mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
TRIBUTE TO DOUG JONES
Jacky Rosen (Democrat, NV) \u2014 2020-12-18

I rise today to honor and thank my dear friend and colleague, Senator Doug Jones, for the hard and noble work he has done in the United States Senate. I greatly admire his passion and all that he accomplished for the people of Alabama and all Americans. prgtoken For his entire life, Senator Jones has stood tall as a pillar of justice and equality. After graduating law school, Senator Jones became counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Senator Howell Heflin and served as an Assistant United States Attorney shortly after. Senator Jones then became the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, where he fought for civil liberties and against racial injustice. As U.S. Attorney, he successfully was able to prosecute two of the four men who were responsible for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, and later indicted domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph. By pursuing these cases, Senator Jones encouraged us all to continue to reject bigotry and hate in all its forms. prgtoken In 2017, Senator Jones became the first to represent the state of Alabama since 1997. He made it his duty to represent the people of Alabama in every vote he made on the Senate floor. He always voted in the best interests of his constituents, even when it wasn't politically expedient or convenient. His service stands as a reminder that bipartisanship is vital in addressing the issues that our nation currently faces. prgtoken Senator Jones is a man of bravery and strength. His heart and passion are not only moving, but admirable as well. I am very proud to have had Senator Jones as a friend and colleague as we served alongside each other on the HELP Committee these past two years, and I am eager to continue watching his fierce fight against injustice, joining with him in this struggle until hate is rejected in every corner of this nation. prgtoken Doug, you have been a great friend and colleague of mine in the Senate. It has been an honor serving alongside you, and I am so sorry to see you go. We have shared so much, both on and off the Senate floor, and I look forward to continuing our friendship. During your time here, you've shown bravery and strength, you followed your conscious, and you have always done what was right. The lives of the people of Alabama have been made better with you as their Senator. You will be dearly missed.
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2019
Maria Cantwell (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2020-12-18

. The Senator from Maryland is correct. The Commerce Committee has no intention of trying to pressure NASA to establish a university affiliated research center unless NASA leadership identifies a technical need for a mission requirement that the agency cannot satisfy through the standard competitive processes. In addition, the intended results of the reports called for in sections 818 and 819 should not be viewed as seeking to avoid either peer review by the National Academy of Sciences or very broad consultation with the scientific and aerospace communities.
IN RECOGNITION OF HON. MARCY S. FRIEDMAN
Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2020-12-18

. Madam , I rise to pay tribute to Justice Marcy S. Friedman. For the past three decades, Justice Friedman has capably presided over New York City courts. Justice Friedman was appointed as a Judge of the Housing Part of the Civil Court of New York City in 1991 and was elected to the Civil Court in 1994. In 2000, Justice Friedman was named a Supreme Court Justice by designation and assigned to the New York County Supreme Court, Civil Branch, to which she was re-elected in 2004. In 2012, Justice Friedman was named as a Justice of the Commercial Division, Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. For the past few years, Justice Friedman has served as the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities Judge, working on some of the most complex cases in the courts. prgtoken Justice Friedman is a graduate of Smith College, magna cum laude, and of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, cum laude. She was an associate with Willkie, Farr and Gallagher LLP, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society Civil Division, and a managing attorney at MFY Legal Services. prgtoken Starting in 2000, Justice Friedman presided over an Individual Assignment Part in New York County, where she handled torts, commercial case, and a wide variety of other cases, including employment discrimination, insurance, and real estate. Justice Friedman is a long- term member of the New York County's Center fore where she has handled mass torts, including pharmaceutical and asbestos cases. prgtoken Long committed to improving access to justice, Justice Friedman is a member of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Justice Center and a former member of the NYCLA Board of Directors. With the Justice Center, Justice Friedman chaired a Task Force on Housing Court. She also worked with NYCLA and other groups to organize a conference that brough together a distinguished group of prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges and scholars to address the racial impacts of criminal prosecutions of arraignments through sentencing. Justice Friedman has also lectured at the New York City Bar Association and at judicial seminars on various issues, including legal ethics and torts. prgtoken After decades of dedicated service, Justice Friedman will be retiring on December 31, 2020. Her tenure has been highlighted by diligent scholarship and thorough review of complex cases. Justice Friedman's notable ability review and synthesize conflicting decisions has been as asset to the New York County Court, and she will be missed. prgtoken Madam , I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the accomplishments of Justice Marcy S. Friedman and expressing appreciation for her contributions to the people of New York.
DEPENDABLE EMPLOYMENT AND LIVING IMPROVEMENTS FOR VETERANS ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT
Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2020-12-18

as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, and daughter-in-law of a beloved member of the Tuskegee Airmen who served our nation so heroically in World War II, I rise in strong support of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 7105, the ``Johnny D. Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020,'' which keeps faith with what President Lincoln called our solemn obligation ``to provide for them who have borne the battle, and their widow and their orphan.'' prgtoken I support this bipartisan omnibus legislation because it provides support for women veterans, expands benefits for homeless veterans, and ensures servicemembers and veterans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will be cared for properly and compassionately. prgtoken Let me highlight some of the important elements of this most important legislation. prgtoken Title V of the bill incorporates H.R. 7105, the Deborah Sampson Act, which the House passed on November 12, 2019, to address inequities and barriers that women veterans face when accessing VA care and benefits. prgtoken Deborah Sampson Gannett was a Revolutionary War veteran who served in the Continental Army from 1781 to 1783 and was awarded a full military pension for her military service after years of petitioning Congress. prgtoken Specifically the legislation creates a dedicated Office of Women's Health at VA, expands reintegration and readjustment group counseling retreats for women veterans and their family members, and bolsters call center services for women veterans. prgtoken The bill eliminates barriers to care by staffing every VA health facility with a dedicated women's health primary care provider, training clinicians, and retrofitting VA facilities to enhance privacy and improve the environment of care for women veterans. prgtoken In addition, the legislation bolsters supportive services by providing access to legal services for women veterans, expanding child care for veterans receiving VA health care, and requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on VA's efforts to support homeless or at-risk women veterans. prgtoken And importantly, the bill improves access to care and benefits for survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) by expanding MST counseling to former Guard and Reserve members, allowing VA to treat the physical health conditions of MST, and improving the claims process for MST survivors at the Veterans Benefits Administration. prgtoken Also included in the omnibus package before are several important provisions that I strongly support, including provisions directing VA to continue providing the disability benefits questionnaires online, streamlining veterans' access to earned disability benefits. prgtoken The bill lowers the age at which a surviving spouse may still receive dependency indemnity compensation benefits at the point of remarriage and increases VA's funding cap from $5 million to $1
Coronavirus (Executive Calendar)
Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2020-12-18

. To answer the Senator from Illinois very directly, it is totally antithetical to the principles of democracy in the United States of America. It is totally abhorrent to the values of our constitutional Nation, and it is, frankly, absurd. prgtoken Here we are, according to my colleague from Texas, standing up and being tough on China, and we are doing what? We are sending back their opponents so they can imprison them and kill them? That is the notion of being tough on China--to enable them to imprison and kill their political opponents? prgtoken I ask my colleague from Texas to rethink the practical implications of this measure and to consider why the House of Representatives unanimously passed this. It doesn't lower the standards for political refugees coming to this country. It doesn't eliminate any security checks. It takes people, many of them living here already--not spies, by any means--and sends them back to the meat grinder of the repressive Chinese Communist Party. It may sound like good rhetoric to oppose this bill, but my colleague from Texas heard the testimony of these freedom fighters and why they need temporary protected status and why they support a safe harbor. prgtoken So I continue to insist that this bill, like the Rubio-Menendez bill, protects essential American values, and I ask him to reconsider his objection.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--Continued
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2020-12-18

reserving the right to object, the Protect and Serving Act of 2020 that has been offered by my colleague and friend Senator Tillis creates a new Federal crime that would punish assaults on law enforcement officers, including State and local officers, by up to 10 years and up to life if death results from the offense or the offense involves kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, or attempt to kill. prgtoken Let me say at the outset that I had a few seconds to communicate with my colleague before this official colloquy on the floor. prgtoken I say to the Senator, I sensed in your voice and what you told me how personal this is to you. This just isn't the killing of a law enforcement officer, which is a tragedy all of itself. It is your neighborhood. It is your community. As you said, some of these officers, you know their families, and it is very personal. prgtoken I want to say first, I offer my condolences to the families and colleagues of Officer Jason Shuping, who lost his life in Concord, NC, and Officer Tyler Avery Herndon, who lost his life in Mount Holly in the line of duty in North Carolina in the last few weeks. These are terrible tragedies. prgtoken We had a similar situation, of all places, in the Loop in Chicago just a couple of years ago--Commander Paul Bauer. What a spectacular man he was in service to the city of Chicago and the State of Illinois. He was murdered in the Loop. Unfortunately, his poor young family had to go through the ordeal not only of the funeral but also, then, of the trial of the suspect. I raise that only because Paul Bauer's assailant was successfully prosecuted by the State of Illinois and was given a life sentence just recently. prgtoken As is the case in most of these situations, to my knowledge, I would say to the Senator from North Carolina, every State, including his own, takes this very seriously and prosecutes cases of harm involving law enforcement officers. prgtoken The individual responsible for shooting Officer Shuping is dead. If he had lived, he would have been prosecuted for a capital offense in North Carolina. The individual who allegedly shot Officer Herndon has been indicted for first-degree murder in North Carolina. prgtoken So it raises the question, why is it necessary to create a Federal crime for something already being successfully prosecuted in every State in the Nation? Assaults on police officers are already criminalized with enhanced penalties, as they should be, and assaults on Federal officers are already Federal offenses. I have a lengthy list here, which I will not read to you, of all of the Federal statutes that already provide for punishment up to death and a life sentence for those Federal officers who would be shot or harmed in any way. prgtoken So let me say this to my friend and colleague from North Carolina: I thank you for standing up on the floor and bringing this matter to our attention. We should never overlook the fact that
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2019
Chris Van Hollen (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2020-12-18

. . First, section 702 references how NASA should select multi-institution consortia and university affiliated research centers, inserting Congress into an agency-specific process that is broadly governed by existing authorities in title 5 and title 41 of the U.S. Code, which make such selections based on technical merit alone and not political influence. We are deeply concerned about the committee's explicit delineation of this authority for NASA, given that such authority already exists and NASA currently does not have any university affiliated research centers so designated. We believe that such language should never become law as it implies that Congress is trying to force NASA to establish such a center or consortia even though NASA does not see the need for one. prgtoken Second, sections 818 and 819 call for short order reports from NASA on creating a Space Resources Institute and Center for Space Weather Technology that could allow NASA to bypass extensive consultation with the scientific and aerospace communities and without the benefit of independent peer review under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. prgtoken These are the concerns my colleague and I have.
TRIBUTE TO DOUG JONES
Debbie Stabenow (Democrat, MI) \u2014 2020-12-18

I rise today to pay tribute to someone who hasn't been in the Senate very long, but whose character, compassion, and dedication to justice will leave a mark here for years to come. prgtoken Many of us are old enough to remember that awful day in 1963 when a peaceful Sunday morning was shattered by a bomb. This attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, ended the lives of four young girls: Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair. prgtoken I was just a little younger than Carole, Addie, and Cynthia, who were all 14. Doug Jones was just a couple of years younger than 11-year-old Denise. When something so unspeakable happens to people you could have gone to school with, been friends with, and grown up with, it sticks with you. prgtoken It certainly stuck with Doug. He got involved in organizing at the University of Alabama and volunteered on a campaign to modernize the State's courts. After graduating from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, he served as staff counsel on the Judiciary Committee for Senator Howell Heflin, whose seat he currently holds. prgtoken After time as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and in private practice, Doug was confirmed by the Senate as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in 1997. In that position, he successfully prosecuted two of the four men responsible for the devastation on that long-ago Sunday morning. He didn't just remember those four little girls. Instead, he fought to bring their families some measure of justice and closure--because that is just the type of person Doug is. prgtoken Doug, your Future Act to permanently fund historically Black colleges and universities will help build a brighter future for students across our prgtoken country. It has been such an honor to work with you to extend funding for community health centers and to expand access to care and resources to families living with Alzheimer's disease. And millions of Americans have you to thank for a timely vote to save the Affordable Care Act and their healthcare. prgtoken Doug, you know what really matters: pursuing justice, expanding opportunity, and simply making life better for the people who sent us here. prgtoken Three days after those beautiful young girls were killed, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr delivered their eulogy. In it, he said this: ``(Their deaths) say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. ``They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. ``Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.'' prgtoken Doug, you might not know yet what your future holds, but you have been working passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the Am
TRIBUTE TO LAMAR ALEXANDER
Tina Smith (Democrat, MN) \u2014 2020-12-18

I am honored to pay tribute to my colleague, Senator Lamar Alexander. When speaking about the Senate, Senator Alexander often says, ``It's hard to get here, it's hard to stay here, and while you're here, you might as well try to accomplish something good for the country.'' Over his 18 years in this institution, he has embodied those words and has served as a guiding force of principle and bipartisanship. prgtoken Under his 6 years of leadership as chair, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee reported 45 bills that became law. It is a shining example of his commitment to working together and finding resolution on issues that directly impact Americans' lives. As a member of the HELP Committee, I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Senator Alexander on some of these bills, such as the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 and the reauthorization of the Perkins Career and Technical Education law, among others. I am also thankful for Chair Alexander's, as well as Ranking Member Patty Murray's, support for my work to lower the cost of prescription drugs and improve access to mental health services. prgtoken When I came to the Senate in 2018, Senator Alexander welcomed me as a colleague and friend, for which I will always be grateful. While I will miss his esteemed, bipartisan leadership, both on the HELP Committee and in the Senate, I am grateful for his service to our country and wish him and Honey the best in their next chapter.
WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE SENDING?
James P. McGovern (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2020-12-18

as the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, as chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, as someone who cares deeply about human rights and democratic principles, and as a proud Member of this House, I rise to express my deep concern about the damage being done to America's moral authority by those who refuse to accept the legitimate outcome of November's election and who continue to deliberately spread lies and manufacture conspiracy theories that have no basis of fact in an attempt to overturn the will of the American people. prgtoken As Americans, we see ourselves as a beacon to the world, as that shining city upon the hill. We believe our political experiment, to create a country united by ideals, rather than blood and soil, is unique and exceptional. prgtoken We promote democracy as a pillar of our foreign policy, confident in our own example. We say we are a nation of laws, not men. prgtoken Yet, since November 3, a widespread effort to overturn the results of the presidential election have been openly endorsed by some high- ranking leaders and facilitated by the silence of many more. prgtoken For the record, and won by more than 7 million votes. They received 81 million votes, 51.3 percent of the total cast. On Monday, President-elect won 306 electoral college votes, two more than President in 2016. prgtoken There is no question that and won the election resoundingly. Those who believe otherwise first alleged massive fraud, then claimed election procedures were unfair. But when granted the opportunity in courts of law to present evidence of fraud, they couldn't do it. prgtoken There simply is no proof of fraud at any significant scale. The attacks against voting by mail, signature matching, and the like, notably selective to begin with, had mostly already been litigated. prgtoken , it is critically important that Americans trust our elections. That is why credible claims of fraud or irregularities must be investigated and corrective action taken. That has happened. prgtoken There have been multiple recounts. Three in Georgia alone. Those seeking to overturn the election results have lost 59 times in courts across seven States and twice before this Supreme Court. prgtoken At least 86 judges, many appointed by s, have rejected at least one post-election lawsuit. All three Supreme Court Justices nominated by President ruled against him. prgtoken , the fact is that the November elections were free and fair. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that the election ``was the most secure in American history'' and ``there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.'' prgtoken Attorney General Barr, of all people, said that the Justice Department has uncovered no voting fraud ``on a scale that could have affected a different <