mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CARE FOR UNIVERSITY RAPE VICTIMS
Ted Poe (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-11-1

ever since she was a little girl, Silvana loved to play hockey. In her Massachusetts hometown, hockey was more of a way of life than just a sport. prgtoken Her parents knew she was talented, and supported her dream to play even in college. When she was offered a scholarship in 2011, to be the goalie for the University of Connecticut, Silvana felt like all of her dreams had come true, so she eagerly accepted. prgtoken She pulled out of her driveway with her packed clothes and hockey gear, but she could have never known that in a few days her life would change forever. She could not have foreseen how a lifetime of hard work and ambition would suddenly disappear tragically. prgtoken Like all new students, she was eager to immerse herself in her new college life. On the third day at the university, Silvana went to a house party with some new friends she met. But, after two drinks, she began to feel dizzy, numb, and lethargic. She quickly lost the ability to walk, and she became very ill. As she drifted out of consciousness, a male hockey player at the party instructed others to carry her to his bedroom. When she woke up, she found him on top of her, sexually assaulting her. prgtoken She immediately turned to the university for help and reported the assault at The Women's Center. But the counselor did not tell her to call the police, advise her to press charges, or help her in any way. prgtoken Silvana then went to the on-campus doctor. But instead of treating her like a victim and offering her the care and support she needed, the doctor told her that he didn't want to know who assaulted her. Get this, : the doctor told her, the remedy was for her to transfer to another university. This is awful. prgtoken One in five women on our university campuses are sexually assaulted. Of those, less than 25 percent even report the rape. prgtoken It took an extraordinary amount of courage for Silvana to report that sexual assault, especially to multiple people she didn't even know. She was offered no help or no support by anyone. She was alone, and she felt it. prgtoken The doctor wasn't trained to deal with rape victims and made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with Silvana. The university clearly viewed Silvana as a burden, just another statistic they didn't want to deal with. prgtoken , universities in the United States should be required to have a victim advocate on staff, a sexual assault victim advocate. Also, to ensure that this doesn't happen to more victims at hospitals, I have introduced legislation that would require a hospital to provide access to a staffer--it is called a SAFE, sexual assault forensic examiner--who is trained to provide care and be sensitive to trauma rape victims, or have a plan to get that victim to a nearby hospital that does. Universities and nearby hospitals need to work together to make sure that rape victims are treated appropriately when they are assaulted on campus. prgtoken The bill
Nomination of David Stras (Executive Calendar)
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, WV) \u2014 2017-11-1

thank you. prgtoken As we heard my colleague from Missouri saying, we have a great opportunity this week to confirm four outstanding individuals to the Federal circuit courts. These nominees are well-qualified individuals who have demonstrated a strong understanding of the proper role that a judge plays in our constitutional system. prgtoken I am especially pleased that we are considering three exceptionally talented women for the Federal bench. Federal circuit court nominations are extremely important. Circuit courts sit directly below the Supreme Court in our judicial system. Because the Supreme Court reviews relatively few or a smaller number of cases, many times the circuit courts have the last word in the majority of those cases, so it is essential that we have judges on the circuit court who will treat all litigants fairly. prgtoken When I think about what I want in a judge, I think fairness is the first thing that comes to mind. We want someone who treats litigants fairly, who shows respect for our Constitution, our statutes, and the controlling precedents. prgtoken We need somebody knowledgeable in the law. That sort of goes without saying but certainly is a top attribute of a judge. Every party before our Federal courts has the right to expect evenhanded, fair judges and fair justice from those judges who are handling their case. prgtoken Each of the four nominees being confirmed this week have a strong record and impeccable qualifications. They respect the rule of law. All were given a high rating by the nonpartisan American Bar Association. prgtoken Yesterday I was very pleased to support Amy Barrett's confirmation to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Despite obstruction by my colleagues on the other side, I am pleased that yesterday we confirmed Ms. Barrett, but I still have deep concerns about some of the debate and some of the questions that were raised about her religious beliefs throughout the confirmation process. prgtoken The Constitution clearly states that there can be no religious test for any Federal office. The Senate has a responsibility to consider qualifications and fitness for office of individuals nominated by the President, but that does not include an evaluation of a nominee's religious beliefs. Our Constitution fundamentally protects religious liberty for all Americans. That principle is deeply rooted in our Nation's history and allows individuals of all faiths the freedom to exercise their religious beliefs. prgtoken Ms. Barrett's credentials clearly demonstrate her ability to serve on the Federal bench, which she will be doing, and I hope future nominees are questioned by this body on their record, their qualifications, and their jurisprudence, not on their faith. prgtoken Today we confirmed the nomination of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen for the Sixth Circuit, a supremely qualified individual. A former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin
RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT OF 2017
Tom McClintock (Republican, CA) \u2014 2017-11-1

45 years ago, Congress enacted laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, that promised to improve the health of our forests. They imposed what have become endlessly time-consuming and, ultimately, cost-prohibitive restrictions on our ability to properly manage our national forests so that we can match the tree density with the ability of the land to support it. prgtoken I think after 45 years of experience with these laws, we are entitled to ask: How are our forests doing? The answer is damning. Our forests are now catastrophically overgrown, often carrying four times the number of trees that the land can support. In this stressed and weakened condition, our forests are easy prey for drought, disease, pestilence, and fire. prgtoken There is an old adage that excess timber comes out of the forest one way or the other--it is either carried out or it burns out. When we carried it out, we had resilient, healthy forests and a thriving economy, as excess timber was sold and harvested before it could choke our forests to death. In the years since then, we have seen an 80 percent decline in timber sales from our Federal lands and a concomitant increase in acreage destroyed by forest fire. I would remind my friend from Oregon that timber sales used to generate us money, not cost us money. prgtoken The direct revenues and spin-off commerce generated by these sales provided a stream of revenues that we could then use to improve our national forests and share with the local communities affected. prgtoken The Resilient Federal Forests Act begins to move us back towards sound and scientific forest management practices. It requires forest managers to consider the cost of no action alternatives; it streamlines fire and disease prevention programs and ensures that fire-killed timber can be quickly removed to create both revenues and room to restore fire-damaged lands; it ends the practice of raiding prevention funds to fight fires; it streamlines onerous environmental review processes without sacrificing environmental protection; and it provides our forest managers with alternatives to resolve frivolous lawsuits. prgtoken Provisions that streamline the environmental reviews were already signed into law last year for the Tahoe Basin, and the Forest Service regional manager told me that is going to take their revenue processes from 800 pages down to 40 pages and allow them to get their forest there back to a sustainable level. prgtoken We made some very big mistakes 45 years ago, and our forests have paid the price. This bill starts the long process of correcting those mistakes and recovering our national forests, and I urge its adoption. prgtoken , I include in the Record two letters, one from the South Tahoe Public Utility District, and the second from the Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, in support of H.R. 2936.
TRIBUTE TO SUSAN OLSON
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2017-11-1

today I wish to recognize a member of my staff who has been in public service on Capitol Hill for 30 years. Susan Olson is my deputy chief of staff and general counsel. She has served Members of Congress, the Senate, and congressional committees for decades and is a well-known, beloved public servant around the Hill. prgtoken Susan joined my staff when I came to the Senate in 2011, but she already had a long track record of distinguished service and respect from her peers. I got to know Susan when she served as secretary of the House NATO Parliamentary Assembly Delegation, of which I was a member during my years in the House of Representatives. Susan's knowledge, determination, and warm personality helped her earn the respect and admiration of Members and staff alike. She also served as a valued staff member on the House Ethics Committee where she was a legal counsel from 2004 to 2011. prgtoken Prior to working on the Ethics Committee, Susan served in the office of former Congressman Doug Bereuter of Nebraska for 17 years as legislative assistant, legislative director, and chief of staff. During her tenure with Congressman Bereuter, she also served as the secretary of the House Delegation to the British American Parliamentary Group from 1998 to 2000. prgtoken Susan's time on my staff has been marked by her wealth of knowledge and expertise on so many things. She is a trusted adviser, but more importantly, a dear friend to me and to everyone on my staff in Washington and Arkansas. We love Susan very much and appreciate all her hard work. She takes a personal interest in everyone she meets, from the many interns who cycle in and out of my office, to those on my staff and the countless men and women she has worked with over the years during her time on the Hill. prgtoken We are so happy for and proud of Susan for reaching this milestone. I congratulate her for the many years of service she has rendered to the U.S. Congress and to our country.
COLLEGES NEED TO BE MORE TRANSPARENT
Thomas A. Garrett, Jr. (Republican, VA) \u2014 2017-11-1

I want to thank my colleague, Congressman Mitchell, for his leadership in this amazingly important area, and also to point out the bipartisan nature of this bill not only, , to you, but to those people who might be watching at home at a time when it seems that we can't agree on anything, here we have an agreement in a College Transparency Act in how to ensure a better investment for the futures of our children. prgtoken Now, there are those who have opposed this bill, and I can't really wrap my brain around it, . Someone suggested that this might grow government. But that is absolutely not true. As a matter of fact, the data that would be made available in this act is already collected. But the problem is that that data is collected, and then it is siloed and accessible only to institutions or government entities and not to the end user. That strikes me as illogical, at best, and stupid, at worst. prgtoken Someone says it burdens colleges with data collection requirements, yet, again, the data is already being collected. What about personal privacy? Does it disclose individuals' private information? Well, if it did, I wouldn't be standing here today extolling the virtues of this bill which I cosponsored and Mr. Mitchell sponsors that support it again across the aisle to include the likes of the distinguished gentleman, Mr. Polis, from Colorado. prgtoken Instead of disclosing personal data of individuals, it discloses metadata of groups so what we would learn, for example, is that individuals who majored in X at college Y had an employment rate of Z, and that their earning potential was A as opposed to another university where it might be B. prgtoken What more pertinent information, , could there be to young people as they seek to choose an area of study and a place to engage in that area of study than their likelihood of success based on those who have done the same thing at the same college or university before them? prgtoken So we have addressed some of the things that this bill doesn't do, but let's speak briefly about what it does do. Without any ability to articulately argue, this bill increases transparency. When you step aside from the realm of national security, I can think of no reason that the Federal or State or local government should be in the business of collecting data that they don't share with the citizens who put them in office or the people who fund their endeavors. Indeed, this isn't national security, unless you contemplate the fact that right now our children attend universities deprived of information that might help them make better choices. prgtoken So this increases transparency. It creates informed consumers. It allows individuals to decide for themselves which college or university might offer a program that they are interested in, is the best investment of their time, and perhaps their or their parents' or the government's money. It informs payers to that very end, whether t
Nomination of David Stras (Executive Calendar)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2017-11-1

tomorrow morning the Senate will vote on the nomination of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid. She is going to be voted on to serve on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is an eminently qualified and exceptional nominee who has received widespread, bipartisan praise and support. prgtoken Justice Eid has spent over a decade on the Colorado Supreme Court. Before her appointment, she served as the Colorado State solicitor general. In that role, she represented the State before both Federal and State courts. She also served as a tenured faculty member at the University of Colorado School of Law, where she taught courses in constitutional law, legislation, and torts. Justice Eid practiced commercial and appellate litigation at Arnold and Porter. At the beginning of her legal career, Justice Eid served as a clerk for Judge Jerry Smith on the Fifth Circuit and as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. prgtoken Justice Eid was raised by a single mother, whom Eid credits for her significant personal and professional achievements. She earned a scholarship to Stanford and graduated with distinction and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Justice Eid received her law degree from the University of Chicago, where she graduated with high honors and Order of the Coif. She has had an impressive legal career, and she has an impressive life story. prgtoken In her long and celebrated tenure on the Colorado Supreme Court, Justice Eid has heard roughly 900 cases and written approximately 100 opinions. In 2008, 75 percent of Colorado voters retained Justice Eid to the Colorado Supreme Court. prgtoken Her nomination has also received wide, bipartisan support. As an example, Justice Eid's former clerks, who noted that they ``come from a diverse set of geographic, economic, cultural and political backgrounds,'' wrote a letter to the Judiciary Committee supporting her nomination. Judges work closely with their law clerks every day. Law clerks understand a judge's deliberative process and approach to the law better than anyone. How did these clerks describe Justice Eid? They said: ``She never fails to provide her full attention and dedication to each individual case, mastering the relevant facts and carefully analyzing the law, whether the text of a statute or the word of a contract.'' Her law clerks also wrote that she goes ``where the law takes her'' and that in their decade of collective experience in over 900 cases, Justice Eid ``treats each case individually without any preconceived notion of desired outcome.'' prgtoken The National Native American Bar Association also endorsed Justice Eid. In their letter to the committee, they noted that she ``has demonstrated deep understanding of Federal Indian law and policy matters, as well as significant respect for the tribes as governments. Such qualities and experiences are rare among nominees to the federal bench.'' They went on to note that ``whi
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2936, RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT OF 2017
Greg Walden (Republican, OR) \u2014 2017-11-1

I thank the gentleman from the Rules Committee, my colleague from across the river in Washington State. My apologies to Washingtonians because one of our fires, the Eagle Creek fire, actually spotted across the mighty Columbia River, set fire to part of the forests in Washington State down near Stevenson. Fortunately, that fire was extinguished. The one on the Oregon side was terribly dangerous, man-caused, human-caused. It blew out 14 miles in one night headed toward Portland. prgtoken These are monster fires. We lost 678,000 acres this year to forest fires in my great State of Oregon. It is about two-thirds of the entire size of the State of Rhode Island. It is enormous. This is happening year after year, and the consequences are extraordinary. prgtoken Smoke chokes our airsheds. Schools literally had to shut down and send kids home because it was too smoky to have them inside the school. The 30th anniversary of Cycle Oregon was canceled. That is a major annual bicycle ride that occurs; 30 years, the 30th anniversary, canceled. They couldn't find a way to pull it off. The Shakespeare Festival down in Ashland, nine performances had to be canceled; $400,000, , just in ticket receipts that had to be foregone. I am told they had to lay off people as a result. prgtoken When you think about not only the lost forests--this is what a forest looks like after it is burned--the ground is often sterilized. You can't even go back and replant for a year or two in some cases because there is no soil left. prgtoken The impacts are enormous on our environment. Those of us who are concerned about the environment, about carbon emissions into the atmosphere, prgtoken in 2015, when a like amount was burned in Oregon, the Forest Service estimated the blazes emitted more than 90,000 tons of fine particulates and 14.2 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. That is equivalent to more than 3 million cars; 3 million cars. prgtoken The cause of these increasingly catastrophic fires, as Dr. John Bailey of the Oregon State University's College of Forestry pointed out during a hearing earlier this month in our Energy and Commerce Committee, in some cases, the forest landscapes in my part of Oregon, eastern Oregon that would have historically held about 20 trees per acre, have more than 1,000 trees growing there today. prgtoken You see, we have stopped management. In many cases, we have stopped fire. The forests continue to grow, and die, and build, and get more dense, and so when fire does strike, it is with devastating consequence. prgtoken My friend from Florida, and he is my friend, when he gets thunderstorms in Florida in the summer, he gets a lot of rain with it, I bet. If we have thunderstorms in Oregon, we don't get the rain. We went nearly 90 days without any rain, but we still got lightning. The lightning torches these forests and starts a lot of these blazes. prgtoken A 2014 study in California by the Nature Cons
CONGRATULATING OAKWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Erik Paulsen (Republican, MN) \u2014 2017-11-1

I rise to congratulate Oakwood Elementary School in Wayzata for being recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School for academic excellence. prgtoken This is a big honor. It is a big deal. I visited Oakwood myself, and only eight schools in Minnesota have received this recognition this year. That is because exemplary, high-performing schools like Oakwood rank among the highest performing schools with top scores in State assessments. prgtoken One important note worth mentioning is that Oakwood Elementary School has done significant work addressing the achievement gap in their community so that every one of their students has what they need to be successful. prgtoken , every one of Oakwood's teachers, staff, students, and parents should be commended for this accomplishment. Congratulations, again, to Oakwood Elementary School for being named a National Blue Ribbon School.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2936, RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT OF 2017
Bruce Westerman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2017-11-1

I thank the gentleman from Washington State for not only yielding me this time and for his good work on the Rules Committee, but for his support of my bill, H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act. prgtoken , I would like to speak right now not only as a Member of the United States House of Representatives, but also as a forester, educated at this country's first forestry school, licensed by my home State by exam to practice forestry. If there is an issue that I understand that comes before this Congress, it is our forests. prgtoken As I listen to accusations from across the aisle, I trust my colleagues are not intentionally trying to mislead, but they seem to know so much about just what isn't so. This is a bipartisan bill with ic cosponsors and it is based on sound scientific management. prgtoken , we are on the floor today to debate a rule and, as you know, this rule is part of the process of the House of Representatives that will conclude later this afternoon with votes not only on this rule, but eventually on the underlying legislation. prgtoken The process of moving this bill through the House began earlier this year, as I and a number of Members representing multiple committees talked about and debated different ideas and what we hoped for in a final piece of legislation. After hundreds of meetings with stakeholders on all sides of this issue, on both sides of the aisle, prgtoken and countless hours of work by Members and staff alike, I believe that the House stands ready to vote to improve the condition of our national forest land. prgtoken However, the hard work of everyone involved will be for naught if the Senate fails to act. For that reason, I encourage our colleagues in the Senate to take up this legislation, debate it, offer solutions, and act to make a difference on our national forests and our rural communities. prgtoken , let's be clear. Our national forests are in the poorest condition this Nation has ever seen, and will continue to degrade if we fail to act and complete the work that has started here. However, I believe that we have reason to be encouraged. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently held a hearing on a discussion draft that includes similar forest management provisions as H.R. 2936, and I know the other committees of jurisdiction are working on forest reform legislation as well. prgtoken This is not only a forest health issue; it is a public health issue that demands action. Shame on us if we continue to stand idly by and watch our treasured national forests go up in smoke while people suffer and die. I stand here today to encourage the House to adopt this rule and pass this bill, therefore allowing the United States Senate to take up the legislation, or, at the very least, something similar to it. Pass it and allow us to meet at conference and work out the differences. Let us present a workable solution to the President for his signature.