mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Roger Marshall (Republican, KS) \u2014 2019-3-6

I rise today to honor the many women who have shaped our country's successes and are inspiring our future. prgtoken This month, we celebrate Women's History Month and recognize the women who have fought for equality and positively impacted their communities. The courage and resolve of our women must not go unnoticed. prgtoken In Kansas, we are always quick to highlight the great Amelia Earhart, our hometown aviation pioneer. But today, I want to highlight the millions of women around the world who have made and continue to make significant impacts on their families, communities, and workplaces through meaningful, everyday contributions. prgtoken My own mother, Nancy, taught me many family values that continue to prgtoken give me strength and guide me throughout fatherhood and in my career as an obstetrician. prgtoken She instilled in me the value of proper nutrition at an early age, which I was able to go on and explain in very commonsense terms to all my patients as an obstetrician. My mom emphasized the importance of a healthy breakfast and sitting down each night as a family for dinner, something my wife, Laina, and I prioritized as parents as well. prgtoken She taught me all these lessons while also working a full-time job as an office manager. Her dedication to her family and career didn't garner news headlines, but it made a significant impact and allowed me to grow up understanding the outcomes of hard work. prgtoken My wife, Laina, went to school to be a nurse at Butler County Community College and later worked in the neonatal intensive care unit, caring for premature babies. She made a huge impact on all those babies' lives, as well as their families and their development. prgtoken Now, as a mother of four and grandmother of two, I often tell people my wife has the most important job in America: raising our children. prgtoken I know there are millions of mothers around the globe who have and continue to provide the same energy, time, and dedication to their children, families, and communities. Too often, we don't take the time to share and celebrate these contributions, but we all know a woman who has made a significant impact on our lives. prgtoken As we celebrate Women's History Month, I challenge you to thank those women who have positively influenced your life, improved our communities, and contributed to the success of this great Nation. Recognizing Leadership of Dr. Bobby Moser
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2019, AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF MOTIONS TO SUSPEND THE RULES
Tom Cole (Republican, OK) \u2014 2019-3-6

the balance of my time to close. prgtoken , I urge opposition to this rule and the underlying measure. The majority has brought up a misnamed bill that instead serves only to preserve its own power. H.R. 1 will create a taxpayer- funded ATM to waste Federal dollars on political campaigns. prgtoken Let me say that again: to waste Federal dollars on campaigns. prgtoken My friends are worried about the power of money, but they are injecting billions of new taxpayer dollars into this. And not only that, the taxpayer has no say in where those dollars go. They don't get to pick a candidate or whatever. We are just going to willy-nilly have their dollars support candidates whom they may or may not agree with. prgtoken This does not only apply to and s. There are fringe candidates who will get funding under this, too, candidates, quite frankly, who will probably embarrass my friends and ourselves. prgtoken So I think this is an enormously misguided idea. It will take over elections and voter registration from States and transfer power to Washington. prgtoken Let me say that again. My friends are voting to literally turn over the State election operations of 50 separate States and federalize them. They haven't talked to very many secretaries of state. I think there was only one who actually was allowed to testify in opposition to this bill. prgtoken Instead, we are going to foist off billions of dollars in unpaid mandates on every State in the country so my friends can continue this misguided effort to alter the political landscape of the greatest Republic and democracy in the world. prgtoken This bill will weaken voting systems and weaken the enforcement mechanism that guards against fraud, and it will undermine Americans' fundamental First Amendment rights. prgtoken , I would strongly urge my friends on the other side to reconsider their course of action. This bill is not going to be heard by the Senate; it will never be signed by the President of the United States; and instead of building a bipartisan coalition for election and campaign reform, it will partisanize this process further. prgtoken There was and still is an opportunity to have this bill considered in markups across every committee of jurisdiction. Instead, the majority is simply ramming it through, using a committee where they hold a 2-to- 1 majority and limiting, frankly, the ability of Members to participate in the process of writing the bill. prgtoken We can do better than this, , and we should strive to do better than this now. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question, ``no'' on the underlying measure, and .
FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2019
Doug Collins (Republican, GA) \u2014 2019-3-6

I do appreciate that because I am very concerned, after two straight weeks of bills, I am going to have a 100 percent voting record with the ACLU. That is something new as we go forward here; although I think they do good work, I just didn't know we were going to agree so soon on this. prgtoken , I am going to describe the terrible policy behind the provisions of H.R. 1 in the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. prgtoken It is amazing, also, that we just did this without going through, because we didn't want to mark this up in areas because we didn't want to see what was in it; because here is what is going to happen: prgtoken First, the bill creates a private cause of action for lawsuits related to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. That means the bill allows anyone to sue anybody if they don't like the way an election was conducted in a locality, State, or nationwide. prgtoken Do you all remember the lawsuit v. Gore? In 2000, ic Presidential candidate Al Gore didn't like the results of the vote in Florida. If he could get the Florida results overturned, he would have had enough to win the Presidency. So he sued to get the Florida results overturned by a court. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court which finally stopped the recount after a month of legal wrangling that made America look like its elections were determined by lawyers, not voters. prgtoken Well, guess what? We are bringing them back. Here they come in, because under this bill today, you won't just see more cases like Gore v. Florida. You will see all sorts of lawsuits; Everybody v. Everybody. prgtoken Does a candidate need 1,000 more votes to win? Then a candidate can sue in two or three counties and see if a judge will order those votes into their vote column. prgtoken Does a candidate need a few more votes? Then under this bill, they could sue in a dozen counties. Need a million votes? This bill allows a losing candidate and disgruntled activists to sue in all 50 States: Gore v. Georgia, Gore v. Oklahoma, Gore versus any state that it takes to gather enough judicial relief to cobble together an election victory, taking time and money away from State and local elected officials who desperately need that money to administer free and fair elections; not pay bogus legal fees. prgtoken The Help America Vote Act of 2002 was enacted to precisely avoid future lawsuits like Gore v. Florida. Now this bill will undo all that and make matters worse in the process. prgtoken Second, this bill takes powers away from voters and gives it to convicted criminals by denying State voters their constitutional right to limit voting by people who have been convicted of murder, violent felonies, or other serious crimes including, by the way--get this-- voter fraud. prgtoken These provisions are patently unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, including liberal Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, all
The Green New Deal (Executive Session)
Chuck Grassley (Republican, IA) \u2014 2019-3-6

I appreciate my colleague from Iowa, Senator Ernst, for organizing this opportunity for several of us in the Senate to discuss the Green New Deal and to do it this week. prgtoken To put it mildly, the Green New Deal is ambitious. To frame it more accurately, it is an unworkable, pie-in-the-sky attempt to reshape every aspect of everyday Americans' lives. prgtoken First, let me say that I am proud of my record in successfully advancing the availability and affordability of renewable energy. Many have called me the father of the Wind Energy Incentives Act. I suppose after--what?--probably 26 years, that makes me the grandfather of the Wind Energy Incentives Act. My legislation sought to give this alternative energy source the ability to compete against traditional, finite energy sources. At that time, we never knew about fracking for natural gas and for oil. We thought we were going to be completely dependent upon Saudi Arabia for our energy. Now we know that is not true, but back in 1992 and before, we did everything to think up every alternative energy we could in order to be less dependent upon the Saudis. One of those acts that I was involved in was wind energy. prgtoken The wind energy bill--now law--has been extremely successful. Iowa supplies more than 35 percent of its own electricity from wind. We were the first State in the country to generate more prgtoken than one-third of its electricity from wind. Wind energy employs approximately 7,000 Iowans, and the nearly 3,000 wind turbines in Iowa generate millions of dollars in economic activity. So I want to make it very clear that I am speaking as someone who has a very successful track record of advancing clean energy. prgtoken Think about what the Green New Deal is about. Presumably, they don't know we have been this successful because the Green New Deal, on the other hand, is nothing more than a grab bag of vague aspirations. In fact, the Green New Deal was initially introduced in the House and Senate by its authors as a nonbinding, symbolic resolution--in other words, a lot of hot air. That means that even if it were to pass as introduced, it would not become law. I am glad that Senate Majority Leader McConnell reintroduced the text in a format that could become law so we Senators could go on record as to whether we would want to make this the policy of the United States. prgtoken It would be one thing if the policy and goals remained on topic-- namely, reducing pollution and cutting our Nation's carbon emissions. Those are worthy goals. Yet the resolution reads like a utopian manifesto that seeks to implement every liberal policy priority from the past many decades. prgtoken We have seen extreme leftwing agendas that rely on the power of the State and that usurp the role of individuals. How will those policies turn out? We have plenty examples. Look at the former Soviet Union. Look at Cuba over the last 60 years. Look at what has happened
FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2019
Lloyd Smucker (Republican, PA) \u2014 2019-3-6

. As the leader on the House Education and Labor, Higher Education and Workforce Investment Committee, we should be focusing on making colleges more affordable and helping more students complete their degrees, not subjecting them to electioneering efforts. prgtoken I cannot support a Federal overreach into places where students should be free to learn without the influence of politics. We must reject this overreach. We must speak now and stand up against this power grab before it is too late. prgtoken I will be voting against this measure, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
The Green New Deal (Executive Session)
John Boozman (Republican, AR) \u2014 2019-3-6

I am grateful for the opportunity to echo my colleagues' concerns about the Green New Deal. prgtoken We are here because the majority leader has indicated that the Senate will be considering this misguided proposal in the coming weeks. prgtoken You would think our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would be ecstatic about the idea of a Senate vote on a resolution that essentially compasses their party's entire platform. Instead, the minority leader is scrambling to conceive ideas that will give prgtoken his caucus members cover instead of embracing a plan. I can see why. prgtoken The Green New Deal didn't quite receive the celebration were expecting when it was announced. Its release was greeted with a combination of bewilderment, amusement, and confusion, which gave way to anger and disbelief the more Americans learned about it. prgtoken This is understandable. People don't tend to react positively when you threaten to upheave their lives by eliminating their jobs, outlawing their vehicles, and demanding they essentially build their homes to whatever standards in Washington decide. prgtoken If you ask most Americans if government control over almost every aspect of their lives is the direction they want to see the Nation take, the answer is an overwhelming no. Yet that is exactly what the Green New Deal seeks to do under the pretense of ending climate change. prgtoken The authors of the Green New Deal and its accompanying memo suggest their plan is the cure for all of society's ills. They cast themselves as saviors who will end global warming, income equality, and depression in one fell swoop. The Green New Deal will guarantee every American free healthcare, college tuition, and a job with a ``family- sustaining'' wage. prgtoken That last part isn't even required to receive the benefits promised by the Green New Deal. If an able-bodied person is unwilling to look for work, the government would provide ``economic security'' under the plan. prgtoken What supporters can't say is how they will implement this, what impact it will have on the average American, and where the trillions of dollars it will cost will come from. These details are important when you are asking for support of a plan that is estimated to cost up to $93 trillion and dramatically expands the Federal Government's reach into the daily lives of every American. prgtoken Single moms, seniors, and those living on fixed incomes--the very people whom the Green New Deal supporters purport to help--will be the most negatively impacted by this proposal. prgtoken Getting the majority of our Nation's energy from renewable sources is certainly a worthy goal. However, you cannot brand a $93 trillion, all- encompassing liberal wish list as an energy plan and expect it to be embraced with no questions asked. prgtoken Only a fraction of this plan deals with climate change, but its energy mandates are entirely unworkable. The Green
The Green New Deal (Executive Session)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2019-3-6

. Well, as long as I continue to have the floor, I would like to point out that we have a booming economy in this country. In just over a year, tax relief has helped create 3 million new jobs. Manufacturing jobs have increased for 10 straight months. There is the fact that we have more jobs available than there are people looking for jobs. We have a booming economy. I want to do nothing that is going to harm these people all across the country who are working to have an opportunity in such a strong, healthy, growing economy. prgtoken This Green New Deal--this Big Government takeover of the economy--it is masked as an environmental proposal. To me, it is radical. The president of the Laborers' International Union of North America calls it a ``bad deal.'' prgtoken Take a look at America. We are leading the world in reducing carbon dioxide because of the technological and innovative techniques we have had. We know from what we hear about the Green New Deal that it is prohibitively expensive, with predictions of up to $93 trillion. The entire net worth of the United States--of all the homes and all the families and everything--is only $112 trillion, and this alone would cost $93 trillion. You can go by how much it is going to cost each individual family. It is completely unaffordable. It is not something that is workable. But it is so far outside the America mainstream even if it were affordable. prgtoken So what we have seen here is the take another hard left turn. Under this Green New Deal, in just 10 years, the Nation's energy system would undergo a Washington makeover. The Green New Deal would end the use of energy resources that currently provide power for three out of five homes and businesses in the United States. Think about the harm that would cause the economy. This Green New Deal mandates the use of expensive power sources that can't keep the lights on. Wind and solar are important. We need more renewable energy in this country. But right now, wind and solar provide less than 8 percent of our electricity. prgtoken Should we increase the use of renewables? Absolutely. But eliminating affordable coal and natural gas would be a costly mistake--and not only that, it is impossible to do. The electric grid can't handle it. prgtoken Last month, there was an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled ``The Green New Deal's Impossible Electric Grid,'' written by Robert Blohm of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. He writes that if the electric grid relies solely on renewable energy sources, ``the grid itself may collapse.'' prgtoken That is not all we lose if the grid collapses. Our transportation system is in the crosshairs. The Green New Deal seeks to transform how Americans travel. It calls for an extensive and expensive national, high-speed rail system to replace air travel. prgtoken The State of California attempted to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Green New Deal (Executive Session)
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2019-3-6

the more you look at the Green New Deal, the worse it looks. Last week, one think tank released a first estimate of what the Green New Deal would cost. Here is the answer: between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years. Between $51 trillion and $93 trillion. That is an unfathomable amount of money. The 2017 gross domestic product for the entire world, for the whole planet, came to $80.7 trillion--more than $10 trillion less than what are proposing to spend on the Green New Deal. prgtoken , $93 trillion is more than the amount of money the U.S. Government has spent in its entire history. Since 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, the Federal Government has spent a total of $83.2 trillion. That is right--it has taken us 230 years of American history to spend the amount of money the want to spend in 10 years. Look at it this way: $93 trillion is enough money to buy more than 7,000 Ford-class aircraft carriers. To put that in perspective, guess how many aircraft carriers the Navy currently has in its entire fleet. Eleven. prgtoken It is like the are playing pretend. It is like they are on a road trip, and they are trying to pass the time, and they say, ``What would you do if you won the lottery?'' or ``What would you do if you had all the money in the world?'' It is a fun game to play for a few minutes, but this is not a game. The government doesn't have all the money in the world. That $93 trillion is going to have to come from somewhere. prgtoken like to suggest that we can pay for it and pay for just about anything simply by taxing the wealthy, but the truth is, taxing the wealthy or even the merely well-off isn't going to pay for this proposal. Taxing all the millionaires in the United States at a 100- percent tax rate for 10 years wouldn't add up anywhere close to $93 trillion. Taxing every household making more than $200,000 a year at a 100-percent tax rate for 10 years wouldn't get anywhere close to $93 trillion. Let's take it a step further. Taxing every family making more than $100,000 a year at a prgtoken 100-percent tax rate for 10 years would still leave far short of $93 trillion. prgtoken The Green New Deal is not a plan that can be paid for merely by taxing the rich. Actually implementing the Green New Deal would involve taking money not just from the well-off but from working families--and not a little bit of money either. Ninety-three trillion dollars breaks down to over $650,000 per household over 10 years. That is more than $65,000 per household, per year--more that the median household income in the United States. In other words, the cost per household for just 1 year of the Green New Deal is more than the yearly income of 50 percent of American households. prgtoken Let's leave aside the stratospheric cost for just a minute and talk about the other consequences of the Green New Deal. prgtoken Dem
Tribute to Don Young (Executive Calendar)
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2019-3-6

it is Alaskan of the Week time on the Senate floor, my favorite time of the week to talk about someone who has made a difference in my State. As you know, and as all the pages know, I try to come down to the floor every week to talk about someone who is in Alaska doing a great job for America, for their community, for the State, and what I believe is the best State in the country. I know we can all debate that. prgtoken Some of you might take issue a little bit with the characterization of the best State, but we certainly have some bragging rights on some elements that make us the most unique State in America. For example, right now, the Iditarod, the Last Great Race, is underway, with 52 mushers and their dog teams--up to 14 dogs--barreling for well over 900 miles across the State of Alaska toward Nome in some of the most harsh, difficult, and rugged terrain in the world. That is just one of the many things that makes us unique. We have the Iditarod, the Northern Lights that dance in the sky, communities that still hunt whales to feed their villages, which they have been doing for centuries. We have the most fish and the longest coastline. As a matter of fact, our coastline is longer than the rest of the lower 48's coastline combined. We have the tallest mountain in the world, and we have a mountain of a Congressman named Don Young. prgtoken Usually, Alaskans of the Week are reserved for people who aren't so visible, who aren't legends, who maybe are doing something in their community that not a lot of people are noticing. Today, March 6, 2019, I couldn't resist because Don Young, the Dean of the House, has officially become the longest continuously serving in the Congress in U.S. history. Let me repeat that. Today, Don Young has become the longest, continually serving in the Congress-- Senate or House--in the history of the United States of America. He was already here when every single Member of Congress was sworn in. Think about that. For every Member who has been sworn in, in the Senate or in the House, Don Young was here. In fact, according to Roll Call, there are at least 75 Members of the House who were not even born when Don Young came to Washington. That is an amazing achievement. prgtoken He has served Alaska and our country so well for 46 years that it was only right to feature him as the Alaskan of the Week and to make a special Alaskan of the Week poster with the young Don Young and President Ford and many others and Don in uniform. We just love Don Young in Alaska. Congrats to Don. prgtoken Where do we begin to talk about Congressman Young and the enormous impact he has had on Alaska and America? Let me start in Central California, where he was raised on a small ranch. He began the hard work of ranching young. ``My dad was a good man,'' Don said, ``but he believed that when you turned 7, you became a hired man.'' So he worked sunup to sundown. It was hot,