mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
REFORMING INTELLIGENCE AND SECURING AMERICA ACT
Chrissy Houlahan (Democrat, PA) \u2014 2024-4-12

. Mr. Chair, today, I also rise in support of this important amendment that will help our intelligence community, strengthen our southern border, and save American lives. prgtoken This amendment will fully enlist our country's intelligence agencies in the fight against foreign drug traffickers. Foreign-made fentanyl is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. It is critical that we start treating this danger as the very serious national threat that it is. prgtoken My legislation, which is called the Enhancing Intelligence Collection on Foreign Drug Traffickers Act, is now the bipartisan amendment that is led by myself and Mr. Crenshaw. This would allow our intelligence community to counter drug cartels as they attempt to bring deadly fentanyl to our shores. prgtoken Today, the intelligence community can only leverage section 702 against counternarcotics targets under one of the existing certifications, none of which are focused currently on drug trafficking. prgtoken This amendment would close that gap, without expanding domestic law enforcement's abilities to police drug dealers, in order to keep fentanyl from ever reaching the United States. prgtoken Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation, to pass the counternarcotics amendment led by myself and Mr. Crenshaw, and to reject any amendment that would put our national security at risk.
INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK ACT
Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC) \u2014 2024-4-12

today, on the anniversary of the week of the start of the Civil War, I introduce the Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park Act, which would recognize and preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington located in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. The Defenses of Washington, including forts, unarmed batteries and rifle trenches, created a ring of protection for the nation's capital during the Civil War. This bill would redesignate the 22 Civil War Defenses of Washington currently under National Park Service jurisdiction as a national historical park, and allow other sites associated with the Defenses of Washington that are owned by D.C. or a unit of state governments to be affiliated with the national historical park through cooperative agreements. This bill would also require the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the history of the Civil War, including the history of the Defenses of Washington and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, being assembled, arrayed and conveyed for the benefit of the public for the knowledge, education and inspiration of this and future generations. In 2018, the House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a hearing on this bill. Although the Department of the Interior opposed this bill, I feel strongly that the Defenses of Washington need additional recognition and should be redesignated as a national historical park. prgtoken The Defenses of Washington were constructed at the beginning of the war, in 1861, as a ring of protection for the nation's capital and for President Abraham Lincoln. By the end of the war, these defenses included 68 forts, 93 unarmed batteries, 807 mounted cannons, 13 miles of rifle trenches and 32 miles of military roads. The major test of the Defenses of Washington came with the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, when Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early, directed by General Robert E. Lee, sought to attack the nation's capital from the north, causing Union forces threatening to attack Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn. General Early was delayed by Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, and was stopped at the northern edge of Washington at the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11-12, 1864. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign ended when Union Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan defeated General Early at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on October 19, 1864. prgtoken Nearly all the individual forts in the Defenses of Washington--on both sides of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers--were involved in stopping General Early's attack, and the Battle of Fort Stevens was the second and last attempt by the Confederate Army to attack Washington. prgtoken Taken together, these battles were pivotal to the outcome of the war and the freedom and democracy that the war represented for this country. It is therefore fitting that we recognize the
REFORMING INTELLIGENCE AND SECURING AMERICA ACT
Pramila Jayapal (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2024-4-12

. Mr. Chair, we have a critical opportunity today to stand up for the civil liberties that are enshrined in our Constitution while also safeguarding our national security. prgtoken Every single day, the FBI conducts an average of 500 warrantless searches of Americans' private communications, resulting in over 278,000 searches in 1 year alone. The FBI has invaded the privacy of Members of Congress, a State court judge who reported civil rights violations by a local police chief, Black Lives Matter protesters, and more. prgtoken We cannot pass this bill without additional protections, like my amendment with Representatives Biggs, Nadler, Jordan, Lofgren, and Davidson, to close the backdoor search loophole. prgtoken Unfortunately, there are some members of the intelligence community and some Members of this body who are circulating information that simply is not correct, and I need to correct the record right here. Some Members have implied that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board does not support the amendment. prgtoken To counter that, let me share some quotes from Sharon Bradford Franklin in her personal capacity as Chair of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the independent government agency tasked with ensuring the executive branch conducts national security work in a way that protects our civil liberties and privacy. She said: It is critical that in reauthorizing section 702, Congress includes a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries. Requiring a warrant for U.S. person queries would neither end U.S. person queries nor undermine the overall value of section 702. Outside of the category of ``victim queries,'' the FBI has not been able to identify any cases in which a section 702 U.S. person query provided unique value in advancing a criminal investigation. In addition, the government has been unable to identify a single criminal prosecution that relied on evidence identified through a U.S. person query. The warrant requirement contained in the warrant amendment includes important exceptions that would address the government's concerns about slowing down the process for U.S. person queries. Exceptions are provided for exigent circumstances, consent, cybersecurity, and metadata-only queries. prgtoken Mr. Chair, let me be clear that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, in its oversight capacity, has the same access to all the classified intelligence that the agencies cite when they try to scare us into reauthorizing FISA with minimal changes. prgtoken We have a bipartisan amendment that would fix this problem. We have a responsibility to stand up for civil liberties of our constituents. We cannot pass this bill without requiring intelligence agencies to ensure that Americans' privacy rights are upheld at every turn.
REFORMING INTELLIGENCE AND SECURING AMERICA ACT
James A. Himes (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2024-4-12

. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his terrific work in the face of very real challenges and his commitment to bipartisanship. prgtoken This is a critical and bipartisan effort, and it is one that he and I and many others have spent thousands of hours on. As we close out debate, two things are very clear: Number one, this authority must be reauthorized. prgtoken I have heard too many Members saying that I will vote to reauthorize it so long as I get this amendment passed. If you are serious about keeping the American people safe, if you are serious about what you said, which is that this must be reauthorized, vote for final passage. This is our single most important tool to keep Americans safe. prgtoken Secondly, the Biggs amendment is an extreme amendment, and I understand the instinct. prgtoken As I mentioned before, the PCLOB, the President's Civil Liberties Oversight Board, proposed something that would require, in very limited circumstances, a judicial amendment. This amendment is far more extreme than that one, and it is not driven by constitutional concerns. Not a single Federal court after years and years of scrutiny has identified a Fourth Amendment issue. prgtoken This is a policy choice, and I would say to those friends of mine on my side of the aisle, maybe you have spent more time on this collection authority than I have. I have probably spent 2,000 or 3,000 hours, so maybe you have spent more. I am willing to concede that. Maybe you know better than I do, but I would ask you to listen to the people who use this every single day at the Department of Justice, at our intelligence community. I would ask you to read the last paragraph of the administration's statement of administration prgtoken policy, which concludes with the line: ``Our intelligence, defense, and public safety communities are united: The extensive harms of this proposal simply cannot be mitigated.'' prgtoken We are Article I. You have probably done a lot of work. Maybe you know better on the Biggs amendment. We will find out. Pass the Biggs amendment. Do what the SAP says would badly damage our safety. We will find out. prgtoken Mr. Chair, .
REFORMING INTELLIGENCE AND SECURING AMERICA ACT
Jason Crow (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2024-4-12

. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to reauthorize section 702 of FISA. prgtoken As one of the Nation's most essential intelligence-gathering tools, the importance of reauthorizing FISA cannot be overstated. Every day, our Nation's diplomats, intelligence professionals, defense officials, soldiers, marines, and airmen rely on intelligence derived from section 702 to advance their missions and to protect our country. prgtoken It provides vital insights into the kinds of threats that we need to be able to protect Americans from, including threats against our critical infrastructure, our computer networks, our financial system, and our citizens. prgtoken This bill is the product of careful, bipartisan negotiations. These negotiations have insured that this bill will not only maintain the effectiveness of FISA, but also enhance protections for America's civil liberties. It makes targeted reforms to address compliance issues and to prevent abuses. prgtoken The amendment proposed by my colleagues to require a warrant before accessing this information, which has already been lawfully collected and reviewed by courts and is in the possession of the U.S. Government, would serve as a de facto ban on ever accessing it. It creates an unacceptable level of risk with consequences that will be felt almost immediately for Americans and our national security. prgtoken Therefore, Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to reject the Biggs amendment and to support the underlying bill.
HONORING NAM PHAM
Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2024-4-12

I rise today to recognize the dedicated work and leadership of Mr. Nam Pham in service of improving the lives of immigrant families in our community in Santa Clara County. Mr. Pham passed away in March 2024. prgtoken Mr. Nam Pham was born in 1955 in Saigon, Vietnam. In 1983, he arrived in Malaysia as a political refugee after escaping Vietnam by boat. He eventually arrived in Rhode Island in 1984 and settled in California the following year. He has been a resident of Santa Clara County for four decades. prgtoken During his 40 years in our community, Mr. Pham produced hundreds of magazines, documentaries, and audio records to preserve Vietnamese history and culture in the United States in service of future. prgtoken Since 2001, Mr. Pham served as Director of the Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center, Inc. (IRCC) and had extensive experience in our community of working with the Vietnamese immigrant population. He oversaw IRCC operations, including personnel, finance, as well as funded volunteer programs. IRCC was the very first community-based organization in Santa Clara County offering education and social services to the Vietnamese community. prgtoken Since 2015, Mr. Pham helped host the ``Thank You, America'' annual event where Vietnamese Americans express gratitude and appreciation to the United States for rescuing them at sea and providing them a new home. Through IRCC and Dan Sinh Media, which he created, and which broadcasted programs nationwide through The Overseas Vietnam Radio Network, Mr. Pham worked to develop a health information network to help meet the health needs of Vietnamese Americans in our community. prgtoken , I commend Mr. Nam Pham's commitment to bettering the lives of immigrants in our diverse, thriving community. His legacy in our community lives on through his projects. We have been lucky to have him, and he will be missed.
REFORMING INTELLIGENCE AND SECURING AMERICA ACT
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2024-4-12

. Mr. Chair, prgtoken I rise today in support of the Cline (VA)/Jackson Lee (TX) Amendment [#3] to H.R. 7888--Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). prgtoken This amendment does something Congress should have done seven years ago: prohibit the government from resuming ``abouts'' collection, a form of Section 702 surveillance that poses unique risks to Americans. ``Abouts'' collection is the collection of communications that are neither To nor From an approved target of surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), but merely contain information relating to that target. prgtoken In the past, ``abouts'' collection focused on collecting communications that include a target's email address, or phone address, or Twitter handle, or something like that. But in theory, ``abouts'' collection could be used to collect emails that merely mention a person who is a target of Section 702 surveillance. prgtoken Nothing in the text or legislative history of Section 702 indicates that this type of surveillance is authorized. prgtoken Under Section 702, the surveillance must target a non-U.S. person outside the United States. The term ``target'' has a well-understood meaning. When a person is a target, it means the government can collect that person's information or other data, not the communications or data of other individuals. prgtoken As we all know, ``abouts'' collection under Section 702 has a sordid history. prgtoken The National Security Agency (NSA) used ``abouts'' collection when it was conducting upstream surveillance, in other words, when it was intercepting communications directly as they transited over the Internet backbone, rather than collecting stored communications from service providers. prgtoken Not surprisingly, this practice resulted in the collection of tens of thousands of purely domestic communications--communications between and among Americans inside the United States. prgtoken Moreover, often these Americans were not even discussing the target. Instead, their communications were lumped in with other communications, transiting over the Internet backbone as a packet. The NSA was collecting the entire packet of communications, simply because somewhere in that packet was a reference to information about a target. prgtoken This was a problem from the moment Section 702 went into effect in 2008. And yet for years, the government did not disclose this problem to the FISA Court. prgtoken To the contrary, the government affirmatively misrepresented how the program was working. It was not until 2011 that the court learned the government was sweeping in tens of thousands of purely domestic communications. prgtoken The court was livid. It noted that the belated disclosure, and I quote, ``marks the third instance in less than three years in which the government has disclosed a substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major collection program.'' prgtoken A
RECOGNIZING MARGARET HOTOPP
Brittany Pettersen (Democrat, CO) \u2014 2024-4-12

I rise today to recognize Margaret Hotopp of Evergreen, Colorado. Margaret was selected as one of only 15 high school students nationwide to represent the United States through the State Department's Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Abroad Program. prgtoken Created in 1993 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the FLEX program sought to foster meaningful relationships between students from countries in Eastern Europe and Eurasia with Americans and citizens of other countries. The modern FLEX Abroad program sends high-achieving American students to Eastern Europe and Western Asia to develop leadership skills, learn new languages, and represent our country as citizen ambassadors. prgtoken This year, Margaret will travel to Poland, attending school, living with a host family, and collaborating with the Department of State to integrate into her host community and promote mutual understanding between Americans and the Polish people. prgtoken On behalf of the people of Colorado's Seventh Congressional District, it is my honor to congratulate Margaret Hotopp for this impressive accomplishment and I wish her all the best for her year in Poland.
ADDRESSING U.S.-JAPAN TRADE DEFICITS
Marcy Kaptur (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2024-4-12

considering the visit this week from His Excellency Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, I rise to thank both him and his country's commitment to our deepening alliance of liberty. prgtoken I also rise to discuss where I believe there is room for improvement and greater parity in the trade relationship between our United States of America and Japan, our essential ally in the Pacific. prgtoken Japan is a key ally to our Nation, but there have been concerning developments within our trade and economic relationship that deserve attention. In particular, the U.S. and Japan's lingering and huge trade deficit is of great prgtoken importance, certainly in my manufacturing region of America, our steelworkers, autoworkers, and manufacturers across our region, and the entire industrial Midwest. prgtoken Due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, passage over 40 years ago with additional export caps and a slew of other flawed trade policies, the industrial heartland of our country has been left behind again and again. As jobs were outsourced and markets were left closed, it was hard for us to get our exports into Japan. prgtoken As we embark on this next phase of our relationship with Japan, of the utmost importance to our country and global security, I would urge President , lawmakers, agencies, the military, and even Japan itself not to again leave behind the manufacturing heartland and the people of our country whom I am in this very room to represent. prgtoken It is all too easy to get caught up in achieving our shared economic and security goals and to forget those right here at home. prgtoken Specifically, my constituents have been cut out of trade deals over and over. Our manufacturers find it extremely difficult to get items into Japan, and we have our markets open. We have markets open for investment by Japan in this country. Try to afford to invest in Japan by a major U.S. company. prgtoken The Japanese are smart traders, and they are able, and they are paying attention to the world, but so are my constituents. Also, make no mistake. If you leave people behind here at home, they can leave you behind, too. prgtoken In fact, we have lived the results of past unfair trade deals every day, and that has thrown skepticism on international partnerships that have not been fair, and isolationist tendencies have developed among some Americans who harbor these tendencies. However, these nagging trade deficits are one reason, and they currently impede our ability to uphold our commitment to such important alliances. prgtoken Therefore, why not embrace this moment? Let's embrace it to move closer to a new era for the industrial Midwest rather than repeat the mistakes of the past. prgtoken In 2022, the U.S. trade deficit with Japan was over $70 billion, but that was not an isolated year. Going back 40 years, the amount of that deficit is in the trillions. prgtoken Why does this statistic look like this, and ho
HONORING THE MEMORY OF NOBIE MAE HILL
Rashida Tlaib (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2024-4-12

today I want to recognize longtime Inkster and 12th District resident Nobie Mae Hill as we mourn her passing at the age of one hundred eleven. prgtoken Born and raised in Alabama, Ms. Hill was no stranger to a life of hard work, having spent years working on a plantation. After marrying and starting a family, Ms. Hill and her family moved to Michigan, settling in Inkster in the 1940s. She lived a full and vibrant life and became an integral part of the community. A trailblazer, Ms. Hill owned and operated two beauty salons in Inkster. She was also an active member of Inkster's Springhill Baptist Church. prgtoken Nobie Mae Hill was a beloved member of the community. Her kindness and warmth will be missed by all who knew her. Please join me in honoring her memory.
ANOTHER MASSIVE STEP IN THE FIGHT TO END GUN VIOLENCE
Maxwell Frost (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2024-4-12

I rise today because this week the administration took yet another massive step in the fight to end gun violence and save innocent lives. prgtoken Yesterday, the administration took historic action to reduce the number of firearms sold to people without background checks. This is the largest expansion in the history of the background check system or in the past 30 years. prgtoken From Columbine to the Midland-Odessa shooting, background check loopholes and unlicensed gun dealers have contributed to some of the most horrific and senseless tragedies of our time. prgtoken For years, people across our country have marched, fought, and raised their voices calling on leaders in power to give a damn about the innocent lives being taken away from us. prgtoken President is listening. Under his leadership, this Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Under his leadership, we have created the first ever Federal White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Under his leadership, we are one more massive step closer to universal background checks that will undoubtedly save lives. Now, it is time for this Chamber to follow suit and pass universal background checks.