mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Healthcare (Executive Calendar)
Margaret Wood Hassan (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2017-9-19

I rise today to oppose the latest disastrous iteration of Care, the Graham-Cassidy proposal. prgtoken It is disappointing that we are here once again. In July, Granite Staters breathed a sigh of relief when the Senate defeated a proposal that would have raised healthcare costs and stripped health insurance away from millions. When that bill failed, I was hopeful that we would move forward on a bipartisan process to make key improvements to the Affordable Care Act. That is exactly the process we have started on in the HELP Committee, focusing on bipartisan solutions to stabilize the health insurance market. prgtoken Now, in direct conflict to this important bipartisan work, some of our colleagues are making one last-ditch effort to pass partisan legislation. Make no mistake, Graham-Cassidy is more of the same, and it is every bit as dangerous as the Care plans we saw this summer, if not worse. prgtoken Granite Staters and all Americans should be concerned if this bill is rushed into law. My colleagues are moving so quickly to try to get this bill passed that the CBO says it will not be able to score it by September 30, but it is clear that this bill would make things worse for most Americans. prgtoken If you have a preexisting condition, including cancer, asthma, or diabetes, you could once again be discriminated against with higher costs that make health coverage unaffordable. This bill would end Medicaid expansion, a program that and s in New Hampshire came together on to pass and reauthorize. Medicaid expansion has provided quality, affordable health insurance coverage to over 50,000 Granite Staters. Experts on the frontlines of New Hampshire's heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis say it is the one tool we have to combat this epidemic. Ending Medicaid expansion would pull the rug out from under those who need its coverage. It would put thousands of people at risk. prgtoken In addition, Graham-Cassidy would cut and cap the Medicaid Program. Those words, ``cut'' and ``cap,'' are really just code for massive cuts to the funding that States receive, including New Hampshire, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal funding for Medicaid over the next decade. This cut would force States to choose between slashing benefits, reducing the number of people who can get care, or, in some cases, having to do both. It would impact some of our most vulnerable citizens--children, seniors who need in-home care or nursing home care, and people who experience disabilities. prgtoken Graham-Cassidy would allow States to get rid of important protections in current law--protections called essential health benefits, which make sure that all insurers cover things like maternity care, prescription drugs, and substance use disorder services. prgtoken Finally, this bill would continue efforts to roll back women's access to healthcare by defunding Planned Parenthood, which p
Healthcare (Executive Calendar)
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2017-9-19

there are reports that we may be having a vote next week, under reconciliation, dealing with the healthcare system of this country. We know that colleagues have filed a new bill, but it is basically the same bill we have seen in the past but this time even more consequential to our healthcare system and the people of this country. prgtoken I mention first the process because this bill has not gone through any regular order. It has not been referred to a committee for consideration. It has not been marked up or debated in our committees. It is going to supposedly be prgtoken brought up as an amendment but with us returning to reconciliation. prgtoken Let me first explain what that means. That means there will be no chance for us to offer amendments to the legislation. That means there will be no opportunity in our committees to mark up legislation or to get the cost of the legislation or the technical help to do any bill, let alone a bill that affects a large part of our economy. prgtoken The Presiding Officer and I both serve on the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over healthcare. We are not going to get the opportunity to get the expertise and help from our staff to look at the consequences of the Cassidy bill and have a chance to work on it to make it work. Instead, what is going to happen if the game plan goes forward is that this bill is likely to be on the floor next week during budget reconciliation, where a simple majority will be able to pass it. There will be no chance for debate on the floor because it is what is known as a vote-arama, and it will affect one-sixth of our economy. That is not the way we should be operating. prgtoken I am also told that it will be done without a Congressional Budget Office score. That is unconscionable. We know from previous Congressional Budget Office scores on the other proposals that have been brought out that tens of millions of Americans would lose their health insurance coverage. Premiums would increase by, in some cases, 20 to 25 percent. It was certainly information from our objective staff that caused many of us to say: What are we doing? But at least we had that information before we voted. prgtoken We are now being told that we may get a one-liner from the Congressional Budget Office giving us the bottom-line impact on the deficit but not the specific information as to how many millions of Americans are going to lose their coverage and what is going to happen, for those of us who currently have insurance, with our premium increases. prgtoken This is not the way we should be proceeding. It retreats from the progress we have made against the abusive practices of the insurance industry. prgtoken Under the Cassidy bill, as I understand it, each State could basically set up its own rules for how they wish to have coverage. The entire Medicaid system of this country would be block-granted and would be capped. So the Federal Government could
Healthcare (Executive Calendar)
Maria Cantwell (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2017-9-19

my colleagues have been here on the floor over the last few minutes, last night, this morning, and this afternoon to talk about our distress about people trying again to push the repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a successful strategy to move our Nation forward with more affordability. prgtoken We just received a letter from 10 Governors basically telling us the same thing, to slow down and work on a bipartisan basis. They are basically telling us the proposal people are trying to rush through without regular order is not the kind of thing which will help us in making the necessary reforms. prgtoken I think these bipartisan Governors--from the Governor of Colorado to the Governor of Ohio, to the Governor of Alaska, the spectrum of , , and Independents is something people in the United States of America should listen to because it is important we get this right because the affordability of healthcare is so important. prgtoken What I don't like about the proposal now being pushed by my colleagues--even though they want the States to have some flexibility and play a larger role--is that it basically ends the 52-year State- Federal partnership we know as Medicaid today; that is, it changes the dynamic in saying that the States and the Federal Government are in business together to take care of a population that is the most vulnerable of citizens in our country and that giving them affordable access to healthcare is a priority because it actually reduces everybody's healthcare costs. prgtoken When people think about the expense in healthcare, ask any provider, and they will tell you that 1 in 5 dollars spent on the Federal system drives the cost of everybody's insurance. If you leave people uninsured, they go to the hospital, they raise the cost to everybody. It is not a good strategy. We have seen States that have covered people on Medicaid actually raise people out of poverty, help their economies, and reduce the costs at individual hospitals, thereby driving down the cost of private insurance. prgtoken Why would we want to destroy that by authorizing in legislation the end of this 52-year relationship between the Federal Government and States, trying to make sure our populations are covered; that if a State spends a dollar, they can count on the Federal Government to spend that dollar as well and to continue the partnership that works cost-effectively. prgtoken What I also don't like is it sunsets Medicaid for 15 million people. If you are going to sunset Medicaid for these 15 million people, when are you going to sunset Medicaid for the rest of the Medicaid population? When are you going to try, by legislative action, to curtail the opportunities for millions of Americans who use Medicaid as a stabilizing force for health insurance in America? In our State, 600,000 people--most of whom were previously uninsured--would be in that sunset of Medicaid. prgtoken The legislati
Healthcare (Executive Calendar)
Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat, NH) \u2014 2017-9-19

it feels like Groundhog Day again because, once more, we are seeing leadership in the Senate advancing another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to make radical cuts to the Medicaid Program. prgtoken As with previous efforts, this new bill--they call it Graham-Cassidy, but it really is Care 3.0, the third version, and it is strictly partisan legislation, crafted in secret outside of regular order, without hearings or consultation with most Senators or stakeholders. But here is what is different: This bill is even more reckless and more destructive than previous bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act. prgtoken It would take away healthcare coverage from an estimated 30 million Americans. It would effectively end protections for people with preexisting conditions by allowing insurers to charge exorbitant rates. It would make profound cuts to the Medicaid Program, which is a lifeline for 33 million children, 10 million people with disabilities, and 6 million seniors in nursing homes. It would be a tragic setback in the fight against the opioid epidemic because it would end access to lifesaving treatment for an estimated 1.3 million people with substance use disorders. In New Hampshire, where we are at the epicenter of the heroin and opioid epidemic, it would have a huge and tragic impact. prgtoken President said that the previous bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act was ``mean,'' and make no mistake, this bill is far worse. As I have said repeatedly, the only constructive way forward is for and s to come together in a good-faith, bipartisan effort to repair and strengthen the current law. prgtoken As Senator McCain said to this Chamber in July: ``Let's return to regular order. We've been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from the other side.'' prgtoken When Senator McCain said that, we gave him a standing ovation on the floor of this Chamber. In the weeks since the vote on the last attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Senate has actually been acting on his advice. We have been working under the leadership of Senators Alexander and Murray, the chair and ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on bipartisan legislation to restore certainty to the health insurance markets, to fix problems with the Affordable Care Act that we all acknowledge. This effort includes a version of legislation that I have been working on to make regular appropriations for cost-sharing reduction payments. Those are payments that keep copays and deductibles affordable for low- and middle-income Americans. prgtoken I have participated, as have so many Senators, in the bipartisan meetings they have held with Governors, providers, stakeholders, insurers, and State insurance commissioners to craft a positive way forward. It is very disappointing that we a
HEALTHCARE
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2017-9-19

I thank the majority leader for yielding me this time before we close business today, as the last speaker of the day. prgtoken Let me first of all say how deeply we feel about folks who have been affected by these mammoth storms in the gulf coast, in Florida, and in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, as well as others elsewhere. Our hearts and prayers are with them. prgtoken I am here today to talk about another potential disaster to our country, although it is of a completely different kind and not a physical disaster made by nature but a disaster potentially of our own making--one that can be prevented and avoided. I am horrified that I am here again, fighting back again, against a proposal that would devastate the health and finances of so many families in Connecticut and around the country. prgtoken This proposal--the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill--is cruel beyond measure. It is undoubtedly the most extreme proposal we have seen from my colleagues in their political crusade to destroy the successes of the Affordable Care Act. How illogical and irresponsible to pretend, as my colleagues continue to do, that any proposal that cuts billions of dollars from Medicaid and decimates important Affordable Care Act provisions protecting people with preexisting conditions and high medical costs will somehow result in a better healthcare system. In fact, it will vastly diminish and in some respects destroy that system. prgtoken The obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act and gutting Medicaid really has to end, and it has to end today. prgtoken My constituents in Connecticut made themselves heard loud and clear in saying that past proposals were sickening attempts to ruin the gains we have made in providing better healthcare to many people. Those folks who came to town meetings and emergency field hearings, who wrote, who phoned, who made their views known, were the catalyst in defeating these ill-advised efforts before. I can assure you that, once again, they will be heard. They will make themselves heard. They will, once again, guarantee its defeat. prgtoken Under this lethal proposal, hundreds of billions of dollars will be cut from Medicaid. Those severe cuts will cause Connecticut more than $2 billion by 2026. In 2027 alone, without the reauthorization of funds, Connecticut would lose $4 billion. In 2027 alone, $4 billion would be lost to Connecticut without reauthorization. Those are not just dollars, those are lives. They are hundreds of thousands of lives. prgtoken This bill would end the patient protection that countless Americans have come to rely on in their oftentimes lifesaving care. States would allow insurance companies to reimpose annual caps and lifetime limits; insurers could decide to drop essential health benefits, like maternity care or mental health services; and those with preexisting conditions could see their premiums skyrocket, leaving t
INTERNATIONAL HIV/AIDS PROGRAMS
Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, VT) \u2014 2017-9-19

I want to speak briefly about the funding to combat HIV/AIDS in the fiscal year 2018 Department of State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which was reported unanimously by the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 7. prgtoken In May, the Congress received the President's fiscal year 2018 budget request, which included a $1 billion cut to international HIV/AIDS programs. The White House proposed to focus the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief--the PEPFAR program--in 12 priority countries, while only maintaining current treatment levels in the other 24 countries in which PEPFAR works. This would mean no lifesaving drugs for new patients in any of those 24 countries and the end of initiatives PEPFAR has undertaken to accelerate progress in those countries. prgtoken Fortunately, the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Graham and of which I am ranking member, rejected the President's proposed cut and restored HIV/AIDS funding to the current level. The committee-reported bill includes a total of $6 billion for HIV/AIDS programs, including $4.32 billion for PEPFAR, $1.35 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, and $330 million for HIV/AIDS programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. prgtoken The committee report accompanying the bill also reaffirms the key role PEPFAR plays in HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment around the prgtoken globe. In 2016, PEPFAR supported more than 11 million people with lifesaving antiretroviral treatment and provided testing and counseling for more than 74 million people. prgtoken During the committee markup of the Department of State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill, I offered an amendment that would have increased PEPFAR by $500 million. Funding for PEPFAR has been stagnant for several years, and the additional funds in my amendment would have enabled millions more people infected with the AIDS virus to receive lifesaving treatment. Regrettably, my amendment failed on a party-line vote. prgtoken Nonetheless, the bill still succeeds in rejecting the administration's nonsensical and unacceptable reduction to HIV/AIDS funding. I want to be sure that all Senators are aware of this critical funding, which has received widespread, bipartisan support for many years.
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT OF THE AIR FORCE
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2017-9-19

September 18, 2017, was the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. Since its inception, it has repeatedly proven that it is indeed the finest air force in the world. prgtoken Among the greatest strengths of the U.S. Air Force is its enlisted corps, which is recognized worldwide as being comprised of the best educated, best trained, best motivated, and most dedicated men and women of any air force anywhere. prgtoken The office of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force was created in 1967 based in large measure on strong advocacy by the Air Force Association and has been filled by 18 brilliant leaders, including the present Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Kaleth O. Wright. prgtoken The U.S. Air Force core values of ``Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do'' are embodied in the office of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, in the Air Force enlisted corps, and in all men and women serving in the U.S. Air Force. prgtoken The Senate Air Force Caucus joins the Air Force Association and airmen worldwide in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Office of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2017-9-19

I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Sabrina for her hard work as an intern in my Washington, DC, office. I recognize her efforts and contributions to my office, as well as to the State of Wyoming. prgtoken Sabrina is a native of California. She currently attends Wellesley College, where she is studying political science. She has demonstrated a strong work ethic, which has made her an invaluable asset to our office. The quality of her work is reflected in her great efforts over the last several months. prgtoken I want to thank Sabrina for the dedication she has shown while working for me and my staff. It was a pleasure to have her as part of our team. I know she will have continued success with all of her future endeavors. I wish her all my best on her next journey.
Recognizing the 70th Anniversary of the United States Air Force (Executive Session)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2017-9-19

I am pleased to support Noel Francisco to serve as the next Solicitor General. prgtoken Mr. Francisco comes to us with impressive credentials. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Judge Luttig on the Fourth Circuit and Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. He has spent time in both the private sector at prestigious law firms and in the public sector as counsel to the President at the White House and in leadership roles at the Department of Justice. prgtoken Mr. Francisco has impressive experience arguing before the Supreme Court. His client won in each of the three cases he argued there. He has been named one of Washington, DC's ``Super Lawyers,'' as well as one of the ``100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.'' prgtoken It is vital for the Office of the Solicitor General to have its leader in place, so I am pleased that, after waiting for over 3 months on the Senate floor, we are finally voting on this nominee today.
Introductory Statement on S. 1847
Steve Daines (Republican, MT) \u2014 2017-9-19

the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, is tasked with keeping the American public safe in the homeland. Its mission ranges from thwarting terrorist attacks to responding to natural and manmade disasters, from interdicting the movement of illicit drugs at the border to combating human trafficking and protecting its victims. Nearly one-quarter of the population within our borders are children They have unique needs, and we must ensure those needs are met in the face of threat and in recovery. prgtoken For example, when children are stranded at school because of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, they need a planned route and means to get home safely. A child is caught up in a drug cartel and used as a trafficking mule--the child is a victim, not a criminal. He needs help breaking the addiction. An adolescent, promised a better life, has her passport stolen and forced to sell herself. She needs help escaping her captors and healing. prgtoken The recent tragedies of wildfires in Montana and across the Northwest and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are all too recent reminders that we need to plan for the needs of children in both building resiliency and responding to disasters. That is why I am introducing the-Homeland Security for Children Act. This legislation would simply ensure DHS's Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans includes input from organizations representing the needs of children when soliciting stakeholder feedback and developing policies. Further, a technical expert at the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be authorized to lead its external collaboration and policy developments to integrate the needs of children into its activities to prepare for and respond to, disasters. prgtoken I thank Senator Hassan for being an original cosponsor of this bill, as well as Representative Donald Payne of New Jersey for leading in the House of Representatives. I ask my Senate colleagues to join us in support of this important legislation. prgtoken , I ask unanimous consent that the text of the legislation be printed in the Record.
Recognition of the Majority Leader (Executive Session)
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-9-19

later today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Noel Francisco to become our Nation's next Solicitor General. prgtoken The Office of Solicitor General is responsible for representing the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court. It is a very important office, and Mr. Francisco is very well qualified to lead it. His private sector resume is impressive, and his public sector service is remarkable. prgtoken He clerked for a towering figure on the Supreme Court, the late Justice Antonin Scalia. During the administration of President , he worked in the White House Counsel's office. He is currently serving as a senior advisor in the Justice Department, after having served as Acting and Principal Deputy Solicitor General earlier this year. prgtoken Mr. Francisco has successfully argued a number of complex cases before a number of courts, including, notably, the case of the National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning before the prgtoken Supreme Court. In that matter, he represented the plaintiff, Noel Canning, in its successful challenge to President 's unlawful so- called recess appointments. prgtoken That case is especially important for this body because the Supreme Court's unanimous 2014 decision in favor of Noel Canning reaffirmed that the Senate, not the President, possesses the clear constitutional authority to prescribe the rules of its own proceedings. prgtoken Noel Francisco is a great choice for this tough job, and I urge colleagues to join me in supporting him.