mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
Healthcare (Executive Calendar)
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2017-10-25

President has been in office now for more than 9 months. For this entire time, Senate have been trying to obstruct him from doing the very job that he was elected by the American people to do. The President has laid out his agenda to create jobs, to grow the economy, and to help hard-working American taxpayers. Yet will do everything they can to stop the President from putting his team in place to accomplish these goals. prgtoken They have tried to stop the President's legislative agenda because they know that his policies will actually work. When policies become law, know that the people will see how successful these policies are. I think are worried that they may never win another election again once we get these policies into place. That is why we have seen a record number of delays and obstructions by the in the Senate. They have done it on legislation, and they have even blocked the President from filling some of the most basic jobs within his administration. prgtoken It started on day one. Normally, on Inauguration Day, the President gets a substantial number of people confirmed to his Cabinet. The idea is to let the President get his team in place so that it can hit the ground running. President had six of his Cabinet Secretaries confirmed on Inauguration Day, and President had seven Secretaries confirmed on Inauguration Day. These confirmations were by voice vote, but that was not the case with President --just two with rollcall votes on Inauguration Day. prgtoken s in the Senate did not do anything to try to block the Cabinet Secretaries for President , for we understood that it was best to give a new President a chance and for all of us to work together when we could. With , it was seven. That is how it usually works, but not anymore--no, not with this group of in the Senate. They really were never interested in giving President a chance. They really do not seem to be working together. Last January, President had two people confirmed to the Cabinet on Inauguration Day--the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security. They were the only two jobs that the allowed the President to fill. prgtoken In President 's first 9 months in office, have continued to block the way. They have allowed just 185 of his nominees to take their jobs. That is how ridiculous the have been in trying to keep President from putting his team in place. By this far into the administration at the same time, President had 364 nominees in place. The have blocked judges, Cabinet Secretaries, and other high-ranking officials. prgtoken Now, it is interesting because you have seen this. Many of these nominees even have support, and they are not controversial at all, but are doing everythi
TRIBUTE TO GAIL KEMLER
Mike Bishop (Republican, MI) \u2014 2017-10-25

I rise today to pay tribute to an inspiring woman in my district, Mrs. Gail Kemler. Gail is celebrating her 100th birthday this month on October 28. prgtoken Gail has lived in Rochester, Michigan, since 1931, and has been an integral part of the city--through her steadfast volunteerism with the Rochester Board of Education; Daughters of the American Revolution, Stoney Creek Chapter; Rochester-Avon Historical Society; Rochester Lions Club; and Questers Organization. prgtoken Gail's longest tenure as a volunteer was with the Rochester Area Neighborhood House, an organization that she has helped from its inception. She remained a dedicated volunteer with the organization for over 50 years. prgtoken An active supporter of the Rochester Community Schools, Gail also served as a room mother and scout leader, and was one of the original PTA founders. She has been a member of the First Congregational Church in Rochester for over 85 years, and has served on the building committee, pastoral search committee, and board of trustees. prgtoken Gail and her late husband, Donald Kemler, have four children, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and four great-great- grandchildren. prgtoken , I am honored to have such a selfless, giving, and inspirational woman in my district. Thank you, Mrs. Gail Kemler, for your service to the entire Rochester community, and happy 100th birthday.
Tax Reform (Executive Session)
Mitch McConnell (Republican, KY) \u2014 2017-10-25

Senate s had a productive discussion with President yesterday about our shared agenda. We were particularly focused on how to bring tax relief, economic growth, and jobs to the middle class through tax reform. prgtoken It is clear we share a lot of the same goals. It is clear we are united in an effort to take more money out of Washington's pockets and put more in middle-class pockets. It is also clear we are all excited about this once-in-a-generation opportunity to get America going again and growing again. prgtoken So we are watching our friends in the House with anticipation as they consider the comprehensive, responsible budget that cleared the Senate last week. We anticipate they will pass it by the end of the week. Once they do, we will have important legislative tools to move tax reform forward. That is something everyone can look forward to. More importantly, that is something the American people deserve, especially after so many years of an economy that failed to reach its potential-- an economy that, so often, failed them. prgtoken Tax reform represents the single most important thing we can do today to get the economy reaching for its full potential. We are looking forward to taking the next steps very soon to get it done. prgtoken , on another matter, I would like to again commend President for the outstanding judicial nominees he has sent us this year. So far, every nominee we have brought to the floor has been confirmed by a majority vote in the Senate. In some cases, those majority votes have been bipartisan and massive, like 95 to 1, like 97 to 0. Yet almost every time a judicial nominee is brought to the floor--even nominees with votes like these, nominees whom both parties support-- throw up partisan procedural roadblocks. For what reason? Certainly, it is not to change the outcome. No. Like I said, in many cases, actually support the nominees. They are just wasting more of the Senate's time because they can. They are doing it again now. Let's take the two judicial nominees who are currently before the Senate. prgtoken First, there is Scott Palk. After nearly two decades as a State and Federal prgtoken prosecutor, Mr. Palk has the legal skill and community support to excel as a U.S. district judge for the Western District of Oklahoma. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination by a large, bipartisan vote of 17 to 3. prgtoken Then there is Trevor McFadden. Mr. McFadden's sterling record of public service makes him an ideal candidate for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Not a single Member--not one--of either party opposed him. prgtoken These nominees should have sailed to confirmation yesterday. Instead, are forcing us to waste time so we can again arrive at the exact same conclusion, but simply later this week. prgtoken This really has to stop. prgtoken In President 's first year in
TRIBUTE TO RICHARD LINCOLN
Susan M. Collins (Republican, ME) \u2014 2017-10-25

throughout our Nation's history, young Americans have left the comfort and security of home in order to preserve our freedom and to extend the blessings of freedom to others. We set aside Veterans Day to express our gratitude. prgtoken One such veteran is Mr. Richard Lincoln of Wayne, ME. Although the story of his service in Italy during World War II is extraordinary, the virtues of courage, sacrifice, and devotion to duty it demonstrates describe the character of American patriots in all places and at all times. prgtoken Now 91 years of age, Mr. Lincoln entered the U.S. Army in 1943 when he was just 17. He served with the legendary 88th Infantry Division, the first all-draftee division to serve in combat during the war. The 88th, known as the Fighting Blue Devils, proved that with rigorous training, able leadership, and unflagging determination, peace-loving Americans could stand up to a battle-hardened, militaristic enemy. prgtoken The 88th played a key role at the Battle of Anzio, the long, costly, and critically important amphibious landing on the Italian coast in January of 1944 that eventually led to the liberation of Rome. Mr. Lincoln served as a first scout, an extremely dangerous assignment in a forward position under constant fire, to locate enemy artillery positions. When the Allies liberated Rome on June 4, 1944, the all- draftee prgtoken 88th was the first division to enter the city. It was Mr. Lincoln's 18th birthday. He later was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroism during that grueling campaign. prgtoken Victory came at a steep price. Between the Battle of Anzio and the German surrender in May of 1945, the Fighting Blue Devils spent 344 days in combat, with nearly 3,000 killed and more than 9,200 wounded. prgtoken After returning home, Mr. Lincoln raised a family, served his community, and never forgot his comrades. Until he suffered a stroke that hampered his mobility, he marched in 58 consecutive Memorial Day parades in his hometown. He never rode in a ceremonial car; he always marched. prgtoken In a speech to the Association of the U.S. Army on October 9, Defense Secretary James Mattis discussed the serious current threats to peace and security facing our Nation and the world. He told the story of Richard Lincoln to underscore his point that Americans are always willing and able to meet any challenge. prgtoken On October 14, family and friends gathered around Mr. Lincoln at the Maine Veterans' Home in Augusta, where he was presented with a personal letter from Secretary Mattis and a book on the Battle of Anzio, inscribed by both Secretary Mattis and former Defense Secretary William Cohen, Maine's former Senator. prgtoken Secretary Mattis's handwritten note to Mr. Lincoln includes these words: ``You have the respect and affection of today's military. You and your brothers-in-arms are the pride of our country.'' I am honored to join Secretary Mattis and all grateful Americans in t
Tax Reform (Executive Calendar)
Dan Sullivan (Republican, AK) \u2014 2017-10-25

I wanted to reinforce and underscore some of the comments made by my colleague from Oklahoma, Senator Lankford, on what is happening in the Senate right now. It is actually really important for the American people to understand what is going on. Maybe we would finally get the press, who sit up there above your chair, , to write about this topic. prgtoken Right now, we are debating a very well-qualified district court judge nominee--a Federal district court judge nominee from Oklahoma. Senator Lankford was down here, and he obviously knows the nominee, Scott Palk. He is so qualified that the vote for cloture to move forward on this nominee--who, by the way, was nominated by President for a Federal district court position but was previously nominated by President with fairly bipartisan support--was 79 to 18. That is really strong bipartisan support. It just happened about an hour ago on the Senate floor. prgtoken So what are we doing? Well, we are still going to be debating for 30 hours. We are not really debating the nominee because he is well qualified. That is what we are doing in the Senate, supposedly. Anyone watching, you know we are not debating him because he is very well qualified, but we are still going to burn 30 hours. Why is this? Well, this raises a much broader issue of the tactics that are happening on the Senate floor right now. The minority leader and his colleagues will not come down and explain what they are up to. prgtoken I gave a speech on this a couple of weeks ago, and I just asked: Come on down. Let the American people understand why we are spending all this time on nominees who are very well qualified and have enormous bipartisan support. Why are we being required to go an additional 30 hours? Those are the rules, but normally there would be unanimous consent to move forward. What is happening now hasn't been explained, but it definitely hurts the American people, whether you are a or . What is happening now is, every single nominee from the administration, whether Federal judge or Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services, is being delayed. Here are the numbers. Eight years ago, President had about 66 percent of his nominees confirmed at this period in the fall of his first term. People were working through them. If you didn't like the nominee, you would just vote against them, but you wouldn't say we are going to burn half the week of the Senate to debate somebody who is not even controversial. This judge, when we finally get through the 30 hours, is going to pass with 80 Senate votes, but we are burning through it anyway. President , 8 years ago, had 66 percent confirmed. The number for President 8 years later is 33 percent. Imagine our friends in the media-- the New York Times--if s were doing this to President during his first few months in office. There would be front
AFRICOM, Foreign Policy, and Our Military (Executive Calendar)
James M. Inhofe (Republican, OK) \u2014 2017-10-25

I came back just a week ago from visiting our troops stationed all around the world, in all the commands-- AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM--and talked to them about the threats in all these regions. prgtoken At a time when I hear colleagues across the aisle and political pundits ask the question, Why do we have troops in various places like Africa, it is important to remember the strategic importance of Africa. prgtoken I remember 10 years ago we didn't have a command for Africa. It was part of three commands: Pacific Command, Central Command, and European Command. Now we have AFRICOM. It is its own command. It seemed a little unreasonable that we were treating Africa as somewhat of a stepchild when that is the breeding ground out there for a lot of the things happening in terms of terrorism. prgtoken Despite our military's reach and influence, our Nation's shrinking defense budget has put AFRICOM at risk during a time when commanders are saying we face the most dangerous world we have ever faced, and we have. prgtoken I have often said that I look wistfully back at the days of the Cold War, when we had two superpowers and they were predictable. We knew what they had. They knew what we had. You have people from all over the world who are putting together equipment that we never dreamed they would have. prgtoken We have just gone through 8 years of another administration. I don't say this critically of him, but one thing about President was that he was a committed, sincere liberal. Liberals generally don't pay a lot of attention to the military. Now we find ourselves in a situation where we are hurting. A lot of people assume that we don't have any problems militarily. prgtoken Sometimes I remind people that up until about 1962, we spent more than half--52 percent in 1962--of all of our revenues on defending America. What is it today? It is 15 percent. When I tell people that, they are in shock that we are in the situation we are in. We have terrorist groups in Africa--such as ISIS, al-Shabaab, and Boko Haram-- and they are all growing in capability and have expanded their areas throughout Africa. This year we have seen horrific events occurring at the hands of these extremists. On October 14, a truck bombing killed 300 people in Somalia's capital. In Niger--it just happened--we had four of our U.S. soldiers who were killed in action on October 4 by an ISIS group. prgtoken We know that we have serious problems. I think it is a great disservice for people to say that we must have known that we had the threat that was out there in Niger, when in fact we didn't know it. They even compare it sometimes with Benghazi. I remember Benghazi. I was there at the time. I remember Chris Stevens. Chris Stevens was the Ambassador who went there. He was in my office right before he left, talking about the threats that were there, talking about the Taliban, his training there, and talking about organized terrorist ac
Tax Reform (Executive Calendar)
Ted Cruz (Republican, TX) \u2014 2017-10-25

I rise today at a time of extraordinary opportunity. The American people have entrusted us with something that, historically, is quite rare: a President, control of every executive agency, and majorities in both Houses of Congress. Now it is incumbent on us to stand up and lead, to deliver on the promises we made to do what we told the American people we would do. prgtoken We have before us right now an opportunity for historic tax cuts. Just last week, this body voted out a budget resolution that is the vehicle for adopting tax cuts. I urge every Member of this body to come together in support of a strong, bold tax plan that cuts taxes on every working man and women and that brings back jobs and economic growth. prgtoken Growth is really fundamental to every other challenge we have in this country. If you look historically, since World War II, our economy has grown on average about 3.3 percent a year. Yet, from 2008 to today, we have grown only 1.2 percent a year--about a third of the historic rate of growth. prgtoken If we don't turn that around, none of our other problems are solvable. If you care about the national debt, if you care about the deficit, if you care about rebuilding and strengthening our military, if you care about strengthening and improving Social Security and Medicare so that they are there for the next generations, we have to have growth. With economic growth, every one of those is possible. Without growth--if we stay mired in the stagnant 1- and 2-percent GDP growth, none of those problems are solvable. prgtoken Growth is foundational. I would like to lay out three principles and then seven key elements that I think should guide this body in tax reform. No. 1 is growth. When we are adopting tax cuts, we should focus directly on jobs and economic growth and focus on the reforms that produce jobs, that expand prgtoken economic growth, that grow our economy, that create more opportunity, and that raise wages. prgtoken Working men and women in this country are hurting. We need wages going up. We need more jobs. We need young people coming out of school with two, three, four, or five job opportunities. That is what tax cuts are all about. No. 1, we start with growth. prgtoken I will point out that we can do this. From 2008 to 2012, the economy grew 0.9 percent a year--less than 1 percent a year on average. If you look back in history to the previous 4-year period when growth averaged less than 1 percent a year, it was 1978 to 1982. It was coming out of the Jimmy Carter administration. It was the same failed economic policies--high taxes, high regulation, high spending, and high debt. prgtoken In 1981 Ronald Reagan came into the White House. The Reagan Presidency focused front and center on tax cuts, with major tax cuts in 1981, and then following it up in 1986 with major tax reform. prgtoken And what happened? When Reagan came in 1981 with ac
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Joni Ernst (Republican, IA) \u2014 2017-10-25

today I wish to honor a living example of an American hero. MSG Owen Lawler has spent a lifetime in service, committing nearly three decades to defending U.S. national security at home and abroad. prgtoken Owen began his military service as an infantryman with the Iowa National Guard in 1990 and attended basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia. He entered Active service in 1993 and served in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, among other roles. In 1999, Owen was selected for special forces training, and in 2001 he was assigned 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Shortly after the 9/ 11 attacks, Owen participated in the invasion of Afghanistan and went on to serve four more tours in Iraq. In 2009, Owen was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, where he served as a team sergeant for a special forces A-team. During his assignment as the senior sergeant on a special forces detachment, Owen led his team on three tours to Afghanistan until being seriously wounded. In 2013, Owen was selected to serve as first sergeant for the headquarters company of the advanced skills training battalion at Fort Bragg. After an extremely admirable career serving his country, Owen will retire on October 30, 2017. prgtoken Owen received multiple awards during his 27 years with the Armed Forces, including the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Korea Service Medal. prgtoken I ask my colleagues to join me as I proudly recognize the service and the sacrifice of MSG Owen Lawler, a dear friend, patriot, and American hero.
CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MALCOM RANDALL VA MEDICAL CENTER
Ted S. Yoho (Republican, FL) \u2014 2017-10-25

I rise to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. prgtoken Named after its first director, who ran the hospital for 30 years, the Malcom Randall VA Center first opened its doors to our Nation's veterans on October 22, 1967. Since then, it has grown from its original staff of 500 to be the centerpiece of our Nation's largest veterans health delivery system. prgtoken Today, the Malcom Randall VA Center serves over 140,000 veterans a year, consists of 14 hospitals and clinics, and acts as a teaching hospital in conjunction with the University of Florida medical school and other affiliates. prgtoken The services Malcom Randall VA provides to our veterans cannot be overstated, and I am proud to know that this institution is in my hometown. prgtoken Once again, congratulations to them for reaching this milestone.