mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
URGING FOR RELEASE OF MICHAEL PHUONG MINH NGUYEN FROM DETENTION IN VIETNAM
Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-9-4

I rise today to urge our government to use all of its available resources to ensure the safe and timely release of United States citizen Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen from detention in Vietnam. prgtoken Michael was captured by Vietnamese authorities on July 7th while touring Vietnam and visiting elderly relatives. He is being investigated for ``engaging in activity against the People's Government'' and is being held at the Phan Dang Luu Detention Center in the Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh City. prgtoken Despite having been detained for almost a month, the Vietnamese communist government has not brought any formal charges against Michael. He has only been allowed to visit with the United States Consulate once and has not been allowed to communicate at all with his family and friends. The Vietnamese government may continue its investigation for several months, during which time Michael will have limited due process rights, including limited communication privileges, according to Vietnam's laws. prgtoken Michael's wife, Helen, wrote to me from our home state of California where she and Michael have raised four children, to ask for assistance with her husband's case. In her letter to me, Helen said: ``Our biggest concern is that without representation, the Vietnamese government will continue to hold him without probable cause, assess bogus and unwarranted charges, resulting in serious ramifications.'' prgtoken The government of Vietnam has a history of arbitrarily detaining those who have peacefully exercised their legal rights and has been cracking down even harder, recently, with longer sentences. Michael Nguyen's case is a disturbing example of this, but this time the Vietnamese authorities have detained and captured one of our own citizens. As a beacon of freedom and democracy, we cannot let such arbitrary detention of one of our own citizens to stand. prgtoken I join my colleagues, who have also called for Michael Nguyen's release, in urging our government to make Michael Nguyen's release a priority and ensure his safe return home to the United States.
FITNESS INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2018
Bonnie Watson Coleman (Democrat, NJ) \u2014 2018-9-4

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise in support of H.R. 6374, the Fitness Information Transparency Act of 2018. H.R. 6374 would require the Department of Homeland Security to issue uniform standards to vet Federal contractors seeking to work for the department. prgtoken Currently, there is no standard for vetting contractors to determine their fitness to access DHS facilities, IT systems, and sensitive information. Each prgtoken component has different standards, different procedures, and different adjudicators for contractor fitness. Lack of a department-wide uniform standard hinders reciprocity across the department. As a result, the committee has received testimony that contractors who work for multiple DHS components are investigated over and over and over again. What a waste of time and resources. prgtoken Today, DHS contractors routinely wait 3 to 4 months, if not longer, to be investigated, regardless of whether they have already been determined to be fit by another DHS component. This wait time is costly for not only the contractor, but it also hinders the ability of the Department of Homeland Security to execute its mission. prgtoken Today, neither the contractor nor their employer is regularly informed of the status of their investigation. Enactment of H.R. 6374 would help ensure that Federal contractor firms can access timely information regarding the status of their employees' fitness investigations. prgtoken Thanks to language that was authored by Representative Correa and accepted in committee, H.R. 6374 also recognizes that weaknesses in DHS fitness processes not only undermine the onboarding of Federal contractors in a timely way but also the onboarding of new DHS employees. prgtoken Representative Correa's amendment would require the department to take steps to improve the suitability determination process for Federal applicants and appointees and to report on the degree to which components and offices are granting reciprocity to individuals who are employed by other components or offices within the DHS. prgtoken , I encourage my colleagues to support this measure. H.R. 6374 improves the Department of Homeland Security's contractor investigation process by requiring a uniform set of standards, encouraging reciprocity among components, and enhancing communication between the department and the private sector. prgtoken It is our duty as Members of Congress to ensure processes are followed and that such processes are effective and efficient. H.R. 6374 seeks to do just that. prgtoken , I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 6374, and .
CLIMATE CHANGE
Tom Udall (Democrat, NM) \u2014 2018-9-4

I just want to tell you how proud I am to join Senator Whitehouse today on the floor. I want to thank the Senator from Rhode Island for continuing to bring the urgency of combating climate change to the attention of this body. I admire his passion and intellectual clout, which he has brought specifically to climate change a number of times here on the Senate floor. He has been a great advocate for his State of Rhode Island, where we all know there are going to be very serious impacts--sea level rise is one of the major ones, but there are many others--as a result of how climate change and global warming are playing out. prgtoken Let's state several things here that are clear. One is that the science is clear. The Earth's atmosphere is warming at an alarming rate, and human activity is the principle cause. What we see every day with our own eyes--extreme weather events around the globe--is clearer and clearer. But worse and most clear is the harm being done to millions of Americans and people all around the world as a result of the destructive effects of climate change. prgtoken People are losing their homes, their lands, and their farms. We now have a new kind of refugee--climate refugees--who are displaced from their homes by catastrophic weather disasters, including drought and floods. In 2017 roughly 68.5 million people were climate refugees, and that number is expected to double to over 140 million by 2050. prgtoken Hundreds of thousands are losing their lives. The official death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria is now 2,975, and there are even higher estimates of losses. prgtoken Climate change is the most pressing moral issue of our time. As the people in Puerto Rico know all too well, as the people of Rhode Island know well, as the people of New Mexico know well, and as all of our States and territories know well, it is an existential threat. Yet in the words of the late, great John McCain--as the Presiding Officer knows, he was always an outspoken gentleman--``we are getting nothing done, my friends. We're getting nothing done.'' prgtoken I know that Senator Whitehouse was an honorary pallbearer at Senator McCain's ceremony at the National Cathedral. We had 4 days of celebrating the John McCain that spoke up about core issues that America really faced. As I mentioned, John gave us that deserved chewing-out on the Senate floor on July 25 of last year for not working together, for not working in a bipartisan fashion, and for not reaching across the aisle. On climate change, we certainly are not getting anything done, and we are not working across the aisle, as John told us to do. prgtoken The West that John McCain so loved and worked to protect is getting hit hard. We have less precipitation and less snowpack, and the snowpack we have is melting earlier. Rivers and reservoirs are running at historic lows, and some river segments are drying. We now have abnormally dry conditions in
CLIMATE CHANGE
Sherrod Brown (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2018-9-4

yesterday around the country, Americans gathered to honor the women and men who built our economy and continue to power it today--American workers. prgtoken Almost every year when we return after Labor Day, I speak about American workers--those who work with their hands, their shoulders, their arms, their brains--because all work has dignity. All work matters to our country. prgtoken Martin Luther King said, ``All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.'' He told the Local 1199 hospital workers union more than 50 years ago that ``no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages''--something that is too often the case today. Let me talk a little bit about that. prgtoken All work has dignity. That is what Labor Day is all about. Over the last week, I traveled all over Ohio, meeting with workers who power our State and support our families. Last week, I talked with mineworkers and Teamsters in Cambridge, in Eastern Ohio, in Appalachia. They are fighting to protect the pensions they earned over a lifetime of work. prgtoken One retired coal miner, John Vargo, who was there with his wife Linda, gave me a coal-black beer stein that was given to his father. Five thousand of those steins were given out to UMWA members 40 years ago. The front features a miner with a pickax doing his job working through a black tunnel. The inscription on the bottom says that it ``represents the long struggle historically for humane working conditions.'' prgtoken On Sunday, I talked to firefighters and steelworkers and so many others--several hundred workers in Lorain; auto, steel, iron workers, carpenters, and other tradespeople; machinists, service workers, SEIU, AFSCME, and others. prgtoken Yesterday in Cleveland, I spoke with workers at the 47th annual Labor Day parade and festival. This event was started nearly half a century ago by Mayor Carl Stokes, continued by his brother Lou Stokes and by Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and carried on today by my friend Congresswoman Marcia Fudge. It is a reminder of the historic connection between the civil rights movement and our labor movement. Both are movements for justice. They are about treating Americans--no matter whether you work in a hospital, punch a clock, work construction, are an hourly wage worker, work for tips--treating all Americans with dignity and respect. prgtoken This morning, I met with a group of firefighters, several of them retired--union firefighters and fire chiefs--in Shaker Heights, Lakewood, and Cleveland, all of whom talked to me about how we know that when there is a fire, firefighters rush into danger while all of us civilians flee and rush out. What we don't think about enough--and we know the dangers of the job: a collapsing roof, a floor falling in-- what we don't think enough about is the chemicals they are exposed to. That is why we pushed legislation here--and then the dollars to go with it--for a cancer registry, so
CLIMATE CHANGE
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2018-9-4

. First, let me thank my good friend--who did a great and outstanding job this morning on the Judiciary Committee--for his graciousness and thoughtfulness as always. I also thank my friend from New Mexico. prgtoken , the Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings today on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. on the committee have pointed out that over 40,000 of Judge Kavanaugh's documents were handed over to the committee last night. It is the latest insult in what has been an insulting process for reviewing the nominee's record on the issues. It has not just been insulting to in the Senate but insulting to the Senate as a whole and insulting to the American people: We can jam this through, and it doesn't matter what you think and what you need to know. prgtoken More than 90 percent of the nominee's record has been shielded from public scrutiny. The chairman keeps claiming that there are several hundred thousand pages that have been made available. That is not the point. If only 7 percent of the documents are made available, the question is, What looms in the other 93 percent? It is the percentage that matters because we want to know what is hidden. prgtoken Furthermore, we have no knowledge of why we were given these documents and not given the vast bulk of the documents. What is the rule? Is there some objective rule finding? They should make it public. Why? They haven't, and the reason is simple. The obvious conclusion-- and we can't prove it because we don't have the documents--is that in the 93 percent, there are things they don't want to be made public. Otherwise, there would be a set system, and they would say: Here is why you are getting this, and here is why you are not getting that. prgtoken Again, it is not the number; it is the percentage. Almost everything the s requested with Elena Kagan and Sotomayor when they were in the minority--in our position now--was granted. Very little of what we have requested has been granted. So the question looms: What are they hiding? prgtoken I commend my colleagues, sincerely and strongly, for standing up and raising these issues this morning. The Judiciary Committee members were lending their voices to a large and growing chorus of people out in America who are deeply concerned about how this process has been run. Every member of the Judiciary Committee was eloquent and forceful in their clarifying of just how far the s have gone to keep Judge Kavanaugh's record a secret. Here, for the highest Court in the land--which has huge power over every one of our lives in many different ways--we are hiding what he really thinks. Maybe it is because they don't want the American people to know what he really thinks. prgtoken Nonetheless, the Judiciary Committee proceedings are going forward even though the majority has taken great pains to shield a great bulk of Kavanaugh's record from the Amer
FITNESS INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2018
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-9-4

I rise in support of H.R. 6374, the ``Fitness Information Transparency Act of 2018,'' or the ``FIT Act,'' which will streamline federal contractor fitness determinations for receiving and maintaining contract awards for the Department of Homeland Security. prgtoken This bill will standardize the fitness standards for contractors for the Department of Homeland Security that reflect employability standards to ensure contractors meet public trust obligations relating to the work they will do on behalf of the American people. prgtoken During the Homeland Security Committee markup of H.R. 6374, an amendment I offered was adopted. prgtoken The Jackson Lee Amendment improves the FIT Act by establishing an ``Exigent Circumstances Fitness Determination Review'' process. prgtoken The Jackson Lee Amendment provides that ``The Chief Security Officer may conduct an immediate review of a contractor employee's fitness determination when a contractor employee has engaged in violent acts against individuals, property, or public spaces based on the contractor employee's association with persons or organizations that advocate, threaten, or use force or violence, or any other illegal or unconstitutional means, in an effort to prevent others from exercising their rights under the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State, based on factors including, at a minimum, race, religion, national origin, or disability.'' prgtoken In July 2018, news reports surfaced that Northrup Grumman had business with a government contractor who employed Michael Miselis, an active member of the California-based Rise Above Movement (RAM), a well-known violent white supremacist group. prgtoken RAM's membership has deep roots in California's racist skinhead movement and the violence of RAM members has been a hallmark of the group and its members. prgtoken The Anti-Defamation League describes RAM as a white supremacist group whose members believe they are fighting against a ``modern world'' corrupted by the ``destructive cultural influences'' of liberals, Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants. prgtoken RAM members consider themselves to be part of the ``Alt Right'' and operates like a street-fighting club. prgtoken RAM members actively train to do physical battle with their ideological foes, and have been involved in violent clashes during political rallies and demonstrations. prgtoken Mr. Miselis had a security clearance and worked for Northrup Grumman, a major defense contractor, at the time he engaged in physical violence against persons protesting racism and white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia. prgtoken In May 2018, Northrup Grumman was informed of Mr. Miselis' membership in RAM and the violent assaults he initiated while he was in Charlottesville participating in activities in support of white supremacy, which were captured on video and in photos. prgtoken Mr. Miselis worked for a government contractor and held a security clearance
IN HONOR OF DUNCAN McCULLOCH
J. Luis Correa (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-9-4

I would like to take some time today to honor Duncan McCulloch, an explementary constituent who I am immensely proud to represent. Mr. McCulloch has served the public schools of Southern California for more than 25 years as a teacher and administrator. Before becoming principal of Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, he served with distinction as the assistant principal of Costa Mesa High School, and then Corona del Mar High School. Each school he has worked at has been touched by his outstanding leadership and enthusiasm, and his students have been inspired by his dedication. prgtoken Mr. McCulloch has served as Segerstrom High School's principal for 5 years, and during that time he constantly strove to provide more opportunities for the enrichment of his students. Among his many accomplishments are introducing a program in American Sign Language, creating the only Aerospace engineering program in Southern California, and implementing an ACT preparation program to help students reach their goals. prgtoken His dedicated focus for his students became evident to all that witnessed him teach and guide his students. He was not only a principal, but a mentor, friend, and at times even a father figure to his students. He carries the qualities that every principal should strive for--dedication, genuine interest, and being a role model for all of his students. prgtoken Mr. McCulloch enriches the lives of everyone he encounters and is a pillar of his community. Every role that he has held was served with distinction and leadership. His time as a principal for Segerstrom High School will be forever remembered, and we are saddened to see him leave. His actions deeply impacted all of his students and colleagues who will now carry on his legacy and continue to make a positive impact in our community. prgtoken Even though he is retiring, he will continue to be a teacher, leading by example and demonstrating the best qualities of a life. I am truly honored to recognize Mr. McCulloch today for improving and guiding the lives of future generations.
REAFFIRMING DOUGLAS RUMSEY'S RIGHT TO HARD-EARNED PENSION
Marcy Kaptur (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2018-9-4

I rise to share the powerful story of Douglas Rumsey, a retiree of Teamsters Local 707 Pension Fund. For years, Douglas paid into his pension fund. Time and again, he gave up pay raises, deferring those raises be invested in his pension to make sure his retirement would be secure with one. prgtoken Tragically, millions of hard working Americans like him now face a grim prospect, a retirement without economic security as their hard- earned pensions is pulled out from under them. Due to no fault of his own, Douglas's pension was cut from $2,800 per month to $900 per month. Today, everything is a financial struggle. He can no longer support his family He can no longer pay his property tax, or his medical insurance. Even purchasing everyday items basic to daily life is a dilemma of true necessity. After 23 years of trucking service, after he put his life on the line for this country in his service in the Army, Douglas should be able to enjoy the golden years of his life, with his friends and family, without daily financial worry. Instead, he now lives in poverty, struggling to make ends meet. A robust member of his community, his distress is felt throughout his community. prgtoken I include in the Record the full testimony of Douglas Rumsey. Douglas Rumsey is not alone in his plight. This Congress turned its back on more than 40 years of pension promises, rolling back anti-cutback provisions. It turned its back on hundreds of thousands of hard working Americans. Telling these personal experiences is critical to understand why immediate action is required to buoy hope, retirement security, and the livelihoods of millions of American workers. prgtoken It is why I introduced the ``Keep Our Pension Promises Act,'' along with Senator Bernie Sanders for the last several years, which would establish a legacy fund within the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to ensure solvency for multi-employer pension plans, but really to ensure the solvency of so many hard working American's retirements. prgtoken Additionally, it is why I joined my colleagues to introduce the ``Butch Lewis Pension Protection Act'' in honor of an Ohio Teamster. Without congressional action, nearly 50,000 Ohio retirees in the Central States Pensions Fund and thousands more Ohioans in the nearly 100 other troubled multi-employer plans pensions are in jeopardy. I have led the charge to push for a legislative fix to the multi-employer pension crisis year after year. The multi-employer pension crisis is just the tip of a looming pension crisis. It is time for Congress and this nation to come to terms with this economic threat in our own backyards. prgtoken , this is a commonsense issue. Congress must act now. That's why I rise in strong support of this measure, and urge my colleagues to do the same.
HONORING ALEXANDREA JOHNSON
Bennie G. Thompson (Democrat, MS) \u2014 2018-9-4

I rise today to honor a dynamic young woman of the community, Alexandrea Johnson. prgtoken Alexandrea Johnson is a native of Holmes County, MS. She is the daughter of Maria Porter-Shannon and Christopher Johnson. prgtoken Ms. Johnson is Miss Sophomore 2018-2019 at the eminent school, Alcorn State University. She states that, ``It's a privilege and honor to serve at the institution and it gives her such an humbling and incredible experience to be able to grow beyond her capabilities.'' The school is helping her to grow into a fine young lady, leader and scholar. As she stepped out on faith and followed the path that God placed in her, ultimately things worked out in her favor. prgtoken As Miss Sophomore, she wants to be able to inspire both males and females at any institution. She especially has the desire to help students grow within themselves and to someday inspire others in the Holmes County community. prgtoken She desires to implement a platform called ``Unity'' during her reign as Miss Sophomore by hosting fun, modern, and informative events for her class because there is a need for everyone to come together. She is planting seeds of growth, prosperity and maturity, a goal that she has set for herself. prgtoken She has also traveled abroad this summer to Viana do Castelo, Portugal to enhance her knowledge about medicine and how things are run in the hospital setting. She was thrilled and grateful to have had the chance to study abroad and to be granted such an incredible opportunity and experience. prgtoken She also attended the Tailor Made Royal Retreat in Atlanta, Georgia and had a phenomenal time learning about the significance of the Royal Court and the Student Government Association. God's grace and mercy has abled her to be in this position to inspire others. prgtoken , I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing this young woman that Holmes County is very proud of, Ms. Alexandrea Johnson for her dedication to serving and giving back to the community.