Datasets:

mesut

/

congress_speeches

like 0

B001291

Brian

Babin

Brian Babin

M

1948-03-23

Republican

rep

TX

HONORING THE LIFE OF JESSE WILLIAM ``J.W.'' RAY

I rise today to honor the life of Jesse William ``J.W.'' Ray, who died on January 2, 2017. J.W. lived an impressive life. He served as a Seabee 24th NCB in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre during World War II and was among the soldiers who fought in the Philippines and Okinawa before being honorably discharged on April 20, 1946. After leaving the U.S. Navy, J.W. married and was blessed with four children. He spent thirteen years working with Texaco refinery as a pipefitter and two years working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. As a family man, J.W. decided to leave the railroad because it took him away from his loved ones for days at a time. He entered the insurance industry and founded his own insurance company in Woodville, Texas, which he ran for forty years. When his first wife Cecil passed away in 2004, J.W. began Cecil's Pantry at the United Methodist Church in Warren, Texas. It still continues to help others today. J.W. Ray was a kind man and I feel honored and privileged to have known him. He will be missed, and his family will continue to be in our prayers.

T000470

Scott

Tipton

Scott R. Tipton

M

1956-11-09

Republican

rep

CO

TRIBUTE TO PAUL MUNDT

I rise today to honor the life of Paul Mundt of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Known in Southern Colorado as KRDO's Paul Richards, he passed away on December 11, 2016. Paul leaves behind five children and his wife, Julie Halling, along with a lasting legacy. prgtoken Paul was the voice on five radio stations in Colorado Springs during his broadcasting career. Most recently, he was at KRDO where I had the privilege of getting to know him. After hearing of his passing, Paul's listeners immediately took to social media to share their memories of the man who played such a big part of their days and grieve with his family. prgtoken Paul was known to so many around the community as a morning broadcaster, but he will be especially missed for his volunteer work outside of the recording studio. Paul never missed a moment to help others. prgtoken , Paul's life ended much too early, but he truly lived it to the fullest while he was with us. It is an honor and a privilege to recognize Paul's work, service to his community, dedication to helping others and commitment to his family and friends. On behalf of Southern Colorado, and to the family and friends of Paul Mundt, I offer my condolences for the loss of their husband, father, and friend.

B001284

Susan

Brooks

Susan W. Brooks

F

1960-08-25

Republican

rep

IN

-HONORING WILLIAM HUDNUT, III

I rise today to honor a beloved and iconic member of the Hoosier community, William Hudnut III. Bill, who served as Mayor of Indianapolis from 1976 to 1992, passed away on December 17th, 2016 at the age of 84. Bill was a vibrant, enthusiastic, and passionate individual. His larger than life persona and animated approach to being Mayor will not soon be forgotten. He was a mentor to many and will be sorely missed by our community, but we will remember him forever through the spectacular legacy he left behind. Bill entered political life with his election to Congress in 1972. After which he served 16 years as Mayor of Indianapolis, making him the longest serving Mayor of Indianapolis. Through his time as Mayor he transformed Indianapolis into a dynamic metropolitan city and the amateur sports capital of the world. The people of Indiana's Fifth Congressional District are forever grateful for Bill's contributions to our Hoosier community, and it is my privilege to honor him today. prgtoken Bill was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1932. He attended the Darrow School in New York for high school, and graduated from Princeton University as an undergraduate, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1957, he graduated with a Master's Degree in Theology from the Union Theological Seminary in New York, and, like his father and grandfather before him, Bill became an ordained clergyman. At the age of 30, Bill first became a Hoosier when he moved to Indianapolis and began work as the senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. He served as Senior Pastor from 1964 to 1972, during which time he became interested in politics. prgtoken In the 1972 primary for Indiana's 11th Congressional District, Bill defeated future Congressman Dan Burton and went on to win the general election against four-term Congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr. During his term in the 93rd Congress, he was an original sponsor of seventeen bills and a cosponsor of 179 bills, five of which became law. He was a true statesman focused on good governance with dedication toward bipartisan solutions. After his time in Congress he came home to Indianapolis to run for, and serve in, the office of Mayor. Bill's interest in politics came from his passion for helping his community and his belief that politics was where he could make the greatest change for his community. prgtoken As Mayor he aimed to generate job growth, improve infrastructure, and develop projects to attract businesses to downtown Indianapolis. He aimed to not only draw businesses back downtown, but to bring back many citizens who had previously fled to the suburbs. Through his dedicated efforts to revitalize the city, he made Indianapolis a more attractive place to live and to do business. Over his tenure from 1976 to 1992, he oversaw more than 30 building projects, including renovations and expansions to Monument Circle, Indianapolis Union Station, the Indiana University

K000376

Mike

Kelly

Mike Kelly

M

1948-05-10

Republican

rep

PA

HONORING COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS MARTIN AND MARTHA JOHNSON

I rise today to recognize two of my constituents from Western Pennsylvania, Martin and Martha Johnson. The Johnson's are the founders and directors of Downtown Ministries INC. as well as several other groups serving under its umbrella including Fresh Grounds Coffeehouse, Sans MOCO Gallery, His Work--His Way, Keystone Bibles and Community Health Ministry. Created in 1994, Downtown Ministries is a charitable organization that serves as an avenue for Christians to connect, socialize and minister. Downtown Ministries strives to provide opportunity and vision to meet the physical and spiritual needs of our community. In April 2010, Downtown Ministries established the Fresh Grounds Coffeehouse to connect with even more people in our community and positively impact our community. Fresh prgtoken Grounds Coffeehouse is the face of Downtown Ministries and has been designated as Greenville, Pennsylvania's latest landmark. Fresh Grounds Coffeehouse is not just a meeting place but, more importantly, it is a ministry. The main objective of Fresh Grounds Coffeehouse is to honor and glorify God and create a special place where God's presence is felt and embraced. While it's not a traditional church ministry, Fresh Grounds Coffeehouse creates countless opportunities for Christian growth and allows customers to engage one another in nurturing relationships, which Martin and Martha Johnson have strived for over the years. Martin Johnson had a vision, which ultimately became a reality, with the help of countless friends, volunteers, local businesses and churches. The unwavering dedication exhibited by Martin and Martha Johnson, as well as all volunteers involved, is heartwarming and speaks volumes about the giving spirit of the Greenville community. As a unique ministry, the main focus of Downtown Ministries, and all groups that fall under its organizational umbrella, is to bring individuals to come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In serving God, the community, and all those in need of God's Grace, Martin and Martha Johnson are inspirations to us all. Their compassion and generosity have clearly influenced the lives of so many and will continue to do so for years to come. Therefore, on behalf of the Third Congressional District of Pennsylvania, I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation of Martin and Martha Johnson, they are true Community Champions.

M000312

James

McGovern

James P. McGovern

M

1959-11-20

Democrat

rep

MA

COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 2

I object to the certificate from the State of Alabama on the grounds that the electoral votes were not, under all of the known circumstances, regularly given and that the electors were not lawfully certified, especially given the confirmed and illegal activities engaged in by the Government of Russia that were designed to interfere with our election and the widespread violations of the Voting Rights Act that unlawfully suppressed thousands of votes in the State of Alabama.

J000032

Sheila

Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee

F

1950-01-12

Democrat

rep

TX

REGARDING JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS TO COUNT ELECTORAL BALLOTS

as a senior member of the House Committees on the prgtoken Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee; Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, and the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus, I rise today to offer thoughts and reflections on the congressional responsibility to bear witness to the counting of electoral votes to determine formally the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States and on the campaign and election that brought us to this day. prgtoken Historians will surely record that the 2016 presidential campaign was one for the ages. prgtoken The two leading protagonists could not have been more dissimilar. prgtoken The ic candidate, Hillary Clinton of New York, was widely considered the most qualified person ever nominated for the office, having served as Secretary of State; elected by landslide margins to two terms as U.S. Senator from New York, the nation's only First Lady to win high elective office in her own right; valedictorian of her class at Wellesley University, a graduate of Yale Law School, and the first woman ever to win the presidential nomination of one of the nation's two major political parties. prgtoken of New York, the other candidate, was sui generis as well, since he is the first person to gain an Electoral College majority with no experience whatsoever in elective or appointed governmental office or public service but possessing a remarkable talent for attracting media attention. prgtoken The 2016 was notable also for a number of other unprecedented occurrences. prgtoken For example, it was the first time in history that a Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had ever injected himself and his agency, unintentionally or not, in a presidential campaign when FBI Director James Comey held a July 5, 2016 news conference, during which he announced that the FBI had completed its investigation regarding the email server of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and had concluded that no violation of law had been committed but offered unfavorable personal opinions ex cathedra regarding Secretary Clinton's conduct. prgtoken Compounding the damage inflicted on Secretary Clinton's campaign by his gratuitous commentary, FBI Director Comey exacerbated the damage already done when, a mere eleven days before Election Day, he sent a vaguely worded letter to partisan Congressional opponents of Secretary Clinton allowing them to leak the letter to the media and claim falsely that the FBI had reopened the investigation for the sole purpose of inflicting electoral damage on Secretary Clinton. prgtoken These actions were taken in contravention of long-standing Department of Justice policy, practice, and custom enjoining Justice Department officials and employees from engaging any conduct or taking any legal action that could impact the outcome of an election t

H001068

Jared

Huffman

Jared Huffman

M

1964-02-18

Democrat

rep

CA

HONORING PAMELA DUNLAP PATTERSON

I rise today in recognition of Pamela Patterson, as she retires from her career as the Chief Executive Officer of West Company and the Director of the Mendocino Small Business Development Center. Born and raised in Virginia, Pamela Dunlap Patterson later obtained an Associate Degree at Massey Junior College in Atlanta and began a career in the retail industry. Pamela headed west to California in 1979 to become the Retail Merchandising Teacher for the Fort Bragg High School Regional Occupation Program. She then went on to serve as the literacy coordinator for the Mendocino County Library in Fort Bragg, and eventually, the coordinator for the ``Read Right'' program through Georgia Pacific where she helped improve literacy for workers in the timber industry. In 1998, Pamela Patterson began her long career with West Company, a pilot Women's Business Center funded by the Small Business Administration. In 2004, she took the helm of the organization which at the time was struggling financially. Under Pamela's leadership, West Company stabilized funding sources, and secured a contract as the Small Business Development Center in 2007. Over her term as the Chief Executive Officer she has secured millions of dollars in funding to help micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses to start and grow as means of improving the local economy. Pamela Patterson's legacy is one of dedicated service to entrepreneurship and an educated workforce. Please join me in congratulating Pamela on her retirement and expressing our deep appreciation for her long and exceptional career, and her outstanding contributions to Mendocino County's workforce and economy.

B001227

Robert

Brady

Robert A. Brady

M

1945-04-07

Democrat

rep

PA

COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 2

the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Iowa seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that Donald J. of the State of New York received 6 votes for President and Michael R. of the State of Indiana received 6 votes for Vice President. prgtoken Senator BLUNT the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Kansas seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears prgtoken therefrom that Donald J. of the State of New York received 6 votes for President and Michael R. of the State of Indiana received 6 votes for Vice President.

C001069

Joe

Courtney

Joe Courtney

M

1953-04-06

Democrat

rep

CT

REMEMBERING AND HONORING THE LIFE OF CONOR IRWIN

I rise today to mourn the loss and honor the life of Conor Irwin. prgtoken The child of Whit and Holly Irwin, Conor was a resident of Ledyard, CT. He graduated from St. Bernard School and was a freshman at Ledyard High School. He was just 14 years old. prgtoken In 2013, I had the honor of meeting Conor when he visited me to discuss the quality of food served in local schools. He had been a youth representative to the New London County Food Policy Council and was seriously concerned about the effect of poor food quality on health. Wonderfully precocious, he was full of good ideas that might help address this problem. prgtoken Like many 14 year-old boys, he loved soccer, playing outdoors, and listening to music. Just this past year, he even earned his first varsity letter for cross country. But those who knew Conor acknowledge something special about him. Even at so young an age, he was already a gentleman and true renaissance man. It may have been his voracious appetite for knowledge, his signature bow ties, or his love of travel and exploration. But mostly, it was his thoughtfulness that set him apart. He was always looking out for the younger kids, helping his mom with groceries, and holding the door for whomever may be passing by. prgtoken My thoughts and prayers are with Conor's family and friends as they mourn this terrible loss I ask my colleagues to join me in expressing my condolences and honoring a truly special soul, Conor Irwin.

W000797

Debbie

Wasserman Schultz

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

F

1966-09-27

Democrat

rep

FL

HONORING CLIFFORD A. SCHULMAN

it is my privilege to honor South Florida philanthropist, business leader and prominent attorney, Cliff Schulman. prgtoken Mr. Schulman has 45 years of wide-ranging legal experience in the environmental and land use field from both the government and private sectors and is well known for his involvement in the community and commitment to charitable causes. prgtoken For 13 years, he has served as Chair of the Board of the Aventura Marketing Council and it is on this occasion that we celebrate his retirement from this position. prgtoken Under Mr. Schulman's leadership, the Aventura Marketing Council has thrived and grown to be recognized as one of the most respected organizations in Chambers of Commerce representing more than 400 businesses and non-profit organizations, supporting countless educational and regional events in South Florida. prgtoken Cliff had the unique ability to blend his sense of humor with his keen business acumen and Marketing Council members will certainly miss his ``Cliff's Notes'' at the opening of each meeting. prgtoken Cliff has also served as Vice Chairman of the Anchors Away Foundation, an Aventura Marketing Council program in cooperation with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, that provides sailing programs for physically and mentally challenged children from schools throughout the County. This program has literally changed the lives of so many kids who gain a sense of pride, independence and accomplishment. prgtoken Throughout his career, Mr. Schulman has been honored by the Anti- Defamation League, South Florida Business Leader Magazine, the South Florida Shomrim Society and countless organizations that have recognized his contributions to bettering our community for all those who call South Florida home. prgtoken I am proud to have Mr. Schulman and his wife Lauren as my constituents and am grateful for his years of dedication to Aventura and to South Florida. prgtoken It is my honor to pay tribute to his distinguished career and extend my heartfelt congratulations to him on this occasion.

W000779

Ron

Wyden

Ron Wyden

M

1949-05-03

Democrat

sen

OR

OBAMACARE

I am very pleased to be able to join Senator Donnelly, Senator Hirono, and Senator Blumenthal on this extraordinarily important issue that goes right to the heart of what we want health care to be in this country. I have always felt that the really big issues, the really important issues, need to be bipartisan. You need to find a path to some common ground. prgtoken As Senator Donnelly and our colleagues have pointed out, what is being discussed now is an inherently partisan process for dealing with one of the most sensitive and most important issues of our time; that is, Medicare and what it represents. I had a chance to listen to Senator Donnelly and Senator Hirono discuss this issue. It made me recall my days when I was director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, the senior citizens group. I was director of the group for almost 7 years before I was elected to Congress. This was back in the days when I had a full head of hair and rugged good looks. prgtoken We always talked about Medicare being a promise. It was a promise of guaranteed benefits. They were going to be there. They were going to be secure. They were going to be defined. In effect, all who supported Medicare said they would oppose unraveling that promise, unraveling that pledge of guaranteed benefits. It seems to me, without strong legislation, the kind of legislation my colleagues are advocating, we are putting that promise at risk. prgtoken I think when you look back at the history of what was available for older people before Medicare, you would see why this promise and this pledge is so important. For so many older people, there was, essentially, what amounted to poor farms. We had one not far from where we lived at home in Oregon. When Medicare was being debated, people brought out those pictures. They talked about what it meant, in a country as strong and good and rich as ours, for older people not to have a life of dignity and security and decent health care. prgtoken When Medicare was adopted in 1965, it was all about the promise. It was all about the guarantee. That is what Senator Donnelly and Senator Hirono are standing up for as part of this debate. I know that some who don't share our view are going to say: Well, there are tremendous challenges with respect to Medicare. There is no question about that-- 10,000 people turning 65 every day for years and years--but there is so much that can be done, and s, if you want to reject something that is partisan like reconciliation and come together. You can come together around updating the Medicare guarantee. I say this to my friends Senator Donnelly and Senator Hirono, who have done such good work on this. prgtoken We are not saying there aren't any challenges. The fact is that Medicare today in 2017 is very different than Medicare when it began in 1965. It is dominated by chronic illness: cancer, diabetes, heart disease. But we can come up with fresh, pract

B001288

Cory

Booker

Cory A. Booker

M

1969-04-27

Democrat

sen

NJ

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

the hour is late, even though you look like you have a lot of work there to do, sir. I think I am going to be merciful and keep this short. I want to thank the Senator from Hawaii, the senior Senator from Hawaii, for his remarks. prgtoken I just want to wrap up. We have had multiple speakers now driving home a number of points. Two of them I just want to reiterate, which is the fact that as I look at a lot of more moderate and conservative outlets, from the American Enterprise Institute all the way to the American Medical Association, that did not support Care in the first place, you have this chorus growing of responsible, thoughtful people who said: Hey, we may want to repeal Care, but to do it without putting up a plan and showing the American public what you are going to replace it with is not only contrary, obviously, to a lot of the political rhetoric we heard during the campaign season, but it is against the logic, it is not prudent, it is actually reckless, and it is going to hurt a lot of people. prgtoken This is what we have to understand. I say it is akin to pushing someone off a ledge and telling them, as they are falling down, that, hey, we are going to get a plan, don't worry. The problem is, people are going to get hurt in the interim. The cost of medical care, not having that kind of business certainty that you need, it is going to spike markets and make things very difficult. prgtoken I just want to say that this body, which I respect--and I am happy to hear voices like Senator Rand Paul and others on the side begin to come out and say that we should not be repealing this without replacing it. I want to offer my gratitude to them because I think there are a lot of people--I even heard Chuck prgtoken Schumer say himself that he is ready to roll up his sleeves and talk about ways to improve this. prgtoken We have heard from the President-elect, saying that he is going to have a health care system that is better and that costs less. I think he used the word ``terrific'' to describe what he is going to bring to the American people. prgtoken Well, where is it? Where is the plan? What is the idea? Because there are too many people right now in our country who are fearful of what might happen. When I say ``fearful,'' it is a base fear; for example, some people from my State of New Jersey. This is Martha, who lives in a town called Montclair--not quite the same town that the Senator from Hawaii was speaking of before, which I cannot pronounce yet. I hope he will help me with that. Mahalo; is that right? I am doing all right. prgtoken But this young lady from Montclair very dramatically writes: I want to take a moment to thank you for fighting as hard as you have to protect those of us who are disabled and vulnerable to financial ruin, medical crisis, and debt if the ACA is repealed. I am a psychotherapist in private practice for over 20 yea

T000193

Bennie

Thompson

Bennie G. Thompson

M

1948-01-28

Democrat

rep

MS

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

I thank Mr. Veasey for helping organize this Special Order on a topic that is of great concern to me and many of my constituents. prgtoken The Attorney General, as we know, serves as the United States' chief law enforcement official. He or she does not serve certain States, certain classes of people, nor is their service limited to a particular party. The Attorney General is there to serve all of us. prgtoken With that in mind, I stand here on the floor of the House concerned with Senator Sessions' nomination to become the next Attorney General. Based on his record, there are a number of reasons why I believe that Senator Sessions is unfit to lead the Department of Justice. prgtoken First, at his 1986 confirmation hearing to serve as a Federal judge for the Southern District of Alabama, it was revealed that Senator Sessions had called the NAACP and the ACLU un-American and communist inspired. I am a life member of the NAACP and a participating member in the ACLU. Neither one of those organizations are un-American or communist inspired. prgtoken A Department of Justice attorney also testified that Sessions said he believed that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation PUSH, and the NAACP taught anti-American values. Well, if being free, if being able to exercise your right to vote, being able to not determine one's color as a condition for participation, then I am not certain what Mr. Sessions was talking about; but I do know that he has called a Black attorney ``boy,'' and he also talked about a White civil rights attorney as a ``race traitor.'' prgtoken Also, what I am more concerned about is, in the aftermath of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, he opposed taking down the Confederate battle flag. Now, if there is one symbol that we all understand that represents hate, it is the confederate prgtoken battle flag. I am concerned that Senator Sessions continued to try to defend that symbol. I can't imagine someone being the Attorney General having that kind of attitude and that operation. prgtoken , I join the chorus of other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who raise their voice in opposition to what would be a travesty to the Department of Justice if Senator Jeff Sessions is confirmed.

W000187

Maxine

Waters

Maxine Waters

F

1938-08-15

Democrat

rep

CA

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

I rise today to encourage opposition to the nomination of Jeff Sessions to the Attorney General's Office by this President-elect. prgtoken We have been asked and we are constantly asked: Are you saying he is a racist? He defined himself. He defined himself long ago when he was denied a Federal judgeship in 1986 after having been appointed by Ronald Reagan. He was denied because his colleagues said they heard him use the N-word. prgtoken Also, it was very well documented that after two of the members of the KKK killed an African American man, he said: Oh, I thought the KKK was okay until I learned they smoked marijuana. This is the same man that said, again, that the NAACP and the SCLC were un-American, that they were communist inspired, and it goes on and on and on. And it is not whether or not we are calling him or we think of him as a racist; he defined himself in that manner. He was denied the appointment to the Federal judgeship, including by s who voted against him. prgtoken So here we have a man who is going to be considered for the Attorney General's Office where we have the Civil Rights Division. Should we be worried about that? You bet your bottom dollar we should be worried about that. Not only has he defined himself as a racist, but this is a throwback. This is a man who is a setback. This is a man who does not agree with his colleagues on criminal justice reform. This is a man who loves mandatory minimum sentences. This is a man who does not want the Justice Department to work with local police departments who are in trouble, like what happened in Ferguson. This is a man who is against voting rights. This is a man who has shown himself to be against women. This is a man who does not support the LGBT community. Why would we want him to have this very important, prestigious position as the Attorney General overseeing civil rights? I don't think so. prgtoken I advise everybody who is listening and all of our colleagues to support him not being appointed to that position and to get the word over to the Senators that they should not support him, they should not vote for him.

B001277

Richard

Blumenthal

Richard Blumenthal

M

1946-02-13

Democrat

sen

CT

OBAMACARE

I am honored to be here tonight with my very eloquent colleague Senator Franken from Minnesota and also with two colleagues who will follow me shortly, Senator Schatz and Senator Markey, all of them great champions of better, more affordable health care for all the people who live in this great country. prgtoken This is the greatest country in the history of the world because we care about each other and we care about the common good. That is what the Affordable Care Act represents. It is not perfect. No great social reform ever is the first time around, including Social Security, but it can be repaired and improved without completely repealing it. prgtoken So repeal without a replacement is the height of irresponsibility. The first order of business for the leadership during this session of Congress is to tear down and rip apart the Affordable Care Act, not to deal with job creation or economic growth. In fact, the Affordable Care Act provides 3 million jobs in our country, and repealing it would eliminate those jobs. No, it is to destroy and decimate a program that has literally saved lives, opened new futures, transformed the existences of millions and millions of Americans who would lose health care coverage if this measure is just repealed. prgtoken In fact, 22 million people across the country and more than 100,000 in Connecticut would lose that critical insurance. Preexisting conditions would become, again, an excuse for the health care industry and insurance companies to deny coverage. Women would be charged more simply because they are women. And young people would be denied access to their parents' health care coverage up to the age of 26. prgtoken Those kinds of losses just begin the list, but among the most egregious of the profound defects to this approach is the effect on the Prevention and Public Health Fund. I know it isn't a household term: Prevention and Public Health Fund. It is not exactly on everyone's tongue, but it is a measure that is profoundly important to the future of this Nation if you care about lives and dollars. And if you care about dollars, the $931 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund is allocated to provide funding for things like diabetes prevention, preventing healthcare-associated infections, chronic disease management, smoking prevention, lead poisoning, suicide prevention, and Alzheimer's disease prevention. prgtoken You may not consider these kinds of challenges--smoking prevention, lead poisoning, Alzheimer's disease, hospital-acquired infections--as the most glamorous, but treating them costs millions and millions and millions of dollars--in fact, billions of dollars. prgtoken Just to give you one example, the Tips From Former Smokers campaign, which the Prevention and Public Health Fund supports, has led to an estimated 1.6 million smokers attempting to quit smoking and has helped 100,000 Americans quit smoking. Tobacco use is

C001088

Christopher

Coons

Christopher A. Coons

M

1963-09-09

Democrat

sen

DE

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

I rise to join my colleagues in raising the alarm about the possible impact for all of us in America and, in particular, for my constituents in my home State of Delaware should we indeed as a body proceed with barreling forward and repealing the Affordable Care Act without a plan to replace it, as seems to be the intention of the majority. prgtoken When I was first elected to the Senate back in 2010, the Affordable Care Act wasn't even a year old. Yet s were already trying to repeal it, without offering any comprehensive plan with which to replace it. Now, more than 6 years and 60 repeal attempts later, it is truly disheartening to see that when it comes to plans for the American health care system, seemingly nothing has changed. Instead of working across the aisle to find constructive fixes to this Affordable Care Act that could win bipartisan support, instead of finding new ways to invest in infrastructure or strengthen American manufacturing or coming together to respond to the Russian attack on American democracy or even waiting a week to take this upcoming vote so we Senators can give our full focus to vetting the President-elect's Cabinet nominees, instead of pursuing any of these priorities, it seems we are once again spending--even wasting--the American people's time to fulfill a misguided and, in my view, mean-spirited promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act at all costs, without a clear plan to replace it. Sadly, in that sense, nothing has changed since I first came here in 2010, not so for the American people, as plenty has changed for them and for my home State of Delaware. prgtoken More than 20 million Americans now have gained access to high-quality health insurance across our whole country, including 38,000 more Delawareans. Now, 38,000 is not a big number of people, but in my little State of 900,000, 38,000 more people who couldn't get access to health insurance before and can now is a big deal. Across the whole country, the rate of uninsured Americans is at a record low of just 11 percent, and in Delaware fewer than 8 percent, and this is well down below pre-ACA levels. prgtoken Let me focus on what I think is the biggest, broadest, and most important benefit of the Affordable Care Act, not just those tens of thousands in my State who have gotten coverage on the exchanges, but in my little State of 900,000, 560,000 Delawareans get their health insurance through their employer, as the vast majority of Americans do. For those half a million or more Delawareans, they have gained lifetime improvements to the quality of the health insurance they have through the ACA: no discrimination against preexisting conditions, young people can stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26, free preventive care, no lifetime limits on coverage and recovery, and a requirement that insurance companies spend 80 cents of every dollar on health care versus overhead. Thes

M001169

Christopher

Murphy

Christopher Murphy

M

1973-08-03

Democrat

sen

CT

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

once again, congratulations on your election. I haven't gotten a chance to talk with the Presiding Officer in detail about his path to the U.S. Senate, but I have had a chance to talk to a lot of my colleagues about how they got here, and I think we can all agree it is not often a real pleasant experience. You get your name dragged through the mud. You get called all sorts of names. You have to call lots of friends and strangers and ask them for money. It is no walk in the park to run for political office or to put your name out there and be the subject of both praise and a lot of ridicule. prgtoken It is not surprising the reason that people do this. The reason that the 100 of us have decided to run for office and to put ourselves out there in the public spotlight is because we deeply care about our neighbors, about the people who live in our States. We are doing this job, to a man and woman, because we want to make life better for people; in particular, people who have been just thrown big curveballs by life. prgtoken I grew up in a pretty economically secure house, but I understand a lot of kids don't have that opportunity, and I feel like both s and are here because we want to lift those kids up. I have had a pretty healthy life, a few bumps and bruises along the way, but I feel like both s and are here because we get that other people aren't as fortunate. They got sick. They got diagnosed with something terrible. Our role should be to try to help get them some cures or some treatments. prgtoken We are here not because we think it is fun to run elections, we are not here because we like the look of our name on the door, we are here because we care desperately about people. I think this is what Senator King was getting at in his remarks. All of the tabloids and the TV news shows, they spend 80 percent of their time focusing on politics, and we end up chasing our tail off in here because if the daily political rags and the cable news shows are talking about politics, then maybe we should be talking and thinking about politics as well, but that is not why we decided to do this. We decided to run for the Senate because we care about people. prgtoken Why we are here tonight is pretty simple. Ultimately, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, with no replacement, with no plan for what comes next, will hurt millions of real people in very real ways. In the end, I don't believe that my colleagues want to cast a vote that will do that. prgtoken This tall guy right here is Josh Scussell. He lives in Connecticut. He is from Guilford. He is standing next to his bone marrow donor and her boyfriend. This is Josh's wife. Josh was diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2012. prgtoken Here is what Josh says. He will tell you the unvarnished truth. Josh says: ``The ACA is entirely responsible for me still being alive.'' prgtoken He relapsed after an

U000039

Tom

Udall

Tom Udall

M

1948-05-18

Democrat

sen

NM

OBAMACARE

I rise, along with Senator Warren and my other colleagues this evening, to oppose this action by President-Elect and congressional s to take health care away from tens of thousands of New Mexicans. prgtoken Let me be clear. What President-Elect and s are doing now will throw health care into chaos. It is reckless. It will hurt thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans. The worst part is, the s have no plan to replace care they will take away. prgtoken The Affordable Care Act is not a perfect law. I have always said we should work to improve it. It has helped thousands of people in my home State of New Mexico. Before we passed the Affordable Care Act, New Mexico had a high rate of people without health insurance. It was one of the highest in our region and in the country. Since 2010, that number has gone down 44 percent--pretty incredible. prgtoken Countless people have written me, called my office, and stopped me on the street to tell me how relieved they are to have health care. Others tell me we can't afford to go back to having insurance companies in charge, we can't go back to caps on coverage, back to allowing corporations to deny care because of a preexisting condition, and back to lifetime limits. prgtoken Tonight I want to share what just a few of my constituents have told me. ``Save my daughter.'' That was the heartbreaking plea that came to me from one of my constituents, Kevin from Albuquerque. Kevin's 33-year- old daughter Amber has multiple sclerosis. It is a tough disease, as we all know. prgtoken To treat her MS, Amber must follow an exact and rigorous drug regimen, coupled with regular visits to her neurologist and annual MRIs. The retail cost of her drugs is $60,000 per year. Her doctor visits and MRIs would run into the thousands of dollars. prgtoken Amber works. In fact, she has a good-paying job, but her employer does not provide health insurance. Amber purchases health insurance through the individual open market without Affordable Care Act subsidies. Amber is able to work because she gets the medical care she needs through insurance. Kevin fears his daughter will lose the right to health insurance if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. The ACA makes it illegal for an insurance company to deny you coverage if you have a preexisting condition such as MS. prgtoken The Affordable Care Act provides assurance that Amber will get the coverage she needs to remain healthy, to lead a normal life, to work, to contribute to society, and to stay off public assistance, and to survive. This one provision protects an estimated 861,000 New Mexicans and an estimated 134 million Americans. It is a safe bet that all of us here know at least one person like Amber. It isn't surprising that the vast majority of Americans--close to 70 percent--want to keep this protection. prgtoken The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates more than one-quarter of

K000389

Ro

Khanna

Ro Khanna

M

1976-09-13

Democrat

rep

CA

NECESSARY STEPS TO RESTORE OUR DEMOCRACY

I am the son of immigrants, born in Philadelphia as the Nation celebrated our bicentennial. I ran for Congress because we have lost sight of our founding ideals. In Federalist 10, James Madison warned that factions, with their own special interests, may undermine the public good. prgtoken Today, Congress is crippled by these factions: powerful PACs and lobbyists. This must change. I am proud to be one of six Members who refuse all contributions from PACs, and we need a bipartisan caucus to eradicate their influence. prgtoken We also cannot let congressional seats become feudal estates. The turnover rate here in the people's House is less than European monarchies. Congress desperately needs a 12-year term limit like there is in the California legislature. prgtoken , banning PAC money and instituting term limits are necessary steps to restore our democracy.

J000032

Sheila

Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee

F

1950-01-12

Democrat

rep

TX

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

let me thank Mr. Veasey for his leadership. Let also thank the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Richmond, for his leadership. prgtoken Before I start, let me offer my appreciation to law enforcement officers across America--this is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day--and join my colleague, Val Demings, particularly acknowledging the sadness in Orlando today in the loss of two law enforcement officers in the line of duty. prgtoken I rise today for not a personal statement or a statement that has to do with personality. As the President-elect said of Mr. Sessions, he is a fine and decent fellow. I have no interest in determining whether that is true or false. But I do want to hold the President-elect accountable for the words that he said on election night that he pledged to the Nation that he would be a President for all Americans. That pledge, I believe, will ring hollow for tens upon tens of millions of Americans with the nomination of the Secretary of Education, who is against public schools, the nomination of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has no plan for health care, and, finally, the nomination for Attorney General. prgtoken Rather than select someone who is championing and protecting, rather than opposing and undermining the precious right to vote, the constitutionally guaranteed right of privacy, criminal justice reform, and the support for reform of the Nation's immigration system, it is quite the contrary in the nomination of Senator Sessions--a person who opposed Shelby County v. Holder in terms of the basis of trying to constructively support voting rights, an individual who is hostile to comprehensive immigration reform, and certainly someone who has constantly not sought to fix, but has sought to undermine. prgtoken So, for example, as a U.S. attorney, he was the first prosecutor in the country to bring charges against civil rights activists of voter fraud. But, , listen to this: he didn't just bring charges; he had 29 counts of voter fraud that resulted in civil rights activists facing 100 years in prison. prgtoken He has repeatedly denied the disproportionate impact of voting restrictions on minorities and has been a leader in the effort to undermine the protections of the Voting Rights Act, and he did nothing to reconstruct the Voting Rights Act and restore section 5 when tens upon tens of Members of Congress worked diligently to try to fix the Shelby case. prgtoken He criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for challenging State election laws, claiming they are necessary to fight voter fraud. Evidence supports that voter fraud is almost nonexistent, with 31 confirmed cases out of more than a billion ballots cast. prgtoken Senator Sessions fought to continue practices that harm schools predominantly attended by African American students. He led the fight to uphold the State of Alabama's inequitable school funding mechanism after it had been deemed unconstitutional

H001046

Martin

Heinrich

Martin Heinrich

M

1971-10-17

Democrat

sen

NM

REMEMBERING TONY REYNA

for generations, Tony Reyna served his people in Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico as a respected community leader and constant source of wisdom and kindness. prgtoken Last year, Mr. Reyna joined friends, family, and community members to celebrate his 100th birthday, which the New Mexico State Legislature officially proclaimed as Tony Reyna Day. After a full life of service and dedication to his community Mr. Reyna passed away last month surrounded by his family and loved ones. prgtoken Mr. Reyna was the last remaining survivor from Taos Pueblo of the Bataan death march. On April 9, 1942, Mr. Reyna and 1,800 other members of the New Mexico National Guard were among the more than 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war by Japanese forces. prgtoken The Bataan death marchers were forced to endure 3 and a half years of brutal captivity. They were marched for days in the scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. Thousands died. Those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. Others were wounded or killed when unmarked enemy ships transporting prisoners of war to Japan were sunk by U.S. air and naval forces. prgtoken After returning to Taos after the war, Mr. Reyna opened Tony Reyna's Indian Shop in 1950, which has remained open to this day. He served two terms as governor of Taos Pueblo. He also served the Town of Taos as a police commissioner and as a museum board member. He was a lifetime member of the Taos Pueblo tribal council. prgtoken He leaves behind an enduring legacy thanks to his lifelong efforts to preserve the culture, resources, and traditions of Taos Pueblo. He played a vital role in the return of Blue Lake, the Pueblo's sacred headwaters in 1970. And prgtoken in 1992, when Mr. Reyna was serving his second term as governor, UNESCO designated Taos Pueblo as a World Heritage Site. prgtoken In 2015, at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, Mr. Reyna, then age 99, said, ``I served my country. I served my people. I'm still serving. I'm available anytime they ask me!'' prgtoken The people of Taos Pueblo and all of us in New Mexico owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Mr. Reyna for his full lifetime of service.

J000126

Eddie

Johnson

Eddie Bernice Johnson

F

1935-12-03

Democrat

rep

TX

WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017

I rise in support of H.R. 353, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. prgtoken This bill is the culmination of more than four years of compromise and negotiation, and demonstrates that the issues of weather and climate can be addressed in a bi-partisan way. prgtoken In that regard, I want to recognize the efforts of Jim Bridenstine and Suzanne Bonamici, as well as the bill's sponsor, Frank Lucas. Their leadership and commitment has really driven this process forward. prgtoken , weather affects all of us everyday. It is a constant presence in our lives. prgtoken Tropical storms batter homes and disrupt lives from my home state of Texas all the way to Maine. States like Oklahoma, Illinois, and again Texas are some of the most tornado prone areas in the entire world. prgtoken Sadly, turning on the television to see a part of our country devastated by tornados, or hurricanes, or other severe weather incidents, has become a far too familiar occurrence. To help Americans avoid and cope with these potentially devastating events, we need to have the very best weather forecasting and warning capabilities. prgtoken The National Weather Service and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA play a central role in protecting the lives and property of every American. prgtoken The bill before us today will help accelerate innovation, and turn cutting-edge weather research into essential weather forecasting tools and products; tools which forecasters can then use to protect American lives. prgtoken The legislation removes barriers that exist between the weather research community, our nation's forecasters, and the private-sector weather enterprise. Improving collaboration and cooperation within NOAA, and also between the agency and the broader weather community, will impact the accuracy and timing of our weather predictions. These improvements will ultimately save lives and make our communities safer. prgtoken Strengthening our resilience to severe weather events is both vital and necessary to strengthen our nation's economic security. H.R. 353 will advance our weather forecasting capabilities and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.

M001160

Gwen

Moore

Gwen Moore

F

1951-04-18

Democrat

rep

WI

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

. I thank Mr. Veasey so much, and I thank our new chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for his tremendous effort in putting this very important Special Order hour together. prgtoken , I rise this evening because I am extremely concerned about the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions. prgtoken Certainly, President-elect has a right to nominate people and have them be presented before our Senate, and, certainly, you don't expect a to necessarily agree with all of your positions; but I am concerned about Senator Sessions because I think he has aligned himself with extreme ideological views that won't best serve all of the people of the United States. prgtoken During the last 7 years, the Department of Justice has investigated at least 23 law enforcement agencies in response to rampant civil rights abuses. I fear that, under an Attorney General Jeff Sessions, those consent decrees and that very important work in resolving the conflicts between, particularly, African American communities and police officers will be lost. prgtoken I am extremely concerned, as are at least 70 civil rights organizations and organizations that serve women, with an Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They are concerned about not just the anti- abortion views that Senator Sessions has displayed, but about the zealous anti-choice positions that he has taken--his association and alignment, again, with extreme anti-abortion organizations. They believe that he is not capable of fair and impartial action as Attorney General. prgtoken What is so chilling, as an example, is when Senator Sessions was asked about President-elect 's Access Hollywood scandal in that he said he didn't characterize the grabbing of a woman's genitals as necessarily a sexual assault. Very, very chilling and disturbing. prgtoken In being from Wisconsin, where we have fought egregious and unfair voter ID laws that were designed to disenfranchise, particularly, African Americans, Mr. Sessions has indicated that the gutting of the Voting Rights Act has actually had no impact and that no one has been denied the right to vote. He seems to be tone deaf to the cries of African Americans across this country to protect their voting rights. prgtoken I encourage the Senate to look very carefully at this nominee, because, in fact, the United States Attorney General's only charge is to protect the civil rights of all of the citizens. I don't know that he will be willing or able to do that.

J000288

Henry

Johnson

Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.

M

1954-10-02

Democrat

rep

GA

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

I congratulate Representative Cedric Richmond as he takes the helm of the CBC and manages this exercise tonight; and also Representative Marc Veasey, who will be the point man for doing these Special Orders. prgtoken We are called upon tonight at a critical time in the Nation's history. We have a new President coming in who is polarizing, divisive, inexperienced, and immature. He is making some selections for his appointments, and the Senate has the opportunity to weigh in on those appointments. prgtoken So what is happening is that there are incomplete and missing answers to the Senate questionnaires that appointees like Senator Jeff Sessions, who I rise in opposition to, have completed and sent in. This puts the Office of Government Ethics that vets these candidates at a severe disadvantage of not having the information that they need in order to vet these appointees, like Senator Jeff Sessions. They don't have the information that they need. prgtoken So we also have a compressed schedule of nominees to be considered over the next few days. This, combined with the incomplete answers, puts us in a position of not having enough information to conduct full, fair, thorough, and sifting analysis and vetting for the American people. These are the people who are going to serve them into the future. prgtoken So I am very concerned, especially about a guy like Senator Sessions who has a history of being opposed to civil rights for certain Americans. Now, there are those who would say that this took place 30 years ago, all of the things that he said and did prior to becoming a Senator 20 years ago. Some will say that all of these things that have been cited about Senator Sessions are 30 years old. prgtoken We have to look at what has occurred in the life of Senator Sessions to make prgtoken us think that he has changed. It takes a courageous person like George Wallace to come forward and say: I was wrong for being a racist. It takes a strong person like Lee Atwater to say: I was wrong. prgtoken Senator Sessions has not said he was wrong. There is nothing that Senator Sessions has written that says: I apologize for what I did back then. There is nothing that he said. Certainly his legislative record, which is only nine bills over the last 20 years--three of which were ceremonial in nature--there is nothing in that legislation that would lead us to conclude that he has changed. So he is going to be bad for the Attorney General's office. prgtoken I conclude by asking my Senate colleagues to think carefully about what you are about to do and say ``no'' to Senator Jeff Sessions.

H001042

Mazie

Hirono

Mazie K. Hirono

F

1947-11-03

Democrat

sen

HI

OBAMACARE

I rise today to ask the Senate to adopt the Hirono-Donnelly amendment to protect Medicare and Medicaid. During his campaign, President-Elect made the American people a promise that he will protect Medicare and Medicaid. prgtoken Today, we are giving Senate s an opportunity to reaffirm this promise to the American people, but I am deeply skeptical that they will do the right thing because they are committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act. Senate s fought for years to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would drastically cut Medicaid funding for the States, and the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services is the architect of the plan to privatize Medicare. The assault on the ACA is an assault on Medicare and Medicaid. Both of these programs can be dismantled through the language in the budget that Congress is debating right now. prgtoken The President-elect and congressional s might be willing to break their promise to the American people. Instead, I, along with my like-minded colleagues, will do whatever we can, whenever we can, to protect these social safety net programs. prgtoken I am fighting for seniors like Anne and Lanny Bruder from Kauai. Lanny is 80 years old, but he is still working three jobs to make ends meet after losing the family home during the 2008 mortgage crisis. Anne has glaucoma and pays what she calls a ridiculous amount for eye drops. Lanny survived a heart attack and has two artificial knees. prgtoken Like many of our kupuna--or seniors--living on a fixed income, they simply could not afford the extra $6,000 prgtoken a year they would be forced to pay if s succeed in their effort to privatize and voucherize Medicare. prgtoken I am also fighting for young people like Anne, who walked into the Kokua Kalihi Valley Clinic 3 years ago. She had no health insurance, and she was pregnant at the age of 15. The doctors at the clinic helped Anne apply for Medicaid, which helped her afford prenatal care and gave her support to stay healthy and, very importantly, to stay in school. Medicaid helped Anne and her husband Dan, age 17, welcome a healthy baby boy named Joseph. Today Anne is a graduate of Farrington High School, works part time, and has plans to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. Anne, Dan, and Joseph now have insurance through Dan's employer. prgtoken These stories--and there are thousands of similar stories in Hawaii-- demonstrate just how important Medicare and Medicaid are to millions of people across the country. It is why we are fighting tooth and nail to prevent any cuts that would jeopardize these social safety net programs. prgtoken The Hirono-Donnelly amendment would prevent any partisan attempt to harm Medicare and Medicaid. Specifically, it would block congressional s from using budget reconciliation to privatize Medicare or increase eligibility standards. It wo

S000148

Charles

Schumer

Charles E. Schumer

M

1950-11-23

Democrat

sen

NY

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017

last week, I expressed my sincere hope that the majority leader and I could come to some agreement on the process of nominations. He has negotiated in good faith, and we have made some progress. I sincerely appreciate his willingness to work with us so far. I do want to clarify why are doing this. prgtoken Yesterday, my friend the majority leader went on television and suggested that we were raising concerns about the nominations out of pique or anger. He chalked up these ``little procedural complaints'' to ``sour grapes,'' and he suggested that ``grow up.'' prgtoken We are not doing this for sport. feel very strongly that pushing for a thorough and thoughtful vetting process is the right thing to do. Here is why. The ic minority was and is concerned about the hearing schedule, which is so jammed right now that several high-importance hearings will fall on the same day, depriving Senators and the American people a chance to properly participate in the vetting process of these nominees. prgtoken Our caucus was and is concerned about the timely completion of the standard paperwork and ethics clearance for nominees before proceeding full steam ahead with confirmation hearings and votes. Bear in mind, President-Elect 's nominees pose particularly difficult ethics and conflict-of-interest challenges. Many of them come from enormous wealth. Many have vast holdings in stocks, and very few have experience in government so they have not been appropriately vetted for something like a Cabinet post before. prgtoken What had been standard practice for the vast majority of nominees-- the completion of a preliminary ethics review before their nomination-- was skipped over for the vast majority of President-Elect 's nominees. In fact, the independent Office of Government Ethics went so far as to send a letter warning that ``their [the s] schedule has created undue pressure on OGE's staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews.'' prgtoken The OGE office is nonpartisan. It has never been political so this has nothing to do with politics. ``I am not aware,'' wrote the Director, Walter Schaub, ``of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review process.'' prgtoken The very same majority leader, my friend Senator McConnell, who suggested that were raising concerns out of pique or resentment, in fact, raised the same concerns in 2009 when he was minority leader. In fact, then-Minority Leader McConnell sent then- Majority Leader Reid a letter laying out his prerequisites for time agreements on the floor for President 's nominees. They are almost exactly what requested. prgtoken I don't bring this up to play gotcha. I am doing it to show that our requests are eminently reasonable and, in fact, prgtoken have be

R000122

John

Reed

Jack Reed

M

1949-11-12

Democrat

sen

RI

OBAMACARE

I rise in opposition to the budget resolution that the Senate will vote on this week. We are nearly half way through the fiscal year, and the s have offered this budget resolution not to set a path forward for spending for the year but to give them the ability to repeal the Affordable Care Act through the budget process, requiring less support than is needed under regular order. This budget is nothing more than a sham, being used to take away health insurance from more than 20 million Americans. What is worse is that my colleagues intend to do so without any plan in place to mitigate the impact and protect the people who will be harmed. prgtoken The uninsured rate is at its lowest point in recent history. Since the implementation of the ACA in my State of Rhode Island, the uninsured rate has fallen from 12 percent to under 4.5 percent. In real terms, that means that over 100,000 people in Rhode Island have gained coverage because of the ACA. That is about 10 percent of my State's population. Over 30,000 middle-income Rhode Islanders get tax credits averaging $250 a month to help them afford coverage on the State's health insurance marketplace. prgtoken We cannot go back to a system that allows private insurers to deny coverage for preexisting conditions or charge more to those who need insurance the most. In fact, the plan for repealing the ACA means that nearly half a million Rhode Islanders with preexisting conditions, about half the State's population, will be denied coverage or will be charged more. Again, as Senator Murray described so eloquently in the case of a young man who needs years of expensive treatment, if preexisting conditions are once again possible and if that young man is dropped from his parents' plan at 21, both of those factors will probably deny him the coverage that he enjoys today, and that is not what we want to do. I hope that is not what we want to do. prgtoken In my State, there are over 106,000 Rhode Islanders with diabetes, over 112,000 with asthma, and nearly 63,000 cancer survivors who will be forced to pay more for coverage. These are huge numbers in my State--roughly 1 million people in population. They have these conditions, and insurance companies said in the past: We won't cover prgtoken you, or, by the way, you will be spending 2, 3, 5, 10 times as much for the coverage we extend to someone else. prgtoken We have also been able to improve coverage through the ACA for those who are getting their care through their employer. Before the ACA, insurance plans, including employer-sponsored health coverage, could impose annual or lifetime limits on coverage, meaning that coverage could end when it was most needed. You could have a job, and you could have insurance at a job, but if you have a serious condition, when you reach that limit, that is it--no more responsibility by the company. That is exactly the time you need the help be

B001267

Michael

Bennet

Michael F. Bennet

M

1964-11-28

Democrat

sen

CO

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

I would like to welcome the Presiding Officer to the Senate and just say thank you very much for your willingness to sit here this evening. To my colleagues, thank you for being here. The hour is getting late so I am not going to take up a lot of time with my own words, but I did want to come to the floor and read the words of people who have written my office, Coloradans who took the trouble to tell me what their concerns were with this suggested repeal of the Affordable Care Act. prgtoken Given the fact that they took the time to write, I wanted to have the opportunity to be here tonight to read their words into the Record. It matters to a lot of people in my State because more than 600,000 people are now insured in Colorado who were not insured before the Affordable Care Act. We have had one of the largest drops of the uninsured rate in the country. We have dropped from 14 percent to 7 percent, really importantly from the point of view of saving money. The amount of uncompensated care has gone down by 30 percent. So those are at the hospital. Those are statistics, but the letters tell the human dimension, the human story that so often is lost in the Chambers of this Capitol. prgtoken A letter from Kathryn from Denver who wrote: The Affordable Care Act has been crucial to my family the last several years. . . . My sister, a Type 1 diabetic since age 10, is now a Colorado business owner. The Affordable Care Act allowed her to pursue business ownership because--for the first time in her life--she could get individual health insurance coverage without being denied due to her preexisting condition. ACA allowed her to leave her full-time job and start a part-time business and get benefits through ACA. I truly believe so much good has begun to come from this legislation and repealing it will have catastrophic consequences for my family and for so many others. prgtoken Terry from Denver writes: I am writing concerning the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2010, I left my conventional job and took a risk, forming a company to perform engineering consulting services. Since that time, I have helped multiple organizations improve the safety and reliability of their products and consider my efforts to be quite successful. However, I would not have taken the chance to go off on my own if it had not been for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA gave me options in health insurance that I would not have had prior to its passage. There are millions of people like me who count on the security of the ACA. These people are entrepreneurs, freelancers, the self-employed, early retirees, and the like who would not have health insurance if not for the ACA. Therefore, I am asking you to continue your support for the

J000294

Hakeem

Jeffries

Hakeem S. Jeffries

M

1970-08-04

Democrat

rep

NY

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

I thank my distinguished colleague and classmate, Representative Marc Veasey, for his leadership today; and the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Cedric Richmond, for convening us and for the leadership that he has already shown. prgtoken We have a President-elect who, for 5 years, perpetrated the racist lie that was not born in the United States of America, and who ran one of the most divisive campaigns in the Nation's history and then promised that he was going to bring all of us together. prgtoken Then you have got his colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have said: Well, , people in the civil rights community, African Americans, we should give the new President a chance. prgtoken This is the same group of people who declared war on on day one of his Presidency and governed themselves under the following approach: Obstruction today, obstruction tomorrow, obstruction forever. prgtoken That should sound familiar to folks from Alabama and the Deep South. prgtoken Now they want us to give them a chance. You can't lecture us on Presidential etiquette. You have no credibility in that area. We will decide how we want to engage. As it relates to your pick to head the Department of Justice, it is totally unacceptable, unreasonable, unjust, and unconscionable, not because of anything that he may have said 30 years ago, as offensive as that may be, but because of the positions that Senator Jeff Sessions has taken today. prgtoken Today, in 2017, based on his recent track record, he supports the Confederate battle flag, not 30 years ago, but today. Today he supports voter suppression efforts that are advanced by his unwillingness to repair section 4 and section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. That is not 30 years ago. I don't care that you showed up in Selma, Alabama, for a photo op. Your position on the Voting Rights Act is unacceptable today. prgtoken Today you support mass incarceration, the failed drug war, and the prison industrial complex. And because of your position today, reasonable Americans should oppose your ascension to the Department of Justice.

R000588

Cedric

Richmond

Cedric L. Richmond

M

1973-09-13

Democrat

rep

LA

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING OUR COUNTRY

it is an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity to stand on the House floor and to anchor the Congressional Black Caucus' Special Order hour, where today we want to discuss some of the issues and challenges confronting this country that we hope this newly constituted Congress will be prepared to take up as we move into the 115th Congress. prgtoken The first and most glaring issue confronting the Congressional Black Caucus is the nomination and confirmation of Jeff Sessions to be the Attorney General of the United States. The members of this caucus, since its inception, have fought for equality and justice, and we do it because it is the right thing to do, and that is how we were raised. prgtoken Jeff Sessions' record is atrocious when it comes to equal rights, equal protection, justice for all, and voting rights. At worst, he was a coconspirator in the promotion of segregation and discrimination. At best, he lacked the courage and motivation to fight for equality, equal protection, and justice. prgtoken In the words of Maya Angelou: ``When someone shows you who they are believe them. . . .'' President-elect has shown us time and time again exactly who he is through his words and his actions. His Cabinet nominations offer further evidence of who he is and what he values. Each of these individuals have shown us who they are as well. prgtoken , tonight you will hear from many passionate, educated, experienced freedom fighters from our communities, and they will each address their concerns with the nominations coming from the President- elect. We do it out of an obligation to continue to fight for the least of those, those who cannot hire a lobbyist, those who are struggling to make ends meet, those who wake up every day trying to figure out how to put clothes on their kids' back, food on the table, a house, a roof over their head, and to continue to fight for the American Dream, opportunity for their children. prgtoken , .

S001194

Brian

Schatz

Brian Schatz

M

1972-10-20

Democrat

sen

HI

OBAMACARE

I thank the senior Senator from Connecticut for his leadership on this and so many other issues on behalf of the people of his home State. prgtoken Before I get into prevention as a policy issue, I just want to reiterate a process point. prgtoken Here we are in the world's greatest deliberative body--the world's greatest deliberative body--and there really are so many talented individuals who come from county counsels, who come from State assemblies, who come from State senates, who come from the U.S. House, and find themselves in the U.S. Senate, the world's greatest deliberative body. And here we are debating one of the biggest public policy issues over the last decade, arguably over the last generation. Here we are. prgtoken I am thinking about my early days in the Hawaii legislature and what we would do. If we wanted to move a bill along but we weren't sure exactly what to do, we would flaw the effective date because we knew the language didn't work yet, but we wanted to take it to conference committee. We didn't want it to be enacted into law, but we wanted it to move through the process. So what we would do is we would flaw the effective date. We would say ``Effective year 2100,'' so that even if it were accidentally enacted into law, it wouldn't have the force of law. prgtoken Yet once in a while, a staffer or a member would make a clerical error and actually enact something with a delayed effective date into law, and they were humiliated. This was a mistake. This was a clerical error, and this showed that it was amateur hour. This showed that somebody didn't know what they were doing. This showed that somebody wasn't a very serious legislator. prgtoken Yet here we are in the Nation's legislature, here we are in the world's greatest deliberative body, and we are doing that on purpose. We are doing that right away. We are doing this with the Affordable Care Act after 7 years of blasting this law because they know they can't repeal the parts that are popular. So what they are going to do is eviscerate the revenue attached to the bill and leave themselves, as one of my colleagues said, in a ``box canyon'' so the only thing they can do is shovel money to insurance companies--borrowed money--to maintain the benefit because they don't want to deal with the political ramifications of what they had done to their constituents on preexisting conditions, on coverage for people up to the age of 26, on prevention. prgtoken This is the most unserious effort I have seen in this legislative body. This is absolutely unserious. And whatever your political persuasion is, you should ask every Member of the Senate to stand up and be counted and say what they want to do about health care in the United States. prgtoken The answer can no longer be because it is an article of faith that because the Affordable Care Act has ``'' in its name--it is Care--it must be bad, and it must be repealed root and br

K000367

Amy

Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar

F

1960-05-25

Democrat

sen

MN

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

from Virginia for his leadership. He recently led a letter which a number of us joined in on to suggest that we make reforms to this bill. I said the day it passed that the Affordable Care Act was not an end but a beginning. prgtoken But we have not had opportunity, save for just a few examples where we changed some tax-reporting provisions under 1099. I was one of the people who led the successful efforts to suspend the medical device tax--something the Presiding Officer cares a lot about in his home State--but in truth, we have not had the opportunity that Senator Kaine suggested to make changes to this bill. Instead, we have been faced with the thought of just simply repealing this bill, with no replacement, with no plan in place. So we would all say to our colleagues across the aisle: Show us the plan. Show me the plan. Once we see that, we can start talking, but that is not what is happening today. prgtoken Additional changes could be made to the act, including increasing the amount of subsidies available to exchange enrollees, something important in my State; establishing perhaps State-based reinsurance programs; doing something about the pharmaceutical prices, something I have long advocated for. I have been ready and willing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and to find additional commonsense improvements to the law, but repealing without a replacement plan is simply unacceptable. It is chaos. prgtoken As my colleague from Virginia reminded us with a touching letter that he read from his constituent, let's remember what health care reform means to families across this country, why we have this bill in the first place. Americans with preexisting conditions, like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, can no longer be denied access to health insurance coverage. Children can stay on their parents' plans until they are 26, a dramatic change that helps so many families across America. Women are no longer charged more than men for health insurance. prgtoken We had a lot of issues when we debated this bill, making sure that being a woman or being a victim of domestic violence was not a preexisting condition. I see the Senator from Michigan, Ms. Stabenow, who fought for maternity benefits. I will never forget the story in her committee, when one of the Senators suggested that maybe maternity benefits shouldn't be mandatory as part of a plan because he had never used them. Without missing a beat, Senator Stabenow looked across the table and said: I bet your mother did. prgtoken The point is, we made good changes in this bill that help people. There are no longer annual or lifetime limits on how much health insurance companies will cover. All health insurance plans must now cover a basic set of services, which includes mental health care, addiction treatment, prescription drug coverage. prgtoken If the ACA is repealed, nearly 30 million Americans coul

C001070

Robert

Casey

Robert P. Casey, Jr.

M

1960-04-13

Democrat

sen

PA

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

I rise this evening to speak about the effort in the Senate, by way of a budget resolution, which includes so-called reconciliation instructions to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in this case, unfortunately, without any replacement for that legislation we passed a number of years ago. prgtoken In a word, I think this is a plan for chaos--chaos certainly for insurance markets but more particularly chaos and damage done to middle-class families whose costs will go up. Of course, their coverage will be affected adversely. A repeal act without replacement would raise the price of prescription drugs for older Americans across our country, put insurance companies back in charge of health care, cost our economy millions of jobs, and devastate funding for rural hospitals and rural communities in Pennsylvania and across the country. prgtoken I think, on a night like tonight, where we are just beginning a long debate about how to bring affordable care to Americans and how to continue that, we should reflect back on where things were before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. prgtoken Over 50 million Americans were uninsured in 2009--50 million people. People with any sort of medical condition were routinely denied health insurance or were charged exorbitant rates because of their health histories. Women in the United States were routinely charged more than men for their health insurance. This is not an exhaustive list. Finally, individuals who were ill were routinely dropped from their health care coverage because they had reached arbitrary caps on the amount of care an insurer would pay for a given year. prgtoken So let us talk about what has happened since then. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, we have come a long way. More than 20 million Americans, including almost 1 million in Pennsylvania, have received health insurance as a result of this one piece of legislation. One hundred five million Americans are protected from discrimination due to preexisting conditions. Those are 105 million Americans with preexisting conditions who are no longer barred from treatment or coverage as they were before. Nine million Americans have received tax credits to help them cover the cost of their insurance. Eleven million seniors have saved over $23 billion from closing the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan's so-called doughnut hole. Doughnut hole is a benign way of saying burn a hole--costs that were burning a hole in the pockets of America's seniors. prgtoken Finally, hospitals in States like Pennsylvania are getting a lot of help due to the legislation. In Pennsylvania, our hospitals have saved $680 million due to reductions in uncompensated care. I think, in the end, most of this is about real people and real families and their real lives and, unfortunately, the real consequences that would adversely impact their lives. prgtoken Among the 3

L000551

Barbara

Lee

Barbara Lee

F

1946-07-16

Democrat

rep

CA

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

. Let me thank Representative Veasey for hosting this important discussion on President-elect 's disturbing nomination and for the gentleman's commitment to defend civil and human rights for all Americans. Now, more than ever, the voices of the CBC's are so important in this fight. prgtoken I would also like to recognize our new chair, Cedric Richmond, as he takes the helm of the CBC during these very challenging times; but I know that, under his leadership, our caucus will continue to fight in a very strong and aggressive way for equality and justice. prgtoken The President-elect, , ran one of the most divisive and racially tinged campaigns we have witnessed in modern history. Since winning the Presidency, President-elect has nominated individuals to serve in his Cabinet, proving that he will govern just as he campaigned. There is no greater example of this disturbing reality than in Senator Jeff Sessions' nomination to serve as our country's Attorney General. The Justice Department is our best tool in protecting civil and human rights and voting rights. By appointing Senator Sessions to lead this department, President-elect is making it clear that he will abandon these fundamental values. prgtoken Senator Sessions has a long history of opposing civil rights and equality. He has called the Voting Rights Act a piece of intrusive legislation. He said that the Supreme Court's disastrous decision to gut voting rights was good news for the South. In the 1980s, he was rejected from serving as a Federal judge due to his blatantly racist comments. prgtoken Any one of these statements should be disqualifying. In the proposed, bigoted administration, frankly, I am not surprised; but I am appalled that the President-elect would choose such an extreme and divisive figure to serve as Attorney General. Clearly, someone who has publicly displayed prejudice and intolerance is not qualified to serve as our chief law enforcement officer for our civil rights laws. prgtoken By that standard alone, one thing is clear: Senator Sessions is wholly unfit to serve as Attorney General. Senator Sessions has forcefully degraded the LGBT community, has voted against the Violence Against Women Act, and has undermined the cornerstone of the civil rights movement and the Voting Rights Act. His nomination really is a chilling indication of how a administration intends to govern. This country has made tremendous progress in the fight to protect, preserve, and expand civil rights for all Americans. We will not allow a administration to drag us back into the past. prgtoken As the conscience of the Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus is a voice for the marginalized. Our message to the administration and to President-elect is simple: A vote to confirm Senator Jeff Sessions is a vote against justice. We will fight to protect any rollback on civil or human rights. We will not be

F000457

Alan

Franken

Al Franken

M

1951-05-21

Democrat

sen

MN

OBAMACARE

like my colleagues here today, I rise to talk about the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. I have been talking to a lot of people in Minnesota who have health insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, or whose lives are changed by the protections in the ACA that benefit every American. Frankly, they are scared, hard-working people for whom this is literally life or death. If their health insurance is taken away, they do not know what they are going to do. prgtoken Today, on their behalf, I have one request for my colleagues: Show us your health care plan. You must have one. We would like to hear it. We would like to see it now. You can understand the question, right? If your child had cancer and the Affordable Care Act was the reason you could get health insurance, you wouldn't want to rip up the ACA before knowing what would replace it. I am not the only Senator with constituents whose lives are on the line here, so I know that you don't intend to rip up the Affordable Care Act and leave them with nothing. You have to have a plan, right? So let's just see it. prgtoken Last week, President said that if s produce a plan that is ``demonstrably better than Care,'' he would support it, and so will I. Just show it to me. President-Elect clearly has a plan. He laid it out, laid it all out during his campaign. His plan was, he said, to ``repeal Care and replace it with something terrific.'' That is what he said. Then he went into a little more detail and explained that ``something terrific'' would be ``so much better, so much better, so much better.'' prgtoken Terrific. So much better. That sounds great. Let's see it. One of 's top advisers said on MSNBC: ``We don't want anyone who currently has insurance to not have insurance.'' Great. Neither do we. Ryan said that there will ``be a bridge so that no one is left out in the cold, so that no one is worse off.'' That is wonderful. No one being worse off is exactly what we want to see. prgtoken I am sure Ryan's staff was mistaken when they later told a reporter that the ``no one worse off'' applied only to the transition period, not to the replacement period. Show me the plan, please. Please show me the plan that keeps coverage for the 20 million people who have gained coverage that would continue to bend the cost curve so the cost of the entire health care system continues to grow less quickly than it did before ACA was adopted, the plan that would ensure that nobody gets denied coverage when they need it or has to unfairly pay more than someone else because of their gender or a preexisting condition. Show me that plan. prgtoken I know s have put forward some different plans, a lot of different plans, but a lot of plans is not a plan. A lot of plans is not a plan. We want to see the plan, you know, the one you have been working on for 6 years. I was here in

C001067

Yvette

Clarke

Yvette D. Clarke

F

1964-11-21

Democrat

rep

NY

IMPACT OF CABINET NOMINATIONS

. I thank Mr. Veasey for his leadership this evening. I thank our chairman, Cedric Richmond, for his vision and his timeliness in bringing this to the floor today. prgtoken , I rise on behalf of the people of the Ninth Congressional District of New York in opposition to 's nominee for the position of Attorney General of the United States, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. I stand with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus as we raise our voices on behalf of the millions of Americans who depend on this caucus to speak as the conscience of the Congress--speaking truth to power. prgtoken , I struggle to understand how Senator Sessions can even be considered to lead the Department of Justice when time and time again throughout his political career he has actively opposed the mission and purpose for which the Department of Justice was created. For the better part of my life--at least a half a century--the Department of Justice has assumed a position of leadership in the fight for the civil rights of African Americans who seek the uninhibited right to vote, for young women who seek protection against sexual assault on college campuses, for disabled individuals who fight for equitable access to basic services, and for immigrants who aspire to pursue their visions of the American Dream. prgtoken The nomination of Senator Sessions does not support the legacy of progress that has been made under the auspices of the modern-day Department of Justice. As a young prosecutor, he directed racial slurs at his African American colleagues. Senator Sessions spoke highly of the Ku Klux Klan. He actively targeted and persecuted activists like Mr. Albert Turner--one of Dr. Martin Luther King's advisers--for simply trying to register disenfranchised voters. prgtoken When he became Attorney General of Alabama, Senator Sessions, a product of segregated education, worked tirelessly to prevent predominantly African American public schools from accessing an equal share of resources that had been long denied to Black students. prgtoken As a Member of the Senate, Senator Sessions has been an outspoken opponent of criminal justice reforms that many of his colleagues support. He is a leader in the effort to define undocumented Americans as ``the other'' and forcibly separating families in the United States. prgtoken The women and men who lead the Department of Justice are called upon to pursue justice; but with such a documented history of hostility toward the most vulnerable populations--people of color, women, disabled individuals, and immigrant families--we cannot expect Senator Sessions to pursue justice on their behalf. prgtoken I absolutely and unequivocally oppose the nomination of Senator Sessions. He has demonstrated his disdain for the most basic of human principles: equality, justice, and fairness. These principles represent the promise of our Constitution. The Senate considering and confirming Mr

K000384

Timothy

Kaine

Tim Kaine

M

1958-02-26

Democrat

sen

VA

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2017--Continued

I rise with my colleagues, and I am thrilled to be here with them, to save our health care and to try to convince our colleagues that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would be health care malpractice, and because health care is one-sixth of the American economy, it would be economic malpractice as well. prgtoken What I thought I would do basically is just tell two stories. I am going to tell a Virginia story from before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and I am going to tell a Virginia story since the passage of the act. prgtoken I was first elected to statewide office in 2001, and I became the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Shortly after, I started to attend, on a fairly regular basis, a most amazing annual event. It is called the Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise County, VA. It is in the heart of Appalachia, in a community on the border of Kentucky where my wife's family is from. This was an annual medical clinic that was set up by some Catholic nuns who were driving a van around trying to offer medical care to people who didn't have it, and they decided they would recruit volunteers. They would set up at a dusty county fairground, the Virginia-Kentucky fairground in Wise, VA, and open the doors on Saturday to people who didn't have health care. It had been going for many years when I first went as Lieutenant Governor. I had heard so much about it, and I was anxious to go see it. prgtoken Here is what I saw when I first went there. People start to come on about Tuesday of the week when it is going to open on Friday, and they come in groups of three or four families, and then they come in groups of ten or dozens, and then hundreds, and then thousands, to this dusty county fairground in late July--hot in Southwestern Virginia. They gather so that on Friday morning, at about 7 o'clock when it opens, they have gotten a number, they know where they are in the line, and sometime over the course of Friday and Saturday, they will be able to see a doctor, in some instances for the first time in their lives. There are doctors, dentists, medical students, the Lions Club volunteers to give vision screenings, hundreds of volunteers, and thousands of people seeking medical care. prgtoken The first year I went to this, I was overwhelmed at the magnitude of the philanthropic spirit of the volunteers, and I was also overwhelmed at the depth of the need. Something made it more palpable by walking around the parking lot to see where people had come from. prgtoken This is a community that is on the border of Virginia and Kentucky so I wasn't surprised to see Virginia license plates and Kentucky license plates. It is kind of near West Virginia so I wasn't surprised to see West Virginia license plates. It is near Tennessee. I saw Tennessee license plates. I saw North Carolina license plates. What struck me as I went through the parking lot was to see license plates from Georgia and license plates fro

L000174

Patrick

Leahy

Patrick J. Leahy

M

1940-03-31

Democrat

sen

VT

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S SPEECH ON A TWO-STATE SOLUTION TO THE ISRALEI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

last week the junior Senator from Texas spoke about Secretary of State Kerry's recent speech explaining the administration's decision to not veto U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 and supporting a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Senator asserted that Secretary Kerry ``equated'' Israel and Hamas, that President and Secretary Kerry are ``relentless enemies of Israel'' who ``consider the existence and creation of Israel to be a disaster.'' He said their actions toward Israel were intended to ``facilitate assaults on the nation of Israel.'' He also accused them of ``turning a blind eye'' to terrorism. prgtoken Anyone who reads Secretary Kerry's speech will recognize the fallacy of those baseless and inflammatory accusations. To the contrary, Secretary Kerry eloquently and compellingly and with a foreboding sense of urgency about the receding prospects for a two-state solution reaffirmed the administration's condemnation of terrorism and incitement, its unprecedented support for Israel's security, and his own longstanding commitment to Israel's survival as a democratic state, living in peace with its Arab neighbors. prgtoken I urge all Senators to read his speech and to arrive at their own conclusions. The situation the Secretary describes should be alarming to anyone who wants peace and security for Israel and a viable, independent state for the Palestinian people, which are of vital importance to the national interests of the United States. While the Secretary's speech is too long to be printed in the Record in full, I ask unanimous consent that the first half of his remarks be printed in the Record.

G000552

Louie

Gohmert

Louie Gohmert

M

1953-08-18

Republican

rep

TX

HOPE IN AMERICA

it is an honor to be here tonight at the beginning of this new year. It has been great being in east Texas this weekend, last weekend, hearing all of the hope that has arisen as we have entered this new year, 2017. I think it is going to be a good year. prgtoken I am told that just on the basis of a new President coming in who is promising to throttle back, remove so much of the heavy, iron boot off of the throat of the economy that firms are starting to hire again. Businesses are making plans to expand and grow. And then we are seeing reports of plants that are deciding to stay in the United States instead of going elsewhere. There is a lot of optimism out there. prgtoken There are young people that are asking what was it like back when you came out of college and had multiple job opportunities for most of the people coming out of college instead of opportunities to live with your parents or your grandparents or a parent or the other parent. They actually had multiple job opportunities, and that optimism has arisen. prgtoken As we entered this year, also, it is very sad to see a form of racism and negativity that arises. I have said before publicly, and I think it is still true, we need go back no further than the confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. But the more you look, the more you find that the most persecuted person to be in America these days is a conservative African American. If you are Black and you are conservative, you can expect prgtoken slings and arrows and hate from all over the country--vicious, mean. prgtoken And it was yet another slap, as if the high-tech lynching of the Senate confirmation hearing, as grossly unfair as it was, that woman that withheld any complaints whatsoever, followed a man from job to job, never raised a complaint until he gets ready to be confirmed to the United States Supreme Court, raised allegations that can't possibly be denied or supplemented, verified--not effectively. prgtoken You raise them 20-plus years. That is why we have laws on the books to protect from allegations too many years after the fact. We have statutes of limitations. prgtoken If you sit on something and don't tell people for years and years, and then all of a sudden, for political reasons, you raise up allegations against someone who is basically defenseless--the thing is Clarence Thomas was not defenseless. There were like 15 people, 15 women, who came forward and said: Look, I was there around Anita Hill when these things were going on. Those things never happened. Clarence Thomas is a brilliant, fine man, over and over. prgtoken Does any of that come up when HBO talks about him? Of course not because they were out to slander him, libel him, make him appear to be some crazy guy. prgtoken The guy is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Some say: well, yeah, of course the only way he got into Harvard--which, at the time, was too conservative, he thought, for him, law schoo

B001289

Bradley

Byrne

Bradley Byrne

M

1955-02-16

Republican

rep

AL

FAITHLESS ELECTOR PROBLEM

last Friday the House and the Senate met to fulfill our solemn constitutional responsibility to count the votes of electors for President and Vice President. This year the joint session was confronted with a record number of so-called faithless electors-- electors who were supposed to vote for the Presidential candidates named on their States' ballot, but, instead, voted for someone else. prgtoken Different States handle their faithless electors in different ways. In my view, the joint session rightly fulfilled its constitutional responsibility by simply taking the certified results of each State without intervention. This was in line with precedent set in 1969 and with the text of the Constitution. prgtoken Because I believe this decision to be correct, I did not file an objection during the counting process. However, I wish for the Record to contain my views on this matter and to express my concern that an avoidable constitutional crisis on this subject is a very real possibility in the future. prgtoken The faithless elector problem has often been seen as academic, but in 2000, Vice President Gore was three faithless electors away from the Presidency. As a point of reference, there were 10 faithless electors in this election. Thus, this is not a matter that should be taken lightly. prgtoken Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution gives the States the exclusive power to appoint electors in a manner decided by their State legislatures. Clause 4 provides the sole grant of authority to Congress in the process to determine the time for choosing electors and the day they cast their vote. prgtoken The process to count electors is outlined in Clause 3 and identical language which superseded it in the 12th Amendment. It provides that, ``The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. . . .'' Under the 12th Amendment, the persons receiving a majority of the vote ``shall be'' the President and Vice President. prgtoken The extent of what Congress' powers are in the counting process has been the subject of over 200 years of debate. The Congressional Record from 1800 includes a lengthy speech by Senator Charles Pinckney, a Framer of the Constitution, who stated that as the Framers wished the President to be independent, ``It never was intended . . . to have given to Congress . . . the right to object to any electoral vote.'' prgtoken The first successful effort to expand Congress' power in counting did not come until 1865, when Congress adopted a joint House-Senate rule on the subject. Under the rule, no electoral vote that incurred an objection could be counted unless both Houses agreed. prgtoken The joint rule was tempered by the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which still governs the counting process to this day. The law allows an objection signed by a House and a Senate Member. However, under the

B001248

Michael

Burgess

Michael C. Burgess

M

1950-12-23

Republican

rep

TX

PROTECTING PATIENT ACCESS TO EMERGENCY MEDICATIONS ACT OF 2017

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I rise today in support of H.R. 304, the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act, introduced by the gentlemen from North Carolina, Mr. Hudson and Mr. Butterfield. prgtoken H.R. 304 would update the Drug Enforcement Administration registration process for emergency medical services agencies with multiple locations, clarifying recordkeeping requirements related to the transportation and storage of controlled substances in the process. prgtoken Further, the bill would ensure that paramedics and other EMS professionals are able to continue to administer pain and antiseizure medications in emergency situations pursuant to standing or verbal orders when certain conditions are met. prgtoken This commonsense measure is supported by over a dozen EMS and trauma care organizations. prgtoken , I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 304, and .

D000618

Steve

Daines

Steve Daines

M

1962-08-20

Republican

sen

MT

ORDERS FOR TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon, Tuesday, January 10; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of S. Con. Res. 3.

S000583

Lamar

Smith

Lamar Smith

M

1947-11-19

Republican

rep

TX

FAKE NEWS INCLUDES CLIMATE CHANGE

a good example of fake news appeared in Sunday's New York Times. It is a column headlined, ``As Denies Climate Change, These Kids Die.'' This may be a new high--or maybe a new low--for climate alarmists and their exaggerations. prgtoken Two facts: first, most severe and persistent droughts occurred decades ago, not recently; and second, there is little connection between climate change and extreme weather, in general, according to numerous studies. prgtoken Climate alarmists tend to ignore scientific evidence and encourage media hype, and, of course, the liberal media is all too willing to go along. Climate discussions should be based on good science, not politically correct science.

P000594

Erik

Paulsen

Erik Paulsen

M

1965-05-14

Republican

rep

MN

NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION DAY

I rise today on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day to recognize and support our many men and women bravely serving and protecting their communities all across Minnesota and our country. prgtoken Law enforcement officers are heroes. They put their lives on the line to keep our neighborhoods, homes, businesses, and schools safe and secure, as was evidenced by the tragedy that took place in Orlando. We owe them so much for the many risks and difficult decisions they make every single day. prgtoken It is important that we don't take their service for granted. Our communities are better, thanks to their unwavering commitment. That is why recognitions like today or National Night Out in August, where we promote police community partnerships through neighborhood block parties and cookouts with officers, are so critically important in strengthening the bond between community and law enforcement. prgtoken Our men and women in uniform, as well as their families and loved ones, make tremendous sacrifices for the safety and security of their neighbors. We thank them and recognize them for their daily service.

L000576

Billy

Long

Billy Long

M

1955-08-11

Republican

rep

MO

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU TO RETIRING SHERIFF MICK EPPERLY

I rise today to recognize Sheriff Mick Epperly of Barry County, Missouri, who is retiring after 28 years of service in law enforcement. prgtoken Sheriff Epperly took his first oath as Sheriff of Barry County on January 1, 1997. Now, 20 years later, he has become the longest serving sheriff in Barry County's history. prgtoken During his career, Sheriff Epperly has come to be known as the ``working sheriff.'' On the job, Sheriff Epperly has consistently been an active sheriff arriving first on the scene for search and rescue missions, going into work at all hours, even on weekends and holidays, regularly going on patrols with his officers and working every homicide case that the Sheriff's Office has been involved in during his tenure. prgtoken I am honored to recognize Sheriff Epperly's years of service and hard work on the job for the people of Barry County. On behalf of Missouri's Seventh Congressional District I ask all of my colleagues to join me in wishing Sheriff Epperly the best in retirement and thanking him for 28 years of work in law enforcement.

L000578

Doug

LaMalfa

Doug LaMalfa

M

1960-07-02

Republican

rep

CA

NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION DAY

today is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and I think it is very appropriate in this body to stand up and show that appreciation, especially in these confused times where signals come out of this place that don't show appreciation but, instead, depict our law enforcement in very unflattering terms. prgtoken To our friends in law enforcement, we want you to know that the vast majority of us believe in what you do and that we value you and what you do every day out there to keep us safe, to keep us secure in our homes and our communities. We also honor those--too many--whom we have lost tragically in the line of duty. prgtoken I know their families pray every night that they will return home safely. Too often, just in 2016, many of these families' worst fears were realized, as 135 fathers, sons, mothers, and prgtoken daughters never returned home from the line of duty. In my home State of California, 11 officers lost, one even from my own district, Deputy Jack Hopkins of the Modoc County Sheriff's Department. We recognize him, and we recognize all the brave men and women around this country who sacrifice, who stand as a thin blue line between us and a lot of mayhem. We are truly grateful and want to take time this day to recognize what you do for us. God bless you all. Amen.

R000578

David

Reichert

David G. Reichert

M

1950-08-29

Republican

rep

WA

NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION DAY

today is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. prgtoken Behind me are the faces of 135 men and women. They are the faces of those who paid the ultimate price serving and protecting us this past year so that our families and our children can live safe and enjoy our freedom. As you can see, freedom isn't free. prgtoken You may not know or recognize these faces, but you know the faces of others who have served or that are serving today. They are the faces of our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends. Some were ambushed and executed. Some lost their lives responding to a call to save a life, someone who called for help. prgtoken Tacoma police officer Jake Gutierrez, from my home State of Washington, is one of the faces behind me. He lost his life in the line of duty just last month while trying to protect a woman from domestic violence. prgtoken Jake was supposed to have exchanged wedding vows with his fiancee in just a few weeks. Instead, she and his three daughters and granddaughter attended his funeral and tried to picture a life without Jake. prgtoken Tragically, again last month, a time meant for celebration was filled with another Washington family's sorrow. Veteran officer Mike McClaughry from the Mount Vernon Police Department was shot in the head while responding to a call for help. Today his children, wife, friends, and family sit by his hospital bed and his life now hangs in the balance in the hands of God and his doctors. prgtoken This feeling of loss is one that I am also familiar with. In 1982, my partner and best friend, Sergeant Sam Hicks, was shot to death attempting to arrest a murder suspect. He left behind his wife and five sons. That was over 30 years ago, but the loss of a loved one is a pain that cannot be forgotten, cannot be erased. prgtoken This national day of appreciation is not only a day to reflect and appreciate the service of those who have served, but those that are serving today. They are driving, walking, patrolling your neighborhoods, keeping us safe. They are ready to put their lives on the line, yes, but every day they do so much more for us that goes unnoticed: prgtoken The officer that took the stolen bike report on Christmas Day and the next day delivered a new bicycle to that little boy's home; prgtoken How about the officer who anonymously buys groceries for a needy family; prgtoken The officer who counseled a little girl who was being bullied because of the clothes she wore and then bought her a new set of clothes; prgtoken How about the officer who went to a call where he had to cradle a 2- month-old baby in his arms, giving CPR to his little, fragile blue face, hoping for the best news, fearing the worst--and getting the worst--and then headed off to his next call; prgtoken The officer that held the hand of a dying man after a motorcycle accident and then sharing his last words with his family; prgtoken The officer who was spit on, ridiculed, and insulted by a

R000582

David

Roe

David P. Roe

M

1945-07-21

Republican

rep

TN