mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
CONGRATULATING MAJOR GENERAL JON JENSEN
Pete Stauber (Republican, MN) \u2014 2020-6-26

it is my honor to stand here today and congratulate Major General Jon Jensen of the Minnesota National Guard on his recent nomination to become the next Director of the Army National Guard. prgtoken Major General Jensen is a proven leader with an extraordinary record of prgtoken service to the great State of Minnesota and our Nation. prgtoken Currently, Major General Jensen serves as the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, meaning that he is the highest ranking guardsman in our State. Major General Jensen has also held numerous other leadership positions during his 37 years with the National Guard. prgtoken Throughout his entire career, Major General Jensen has served with the highest level of dedication. His service has earned him the respect of the public; countless government officials; and, most importantly, his fellow guardsmen. prgtoken On behalf of the entire State of Minnesota, I thank Major General Jon Jensen for his service and congratulate him on this well-deserved nomination. prgtoken Major General Jensen's rich experience makes him the perfect fit for the position, and I look forward to seeing him confirmed by the United States Senate soon.
PROTECTING YOUR CREDIT SCORE ACT OF 2019
Barry Loudermilk (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , I thank our ranking member for not only yielding, but his fine leadership in this committee. prgtoken I also appreciate my colleague, Mr. Gottheimer, sponsor of this legislation. I appreciate his leadership on this, and I truly believe he did work very hard in a bipartisan manner to try to come to an agreement. And unfortunately, we just weren't able to close that gap. And I hope that going forward we will be able to do that, because this is something that we do support on this side with the certain constraints to protect the consumers' identity. prgtoken One of my major concerns on this is cybersecurity. As was spoken about earlier, the bill would create an online portal for consumers to access their credit reports from all three major credit bureaus in one place. The idea is a good idea, and very worth discussing and very worth pursuing. But in its current state, it would be a massive amount of sensitive data in one place, so it must be done in a way that is cybersecure to make sure that the information doesn't lead to more fraud and more identity theft. prgtoken As someone who has spent many years in the IT sector, as I know my good colleague, Mr. Gottheimer, has as well, I am very concerned about the potential of breaches of this portal. prgtoken We all remember the 2017 Equifax data breach that exposed the financial information of millions of Americans, and the last thing we should be doing is increasing the chance of that kind of event happening again. But this bill has the potential to do that very thing because it does not include robust cybersecurity protections to make sure the information on the portal is secure. prgtoken Another worthy goal of the bill is to make it easier for consumers to dispute errors in their credit reports. But the bill allows consumers to repeatedly dispute the same information on their credit reports, even if it is found to be accurate, which would lead to unnecessary and frivolous disputes. prgtoken Another significant concern I have with this bill is that it would expand the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB is an unaccountable regulatory agency that took many rogue actions under the previous administration. prgtoken My colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that expanding the CFPB's power is a nonstarter for s; therefore, I cannot support this bill. I ask my colleagues to oppose this bill.
HONORING UofSC ALUMNUS, JOHN CARRINGTON
Joe Wilson (Republican, SC) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , a constituent of the South Carolina's Second Congressional Distict and Univesity of South Carolina alumnus, John Carrington, has answered the call to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. John is the CEO of ZVerse, a digital manufacturing technology company based in Columbia, South Carolina, that is known for making 3D printing software. As the lack of personal protection equipment began to plague healthcare providers, ZVerse took initiative to transform operations to address the needs of these essential workers. prgtoken First starting with 3D printing and then shifting to the process of injection molding, ZVerse was able to create a large number of medical shields at an affordable price. By early June, ZVerse produced and shipped 4 million reusable protective face shields for health care workers with an additional 3 million more to follow. These shields shipped nationwide to recipients who need them most, ranging from local municipalities to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. prgtoken ZVerse has now become the largest manufacturer in the country of reusable protective face shields and is now working to address the needs for workers outside of healthcare in need for this protection, such as restaurants and grocery stores. ZVerse has now doubled the amount of its employees and expects to continue growing in the coming year. prgtoken South Carolinians appreciate John for his leadership and active response to the pandemic and wish him continued success. prgtoken A special thanks to Megan Sexton at the University of South Carolina for covering this story and sharing the positive impacts of UofSC alumni.
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF RULE SUBMITTED BY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RELATING TO ``BORROWER DEFENSE INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY''--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
David P. Roe (Republican, TN) \u2014 2020-6-26

I rise in opposition to the resolution. prgtoken As a ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I have heard a lot of misinformation about the Department of Education's borrower defense rule and its effects on student veterans. prgtoken Here is the truth: The rule does not limit the rights or benefits provided for veterans in the GI bill or servicemembers who use the Department of Defense's Tuition Assistance Program, or the TAP program. Any veteran or servicemember who is defrauded by an institution and took out Federal loans, will have the opportunity to have that claim fairly adjudicated, just like any other student would under the rule. prgtoken When I was chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs in 2017, I offered the Forever GI bill to make more veterans eligible to receive a GI bill benefit and make veterans eligible to receive this valuable benefit for life. prgtoken , 45 years ago, this Army veteran, when he left the Army, used the GI bill. I know how valuable it is, personally, . It helped me and my family tremendously, and that is why we wanted to make this benefit a lifetime benefit. prgtoken , just a few months ago, this Congress passed two bills to protect student veterans whose GI bill benefits were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. My record has shown that one of my top priorities is ensuring veterans can receive a quality education, and a large part of that is ensuring that they receive the education they were promised and holding schools accountable for fraud. prgtoken , the Department's rule does just that. And it sets up a clear process for borrowers to have their claim adjudicated and hold institutions of all types accountable. This rule is fair to borrowers. It is fair to schools. It is fair to taxpayers. prgtoken , I support this rule, and I support the President's veto.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
A. Drew Ferguson IV (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Oh, Madam , not only is there an expectation, there is gratitude for the work that the President and the administration have done to get information out, to expand testing, to go out to make sure that the resources were delivered to our colleagues in the great State of New York, resources there to build extra hospital beds that nursing home patients could have gone to but, unfortunately, were sent back to their nursing homes. prgtoken Yes, I am grateful not only for his commitment to America, but I am grateful for the fact that he has helped lead this country and will continue to lead this country back. So, yes, we should all expect a lot of ourselves. We should be committed to the greatness of this country, as I know that we all are. prgtoken Madam , .
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF RULE SUBMITTED BY OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY RELATING TO ``COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT REGULATIONS''
Bill Huizenga (Republican, MI) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , I appreciate the ranking member doing that. Let me just wrap up. prgtoken By using the Congressional Review Act to overturn this critical final rule, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will only delay progress and harm the very communities that I know they want to protect. Those are the same communities that I serve as well. prgtoken I urge all of my colleagues to vote against this partisan attempt to overturn much-needed reform and modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act, and I am hopeful that we are going to be able to come together and work on true, meaningful, actual reform in the long run.
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF RULE SUBMITTED BY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RELATING TO ``BORROWER DEFENSE INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY''--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Lloyd Smucker (Republican, PA) \u2014 2020-6-26

I rise today in strong opposition to today's attempt to override the President's veto. prgtoken I think all of us agree that it is important to offer borrowers a process to discharge loans when they have been defrauded by a school, and that is what the rule, crafted with significant stakeholder input, offers. That was the original intent of the borrower defense process when it was enacted in 1995. prgtoken However, in 2016, as we have heard, the administration used this process to advance an ideological loan forgiveness scheme, and it worked as they intended. We went from fewer than 60 claims over 20 years to nearly 330,000 claims in 4 years, which would cost the hardworking taxpayers, if you had to pay this price, $40 billion. And they will have to pay that price. prgtoken Now, I don't need to go into reasons why that 2016 rule was flawed. Instead, I will highlight some of the improvements made under the new rule. prgtoken This rule strengthens protections for borrowers from fraud and applies the same accountability metrics to all institutions across the board. prgtoken The rule provides due process for students and institutions but, rightfully, gives students the last word. The rule keeps the standard of evidence the same as the one used by the administration, by the way, and thanks to stakeholder feedback, the rule does not require borrowers to prove intent. prgtoken Another point, this new rule will only apply to new claims for loans taken out after July 1. prgtoken I do want to thank Secretary DeVos and all of the hardworking individuals at the Department of Education for working through the caseload under the standard. Your hard work of processing more than 5,000 cases per week for borrowers seeking relief has not gone unnoticed. prgtoken A vote against this veto override is a vote in favor of creating a system that is fairer for students and taxpayers. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution.
UNITE AMERICA
Andy Biggs (Republican, AZ) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , I thank the gentleman for his passionate comments about freedom. prgtoken Madam , those of us who have had the good fortune of studying history, we know that it bumps and claws along. We do see progress sometimes, and we also see devolution sometimes. prgtoken What we are seeing today, though, reminds me an awful lot of a revolution that took place in the early part of the 20th century. It was not a large revolution; it was a small revolution. It was the Bolshevik Revolution. It was funded by some of the bourgeoisie who did not like the form of government in then-Russia. It was not a massive revolution. It wasn't widespread, but it changed that entire nation's form of government. prgtoken I am reminded that it was Trotsky who prevented the military from intervening against the lawless revolution. What I am seeing here today reminds me an awful lot of that. This is a small revolution that is violent in nature, is anti-American in nature. prgtoken And so when my colleagues mention the police and what they need to do, what happens is there has been an emasculation of the police. They don't really want to get involved because, should they get involved, there is a legitimate concern that they will be sued, arrested, et cetera. So when you get rid of the blue line of defense against lawlessness, then you basically destroy the foundation of the protection of your freedoms. prgtoken President called certain groups antifa, domestic terrorists. In our debate in the Judiciary Committee, some of my colleagues said antifa is a fiction. So I said: Well, you know, is it a fiction? prgtoken So I went to CNN, because I knew that if I went to FOX and referred to FOX, nobody was going to believe that that was not biased. So I went to CNN because I wanted to find out what they said, and you can go through and find extensive interviews where the conclusion is clear: antifa is a real organization. It is a group. And the group sometimes chooses to resort to violence. prgtoken So what do you have? They are definitely domestic. They are committing terrorist activity in this country. Thus, they are domestic. prgtoken And what would terrorism be? Terrorism is the use of force, intimidation, violence to change or alter behavior for a particular purpose. prgtoken So you begin to see you have domestic terrorism going on. prgtoken 18 U.S. Code, Section 2339A, I call on FBI Director Wray to begin using that statute, make the arrests necessary to restore order. And I call on Attorney General William Barr to use that same section to charge and prosecute these individuals who are attempting to intimidate Americans out of their freedom. prgtoken A lot of these Federal monuments and statues that are coming down, these memorials that are being ripped to shreds, destroyed are on Federal property. prgtoken And you know what? 18 U.S. Code 1369 is the statute that Director Wray should be having his Federal agency make arrests under. And then
HONORING LUKE MARCHANT'S 40TH BIRTHDAY
Kenny Marchant (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , I rise today to honor a very special constituent of the 24th Congressional District, my son, Luke Beckett Marchant. Tomorrow, Luke celebrates his 40th birthday with his wife, Katie, and their two young children, Walker Ross and Carter Bailey. prgtoken While working in Austin in an internship during college, he worked for Senator Ken Armbrister. After learning the ropes in the Texas Senate, he shifted gears to run and manage the race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. prgtoken Luke graduated from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma, in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and promptly came up to Washington, D.C in hopes of finding himself a job in public service. I offered to put Luke up at the Pentagon Days Inn in Arlington, VA, for two weeks while he hit the pavement on Capitol Hill in hopes of landing a job as a recent college graduate. After wearing out considerable shoe leather, Luke was hired to work in the mail room for Senator John Cornyn and later learned every street in the nation's capital while navigating the Senator around town as his driver. He quickly rose up through the ranks while never forgetting that he came to work each day to better serve the people of Texas to the best of his ability. prgtoken Luke's passion for political life has taken him from Maine to Kentucky; Florida to our Lone Star State. He would go on to work for our colleagues Congressman Pete Olson and Senator Marco Rubio. I'm fiercely proud to note that he also worked for Texas Attorney General and now Governor Greg Abbott. prgtoken Even though Luke has journeyed across our great country, it was deep in the heart of Texas, working on Pete Olson's first run for Congress, when Luke got luckiest. There he met his future wife, Katie, and it changed his life. I'm so proud of the man he has become and the family he and Katie have built. l look forward to spending more time with them and their children at our ranch. prgtoken Since December 2016, Luke has served as Vice President for Hill and Knowlton Strategies in Dallas, Texas. I would like to say that I taught him everything that he knows, but that hasn't been true for a very long time. Nowadays he has been teaching his old man plenty. prgtoken I wish Luke a wonderful last day of his 30s today, and ask all of my colleagues to join this proud father in wishing him a very happy 40th birthday tomorrow.
WASHINGTON, D.C. ADMISSION ACT
James Comer (Republican, KY) \u2014 2020-6-26

I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Hice) for his great leadership on this issue. prgtoken At a time when Pelosi is keeping Congress largely on the sidelines, it is unfortunate that we are spending precious work time debating blatantly unconstitutional legislation. prgtoken Not only is this measure unconstitutional and dead on arrival in the Senate, but it should not be a priority for this body right now. Our Nation is facing a serious need for action. We need police reform that focuses on transparency and accountability, we need to support American workers as States safely reopen their communities and economies, and we need to ensure that money we have spent to fight the coronavirus is effectively guarded against waste, fraud, and abuse. prgtoken Passing this measure today would signal a stunning lack of respect for the Constitution. Making Washington, D.C a State would specifically violate the intentions of our Founding Fathers, who wanted the national seat of government to belong to no State. prgtoken In fact, the Constitution specifically calls for Congress, not any State government, to have authority over the District serving as the seat of Federal Government. prgtoken Granting statehood for Washington, D.C requires a constitutional amendment, just as granting the District three electoral college votes required the ratification of the 23rd Amendment. prgtoken It is time for Congress to get back to full-time work and take up the pressing issues facing our country, not playing unconstitutional games.
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF RULE SUBMITTED BY OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY RELATING TO ``COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT REGULATIONS''
Bryan Steil (Republican, WI) \u2014 2020-6-26

. Madam , I rise today in opposition to the resolution of disapproval. prgtoken The Community Reinvestment Act is an important law that encourages investments in places like Racine, Kenosha, and Janesville, and communities in need across this country. But the rulings governing the CRA haven't been updated since 1995. prgtoken In the last 25 years, the banking industry has undergone significant changes. Small and medium-sized banks have consolidated and closed. Branches have disappeared from some rural and low-income areas. Technology has drastically affected the way millions of Americans are conducting their banking. prgtoken The CRA needs to be updated to fit the banking system we have today and to meet the needs of the communities in 2020. That is exactly what the OCC is trying to do with the new rule. prgtoken The new CRA rule provides financial institutions with greater clarity about which activities count for CRA credit and where that activity needs to take place. It also takes into account the reality that many banking activities are conducted online by giving banks that are largely digital credit for investing in areas where they take deposits. prgtoken By implementing consistent, objective metrics, the new CRA rule also makes it easier for examiners to measure the performance and to compare institutions. This resolution of disapproval would block all that progress, to the detriment of communities in need. prgtoken I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution.
WASHINGTON, D.C. ADMISSION ACT
Louie Gohmert (Republican, TX) \u2014 2020-6-26

it is amazing to hear people that have been trained in the Constitution disregard it so. But we are taught at law school the ability to rationalize absolutely anything. But the fact is, Article I, Section 8, there is not one of the 37 States that have been brought in by Congress that is addressed in the Constitution like this district is. And it says specifically--this is the right of Congress-- ``To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding 10 miles square)''--that is this one--``as may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of Government of the United States.'' prgtoken And if you go back and look at Federalist Paper 43, you look at the debate at the time, they understood. We have had the capital in New York City. We have had it in Philadelphia. And that is dangerous. Because it means if you are surrounded by a State and the capital is part of that State or in the middle surrounded by the State, then pressure can be brought to bear that would be so unfair. Look at the debate. That is why that is in there, to protect that. prgtoken , now, one of the things that we agree on is that it is wrong to make the residents of the District of Columbia pay income tax. I have been filing a bill since 2008, I think it was, that would eliminate the Federal tax. None of the territories--who also don't have full voting Members of Congress--pay Federal income tax. D.C. shouldn't either. That is a legislative fix we can do.
HONORING THE LIFE OF ROBERT BOATRIGHT
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (Republican, GA) \u2014 2020-6-26

I rise today to remember and honor the life of Mr. Roger Boatright of Alma, Georgia, who passed away on May 8. prgtoken Roger was a remarkable man of great courage, leadership, and depth, and I had the honor and privilege of knowing him well. prgtoken Roger retired from the Georgia State Patrol as a trooper first class and was a faithful member to his church and numerous community organizations, such as the Bacon County Exchange Club; the Bacon County Hospital Authority; and the Georgia Municipal Association, to which he served as president. prgtoken When Roger was elected as a council member for the city of Alma in 1986, this paved the course of his life of service to his community. prgtoken A few years later, Roger was elected mayor of Alma, where he faithfully served 14 years. In 2009, he was elected chairman of the Bacon County Board of Commissioners and later returned to serve as a council member for the city of Alma. prgtoken While tremendously improving his city as mayor, he was appointed to the board of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs before he became chair of this statewide board. prgtoken Roger was truly a pillar in his community, which is why he was rightfully rewarded various accolades. prgtoken Although Roger had a passion for service and loved his community deeply, he loved his family more than anything. prgtoken I am thankful for the lasting impact Roger had on so many, including myself, and I know his legacy and influence will remain for years to come. prgtoken My thoughts and prayers are with all who worked with him, knew him, and loved him. Southeast Georgia has lost a great man.