mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jerry Moran (Republican, KS) \u2014 2021-7-29

I want to pay tribute to our colleague Mike Enzi and express my condolences to his family and pay my respects to him. prgtoken Senator Enzi's long career in public service began when he was elected as mayor of his hometown of Gillette, WY, in 1974. prgtoken I can just see Mike Enzi--a younger Mike Enzi--being the mayor of a place like Gillette, WY, and it brings a smile to my face and a warmth to my heart. And I can imagine how hard he worked to see that only good things happened to the citizens of his hometown. prgtoken He then went on to serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives and the Wyoming Senate, before being elected to four terms in the U.S. Senate, beginning in 1996. prgtoken Prior to being elected to office, Senator Enzi served in the Wyoming Air National Guard. prgtoken In Congress, Senator Enzi never wavered in his deeply held values and his beliefs, and yet he was always held by all of us in high esteem, by all of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. prgtoken He had the ability for bringing a consensus, to bring us together, and that remained true even as this body became increasingly polarized. prgtoken In his farewell speech to the Senate, Senator Enzi--unfortunately, just a few months ago, Senator Enzi spoke about his 80-20 rule. It is a rule that those of us who work with him knew well: the rule which emphasized focusing on the 80 percent of issues we agree on versus the 20 percent of issues where we disagree. It allowed Senator Enzi to work with Senators across the political spectrum on legislation that he cared so much about. prgtoken Senator Enzi carried himself in a quiet and serious demeanor. He was interested above all in achieving good policy outcomes for the people of Wyoming and the people of our Nation. prgtoken His leadership has been missed in this Chamber this year, but his legacy as a statesman and his impact on the State of Wyoming will live on forever. prgtoken My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this time, including his wife Diana, their daughters Amy and Emily, and son Brad and his grandchildren. prgtoken Senator Enzi, may you rest in peace, and please know that your time in the U.S. Senate and your time living on this Earth was well spent, a role model for the rest of us. Thank you. prgtoken . prgtoken .
DROUGHT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
David G. Valadao (Republican, CA) \u2014 2021-7-29

. Madam , I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding. prgtoken Madam , I rise today to express my frustration with the majority's unwillingness to get involved in drought recovery and prevention in the Western United States. prgtoken I am frustrated that my colleagues in the majority care so little about real people suffering from a lack of water. Some of my constituents have been forced to bathe with bottled water. Some of my constituents have been forced to abandon entire fields of crops because they simply don't have enough water for them. Some of my constituents can't drink the little water they have in their wells because the water contains arsenic and isn't safe to drink. prgtoken Madam , this isn't a looming crisis. We are in the middle of a crisis. I am here today with several of my colleagues in the minority, most of which that hail from the Western States, and I know they share the same frustration as me. prgtoken We have repeatedly called for hearings to be called on the Western drought, with no answer from the majority. We have tirelessly written letters to administration officials and Western Governors requesting help, with no backing from the majority. We have introduced bills and put forward amendments to help prevent future droughts, with no consideration from the majority. prgtoken Madam , how many times do we have to tell our colleagues in the majority that my constituents and the constituents of many of my colleagues here today are hurting? prgtoken We are tirelessly trying to bring action in every way possible. We just ask that you work with us to get it done. This shouldn't be political. This is about real people and the desperate need for access to clean and reliable water. prgtoken Madam , this isn't the first time you have heard from me on this issue, and it certainly will not be the last.
EMERGENCY SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL TO RESPOND TO JANUARY 6TH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Roger F. Wicker (Republican, MS) \u2014 2021-7-29

I am told that the distinguished Senator from Georgia may have some followup unanimous consent. OK. If not, I am happy to proceed. prgtoken I rise today pointing out an injustice done by the authorities running the Tokyo Olympics. This morning, Americans learned the news that Sam Kendricks, an American double world champion pole vaulter from Oxford, MS, has been shut out from competing at the Tokyo Olympics after a positive COVID-19 test today--almost certainly a false positive COVID-19 test. This is an injustice that can still be rectified if the Olympic Committee will be fair. prgtoken For those of you who don't know Sam, he is an alum of the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, where he took back-to-back NCAA championships before launching his professional career. He won the U.S. Olympic trials in 2016 and went on to the Rio Olympics, where he took home the bronze medal. prgtoken Then again, you probably do remember Sam Kendricks. He is the pole vaulter who stopped mid-run in the 2016 Olympics to stand and salute for his national anthem. That is Sam Kendricks, Olympic champion from the State of Mississippi. He has made his school, his State, and his Nation very proud, and by all accounts he was expected to be a contender for the gold medal this year. prgtoken But after testing negative for the COVID virus three times, Sam received a positive test result earlier today. The timeframe is different in Tokyo, but it was on Thursday. And under International Olympic Committee rules, he was immediately disqualified from competition, even though he had previously tested negative three times and even though he has already had the coronavirus. And even after a followup test, administered according to U.S. Olympic standards, came up negative, the rules are that you have to wait 6 days. prgtoken Well, guess what, his competition is Friday, and adherence to high- bound rules like that will bar him from the Olympics. There is no consideration for the fact that his test--one of thousands of tests administered daily--may very well have been a fluke. prgtoken As Sam told the world, he is not sick, he is not displaying symptoms, and he has already had COVID-19 and should be immune. And, again, he tested, according to U.S.A. track-and-field team tests, immediately after getting this false positive. prgtoken Obviously, the fair thing for the Olympic Committee to do would be to follow up immediately on another test to verify whether all these negatives were correct and, undoubtedly, they were. But the powers that be won't allow Sam Kendricks to get an official followup. No, according to protocols, he must wait 6 days. Then he can have a followup test, which no doubt would show that he doesn't have the coronavirus prgtoken What is magic about 6 days? What about the young athlete? What about fundamental fairness? As Sam Kendricks' father said: These athletes traveled too far, worked for too many years, made too many s
EMERGENCY SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL TO RESPOND TO JANUARY 6TH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
James Lankford (Republican, OK) \u2014 2021-7-29

there are a lot of issues we are working through right now in the Senate. prgtoken Obviously, infrastructure is in conversation, and what is going to happen with some spending dealing with National Guard, Capitol Police. prgtoken We are working a lot on issues, like Afghan translators--trying to get those folks who walked alongside our soldiers for 20 years and risked their lives out of harm's way before the Taliban slaughters them. prgtoken We are engaged in a lot of issues. There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes. I thought it might be helpful to be able to give a couple of things I think we need to consider. prgtoken One is what is happening in the State Department right now. State Department engagement on the issues of passports is a major issue. It is a frustration for a lot of Americans. And I would tell you, a lot of Oklahomans that we deal with on a day-to-day basis on our team are very frustrated with trying to get their passport renewed. They didn't travel last year, obviously, with COVID, but now they want to be able to do some traveling in places where they can. prgtoken Good luck with that, as we have found. Right now, the backlog at the State Department is about 18 weeks. Today is the 29th of July. That means if you turn in your application for your passport today, you may get your passport December 2. Merry Christmas. If you plan on traveling Thanksgiving, you need to pay the extra fee to do an expedited delivery though we are at the end of July right now. prgtoken The problem? prgtoken The State Department still hasn't brought all of their staff back. They are not engaging. The rest of the country is open and operating, and the State Department is still studying how they are going to come back in, and millions of Americans are just waiting for their passport prgtoken I have spoken to leadership in the administration about this exact issue. In fact, I talked to some leadership who literally said to me: Oh, I wasn't aware there was a problem. prgtoken Listen, there is a problem, and it is not just in the State Department. It is in multiple other agencies. As America opens back up, trying to be able to manage all the issues with COVID, they are very aware of masks and vaccines and spacing. prgtoken But companies have figured out how to do this. For some reason, multiple agencies have not and it is causing real problems. It is not just problems in our economy with permitting and other things, some of the policies that have been put in place are causing real problems across our economy for just individuals. prgtoken We have an unemployment rate right now in June at 5.9 percent. We don't know what it will be for July, but it is getting better and better all the time. In Oklahoma, we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. We have a lot of people employed because we turned off the extra unemployment benefits at the end of June and people came back to work. That
DROUGHT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Tom McClintock (Republican, CA) \u2014 2021-7-29

. Madam , I will speak on a related matter, and that is how our Forest Service approaches fire in our densely overcrowded and drought-stricken forest. prgtoken Madam , on July Fourth, lightning struck a tree in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Alpine County, California, starting a small fire that smoldered just over a quarter of an acre of rugged terrain. prgtoken Now, instead of immediately attacking this fire, the U.S. Forest Service decided to monitor it instead--that is to say, to do precisely nothing. prgtoken On July 16, 12 days later, that small fire of a quarter of an acre, now called the Tamarack fire, exploded out of control. It has now consumed 70,000 acres as of this writing. One of the towns in its path is Woodfords, California. prgtoken In 1987, the Woodfords Fire Department responded to a report of fire on Forest Service land near their town in the same forest. They, too, were turned away. In fact, Federal officials threatened Woodfords' residents with arrest for even trying to extinguish the small blaze. prgtoken Hours later, that fire exploded to 6,500 acres, costing 25 families their homes. Apparently, the Forest Service has learned absolutely nothing in 34 years. prgtoken This let-burn policy of Federal land managers began back in 1972 during the height of the radical environmental movement. It stems from the premise that fire is nature's way of cleaning up forests and that active suppression of fire leads to a buildup of excess fuels. prgtoken That is right, as far as it goes because an untended forest is just like an untended garden. It will grow and grow until it chokes itself to death and will ultimately be consumed by catastrophic fire. That is how nature gardens. prgtoken The U.S. Forest Service was formed to remove excess growth before it can burn and to preserve our forests in a healthy condition from generation to generation. prgtoken In California, active land management reduced acreage that was annually lost to wildfire for more than 4 million acres a year in pre- Columbian times to just a quarter-million acres during the 20th century. prgtoken Federal foresters marked off excess timber and auctioned it to timber companies, which paid the Federal Government for harvesting rights. prgtoken Environmental laws adopted in the 1970s now require years of environmental studies at a cost of millions of dollars before forest thinning can be undertaken. That essentially brought the era of active land management to a halt. prgtoken The result? California's wildfire damage has returned to its prehistoric level, more than 4 million acres lost to catastrophic wildfire last year. You see, nature is a lousy gardener. prgtoken In 1988, when the Federal let-burn policy produced the disastrous Yellowstone fires, President Reagan reversed it. ``I did not even know'' the policy existed, he said. ``The minute that this happened out there and Don Hodel went out, he made it plain that, no, we were withdrawi
ALEXANDER LOFGREN VETERANS IN PARKS (VIP) ACT
Chip Roy (Republican, TX) \u2014 2021-7-29

today there have been a number of items that people on our side have been concerned about with respect to the 's order with respect to masks. prgtoken We all understand the importance of safety and keeping people healthy, but the orders that came out today put some concern into our staff members about what they can choose to do and empowering and putting our police in a tough spot of figuring out what to do to enforce these orders. prgtoken So part of the question here is an important one, and we don't want to head out into August with this hanging over the head of the police and our staff. That is why I have been objecting and forcing some more time. prgtoken At this point, I am going to go ahead and move on and withdraw my reservation.
EMERGENCY SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL TO RESPOND TO JANUARY 6TH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021
Richard C. Shelby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2021-7-29

I will just take a few minutes here. This is very important, that we get this supplemental passed. prgtoken I want to first thank my colleague and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy, for the work he has done here, working together to get where we are today. This has been a lot of work, working together, but it also shows that we can work together in a bipartisan way and put the country first, and this is evidence here. prgtoken What does this bill do? It sticks to immediate security needs, the urgently needed funding to safeguard the Capitol, ensure National Guard readiness, and protect our allies in Afghanistan. That is among other things. It is just over $2 billion total, more than half of which is for the Department of Defense. Out of the defense funding, $521 million is to fill National Guard shortfall and about $500 million to evacuate Afghan allies; $600 million for the State Department to fund Afghan special immigration visas; $100 million for our own Capitol Police here, to fund that; and $300 million for security enhancements around the Capitol. prgtoken I strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes for this. prgtoken Again, I want to thank Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell, our leaders on both sides of the aisle, for helping bring this to where we are today.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
John Thune (Republican, SD) \u2014 2021-7-29

the border crisis continues unabated. Far from being the seasonal surge the President claimed months ago, the numbers at the border keep growing. prgtoken Last month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 188,000 individuals attempting to cross our southern border. That is not only the highest number seen so far this year; that is the highest monthly number in 21 years--21 years. prgtoken In all, Customs and Border Protection has had more than 1.1 million encounters along our southern border so far in fiscal year 2021, and we still have 3 months to go. In fiscal year 2019, by prgtoken comparison, the year before COVID, total--total--encounters for the entire fiscal year were under 980,000 individuals. prgtoken We have a border crisis--a crisis that President seems unable or unwilling to address. prgtoken And as massive as those numbers I have mentioned are, they don't take into account those individuals who are sneaking across the border without being apprehended. Some of them are, no doubt, individuals who are looking for a better life. Others are almost undoubtedly criminals, engaged in the kind of illicit activities that we have to combat along our southern border--human trafficking, drug smuggling, and others. prgtoken In June, Customs and Border Protection seized more than 1,000 pounds of fentanyl along our southern border, an incredibly dangerous drug that some have pushed to classify as a weapon of mass destruction. That is more fentanyl than was seized in that area in the previous three Junes combined. prgtoken What has the administration been doing to deal with the crisis along our border? Well, not much. prgtoken There has been no move to reinstate the national emergency designation for our southern border that President canceled after he took office. There is no meaningful plan for stopping the flood of illegal immigration and enhancing security along our southern border. There is no move to reinstate funding for the congressionally mandated border wall that President canceled. prgtoken In fact, the President is apparently contemplating ending title 42, which has allowed the government to immediately remove apprehended individuals in order to help manage the COVID crisis. prgtoken That is right. At the same time the CDC is expanding its masking guidance for Americans, the administration is contemplating ending a measure to help stop COVID-infected individuals from entering the United States. prgtoken And I haven't even mentioned the fact that apparently the administration has released tens of thousands of individuals into the United States without court dates, many of whom have failed to show up at Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices as directed. prgtoken The border situation is out of control, and President bears a big part of the blame. prgtoken Immigration has helped build this country, and I strongly support making sure tha
IN RECOGNITION OF MTV'S 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2021-7-29

. Madam , I rise to recognize MTV, on its 40th anniversary for the cultural imprint it has left on our country and the work it continues to do as one of the world's leading global youth brands. Throughout MTV's 40 years, the brand has created reality television, expanded the creative mediums of the music industry, and inspired our nation's youth. Today, this New York-born and bred brand reaches 180 countries and 1.8 billion people around the world. prgtoken In August 1981, MTV exploded onto the airwaves with the release of the first-ever music video, ``Video Killed the Radio Star'' by The Buggies. Shortly after, MTV began to define popular culture and the music industry in an unprecedented manner with popular music becoming more visual and dance and clothing styles garnering a greater importance to the whole experience of music. MTV's popularity grew to such heights that in 1984 it hosted the network's first Video Music Awards--known as the VMAs--ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in the great city of New York. prgtoken In 1985, MTV began to air safe sex Public Service Announcements (PSAs), making it one of the first television networks to do so. These safe-sex initiatives continued over the years through MTV's It's Your Sex Life campaign and more, helping to educate our nation's youth on the importance of safe sex practices. MTV was a pioneer in the nascent efforts to ensure our nation's teens and young adults had the knowledge to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and infections, contributing to lowering the rates of such diseases in the following decades. prgtoken Continuing its work in this type of educational programming, in February 1992, MTV launched Choose or Lose during the 1992 presidential election. The awareness campaign successfully engaged young people by demystifying the political process, encouraging registration, stressing the importance of voting, and highlighting issues of daily importance to Americans. The Choose or Lose campaign contributed to a twenty percent increase in youth turnout during the 1992 general election and remains a model for encouraging youth voter engagement. prgtoken In 1996, MTV grew Choose or Lose to include a bus that toured 80,000 miles between forty-eight states to engage even more young prgtoken Americans in the political process and shed light on the issues impacting them. During this time, MTV devoted more than 100 hours of airtime to policy issues affecting young people. The campaign was successful in registering 30,000 new young voters, and when President Clinton signed the Voter Registration Act of 1993 into law, he cited MTV and Rock the Vote's role in making such a landmark law possible. MTV used its voice to promote the bill, educate the public on the bill on MTV News, and provide a platform for the bill's sponsors and proponents. In addition, MTV provided $20 million worth of airtime for Motor Voter PSAs, directing viewers to call their