mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
THANKING MARY BOTTINI FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
Claudia Tenney (Republican, NY) \u2014 2017-10-31

I rise today to recognize Mary Bottini, a generous and dedicated constituent of the 22nd Congressional District of New York. prgtoken In 2010, after a fruitful 29-year career, Mary retired and began to volunteer her time at the Oneida County Historical Society, where she was recently named Volunteer of the Year for 2017. prgtoken Mary is an active member of our community, a grandmother of three, and a passionate purveyor of our history. Her commitment and civic engagement are the impetus for this well-deserved award. prgtoken Oneida County has a rich history, and it is through the efforts and hard work of volunteers like Mary that its heritage and collective memory is preserved. Mary serves as a shining example of what it means to give back. prgtoken Please join me today in thanking Mary for her commitment to our community and her years of exceptional service.
Tribute to Chris Apassingok (Executive Session)
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2017-10-31

one of the privileges of being in the Senate is actually being able to preside, as the Presiding Officer is doing right now--to sit at the Chair and listen and watch my colleagues talk about issues that matter to them, and a lot of times issues that matter to their States. In this amazing country of ours we have so many great States, great stories, and great traditions. When I am presiding, some relate to Texas, where the current Presiding Officer is from, celebrating our unique traditions, while still appreciating that at our best we share values as Americans together--opportunity, liberty, justice, and fairness. It really is one of the things that makes the Senate a great body and what makes us strong as a nation. prgtoken One of the things I like to do is to come to the Senate floor and talk about some of the traditions in my State--some of the things that I think make Alaska the greatest State in the Nation. I know some of my colleagues will not fully agree with that, but we all get to brag about our State. When I do that, I like to talk about an individual whom we recognize as the Alaskan of the Week. Often, it is somebody who is doing something in a remote part of Alaska whom not a lot of people know about. It is very important to share that with my colleagues in the Senate and other colleagues watching on TV. prgtoken Today, I would like to recognize a young Alaskan from Gambell, AK, named Chris Apassingok, a young whaler who is helping to keep the tradition that we have in Alaska--Native whaling--alive and well. He is our Alaskan of the Week. prgtoken This year, Chris was a keynote speaker at the Elders and Youth Conference, which is a precursor to the prgtoken Alaska Federation of Natives conference held each year in one of our cities. It is the largest annual gathering in the United States of any Native peoples, and there is nothing like it in all the country. AFN, as we call it in Alaska, is certainly a highlight of my year. My wife and I and our kids always try to get there. prgtoken Let me spend a few minutes talking about why Chris's speech about whaling was so important and what happened after he landed a huge bowhead whale in Alaska and why that was so inspiring for so many in my great State and, really, around the country. prgtoken Gamble, AK, is where Chris comes from, a Yupik village of about 700 people on St. Lawrence Island, on the northwest edge of Alaska. It is 1 of 11 Alaska communities that participate in two whaling seasons, recognized and authorized by the International Whaling Commission. These are subsistence communities. What does that mean? They are subsistence communities because whale meat is actually a necessity in feeding these communities. prgtoken I should point out that we have no road systems at all in Northern Alaska. Most of Alaska has no roads connected from community to community, and certainly not in Gambell. The Presiding Officer and I have had the opp
Tax Reform (Executive Calendar)
Marco Rubio (Republican, FL) \u2014 2017-10-31

tomorrow the House will announce its plan for tax reform as a starting point. I doubt everybody here will agree with everything that is in it, but I imagine we will find a lot of good in it, and it will be a good starting point for this debate. But it actually is about a broader prgtoken topic that I hope will be a part of our conversation about tax reform because it hasn't been enough of a part of our national discourse over the last 20 years. prgtoken When we think about the history of this country, one of the things that truly distinguishes us is not that we have rich people. Every country in the world has rich people. We have an extraordinary amount of success. We have earned success in this country, and we celebrate it; we don't criticize it. But every society in the world has rich people. prgtoken Sadly, we are also not the only country that has people who are poor, who are struggling. That is something that challenges our principles, as a nation founded on the idea of equal opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But the one thing that really distinguishes America is that, by and large, the overwhelming number of Americans do not consider themselves to be either rich or poor; they consider themselves to be hard-working people. We can come up with any term we want, whether it is middle class or working class, but these are basically people who work hard every single day to provide not just a better life for themselves--to be able to retire with dignity and leave their children better off than themselves. They take pride in that. What they value is not how much money they make or how many things they own; it isn't even the title of the job. They value the dignity that comes from the work they do, and, more importantly, they value what it allows them to do, and it is not complicated things. It allows them to own a home in a neighborhood that is safe--not a mansion, but a home. We see that every weekend. People spend countless hours to constantly keep up the home that they take great pride in, and they take great pride in their children and their churches and their synagogues and their religious organizations and the voluntary groups that they belong to. This has been the fundamental core of our country. prgtoken That does not mean that others who do not fit that profile are not important to the country, as well, but it is what distinguishes us because most countries in the world don't really have that. In most societies in human history, you are either rich or poor. There are a lot of poor people and a handful of people in whom all of the wealth is concentrated. That sort of dynamic is what has separated us from the rest of the nations on Earth and, to this day, in many ways still does. prgtoken This is something I talk about not because I read about it or because I saw a documentary about it last weekend, but because, in many ways, I lived it. My parents were that. Nei
CONGRATULATING EISENHOWER MEMORIAL COMMISSION
Roger Marshall (Republican, KS) \u2014 2017-10-31

growing up in Kansas, I had many opportunities to visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. prgtoken Some of my greatest memories go back to visiting Ike: on my 10th birthday, my entire family drove up to Abilene, Kansas, to visit the museum, and, prgtoken later on, in Rotary, multiple opportunities to go to the museum and to his library and honor Ike. prgtoken But, perhaps, the greatest memory I had was when my father was allowed to represent Kansas in Ike's color guard during his funeral procession from Washington, D.C to Abilene, Kansas. prgtoken Like many fellow Kansans, I found Ike's devotion to public service, his leadership, and his integrity to be inspiring, both in his role as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and during his time as the 34th President of the United States. prgtoken In October of 1999, this Congress recognized the significance of General Eisenhower to the United States and passed legislation directing the construction of a national memorial in his honor. This week, this very week, this Friday, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission will finally break ground on the construction of this memorial to commemorate the favorite son of Kansas here in our Nation's Capital. prgtoken I want to congratulate and thank several other Kansan legends who are a part of this commission--Senator Bob Dole, Senator Pat Roberts, and Senator Nancy Kassebaum--for their work on achieving this milestone, and we look forward to sharing Ike's legacy with generations to come. Prematurity Awareness Month
RECOGNIZING AND CELEBRATING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF DEER PARK, TX
Brian Babin (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-10-31

I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 125th anniversary of the City of Deer Park, in County, Texas. After an overwhelming Texian victory at Battle of San Jacinto, General Sam Houston, Interim President David G. Burnet, and members of the Texas Cabinet met in present-day Deer Park and began to draft the initial treaty documents securing Texas' independence from Mexico. Because of this historic event on Deer Park soil, Deer Park holds the distinction of being the true ``Birthplace of Texas.'' Deer Park was founded on December 20, 1892 by Simeon Henry West, a farmer, retired legislator, and pioneer from Illinois. He named the area Deer Park after the large number of deer that roamed the coastal prairie. As settlers from the north arrived to build homes and farms, West built a hotel and post office in 1893. West granted the land for the first railroad through Deer Park for one dollar and later built a wharf on Buffalo Bayou that was later destroyed by The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. On October 3, 1902, West donated the right-of-way to the Houston Ship Channel to the United States of America. In 1928 Shell Oil Company began building a new refinery. In the 1930s an independent school district was established, the population began to grow, and the town began to flourish. Deer Park voted to incorporate as a general law city on December 11, 1948. On December 6, 1960 the residents of Deer Park voted to become a home rule city. By 1960 the city's population was five thousand with a fire station, city hall, parks, independent water supply, and four major industries within the city limits. Today, Deer Park has approximately thirty-three thousand residents, a school district with fifteen campuses, numerous major industrial facilities, and several smaller light industrial companies it is my distinct honor to recognize and celebrate the 125th anniversary of the City of Deer Park. May God continue to bless Deer Park in these next 125 years.
RECOGNIZING THREE TEXANS ON VETERANS DAY
Pete Sessions (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-10-31

in honor of Veterans Day, I rise today to recognize three World War II veterans who have honorably and faithfully served their country. Milledge A. ``Mitch'' Hart, III, graduate of the US Naval Academy Class of 1956, served for 5 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. His final rank was 1st Lieutenant, selected for Captain, USMC. William ``Bill'' James Sloan, graduate of SMU Class of 1949, served in the U.S. Navy from October 1942 to May 1946. Raymond Earl Sloan, graduate of SMU Class of 1949, served in the US Army from 1944 to 1946. These gentlemen served with honor and distinction and I thank them for their service.
SOUTH CAROLINA PEANUT PARITY ACT OF 2017
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2017-10-31

I want to thank Congressman Rick Crawford for his leadership today. prgtoken I am grateful to sponsor and support the South Carolina Peanut Parity Act of 2017, H.R. 2521. This bipartisan bill is cosponsored by all seven Members of the South Carolina delegation. It gives the hard- working peanut farmers of South Carolina a voice and say on the United States Department of Agriculture Peanut Standards Board. South Carolina is fortunate to have Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers from Bowman for his leadership. prgtoken When the 2002 farm bill created the USDA Peanut Standards Board to advise on standards for the handling and quality of peanuts, South Carolina was not a substantial peanut grower. Since then, South Carolina peanut production has increased significantly, as it now produces 8 percent of the United States peanut crop, making the Palmetto State the fourth largest peanut-producing State. prgtoken As I have said before, South Carolina appreciates peanuts so much that the State legislature has selected the boiled peanut as the State's official snack. Each year, I look forward to the Pelion Peanut Party festival which celebrates the importance of peanuts which is held in Pelion, South Carolina, led by Mayor Barbara Carey. prgtoken The midlands of South Carolina is fortunate to have enterprising entrepreneurs promoting boiled peanuts with Four Oaks Farm of Lexington owned by the Mathias family and the appreciated Cromer's peanuts of Columbia, heralded as ``guaranteed worst in town.'' That is actually meant as a compliment. prgtoken My South Carolina colleagues and I are grateful to acknowledge the significant increase in the peanut crops in the State and to advocate for the increase to be reflected on the Peanut Standards Board. We look forward to encouraging peanut farmers in South Carolina creating jobs and having their valuable input reflected on the national level. prgtoken , I urge support today of H.R. 2521.
CONGRATULATIONS TO JEFFERSON COUNTY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Glenn Thompson (Republican, PA) \u2014 2017-10-31

I rise today to congratulate Jefferson County Development Council for being named Partner of the Year by the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association. prgtoken The Jefferson County Development Council has demonstrated outstanding accomplishments and, over the past year, has gone above and beyond in carrying out its mission to serve existing and new businesses in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Led by Brad Lashinsky, director of economic development and planning, the Jefferson County Development Council works to help new businesses start up, relocate, or expand. prgtoken The Jefferson County Development Council was named Partner of the Year for effectively utilizing various funding sources to complete a number of community and economic development projects. It also facilitated the formation of the Jefferson County Resource Partnership, which is a collection of professionals who make up the economic development delivery system in the county and who focus on providing assistance to businesses in all stages of business development and growth. prgtoken , I am proud of the Jefferson County Development Council for the work it does, and I wholeheartedly congratulate them on this outstanding achievement.
Hurricane Irma Recovery Effort (Executive Session)
Bill Nelson (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2017-10-31

it has been 2 months since Hurricane Irma hit Florida and basically covered up the State, and our people are still hurting because they don't have sufficient housing. prgtoken If you lived in a mobile home, if you lived in a low-lying area, your home was destroyed. It is uninhabitable. The ceiling is collapsing. The mold and the mildew, because of all the water which has now accumulated, makes it an uninhabitable home. prgtoken FEMA, through individual assistance, is supposed to provide temporary housing. This is the law. That is what the people of Florida are entitled to--just like the people of Texas are entitled to in the Presiding Officer's State--but it is not happening in Florida. Why? Because they get on the telephone, and they have to wait up to-- documented--4 hours to get somebody on the phone from FEMA or, for home inspections, it takes 45 days before they can get an inspector to come out and see the home so they can be declared eligible for individual assistance. That is just unacceptable. prgtoken If they don't have the means--especially if they don't have a job as a result of the jobs being destroyed in the hurricane--where are they going to be able to get temporary assistance for housing? It is a fact that this is happening in the State of Florida, and it has to be changed. prgtoken Thus, you see the bipartisan effort of my colleague from Florida Marco Rubio and me writing to the head of FEMA today to say: Look, what happened? Years ago, during the debacle of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, they experienced an average wait time of 10 minutes before they could get FEMA on the line to help them. Now we have people waiting as much as 4 hours. I wanted to bring this to the attention of the Senate. prgtoken After a hurricane, 2 months later, we cannot have an aftermath where our people are hurting, they are suffering. They can't live in a healthy condition in the homes that have been destroyed in the hurricane. prgtoken .
OUR SYSTEM OF JUSTICE
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2017-10-31

I rise this evening to talk about our system of justice. If we were to walk out from the Senate, out the front door, and across the front of the Capitol directly, we would find ourselves across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court. prgtoken As everyone knows, inscribed across the front of the U.S. Supreme Court are these words: ``Equal justice under law''--a pretty simple statement about our system of justice, but of course that has a profound meaning in our system. prgtoken Hundreds of years ago, Saint Augustine said the following about justice: Without justice what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers. prgtoken So we have always had this focus on what justice means. It came into sharper focus, of course, when our Nation was born. We set up three branches of government--or, I should say, our Founders set up three branches of government--one of them being the judiciary and, of course, that was followed, after the Constitution was ratified, by the Judiciary Act of 1789. We have had that system of justice in one form other another all these years. prgtoken In so many ways, our system of justice sets us apart from the world. Our prgtoken system of justice, though it is often strained and stretched and sometimes undermined, is still the envy of the world. It does set us apart. We know that throughout our history--and even more recently-- there are several examples of one judge being able to stop the executive, one judge being able to reverse policy or, at least, force the executive to make amendments to an Executive order, as has happened over the last couple of months. prgtoken I think we always have to ask ourselves whether or not our system of justice is getting it right, whether or not the balance is there. There are lots of ways to express the tension between one side and another in our system of justice. One way to express it--not the only way, but one way, when you consider the awesome appropriate power in a nation like ours--is, Will we have a system that allows everyone to get a fair shot at justice, to literally fulfill the obligation or the goal of equal justice under the law? Or will we have a system of justice that rewards, supports, or seems to find in favor of corporate interests or have a court, whether it is the Supreme Court or a Federal court of one kind or another, that is beholden to corporate interests? So one way to suggest the tension and sometimes the conflict is to have a fair shot for everyone versus a corporate tilt or a corporate court or a corporate justice system. prgtoken I would have to say that when you look at some of the evidence most recently, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roberts has been an ever more reliable ally to both big corporations and those with great power, those with great wealth. A major study published by the Minnesota Law Review in 2013 found that the four conservative Justices currently sitting on the Court--Justices Alito, Roberts, Tho
VOTE EXPLANATION
Robert Menendez (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2017-10-31

I was unavailable for rollcall vote No. 255, on the nomination of Amy Barrett to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit. Had I been present, I would have voted nay. prgtoken , I was unavailable for rollcall vote No. 256, on the motion to invoke cloture on Joan Larsen, of Michigan, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit. Had I been present, I would have voted nay.
Authorization for Use of Military Force (Executive Session)
Tim Kaine (Democrat, VA) \u2014 2017-10-31

I rise to speak on a topic I have often spoken about on the floor. prgtoken We have been at continuous war since September 14, 2001, when Congress passed an Authorization for Use of Military Force to go after the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. That was 16 years, 1 month, and 18 days ago as of today. prgtoken The war in Afghanistan is the longest armed conflict in America's history, and it shows no signs of abating, even 6 years after the death of Osama bin Laden. The conflict has been going on for so long that many are somewhat immune to it. I heard a high schooler recently say: War is all I have ever known. It is the status quo. It is the background music to daily life. prgtoken Yet only 0.4 percent of the population of the United States serves in the military. That is down from 1.8 percent in 1968 and 8.7 percent in 1945, so it is increasingly unlikely that many of us even know those who are deployed and fighting in this ever-expanding global conflict. prgtoken Sadly, last week, for tragic reasons, these issues were brought to the forefront with the death of four brave American servicemembers in Niger: Army SGT La David Johnson, SGT Bryan Black, SGT Jeremiah Johnson, and SGT Dustin Wright. prgtoken Two of those killed--the two Sergeants Johnson--were part of a 12-man patrol whose mission is not clear. We know that their trained military occupational specialties--vehicle mechanic and chemical-biological specialist--were outside traditional combat roles. prgtoken In a June war powers letter, the Department of Defense described the mission of over 645 military personnel in Niger as ``advise and assist,'' but none of the varying accounts of what took place in early October seem to support that seemingly benign summary of what occurred. prgtoken Frustration over this lack of understanding of that mission and the events that transpired were shared by everyone from Secretary Mattis to all the Members here. I can't imagine what the servicemembers on duty and their families must be feeling. We see the strain that an ever- expanding operational commitment is having on our prgtoken military, from our servicemembers relying upon foreign countries or contractors to provide critical air support where servicemen are stranded on the battlefield for over a day, to our warships, for which schedules have been so strained that their crews are unable to safely navigate international waters. prgtoken Being a Senator from Virginia, a State with one of the largest military presences that is home to tens of thousands of servicemembers and their families, I have a personal responsibility to ensure that these strains don't lead to any more tragic mistakes. prgtoken The attack in Niger has also laid bare other issues: how little information is provided to Congress about U.S. troops deployed abroad equipped for combat; how little Congress exercises the authority and oversight of these issues and demands information to debate b