mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Chris Van Hollen (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-2-13

. I thank the Presiding Officer. prgtoken , I start by thanking my colleague from the State of Maryland, Senator Cardin, for his leadership on many, many issues but, especially, as we gather here on the Senate floor to discuss the Dreamers and immigration issues, including the folks who are TPS recipients. I thank him for his leadership in Maryland and around the country on these vital issues. prgtoken I think the country understands how important it is that we provide the Dreamers with a secure future. These are individuals who have grown up in our country. They know no other country as home. They have been in classrooms with our kids. They have pledged allegiance to the flag. They are now students in college or individuals working in businesses. Some of them are small business owners. Many serve in our Armed Forces. It would be disgraceful if, after welcoming these young people, we were to cast them away. prgtoken Unfortunately, last September, President lit the fuse on the deportation of the Dreamers, and that clock has been ticking every day and every month as we approach the March 5 deadline. So we as a Senate--as s and but, more importantly, as Americans--need to come together and finally do our work so that we operate as a body that can help solve problems in this country. Part of that is making sure that these Dreamers have a secure home and a pathway to becoming full citizens here in the United States of America. prgtoken Just the other day I was talking to the president of the University of Maryland. We have a number of DACA recipients who are there training to be engineers, training to be doctors, and people who are looking forward to participating in the only country they know, the United States of America. prgtoken I wish to turn now quickly to people who are here under what is called temporary protected status. These are individuals who are in the United States and could not return home because of disasters in their home countries, whether by earthquakes or hurricanes or other events that made it impossible to return home because their homes had been destroyed or other circumstances had changed that made it impossible for them to return. We, the United States of America, granted these individuals temporary protected status. These are individuals who are in the United States legally, and many of them have been here for over two decades. In the case of El Salvador, we have most people who are here from El Salvador on temporary protected status since the year 2000. They have families here. They are small business men and women, and they are working productively in our communities. In the case of Honduras, it was even earlier, 1998. prgtoken Senator Cardin and I and others have introduced legislation called the SECURE Act, which would also provide security here in the United States for these individuals on TPS status. Unfortunately, a series of decisions coming d
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2018-2-13

I am here for my 197th ``Time to Wake Up'' speech. My poster board is getting a little dog-eared, but we keep moving doggedly along. prgtoken Last week, I spoke about corporate America outsourcing its lobbying to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce--a determined enemy of any action on climate change. When pro-climate companies support the chamber, they support its anti-climate lobbying, its anti-climate election spending and threatening, and they enable the chamber's anti-climate stranglehold with the fossil fuel industry on Congress. prgtoken The chamber is not alone in its anti-climate advocacy on behalf of corporate America. Another big Washington trade association obstructing climate action, despite having been a pro-climate action member, is the National Association of Manufacturers, often called NAM. prgtoken Over the last two decades, NAM has spent more than $150 million lobbying the Federal Government, and each year, NAM lobbies extensively for the fossil fuel industry. prgtoken Here are some of the greatest hits of NAM's fossil fuel lobbying. prgtoken NAM lobbies to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and Arctic. I wonder how many of its members want to be out there supporting offshore drilling in all those areas. prgtoken NAM advocates for the continued use of coal in the electric power and industrial sectors. There is not a congressional district left where a majority of voters don't want coal-plant emissions regulated. Yet there is NAM. prgtoken NAM lobbies to roll back fuel economy standards that save consumers billions of dollars at the pump. Never mind that the equipment that keeps cars cleaner is manufactured; the National Association of Manufacturers is opposed. prgtoken NAM sent what it calls a key vote letter to all Members of Congress urging repeal of a rule to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining pollution. More on that in a moment. prgtoken NAM urged the administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. More on that in a moment too. prgtoken Finally, NAM opposes any efforts to put a price on carbon pollution. prgtoken Back to that key vote letter. ``The NAM's Key Vote Advisory Committee has indicated that votes on H.J. Res. 38, including procedural motions, may be considered for designation as Key Manufacturing Votes in the 115th Congress.'' This letter warns Members of Congress to vote the way the group wants or risk losing out on its endorsements and all the campaign support that goes with it. Who knows--run up a bad enough score and NAM may support your opponent. prgtoken Well, you would think protecting streams and drinking water from pollution from coal mines would be nothing but common sense. Streams fouled by coal mining waste literally run orange. This is the actual photograph; this is not a black-and-white photograph that has been color-corrected. This stream is running orange. As one West Virginia woman whose local stream was
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Patty Murray (Democrat, WA) \u2014 2018-2-13

as people around the Nation listen to this floor debate, I am sure they can hear the divisions about immigration loud and clear. I know I can. Immigration policy is hard, it is emotional, and it has vexed this Congress for decades. prgtoken While the floor debate we are having right now can be trying and can be thrown off-kilter by one more ill-timed tweet from the President, we have to keep our eyes on the ball because as tough as it may seem right here, the stakes are so much higher for millions of people who live every day in this country, trapped in a broken immigration system. They face the constant fear of deportation, and they suffer from the threat of being ripped apart from their families, their friends, and the communities that they love. prgtoken Just like the deep divisions we see on this issue across the country, finding a path forward in the Senate, in the House, and all the way to the White House is not going to be easy, but tackling the tough issues and engaging in fair and honest debate is why we are here. Creating a more perfect union is why we are here. Finding a bipartisan path forward both to secure our borders and protect the futures of so many hard-working families is why we are here. prgtoken First, we have to agree to some basic truths. To start, Dreamers-- hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors, our teachers, firefighters, servicemembers, and students--are not criminals. They are not MS-13 gang members nor are they the shadowy pictures depicted in disgusting campaign ads in the President's speeches. prgtoken They are not a drain on our economy. In fact, Dreamers are just the opposite, contributing in countless ways to our communities and enriching the lives of so many others. prgtoken So who are Dreamers? prgtoken Dreamers are determined; they are passionate; they are American in every way except on paper. They are fighting for the only lives they have ever known. They are fighting for their loved ones with everything they have, and they are trying to do it the right way. prgtoken A few years back, when Congress had fallen down on its job to fix the broken immigration system, Dreamers stepped up to work in good faith with the Federal Government--Dreamers like Jose Manuel Vasquez, who grew up in south Seattle. He didn't know he was not a natural born citizen until he went to get a driver's license. Thanks to the DACA Program, Jose Manuel was able to graduate from the University of Washington. He started a tech business, and he volunteers at local nonprofits. prgtoken Another Dreamer who grew up in Pasco, WA, described being 4 years old when he was taken to the airport to fly to the United States. He said that he was so young, he didn't understand what was going on. He only recalls being confused about why he couldn't bring all of his toys with him to his new home in America. Years later, after he enrolled in DACA, he said that he was able to quit working in man
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat, MD) \u2014 2018-2-13

I want to share with my colleagues a concern I have about a group of people who are legally in this country and have a similar problem as the DACA registrant Dreamers who we need to pay attention to. I am strongly in support of passing legislation to protect DACA and Dreamers. I will talk a little bit about that also. prgtoken There is a group of individuals who have been in this country for a long time--similar to the Dreamers--who know no other country but the United States of America. They are legally here. They also have a date on their back as a result of the administration, in some cases, not renewing what is known as temporary protected status; in other cases, it has deferred that decision making on the extension of temporary protected status. prgtoken In 1990, Congress passed legislation that authorized the creation of the TPS program. We recognized that there were times in which armed conflict or environmental disasters or other extraordinary circumstances would present itself where individuals would not be safe in their home country, and they would be permitted to legally come to the United States under this protected status. I would like to call it ``humanitarian protected status'' because these conditions have continued in many of these countries for decades. prgtoken Many of these people have been here for decades because the circumstances in their home country have not changed. Administration after administration has renewed their protected status, and they have been permitted to live here legally, to be able to work and go to school. They serve in our military. They have served our Nation very, very well. prgtoken The numbers are smaller than those of the Dreamers. The total number is approximately 437,000. The largest country by far is El Salvador, which is 195,000; Honduras, about 57,000; and Haiti, about 50,000. prgtoken I think Members of Congress are fully aware of the circumstances in Central America and recognize the fact that, for many families, it was not safe for them to stay in their countries because, if they had, their children would have either ended up in gangs or have been murdered and that the economic circumstances in these countries had not allowed for economic opportunities for their families. As a result, the United States welcomed them here in a protected status, and they have become part of our economy. prgtoken For the State of Maryland, this number is actually larger than the Dreamer category. We have 22,500 who are in the TPS status--97 percent from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti. It has been estimated that this group has contributed $1.2 billion to Maryland's GDP. They have been in our country for decades. The young people particularly know no other country than the United States of America. It would not be safe for them to return to their countries. prgtoken We have information about that, and I call it to my colleagues' attention. The process in
INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK ACT
Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC) \u2014 2018-2-14

today, I introduce a bill to recognize and preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington located in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. The defenses of Washington, including forts, unarmed batteries and rifle trenches, created a ring of protection for the nation's capital during the Civil War. This bill would redesignate the 22 Civil War Defenses of Washington currently under National Park Service jurisdiction as a national historical park, and allow other sites associated with the Civil War Defenses of Washington that are owned by the District of Columbia or a unit of state governments to be affiliated with the national historic park through cooperative agreements. This bill would also require the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the storied history of the Civil War for both the North and the South, including the history of the Defenses of Washington and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, being assembled, arrayed and conveyed for the benefit of the public for the knowledge, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. prgtoken The Civil War Defenses of Washington were constructed at the beginning of the war, in 1861, as a ring of protection for the nation's capital and for President Abraham Lincoln. By the end of the war, these defenses included 68 forts, 93 unarmed batteries, 807 mounted cannons, 13 miles of rifle trenches, and 32 miles of military roads. The major test of the Civil War Defenses of Washington came with the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, when Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early, directed by General Robert E. Lee, sought to attack the nation's capital from the north, causing Union forces threatening to attack Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn. General Early was delayed by Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, and was stopped at the northern edge of Washington at the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11 and 12, 1864. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign ended when Union Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan defeated General Early at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19, 1864. prgtoken Nearly all the individual forts in the Civil Defenses of Washington-- on both sides of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers--were involved in stopping General Early's attack, and the Battle of Fort Stevens was the second and last attempt by the Confederate Army to attack Washington. prgtoken Taken together, these battles were pivotal to the outcome of the war and the freedom and democracy that the war represented for this country. It is therefore fitting that we recognize these sites by redesignating them as a national historic park. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
Jeff Merkley (Democrat, OR) \u2014 2018-2-14

our Constitution begins with three very simple and very powerful words: ``We the People.'' It is the mission statement for our Nation, for our Constitution. It is a vision in which decisions are made of, by, and for the people, not for the privileged and not for the powerful. prgtoken Who wrote those words? Well, it happened to be a group of White, wealthy landowners--the powerful and the privileged. They didn't choose to build a nation that would make laws for their benefit but laws that would be designed for the entire populous to thrive. prgtoken They were descended from immigrants. In our country, unless you are 100 percent Native American, unless you have just arrived as a new immigrant, you are descended from immigrants yourself. It is part of the fabric prgtoken of our Nation. It is what makes us a combination of powerful talents and abilities from around the world. prgtoken George Washington himself once said: ``America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respected Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions.'' On another occasion, he wrote to a friend: ``I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.'' True to Washington's wishes and to his vision, that is the land we have been. It has been that land of opportunity, that land that welcomes others to our shores and gives them the chance to pursue the vision of opportunity, to help participate in the making of our great Nation, and to do so, each generation brings together a variety of languages and cultures and backgrounds. That is America. prgtoken That is why, a century after our Nation's founding, the French gave to the United States the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty has stood as a beacon of hope, welcoming those from other lands. Inscribed in the pedestal of that statue are these words: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! prgtoken Those are the welcoming words for hundreds of thousands arriving here in the United States. prgtoken As I speak at this moment, 800,000 young men and women right here in America are yearning to breathe free as full participants in the Nation that they have grown up in. These are our Dreamers--Dreamers like this group of Oregonians who visited my office in December, who came to this country as very young children, who went to elementary school here, who went to high school here, who are our neighbors, our community members, who have gone on to college, who have taken jobs, and who are contributing in every possible way to our community, studying in their schools, practicing and working in our industry. They are now young adults who are striving to support their
PROTECTING CONSUMERS' ACCESS TO CREDIT ACT OF 2017
Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2018-2-14

I thank the ranking member for yielding and for her extraordinary efforts to protect consumers by opposing this bill. prgtoken , I rise in very strong opposition to H.R. 3299. I don't think that we should be doing anything to take away States' authority to enforce their own usury laws, which make it illegal for lenders to charge outrageously high interest rates on their residents. prgtoken This is a core consumer protection issue, and if we allow lenders that aren't subject to the strict Federal regulations for banks to circumvent State regulations too, then we are just throwing consumers to the wolves, removing protections. prgtoken I know that some people have claimed that this bill would promote innovation by allowing financial technology companies to better serve lower income customers; but let's be clear. The only loans that would be allowed by this bill that aren't already allowed are loans that violate State usury laws that are put in place in States to protect their consumers. Why in the world would we want to do that to people? prgtoken I am sorry, but there is nothing innovative about usury, and there is nothing innovative about gouging low-income consumers with outrageous interest rates. This is a terrible, terrible bill. prgtoken So this bill is not about innovation. It is about taking away protections for consumers from predatory loans. Why in the world would we want to do that to people? prgtoken I urge my colleagues, I urge them to protect consumers and to oppose this bill.
PROTECTING CONSUMERS' ACCESS TO CREDIT ACT OF 2017
Ro Khanna (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2018-2-14

let me take back my comment. prgtoken , I understand the Second Circuit decision. The Second Circuit decision basically said that, if you are a bank and if you are a fintech company and you are in a rural part of the country--and I totally agree with the gentleman; we need more capital to rural America; we need more tech there. I admire Steve Case's work, the ``Rise of the Rest.'' prgtoken But what the Second Circuit said is you can't partner with a national bank and preempt State law. So if North Carolina has a law saying you can't charge 400 percent interest, if there is a bank in New York or a bank in California that wants to charge 400 percent interest just because they have some magical fintech, they can't charge people 400 percent interest in North Carolina or Arkansas. prgtoken I am all for giving more capital at affordable rates and using technology to help rural America. prgtoken We have done a terrible job of that. I concede that point. But this is not the way to do that.
BROADER OPTIONS FOR AMERICANS ACT
Christopher Murphy (Democrat, CT) \u2014 2018-2-14

as we speak, there is a horrific scene playing prgtoken out in a high school in South Florida. Turn on your television right now, and you will see scenes of children running for their lives--what looks to be the 19th school shooting in this country, and we have not even hit March. prgtoken I am coming to the floor to talk about something else, but let me note once again for my colleagues that this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America, this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting. It only happens here, not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for the level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. prgtoken As a parent, it scares me to death that this body doesn't take seriously the safety of my children, and it seems as though a lot of parents in South Florida are going to be asking that same question later today. prgtoken We pray for the families and for the victims. We hope for the best. prgtoken , I came to the floor today to talk about immigration. I want to make a specific case to you today, but before I do, I want to talk a little about process. prgtoken I heard a lot of my friends on the side of the aisle say on this floor and in the Halls of Congress that President has made an immigration proposal and have been asking for an immigration proposal, so we should just accept his first and only offer. What is the big deal? President gave you something that says ``immigration'' on it. Why aren't you accepting it? prgtoken It is a terrible proposal. It is bad for America. To his credit, President does attempt to try to deal with these Dreamer kids, but there are 3 million potentially eligible individuals in this country, and it only allows about 1.8 million of them to get through the process. prgtoken But that is really not the worst part. The worst part is that it cuts legal immigration by 40 percent. It basically abandons this country's commitment to family-based immigration. I wouldn't be here if we only had skills-based immigration. Most Members of this body wouldn't be here if the only way that your parents or grandparents or great- grandparents could have come here is because of a Ph.D. or a degree or a certificate. Most of the people in this Chamber, I would imagine, are here because their parents or great-grandparents or great-great- grandparents came here because they had friends or family here. Let's not reimagine the history of this country. prgtoken aren't obligated to accept the first offer from this President if it is not good for America. Negotiation still has to be part of the legislative process, and I am glad there are Members of the and ic caucuses who have been trying to do that. We will see where that goes. prgtoken The President ha