mesut/congress_speeches huggingface dataset:
RECOGNIZING JALISA PETERSON
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (Republican, GA) \u2014 2019-2-27

. Madam , I rise today to recognize Ms. Jalisa Peterson from Liberty County High School on being a finalist for the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. prgtoken One of 29,000 students across the country who participated, Ms. Peterson was one of only eight high school students acknowledged in the State of Georgia for exceptional projects of community service. Specifically, she volunteered at a local orphanage, playing games, crafting art, reading, and building relationships with children, all the way from newborns to 18-year-olds. prgtoken I am very proud of Ms. Peterson's work and glad to have someone like her in the First Congressional District of Georgia. prgtoken I am glad to see this award is encouraging more community service, a crucial aspect in order to make our world a better place to live.
NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Republican, WA) \u2014 2019-2-27

I rise today to discuss the President's national emergency declaration. prgtoken First and foremost, I support President , and I support the wall. Walls work to protect our security, combat human trafficking, stop the flow of drugs, and encourage legal immigration. prgtoken have pushed for zero wall money, open borders, and abolishing ICE. These policies make our Nation vulnerable and threaten our security, and it is a tragedy. prgtoken So I don't blame the President for proposing extreme measures to respond to their extreme policies and tactics. However, yesterday, I made the difficult decision to disapprove of this type of unilateral executive action, just as I could not approve any such unilateral action by any President. prgtoken I am 100 percent with President for building the wall, but the emergency declaration only maintains the status quo. Securing our border is fundamental to who we are as a sovereign nation, and that is why I voted over a dozen times for stronger border security, including $25 billion for the wall last year. prgtoken Unfortunately, as the President recognized, himself, this national emergency could be tied up in the courts for years with no guarantee that judges will rule in favor of the wall to be built. It is Congress' job to provide the resources our Nation needs to keep us safe, and I am concerned that if this is tied up in the courts, we will be stuck with the status quo of no wall and a border that isn't secure. prgtoken My vote to disapprove of this unilateral executive action had nothing to do with the merits or need to build President 's wall; it was about our Constitution and this body's exclusive Article I powers to make laws and use the power of the purse. prgtoken I spoke out strongly when President said that if Congress didn't act, he would use the pen and the phone, and then he proceeded to act alone on DACA and act alone in reappropriating money within Care and regulating every mud puddle in America. prgtoken Remember, President initially said he couldn't act alone on DACA because he wasn't a king or an emperor. After a robust debate in Congress, he flip-flopped and took executive action. His executive action took away Congress' authority to act, and DACA still isn't solved. prgtoken These unilateral actions by President put more power in the hands of unelected people sitting in cubicles in Washington, D.C and they turned elected Representatives into elected bystanders. When Representatives become irrelevant, citizens become irrelevant, and we the people are powerless against faceless, unelected bureaucrats. prgtoken Unilateral executive actions set bad precedent. If it is okay for the executive branch to act alone after the legislative branch doesn't reach an agreement, where does that take us? prgtoken Governor Jay Inslee already has said that he would be willing to declare a national emergency on climate change allowi
Climate Change (Executive Calendar)
Roy Blunt (Republican, MO) \u2014 2019-2-27

on February 13 the Rules Committee approved S. Res. 70, which authorizes funding for the Senate's committees from March 1, 2019, through February 28, 2021. For this 24-month period, the 18 committees covered by this resolution are authorized to spend up to $214,055,860. This is a small increase over the funding authorized by the current committee funding resolution, S. Res. 62. For the information of my colleagues, committee funding authorized by S. Res. 70 remains 13 percent below levels from a decade ago. prgtoken Committees are the lifeblood of the legislative process. It is in our committees that policy is created and programs and agencies are overseen. Our committees are where the Senate first exercises its advice and consent function over the executive branch's nominees. Well- functioning committees are crucial to the Senate's role as a separate but equal branch of the government. prgtoken The resolution before the Senate is the result of a bipartisan process Senator Klobuchar, the Rules Committee's ranking member, and I undertook this year to solicit more input from committee chairmen and ranking members. The resolution reflects the needs identified by our colleagues and will help ensure our committees are able to carry out their responsibilities and duties. prgtoken I would like to thank Fitz Elder and Rachelle Schroeder from my committee staff; Lizzy Peluso and Lindsey Kerr from Senator Klobuchar's committee staff; and Cindy Qualley, the Rules Committee's chief clerk. Additionally, I would like to thank Ileana Garcia and Ted Ruckner from the Disbursing Office and John Henderson from the Office of Legislative Counsel. I greatly appreciate their hard work in developing this resolution.
CLOTURE MOTION
John Barrasso (Republican, WY) \u2014 2019-2-27

it is time to vote on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. prgtoken For the past year, Andrew Wheeler has served as the Senate-confirmed Deputy Administrator of the EPA, and for the past 7 months, he has served as the Acting Administrator. He has done an admirable job in charge of the EPA. prgtoken Under his leadership, the EPA has put forward commonsense proposals to roll back punishing regulations and still protect America's air and water. He is committed to protecting both human health and the environment. prgtoken Andrew Wheeler's qualifications are without question. He has spent decades working in environmental policy at the EPA itself, here on Capitol Hill, and as a consultant to environmental and energy clients. prgtoken President picked the right person to lead the Environmental Protection Agency when he nominated Andrew Wheeler. It is time for the Senate to confirm him to this important post. prgtoken .
EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Scott DesJarlais (Republican, TN) \u2014 2019-2-27

I rise today to support President 's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. prgtoken Sophisticated cartels--some of the most dangerous criminals and terrorist organizations in the world--are partnering with foreign adversaries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and China smuggling drugs, as well as human beings, into our country. prgtoken Mexican cartels produce or distribute the most heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine here, killing tens of thousands of Americans annually. prgtoken My constituents are suffering from the opioid epidemic. prgtoken MS-13 and other violent gangs have infiltrated recent migrant caravans; however, the equivalent of a migrant caravan crosses the border almost weekly. prgtoken These forces are destabilizing and deadly to people on both sides, particularly for the less fortunate among us. prgtoken Under legal authority Congress has granted the executive branch-- which also used to combat cartels and illegal immigration--the President, the power to declare a national emergency to fund construction of the new border barriers at dangerous weak points. prgtoken As a fiscal conservative, constitutionalist, and strong advocate for the prgtoken military, I believe the need is clear and pressing, the law supports immediate action, and ample funding exists to address this crisis.
HONORING OLYMPIC CHAMPION BARNEY EWELL
Lloyd Smucker (Republican, PA) \u2014 2019-2-27

I rise today during Black History Month to honor an Olympic champion and truly one of the greatest athletes my district has ever produced: Mr. Henry Norwood, otherwise known as ``Barney,'' Ewell. prgtoken Mr. Ewell was born into poverty and grew up in Lancaster. He attended McCaskey High School and later went on to attend Penn State. He served his country for 4 years, from 1941 to 1945, during World War II. prgtoken He became known as the fastest man in the world after he broke the world record for the 50-yard dash in 1940. He went on to win one gold and two silver medals at the 1948 Olympics in London. prgtoken I know people who still recall cheering on the streets in Lancaster City after Barney Ewell returned from London, having won the medals for our country and for our community. prgtoken Mr. Ewell was an inspiration to Lancaster City, and it is an honor to highlight his story today.
ENHANCED BACKGROUND CHECKS ACT OF 2019
James E. Clyburn (Democrat, SC) \u2014 2019-2-28

. Madam Chair, I thank my friend for yielding me the time. prgtoken Madam Chair, let me begin my remarks, first of all, by welcoming to our Capitol today Miss Jennifer Pinckney and her two daughters. They are the wife and children of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight of his Bible study parishioners, lost his life to a demented white supremacist who said that he was interested in starting a race war. prgtoken He entered their church, participated in the Bible study, into which they welcomed him. And, as they closed their study that evening and prayed for what they had experienced and for their next meeting, this gentleman, while their eyes were closed, opened his and slaughtered them. prgtoken I find it interesting that my colleague has talked about the inconvenience of waiting longer than 3 days to purchase a weapon, without mentioning those poor souls of Emanuel AME Church. prgtoken He has talked about people who might be inconvenienced; he has talked about something he read in the newspapers; but he has not mentioned them. Well, I am here today to say that the Members of this august body need to think a little bit about the value of those lives. prgtoken Are they more valuable than the inconvenience a gun purchaser may have by having to wait 10 rather than 3 days to make a purchase? prgtoken What would make one so anxious to purchase a gun in the first place? If you have got to have a gun right now, chances are you have no useful purpose, no redeeming value, in the purchase of that gun. prgtoken Maybe we ought to participate here, as Members of this body, in helping this purchaser with a cooling-off period, which is all we are asking to do here. prgtoken Charleston, South Carolina, is nicknamed the ``Holy City.'' Churches and steeples dominate the skyline of this historic city, which, until recently, had an ordinance that no building could be constructed higher than 55 feet, wanting nothing to obstruct its steeples. prgtoken Faith is fundamental to the Charleston community. However, that faith was rocked in June 2015 when this lone gunman rushed into this Bible study, after having studied the most historic African American churches in the State of South Carolina and developing a list of five churches, one of which was Emanuel AME. prgtoken He, by his own admission, selected this church because of its importance to the African American community, being the first organized place of worship in the South for African Americans. prgtoken He selected this. This was a hate crime of the first order, and we are saying we should not inconvenience him. And we did not inconvenience him. We allowed him to get that gun after 3 days, when it was around the fifth day that they found the glitch in the system and found him to be ineligible to own a gun. prgtoken We just had a gunman go into his workplace in Aurora, Illinois. He was ineligible to have a gun, but he was allowed to purchase the gun. When they found out tha
Introductory Statement on S. 638
Thomas R. Carper (Democrat, DE) \u2014 2019-2-28

during the debate on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency I came to the floor to express concerns on a number of issues, including EPA's regulation of per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances--PFAS. prgtoken PFAS are a class of man-made chemicals developed in the 1940s. PFAS can be found across industries in many products, including food packaging, nonstick pans, clothing, furniture, and firefighting foam used by the military. These chemicals have a long and tragic history-- suffice it to say that their widespread use resulted too many Americans without access to safe drinking water. prgtoken This very issue is a matter of some controversy as EPA has failed to provide meaningful and swift action on these chemicals under this administration. That is why I am here today to introduce a bipartisan bill to designate PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under the Federal superfund law. The Carper-Capito-Peters-Tillis-Stabenow-Rubio- Merkley-Gardner-Reed-Murkowski-Shaheen-Burr-Bennet-Manchin bill will force EPA to begin the rulemaking process to protecting Americans from overexposure to these harmful chemicals and hold polluters accountable. It is very similar to legislation that has already been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. prgtoken In his confirmation hearing, Andrew Wheeler said, and I quote: It is these Americans that President and his Administration are focused on, Americans without access to safe drinking water or Americans living on or near hazardous sites, often unaware of the health risks they and their families face. Many of these sites have languished for years, even decades. How can these Americans prosper if they cannot live, learn, or work in healthy environments? The answer is simple. They cannot. President understands this and that is why he is focused on putting Americans first. prgtoken One would think those words might mean that there could be some common ground at least on addressing PFAS. After all, who wouldn't agree that we should be acting with urgency to address contamination from these hazardous chemicals? prgtoken According to one 2017 study, drinking water supplies for 6 million U.S. residents have exceeded the EPA's lifetime health advisory for these chemicals. prgtoken Another 2018 study performed by the Environmental Working Group reports that up to 110 million Americans could have PFAS-contaminated water. prgtoken In 2016, the Department of Defense announced that it was assessing the risk of groundwater contamination from firefighting foam at dozens of fire and crash testing sites across the country. It is likely that they are all contaminated. prgtoken Just last year, the town of Blades in my home State of Delaware alerted its 1,250 residents, as well as businesses and schools that use public water, to stop us
Introductory Statement on S. 592
Jack Reed (Democrat, RI) \u2014 2019-2-28

today I am reintroducing the Cybersecurity Disclosure Act along with two members of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Collins, and the ranking member, Senator Warner, in addition to Senator Kennedy and Senator Jones, who also serve with me on the Senate Banking Committee. In response to data breaches of various companies that exposed the personal information of millions of customers, our legislation asks each publicly traded company to include--in Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, disclosures to investors--information on whether any member of the board of directors is a cybersecurity expert, and if not, why having this expertise on the board of directors is not necessary because of other cybersecurity steps taken by the publicly traded company. To be clear, the legislation does not require companies to take any actions other than to provide this disclosure to its investors. prgtoken In Deloitte's 11th Global Risk Management Survey of financial services institutions, published last month, ``sixty-seven percent of respondents named cybersecurity as one of the three risks that would increase the most in importance for their business over the next two years, far more than for any other risk. Yet, only about one-half of the respondents felt their institutions were extremely or very effective in managing this risk.'' According to the 2018-2019 National Association of Corporate Directors Public Company Governance Survey, only 52 percent of directors ``are confident that they sufficiently understand cyber risks to provide effective cyber-risk oversight,'' and 58 percent ``believe their boards collectively know enough about cyber risk to provide effective oversight.'' Indeed, Yahoo, in its 2016 annual report, disclosed, ``the Independent Committee found that failures in communication, management, inquiry and internal reporting contributed to the lack of proper comprehension and handling of the 2014 Security Incident. The Independent Committee also found that the Audit and Finance Committee and the full board were not adequately informed of the full severity, risks, and potential impacts of the 2014 Security Incident and related matters.'' The 2014 Security Incident here refers to the fact that ``a copy of certain user account information for approximately 500 million user accounts was stolen from Yahoo's network in late 2014.'' prgtoken This is particularly troubling given that data breaches expose more and more records containing personally identifiable information. Indeed, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of these types of records exposed by data breaches in the business industry grew from 181,630,520 in 2017 to 415,233,143 in 2018 and in the medical and healthcare industry from 5,302,846 in 2017 to 9,927,798 last year. Across all industries, the number of records containing personally identifiable information exposed by data breaches rose 126 perce
SITES RESERVOIR PROJECT ACT
John Garamendi (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2019-2-28

. Madam , today I introduce the ``Sites Reservoir Project Act,'' which would provide federal support for the 1.8 million acre-feet Sites Reservoir and related water infrastructure in Colusa and Glenn Counties. prgtoken Specifically, the ``Sites Reservoir Project Act'' would direct the Bureau of Reclamation to complete the feasibility study for the project and, if deemed feasible, authorize federal funding and technical support for its construction. The reservoir would be owned and operated by the Sites Joint Powers Authority, a regional consortium of local water agencies and counties formed in 2010. prgtoken Our state must make forward-looking investments to capture and store water during wet years for use during drought. The Sites Reservoir is one such critical infrastructure project needed to meet California's future water needs, given climate change. The project is essential to integrated water management in the Sacramento Valley and would maximize storage of excess Sacramento River flows during winter storms for use later in the year. The Sites Reservoir Project would increase storage capacity north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, improving resiliency in our statewide water system, and helping to advance California's renewable energy goals with the pumped-storage component planned for phase II of the project. prgtoken To date, more than $1.2 billion in public funding has been committed to the Sites Reservoir Project, including $816 million from California's State Water Bond (2014 Proposition 1) and federal funding from the Bureau of Reclamation for the feasibility study and related work. In November 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture committed $449 million in low-interest financing from the Rural Development Program, recognizing the project's importance to California's farming communities. prgtoken Madam , and northern California neighbor Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) for his support as the bill's original cosponsor and for sponsoring similar legislation in previous Congresses. prgtoken I look forward to working with all members of the California delegation to advance this bipartisan bill and see this critical reservoir project completed.
``I AM JAZZ''
Jackie Speier (Democrat, CA) \u2014 2019-2-28

. Madam , today I have the great honor of reading again along with my colleague, Angie Craig, ``I Am Jazz.'' It is a book about a transsexual young boy who becomes a young girl. ``I am Jazz. ``For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been pink. My second-favorite color is silver and my third favorite color is green. ``Here are some of my other favorite things: dancing, singing, back flips, drawing, soccer, swimming, makeup, and pretending I'm a pop star. ``Most of all, I love mermaids. Sometimes I even wear a mermaid tail in the pool. ``My best friends are Samantha and Casey. We always have fun together. We like high heels and princess gowns, or cartwheels and trampolines. ``But I am not exactly like Samantha and Casey. ``I have a girl brain but a boy body. This is called transgender. I was born this way.''
TERMINATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Marcy Kaptur (Democrat, OH) \u2014 2019-2-28

I rise to praise this House for its swift passage of H.J. Res 46, a bipartisan bill to terminate President 's declaration of a Fake National Emergency. prgtoken The President's declaration is not only an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent Congress and the will of the people. It also shows an unprecedented disregard for precedent, as well as the values and institutions enshrined in our Constitution. prgtoken To pay for his wall, President will not get the funds from Mexico as he promised but from our troops, robbing $3.5 billion from the Department of Defense, funds which were passed to improve military family housing, training facilities, security of overseas bases, and much more. prgtoken Just in Ohio, over $90 million in military construction investment is being placed at risk, including $61,000,000 for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's Intelligence Production Complex and $7,400,000 for Camp Ravenna's Automated Multipurpose Machine Gun Range. prgtoken , this declaration was not founded in the security of our nation, but in delivering on an ill-advised campaign promise. We cannot allow the President to ask those who have sacrificed already to sacrifice even more--especially for an expensive border wall few think will even work. Now, it's on the Senate to take up and pass this resolution without delay.