mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
SUPPORTING HMONG VETERANS WHO FOUGHT DURING THE VIETNAM WAR
Jim Costa (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-3-7

I rise today to call for the support of the Hmong Veterans' Service Recognition Act. prgtoken This bipartisan legislation extends veterans' burial benefits to Hmong and Laotian-American veterans who fought in the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam war. These brave men and women risked their lives fighting alongside American servicemen and -women as soldiers in the Special Guerilla Units, otherwise known as SGUs. prgtoken The SGUs were covertly trained by the CIA during the Vietnam war and then led into direct combat support for American forces, yet they have never been recognized for their service, which is why I introduced the legislation with Congressman Paul Cook, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran, who was a colonel in the United States Army and knows their story well. prgtoken There are only an estimated 5,000 Hmong veterans still alive today, with thousands of them in the San Joaquin Valley that I represent. prgtoken We extended this honor to Filipino soldiers years ago. I ask that we honor these courageous individuals with their choice of being laid to rest next to their brothers in arms. It is the right thing to do.
NUCLEAR ENERGY INNOVATION CAPABILITIES ACT OF 2017
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2018-3-7

I am here for the happy task of moving a piece of bipartisan legislation that has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. I am particularly pleased to be doing it in front of the Presiding Officer because the Presiding Officer and I and Senator Heitkamp and others worked so hard on the Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Act, which provides a means of encouraging carbon capture technologies to develop. This is a related bill that I joined with Senator Crapo on to advance. Senator Crapo has been our lead on this bill. The bill will encourage innovation in the nuclear industry. So it is a great pleasure for me to be here, and I am very honored that my distinguished colleague Senator Crapo has joined me on the floor. prgtoken , I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 153, S. 97.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Gene Green (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-3-7

I was unable to vote on Monday, March 5, and Tuesday, March 6, 2018, due to the Texas primary elections. prgtoken If I had been able to vote on Monday, March 5, I would have voted as follows: prgtoken On passage of H.R. 3183, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13683 James Madison Highway in Palmyra, Virginia, as the ``U.S. Navy Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby Post Office,'' I would have voted ``yea.'' prgtoken On passage of H.R. 4406, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 99 Macombs Place in New York, New York, as the ``Tuskegee Airman Post Office Building,'' I would have voted ``yea.'' prgtoken If I had been able to vote on Tuesday, March 6, I would have voted as follows: prgtoken On the ic Motion to Recommit H.R. 4607, the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act, I would have voted ``yea.'' prgtoken On final passage of H.R. 4607, the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act, I would have voted ``nay.''
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
Richard J. Durbin (Democrat, IL) \u2014 2018-3-7

on September 5 of last year, President 's Attorney General made an announcement. It was an announcement that affected the lives of about 800,000 people living in America. The announcement was that the President was going to abolish the DACA Program. prgtoken DACA was a program created by President by Executive order. Under that Executive order, if you were brought to the United States as an infant, a toddler, a child, if you grew up in this country, were educated in this country, and had no criminal record of any consequence, President said that you have a chance to apply to stay in this country on a temporary, renewable basis--2 years at a time--and that you won't be deported and you can take a job. prgtoken Eight hundred thousand young people came forward under President 's Executive order, under this DACA order. What have they done with their lives? Many of them went to school and had to work at the same time because, being undocumented, they didn't qualify for any Federal student assistance. A lot of them took jobs all across the country--about 20,000 of them as teachers in schools, and 900 of them volunteered for the U.S. military, taking the same oath as everyone else, saying that they are willing to risk their lives for America. prgtoken The success stories of these DACA recipients are boundless. I have told a number on the floor in the course of discussing this issue over the years. prgtoken Today, I will tell another one. I am so proud of what they have done. They are amazing young people. Can you imagine growing up in America with all the challenges of youth and all the demands from your parents and peers and superiors but also knowing something that you can't say publicly: that at any moment, you could be deported from this country because you don't have the necessary legal status? That is the story of these DACA young people, the Dreamers. prgtoken President , if you will remember, talked about immigration a lot in his last campaign. Some of the things he said were very harsh. He talked about building this big, beautiful wall, from sea to shining sea, across the Mexican border, and, of course, told us the Mexicans would pay for it. Then he referred to those in Mexico who came to the United States as Mexican rapists and criminals. It was pretty harsh language. But interestingly, toward the end of the campaign and after he was elected, he started saying conciliatory, good things about these DACA Dreamers. He told me personally, when I first met him on the day he was inaugurated: We will take care of those kids, Senator. prgtoken Well, on September 5 of last year, he announced that the program protecting those young people would expire as of Monday of this week, 2 days ago. As of that date, he said, if Congress hasn't replaced the DACA Program with something new, something legal, something statutory, there would be no protection for these DACA recipients as th
DEMAND SERIOUS TREATMENT OF THE GUN VIOLENCE PROBLEM
Jamie Raskin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-3-7

one of the great things about our job is we have all these wonderful young people come to us from all over the world. And in school, they read about the social contract. They read John Locke. They read Thomas Hobbes. They read Rousseau. The whole premise of the social contract is that we will be safer in civil society together than we would be if we stay in the state of nature, which Hobbes described as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. prgtoken But we are failing the elemental test and obligation of civil government because we are not keeping our people safe when a teenager can access an AR-15, go into a school, and assassinate at point-blank range 17 teachers and students. prgtoken And what are we doing here in Congress? prgtoken Nothing. Here in the House of Representatives, we have not had a single hearing on gun violence. We have not had a single hearing on a universal criminal and mental background check, which is supported by 97 percent of the American people. It is almost unanimous, and we can't even have a hearing about it. prgtoken We are demanding a hearing, and we are demanding, with the young people who are coming to Washington on Saturday, March 24, serious treatment of the gun violence problem which does not belong in a civil society.
BLOCKING REGULATORY INTERFERENCE FROM CLOSING KILNS ACT OF 2017
Paul Tonko (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2018-3-7

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , no one wants to shut down these businesses, but H.R. 1917 is the wrong remedy. We understand the circumstances, and those circumstances should be brought to the attention of the courts. prgtoken The court has the power to grant the stay of this rule. For some reason, the industry has not yet made that request, even though there are a number of pending lawsuits challenging the rule. In fact, industry petitioned the court to put their lawsuits on hold until EPA decides whether to grant their request to reconsider the rule. prgtoken The pending decisions by the court and the EPA indicate there are still a number of remedies available to address the industry's concerns, including a request to the court to stay the rule. There is no need for H.R. 1917. prgtoken , .
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, MA) \u2014 2018-3-7

I want to commend Senator Brown for leading the fight to oppose rollbacks for Wall Street banks. He has been tireless in the fight on behalf of Ohio families and on behalf of families all across this country, and I thank him very much for his work. prgtoken This is a tough fight. This week, nearly 10 years to the day after we first discovered that big banks crashed our economy, Washington is about to take many of those same giant banks off the government watch list. I doubt that this makes any sense to any of the millions of Americans who experienced firsthand the economic horrors of the financial collapse. Oh, but it makes perfect sense in Washington, where swarms of lobbyists seem to have the power to erase politicians' memories. prgtoken The Senate is debating a bill that would roll back the rules designed to protect consumers and prevent another economic meltdown. Yesterday I talked about how this bill scraps a lot of important consumer protections for American families buying homes. In addition to squeezing consumers, this bill also loosens our hold on some of the very same giant banks that wrecked our economy. prgtoken Ten years ago, a bunch of enormous banks got giant bailouts, while American consumers got a punch in the gut. The excuse in Washington was, well, these banks were so interconnected with one another and with the overall economy that the failure of one could bring down the rest of the system too. Too bad, they said, we have to bail them out. Individual families, however, could be crushed underfoot; they weren't big enough to be worth saving by Congress. prgtoken Congress passed a huge bailout, but to keep this from ever happening again, Congress decided to put the small number of American banks that control more than $50 billion in assets--this is about 40 of the largest banks in the country--on a watch list. Those banks would be subject to tougher Federal oversight and would be subject to some stronger rules to stop them from bringing down the economy again. A small bank in Adams, MA, would be regulated one way, and a giant bank, with offices around the country and around the globe, would get a much closer look. That makes real sense. prgtoken If this bill passes, Washington will scrap those rules for 25 of those enormous banks. Under this bill, a bank that controls up to a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets and has offices around the country and around the globe will follow the same rules and regulations and have the same oversight as a tiny little bank in Adams, MA. That is great if you are a quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar bank but not so great for anyone else. prgtoken This bill isn't about restrictions on asset measures and investments. It is not about appropriate leverage ratios and proprietary trading. It is about keeping hard-working American families from getting crushed by another financial crisis. It is about a Congress that isn't here to do the bidding of quar
HONORING DREWRY N. FENNELL
Lisa Blunt Rochester (Democrat, DE) \u2014 2018-3-7

today, during Women's History Month, I rise to recognize and call attention to a woman of distinction in my state of Delaware, Drewry Nash Fennell. While she currently serves as the Chief Officer of Strategic Communication and Development for Christiana Care Health System, many in my state know Drew not for any title she has held, but for her role as a trailblazer on any number of important public policy fronts. Drew is an attorney by trade and applied her skills as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware. During her time at the ACLU, Drew fought for improvements to the child welfare system, the criminal justice system, and LGBT rights. She, along with her equally distinguished wife Lisa, helped spearhead the Equality Delaware campaign, which saw Delaware go from a state which legally permitted discrimination against LGBT citizens, to a state with full marriage equality in a span of less than a decade. Drew applied her years of experience and extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system as the executive director of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. Drew then took her work from the CJC to the Governor's Office, where she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and eventually Chief of Staff to former Delaware Governor Jack Markell. Throughout her time in Delaware government, her colleagues came to know her as one of the most effective advocates around. She did it all with a warm smile and a reassuring hand on the shoulder. She endured bigotry and ignorance while maintaining class and composure, all the while, making remarkable progress for the people of Delaware it gives me great joy to rise today to recognize Drew not only as a constituent, but as a friend and confidant. Her work in Delaware has been truly transformational and I'm confident it is nowhere near complete. Drew will soon be the 2018 Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Woman of Distinction. I can't think of a more deserving recipient of that honor.
ECONOMIC GROWTH, REGULATORY RELIEF, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
Jack Reed (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2018-3-7

when we passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, we did so in response to a financial crisis that shook the foundations of our economy and devastated so many of our hard-working constituents. For example, the Dow Jones dropped from an average of 13,677.89 in July of 2007 to an average of 7,235.47 in March of 2009, resulting in a 47.1 percent loss. Nationally, the unemployment rate increased from 5 percent in January 2008 to 10 percent in October 2009, and in Rhode Island, the unemployment rate was even higher, increasing from 6.2 percent in January 2008 to 11.9 percent in December 2009. prgtoken In short, we had to do something to respond and avoid another financial crisis because behind each of these harrowing numbers were our constituents and their families, who saw their life savings, their jobs, and their homes evaporate in a flash. That something was the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as the Dodd-Frank Act. prgtoken I am proud to have drafted and supported several of its provisions, such as the creation of a consumer watchdog--the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB--whose primary focus has been on protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial activities; my bipartisan language calling for a dedicated Office of Servicemember Affairs at the CFPB, which helps ensure that our servicemembers and their families are protected in the consumer finance space in the same way these service men and women protect us. That is now a part of the CFPB, and it has done remarkable work protecting the men and women of our armed services, who do remarkable work protecting us. prgtoken Also , I was able to provide an additional $1 billion in funding through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provided targeted emergency assistance to help local communities acquire, redevelop, or demolish foreclosed properties. prgtoken Frankly, in the wake of the crisis, every city and many rural areas were seeing foreclosed properties sitting there, reminding us all of the devastation. With these resources, they could be repurposed for families to live in, or if they were decrepit, they could be demolished for urban development and economic development in rural areas. prgtoken These are just a handful of the many good and worthwhile provisions in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, but, like any other major piece of legislation, it was not perfect. prgtoken Years ago, the custom here was that we would come together and agree on technical fixes to comprehensive legislation. It was almost predictable that after we had a complex piece of legislation, we would discover unintended consequences, and we would come together on a bipartisan basis to fix those technical issues without having to relitigate the entire bill. prgtoken Unfortunately, that moment to make needed fixes never happened, and while the legislation before us today makes changes to
CONDEMNING THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
Alcee L. Hastings (Democrat, FL) \u2014 2018-3-7

as the Ranking ic Member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), I rise today to denounce the human rights abuses taking place across the globe. In particular, I call attention to the ongoing Syrian Civil War. prgtoken Since 2011, it is estimated that almost 500,000 Syrians have been killed with millions more displaced, creating a refugee crisis across Europe and the Middle East. On March 15th, we will sadly mark the seventh anniversary of the Syrian Civil War, which is one of the bloodiest wars of the last 70 years. prgtoken I traveled to Syria in January 2010 and personally met with President Bashar aI-Assad. As I pressed him on the importance of honoring the right of his people to exercise their civil liberties and fundamental freedoms, I knew immediately that he would not give in. Many others, like me, recognized this long before civil war erupted. And yet, years have passed without the necessary effort by the international community to stop the violence. prgtoken On May 28, 2013, I sent a letter to former President and Ambassador Susan Rice, urging them to support imposing a no-fly zone over Syria, particularly in light of the continued indiscriminate shelling of innocent civilians and the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime. I renewed my calls for a no-fly zone to President again on September 25, 2015. prgtoken , what we have witnessed since the start of this civil war is indiscriminate, brutal attacks against civilians. The international community must no longer sit idly by and let more families be torn apart and more civilians become refugees. prgtoken According to the United Nations (UN), nearly 3 million Syrian children have lived their entire lives gripped by civil war. This is absolutely outrageous, and something needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. prgtoken , it has been seven years, let me repeat myself, seven years, since this civil war began. This crisis, in which millions of innocent Syrians find themselves today, demands our full attention and fervent commitment to creating a strategy that will bring an end to the deplorable conditions facing the Syrian people. The need for immediate and strong action remains. With each passing day, the violence has grown more sectarian, militarized, and radicalized at the cost of innocent Syrian lives.
BLOCKING REGULATORY INTERFERENCE FROM CLOSING KILNS ACT OF 2017
Jerry McNerney (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-3-7

I thank my friend, the ranking member, and I thank the chairman for his work on this, but I am going to rise in opposition to H.R. 1917, the BRICK Act. prgtoken This bill will delay the implementation of the EPA's final Brick and Structural Clay Products rule and the final Clay Ceramic Manufacturing rule by extending all compliance deadlines based on pending judicial review. prgtoken So what does that mean? That means it will delay implementation until judgment becomes final and not subject to review or appeal. This is a blanket extension that could have lasting negative impacts on the public's health. prgtoken Brick and clay plants, if unregulated, can be major sources of toxic air pollutants like hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and hazardous metals, pollutants that are associated with a variety of acute and chronic health effects, including cancer. It is estimated that the final Brick and Clay MACT rule will reduce nationwide air toxics by approximately 375 tons per year. prgtoken Last Friday, the OMB issued a report showing that regulations have high benefit and low cost. The aggregate benefits of Federal regulations is between $219 billion and $695 billion; whereas, the aggregate costs are $59 billion to $88 billion. Many regulations spur innovation that benefit the economy as well as human health. prgtoken Now, it is no surprise to me that this administration and the s are targeting air pollution regulations. The OMB noted that EPA rules ``account for over 80 percent of the monetized benefits and over 70 percent of the monetized costs'' of Federal regulation between 2006 and 2016. prgtoken Since regulations protect human health and safety and have more benefits than costs for industry, I stand in opposition to bills like this one that seek to undermine these protections. I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 1917.
CONGRATULATING TRINI GARZA HIGH SCHOOL
Marc A. Veasey (Democrat, TX) \u2014 2018-3-7

I rise today to congratulate Trini Garza High School for earning the designation of National Title I Distinguished School for the 2016-2017 school year. prgtoken This exclusive designation is given to high-poverty schools that excel in either student performance or for its work to close the achievement gap. Garza, with a student body that is 86 percent economically disadvantaged, was one of 34 schools across the Nation to be praised ``for its exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years.'' prgtoken Garza's designation would not be possible without the strong partnerships of its educators, parents, students, and the Oak Cliff community in Dallas. Each of you have made sure that we are doing our part to empower our future leaders with the tools they need to succeed. prgtoken Congratulations, Trini Garza High School, for your well-deserved recognition.