualified, mainstream judges and legal scholars to do these jobs. Now, have responded once again with delay and with obstruction. It is clear to me that we need to change the rules in the Senate that govern how we debate nominations in this body. All year have been putting up roadblocks to nominations. They have forced the majority leader to file cloture so that prgtoken then we can confirm nominees like these four judges. prgtoken As of last Friday, have forced the Senate to file cloture 47 different times when we have had to have cloture votes on President 's nominees. There were only six cloture votes at this point for the previous four Presidents--five for , none for , one for Bill Clinton, and none under the Presidency of George Herbert Walker . These are the kind of hoops that the have been making the Senate jump through in an effort to confirm President 's nominees. prgtoken The procedure has been set in place to allow for debate. Well, debate is a good thing in the Senate, as long as debate is actually occurring. It is a chance for Senators to stand up, to say what they like or what they don't like about a nominee. Now, if no one wants to debate, we should just move things along and have the vote. There is one Senate rule that allows for as much as 30 hours of debate time on Presidential nominations after we have actually had the cloture vote. Now, in reality, very little of that time that is spent on the Senate floor is actually being used for the debate. In the past, both sides would agree to waive the time requirements and to move on to other Senate business, which is what we need to do to get the country continuing to move forward. But what is happening now is that are insisting on cloture votes, and then they are insisting that we use hour after hour after hour, even when there is no one here to debate what is the issue or the person in front of us. prgtoken It is time to end this pointless spectacle. The Senate used to be called the world's greatest deliberative body. have turned it into the world's most paralyzed deliberative body. prgtoken We have more than 125 nominees for various jobs who have had hearings in committee, who have testified in committee, who have been voted on in committee, who have cleared through the entire committee-vetting process and are now waiting for a vote on the Senate floor--125 of them. Most of these people have bipartisan support. They will be confirmed easily and eventually. They should be confirmed immediately. There should be no reason for ' stalling tactics except, once again, to slow down the pace of other progress in the Senate on legislative issues. prgtoken , look at what happened with one
DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM NEEDS TO END
Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. (Republican, NY) \u2014 2017-11-1

I rise to mourn those lost and injured in yesterday's terror attack in New York City. The New York City Police Department is truly the greatest police force in the world, and they showed us why yesterday. prgtoken It is this body's obligation to pursue policies that help prevent and recover from terrorist attacks. It is a responsibility I am privileged to share as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications. prgtoken The alleged perpetrator came to our country legally using the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. As a matter of security and commonsense, an immigration system that selects winners like a game of bingo should end. prgtoken I also ask that Congress consider the bipartisan STOP Act, legislation I proposed with Mr. Espaillat from New York to help local jurisdictions install protective bollards in areas with high pedestrian traffic. Vehicle attacks are tough to prevent, but the STOP Act will protect Americans and make them safer. prgtoken , I send prayers for the injured and the families of the lost.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Cory Gardner (Republican, CO) \u2014 2017-11-1

I rise today to add my voice and my strong support for the confirmation of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid as the next U.S. court of appeals judge for the Tenth Circuit Court, which, of course, is housed in Denver, CO. prgtoken There is no doubt that Justice Eid is superbly qualified for this position. For the past decade, she has served Colorado as a justice on the supreme court. In 2008, Justice Eid was overwhelmingly retained by the people of Colorado. We have a system where every decade the voters of Colorado vote to retain or dismiss a judge, and every time that has come before the people of Colorado, she has been overwhelmingly retained by the people of Colorado. prgtoken Prior to her appointment, Justice Eid represented the State of Colorado before the State federal courts as our State solicitor general. She served as a tenured member of the faculty at the University of Colorado Law School, where she taught courses in constitutional law, legislation, torts, and she has published scholarly articles on topics such as constitutional federalism and tort law, in addition to being a clerk on the Supreme Court. She also practiced commercial and appellate litigation at the Denver office of the national law firm Arnold and Porter. prgtoken She began her legal career as a clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Her law experience took her to the U.S. Supreme Court under Clarence Thomas. Prior to attending law school, Justice Eid was a special assistant and speechwriter for the U.S. Secretary of Education, Bill Bennett. She received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was the articles editor of the Law Review. She graduated with high honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif. She received her degree in American studies from Stanford University, graduating with distinction as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. prgtoken What her resume clearly shows is that whatever Justice Eid does, she does it at the highest level, with the best results. She has specialized knowledge of federalism, water law, and Indian law, among other important areas of the law. Indeed, the National Native American Bar Association has even noted that she has ``significantly more experience with Indian law cases than any other recent Circuit Court nominee.'' prgtoken We have had some pretty doggone good circuit court nominees in the past, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose seat she will be filling on the Tenth Circuit Court. These are concepts that are critical to my home State of Colorado, and her expertise will prove to be invaluable to the Tenth Circuit Court, as well as to the Nation and the people of this country. prgtoken But as impressive as her credentials are, it is her demeanor and her approach to the law that make her ideally suited for the court. Justice Eid has been called a ``mainstream, commonsense Westerner.'' She is also, as he