mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Child Tax Credit (Executive Calendar)
Cory A. Booker (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2021-7-14

first I want to recognize my colleague from Connecticut, his moving tribute to a great American, and also thank him for his steadfast leadership on issues of gun safety in this country. prgtoken I am standing here with my colleagues today to talk about what is going on in this country around empowering children. We have a big thing happening tomorrow with the vast majority of families with kids across the country. prgtoken As of tomorrow, they will start seeing more money in their bank accounts every year for the rest of the year. These payments are the result of changes that we have made to the child tax credit, which was signed into law by President as part of the American Rescue Plan because of the changes we advocated for. prgtoken What President made law, more families and children are going to benefit from the child tax credit. More than ever before in history, in fact, this will be the greatest cut in overall child poverty in the history of America for this coming year. prgtoken So starting tomorrow, 90 percent of kids in America--90 percent of their families across the country--will start to see these payments for the rest of this year, up to $300 for every child in a household under 6 and $250 for every child in the household ages 6 through 17. For families in suburbs and cities and rural areas, for families across the country, this policy is transformative. prgtoken For the family of people with essential workers in Florida, the grandmother raising three children in California, a single mom in Pennsylvania working the same job for 20 years, for a parent in Utah-- you can go on and on and on--this is one of the most transformative policy changes made in our Nation in more than a century. prgtoken This policy means stability. It means help is on the way. It means hope is here. prgtoken In my home State, Margarita from Passaic, NJ, who is raising three kids on her own while working two jobs, one before sunrise, starting tomorrow, she will see hundreds of dollars a month to help her pay the electric bill, help her make rent, and help her children succeed in school. prgtoken For the family of two educators with kids in New York, tomorrow is transformative. Washington State, North Dakota, blue State, so-called red State--all over this country, we are seeing a transformation. prgtoken This is what a mom from Kansas said: [This child tax credit] would help so much for single moms like me to be able to feel secure as a parent. If at any time something were to happen to me, such as a car repair, a doctor visit, even a book fair for my children, I am just not making enough to have any extra for anything other than bills. Shoes and coats, maybe a ball glove. Karate or dance lessons to improve social skills and athletic abilities and teach children teamwork would be possible; [and] maybe even at Christmas since they didn't get one in 2020. <|p
CLOTURE MOTION
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2021-7-14

. I rise today to call for every Senator to have a chance to consider and cast a vote on the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. This bill would ensure that people in the military who prgtoken have been subject to sexual assault or other serious crimes get the justice they deserve. prgtoken I know that my colleague from Oklahoma, the ranking member of the Committee on Armed Services, reached out to our military chiefs for their thoughts on this bill. While there was, as Army GEN James McConville wrote, recognition ``that there are concerns with the way our current process pursues justice for major crimes,'' I understand that they also have concerns about this legislation, and I would like to allay those concerns today. prgtoken More broadly, the service chiefs' letters all seem to indicate a misunderstanding of how fundamental this change would be. Marine Corps Gen. David Berger, for instance, wrote that the bill ``appears to create a more complex system that could potentially slow the military justice process.'' Space Force Gen. John Raymond wrote that ``the proposed changes add a layer of complexity that needs to be fully understood.'' prgtoken This bill would streamline, not complicate, the military justice process. The lawyers who would be making these prosecution decisions under our legislation are already working on these very cases. prgtoken Navy ADM Michael Gilday expressed concern that ``large scale removal of commanders' authority could cause sailors to doubt the capabilities of their commanders or to believe that their commanders operate without the full trust of their superiors.'' prgtoken That worry is unfounded. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America surveyed their members--recent veterans--and 77 percent said that moving a serious crime like sexual assault out of the chain of command would have no impact on their view of the commander's authority. Nearly 1 in 10 said that the change would lead them to view their commander as more of an authority figure. prgtoken I would point out that the IRC Chairwoman, Lynn Rosenthal, said: The IRC rejects the motion that, by moving legal decisions about prosecution from the command structure, that commanders would have no role. It's simply not the case. Commanders are responsible for the climates they create. They're responsible for working to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment, and they're responsible for making sure that victims are protected when they come forward to report. So, the idea that they won't have an interest in solving this problem if they are not making those technical legal decisions, we think, is simply false. prgtoken I trust that our commanders will be able to maintain their authority and maintain their investment in the welfare of the troops without being responsible for deciding these serious crimes. prgtoken General Berger put it well. He wrote:
Child Tax Credit (Executive Calendar)
Sherrod Brown (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2021-7-14

. Michael Bennet, thank you. You said this is a new day. I loved how you set that up. The mayor of Denver gets a tax cut or at least pours money into the richest neighborhoods in Denver, expecting that to trickle down or trickle out to help other neighborhoods and other people. It obviously doesn't work that way any more than the--I was going to say the tax cut, but it has been their playbook for years. Whenever they get a majority, they give a tax cut to rich people, arguing it will trickle down. It never does. Senator Booker has been so articulate about that. As you say, Senator Bennet, it is a new day for this country. prgtoken I think the three of us think--and I think that Senator Hickenlooper, the Presiding Officer, has thought this, as have most Members of the Senate--that this is perhaps the most important thing we have done in this Senate in 25 years. prgtoken Tomorrow, parents across the country will check their bank accounts. Not all of them are going to know what Cory Booker, Michael Bennet, and all of us did, but they are going to see, most importantly in many ways--maybe my religious faith teaches me this. It is almost better that these people have these--they get these checks in Cleveland and Akron and Mansfield, and they have no idea how they got them. They didn't know I had anything to do it as their Senator; they just know their lives are better. prgtoken Families will see $250 or $300 direct-deposited into their accounts every month for the next 6 months, and then they get the rest of the year in a lump sum. Then, as Senator Bennet and Senator Booker said, it is up to us to make this permanent. prgtoken In my State, 92 percent of the kids in the State are eligible. We have a great majority--at least, we think, 90 percent of them will see these checks this week either in their bank account or in their mailbox. We have to make sure we get the other children who are eligible. Their parents may not have filed a tax return, and those families need to go to childtaxcredit.gov to make sure they get this benefit. prgtoken Even before this pandemic, we all know hard work wasn't paying off for millions of workers. We have seen in the last 20 years that productivity has gone up. Corporate profits have exploded. CEO pay has soared almost unimaginably. Yet wages have essentially been flat. That has gone on for decades even though the cost of everything is up, especially the cost of raising children. prgtoken Our child tax credit recognizes the fact that raising children is work. It happens to be the most--maybe it is not compensated the same way, but it happens to be the most important work any family can do. But from childcare to health insurance, to transportation, we have seen that a hard day's work doesn't begin to cover expenses for so many parents, and even middle-class families don't feel stable. prgtoken As a result, 2 weeks ago, we were out of session, and I spent the week in Fremont, in De
Voting Rights (Executive Calendar)
Jeff Merkley (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2021-7-14

this is a critical time for America. It is a moment in which the actions we take or don't take will affect the very design of our government for generations to come. prgtoken Our Founders had a vision that we all are created equal. In our initial Constitution, it wasn't fully manifested, but we have worked through several hundred years to come to that point that we recognize that every American should be able to participate in the direction of their country. We had some key moments in that national debate. prgtoken I was always fascinated that when my father was born in 1919, women couldn't vote in America. We had all kinds of other barriers for communities of color--for Black Americans, for Native Americans--and those barriers we struck down time after time after time. prgtoken Then we came to 1965, and we said there are still so many ways that communities are trying to keep every citizen from participating in voting, and we are going to make sure that ends from this point forward. prgtoken President Johnson said that the power of the vote is the most significant tool ever developed to strike down injustice. It is a powerful tool. It is really the beating heart of our Republic, that ballot box, the ability to say: This is what I like, and this is what I don't like. This is who I like, and this is who I don't think will carry the policies I believe in. prgtoken At its heart, this is a vision of power flowing up from the people, not down from the powerful, but here is the problem: The powerful don't like that vision of America, so they have many, many strategies designed to try to override that founding vision of participation. They have legions of lawyers, and they have legions of lobbyists. There are three drug lobbyists for every single Member of Congress. They prgtoken have the ability to fund mass media campaigns to try to change the way that issues are framed. They have the ability to participate with dark money in elections that manifests itself in those endless attack ads you see on social media and on television. prgtoken They have all of these abilities, but the thing they really fear is the ballot box, and right now in America, they are going after the ballot box. We have to decide if we are going to defend it or not. That is the challenge that faces us, and it is a challenge that shouldn't be that difficult because every single one of us in this Chamber took an oath to the Constitution. The Constitution lays out the power, the vision of government of, by, and for the people. It starts off in the Constitution ``we the people,'' not ``we the powerful''--``we the people.'' prgtoken This assault has now spread to 18 States and 35 new, restrictive voting laws. These laws attack the ability to vote, and they are targeting Black Americans, communities of color, poor Americans, and college students. They make it harder to register. They make it easier to purge voters off the voting rolls. You c
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
John Kennedy (Republican, LA) \u2014 2021-7-15

I rise today on my own behalf and on behalf of my colleague Senator Bill Cassidy. prgtoken I know this has been true for States besides Louisiana, but for the last 18 months, from a weather perspective, Louisiana has been a fantastic impression of hell. We have had three hurricanes. We have had, depending upon how you define them, probably 10 different heavy rain events. And when I say ``heavy rain events,'' I mean, that doesn't sound very serious. I can assure you, it was. When you get 6, 8, 10, 12 inches of rain in a short period of time, you are going to flood. I don't care if you are living on Pikes Peak. You are going to flood. The water has to go somewhere. And, of course, we were part of the bad, debilitating freeze, as well, that also hit Texas very hard. prgtoken My people are very resilient, and they are tough, but they are tired. prgtoken Most Americans, when they think of a natural disaster, at least in connection with Louisiana, think of Hurricane Katrina, and, certainly, it was a bad one. I was there. We never would have recovered without the help of the American people, and I will never be able to thank the American people enough for putting forth their hard-earned tax dollars to help us recover. prgtoken These new hurricanes and rain events and freezes impacted probably close to one-third, maybe 40 percent of my people. The worst part of it, but not the only part that was hit hard, was Southwest Louisiana. At last count, about 100,000 homes were damaged, flooded, or blown over. prgtoken They are still running the numbers. The damages are in the billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars, and my people need help. prgtoken The purpose of my bill today is to offer us help for them. My bill today and Senator Cassidy's bill today--as I said, I am here on behalf of Senator Cassidy, as well--would authorize $1.1 billion to help my people recover. prgtoken Now, I want to emphasize, some people, when they think of flooding and hurricanes, think of wealthy people with second homes, with multimillion-dollar dwellings on the beach. That is not what I am talking about. I am not putting down anybody who has a nice, expensive beach house, but that is not what we are talking about in Louisiana. prgtoken The people who were hit by these weather events, through no fault of their own, are just good, honest middle Americans who get up every day and go to work and obey the law. They pay their taxes. They try to do the right thing by their kids. Their biggest investment is their home, and many completely lost their home. Many of them had flood insurance, and many of them had homeowner's insurance--and both. But it just didn't cover their losses completely. So we are talking about middle America here, and I want to make that clear. prgtoken Now, , I am sure you are thinking, because I know you well and you are a smart man: OK, if we are spending $1.1 billion here, where are we
Police Departments (Executive Session)
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2021-7-15

it didn't take long. Just a year since ``defund the police'' became a rallying cry and cities started cutting money from police budgets, crime is surging. prgtoken At the beginning of June, the New York Times reported: Homicide rates in large cities were up more than 30 percent on average last year, and up another 24 percent for the beginning of this year. prgtoken Homicides are up in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Columbus; and the list goes on. And it isn't only homicide rates that have risen. During the first 4 months of the year, Los Angeles saw a 73-percent increase in shootings. prgtoken As of the end of May, Portland, OR, which has been ravaged by violent riots over the past year, was on track to exceed 1,000 shootings for this year, as compared to 389 in 2019. prgtoken A Washington Examiner piece from June reported: Through the first 14 weeks of this year, New York City saw an 81 percent increase in shootings, the highest number of shootings during the same time period since 2002. Robberies, grand larcenies, felony assaults, and shootings have all increased in April and May compared to last year. prgtoken San Francisco has seen a surge in car break-ins, among other crimes, with the San Francisco Chronicle reporting in June that ``last month, the Police Department's Central Station saw a 753 percent increase in auto burglaries compared to the previous May.'' prgtoken In Oakland, CA, carjackings are up almost 88 percent, shootings are up 70 percent, and homicides are up 90 percent. prgtoken Unfortunately, I could go on all day. The crime surge is real, and it is frightening. I quoted a lot of statistics and percentages, but there are real people behind every one of those crimes--people whose lives have been cut short or ravaged by violence, people whose sense of safety has been destroyed. prgtoken It turns out that--surprise--defunding the police is a terrible idea. It is no coincidence at all that cities that have slashed their police budgets have seen huge increases in violence. Some of them are even recognizing the mistake they made and seeking to restore the funding that they cut. A Fox Business piece reports: Cities like New York City, Oakland, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles are planning to reinstate tens of millions for the construction of new police precincts, increase police department budgets, among other plans to bankroll more efforts to confront the uptick in crime. prgtoken Unfortunately, the problem won't necessarily be fixed that easily because ``defund the police'' rhetoric has not just resulted in smaller police budgets; it has also resulted in police demoralization and left departments worried about deploying officers to do their jobs. It has resulted in a wave of police retirements and resignations. prgtoken The New York Times reports: Thousands of police officers na
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Rand Paul (Republican, KY) \u2014 2021-7-15

reserving the right to object, we have now crossed $28 trillion in debt. We borrow more than $2 million every minute. The deficit last year was over $3 trillion. The deficit this year will be over $3 trillion. There is a $1 trillion wish list out there for everybody. Everybody wants something. prgtoken Somebody says: Oh, there is money in the Treasury. Guess what. There is not. There is a big hole, a big black hole in the Treasury, 28 trillion dollars' worth. prgtoken So we do have this one asset, and when we sell it, we should do it to pay down the deficit. We shouldn't do it to expand government further. prgtoken So I object to this because we are $28 trillion in debt. We don't have any money, and we should be fiscally conservative as we profess to be. prgtoken I object.
Police Departments (Executive Session)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2021-7-15

why is there such an increase in violent crimes in American cities? prgtoken In New York City, the murder rate is up 37 percent from 2 years ago; in Atlanta, 53 percent from 2019. In Portland, OR, murders have increased over 500 percent. prgtoken So everybody is asking: What is going on? prgtoken Well, if you were to ask President , he would say the usual rhetoric about how we need more gun control. The White House recently put out a so-called strategy to reduce crimes. prgtoken What is the first thing that the President wants to do about this issue? Go after rogue gun dealers. Well, we all know gun dealers must follow the law, like doing background checks. We all agree on that. But I don't think anyone truly believes that legal gun dealers are responsible for the sudden spike in violent crime, including our own Department of Justice. prgtoken Referring to a Department of Justice 2019 report, inmates who committed a gun crime most likely got their weapons from the black market--no background checks there. In fact, according to this report, only about 1 in 50 Federal inmates got a gun from a legal firearms dealer. prgtoken Speaking of which, if really want to protect Americans from illegal gun sales, they should support my bill, the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act, which would actually do that. prgtoken But getting back to the recent crime wave, the real problem is what everyone knows but many of my friends on the left dare not say. The real problem is that for the past 14 months, police officers across the country have been vilified for doing their job, which has led to many of those same police leaving their job. In addition, liberal communities--and everybody knows most of our big cities of America are run by ic mayors--reduced the police forces and even reduced prosecutions. The result is that in San Francisco, for example, as you see on television, shoplifting appears to be a way of life. prgtoken Some police have pulled back from making sure that we are all safe because in too many cities, elected officials don't have their backs. prgtoken Last year, Attorney General Barr enacted Operation Legend, which paired Federal law enforcement officers up with local police in nine cities where crimes were soaring. This led to the arrest of 6,000 violent criminals by the end of last year, including hundreds of murderers. prgtoken Now, does this White House have the will to support law enforcement so the police can make our streets safer? Does the President have their backs? prgtoken Recently, the President's spokesperson said it was the s who wanted to defund the police, not the . And that is just plain untrue and everybody knows it. What they were trying to say is that s didn't support the ' irresponsible spending bill back in March. prgtoken That is not defunding the police. That is just being fiscally responsible.