macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ.-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his leadership in bringing this to the floor today. I appreciate my friend Ms. JACKSONLEE for her support of the legislation. I think. as Chairman SENSENBRENNER pointed out. we are living in a different time now. It is a different era. We are in a different kind of struggle. There are different regimes. and I happen to believe that the genocide in Darfur is an affront to the entire civilized world. It is estimated over 300.000 people have been murdered there. I think we need to bring the power of sunshine to the strategies and the actions of regimes such as that. The American people need to know. I think they deserve to know. when a regime like that is paying for representation here in Washington and what contacts are being made here in Washington by representatives of a regime like that to attempt to influence officials here. So I think it is important legislation. especially as we move forward on this area of transparency in the legislative process. improving transparency in the legislative process. I think this is an appropriate thing to do. As Chairman SENSENBRENNER brought out. there are really two legs to this stool. You have the socalled diplomats of these regimes. and in order to be accredited here. to receive their accreditation. they would have to agree to fulfill this requirement. So obviously if they dont fulfill it. that could be a reason for seeing those socalled diplomats off. ending their accreditation. But equally as important is that regimes such as that pay people in the United States. and we want to know who those lobbyists are and what contacts they have with the legislative branch. So we are adding to existing legislation this requirement. as Chairman SENSENBRENNER stated. to the Foreign Agents Registration Act. and despite an erroneous report in one of the publications that cover the Hill today. there are significant penalties. Mr. Speaker. As Chairman SENSENBRENNER pointed out. if you are a lobbyist and dont fulfill these requirements. you can be subjected to a fine of up to $10.000 or imprisonment or both. So it is a serious bill. I thank Ms. JACKSONLEE for her support and urge all colleagues to suppoit this legislation. especially at this time when we are in a different era. a very dangerous and challenging one. Again. I thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER for his help and his support.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I think it is important for Members to realize and focus on precisely what we are talking about here. First of all. there is no requirement on Members of the House. Members of Congress. to report. The requirement is on the lobbyist firm who has been hired by one of a handful. five of. I would like to repeat it. state sponsors of terrorism. What this bill says is if you are hired by one of those state sponsors of terrorism. you should report. especially in this era. your contacts. So it is an important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker. It is one that will contribute to the national security. I think the American people have a right to know the contacts by those paid lobbyists from state sponsors of terrorism. And so. with that in mind. and cognizant of the era that we are living in. I have brought forth this legislation.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I cant quote Mr. Negroponte. but I can quote Benjamin Franklin who. in 1776. explained the unanimous decision of the Committee on Secret Correspondence for not telling their colleagues in the Continental Congress about a covert operation. And he said we find by fatal experience that Congress-
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I was speaking of the vesting clause in the U.S. Constitution that gives the President with the executive powers-
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. It is the vesting clause of the Constitution. vesting in the President the executive authority. coupled with his authority as Commander in Chief. Now. let me just say to the gentleman. so we can make it clear. I have never argued that the President has this authority in all things. as some have suggested. to kill people. to do this. to do that. I have cited authority which suggested in the area of gathering foreign intelligence. which is about what we are talking. Secondly. I would just say that the gentleman is right that we do have the power of the purse.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I dont argue at all that this is an inappropriate amendment to be considered. because this is the proper exercise of our authority to the power of the purse. What I have suggested is the arguments that the President is acting illegally or unlawfully are not appropriate. because he is acting under the Constitution. in my judgment.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. He would be bound by it with respect to the expenditure of funds in this particular bill. I dont think there is any question about that.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. This doesnt cover all expenditures of the President under all circumstances. This is limited to the funds that are contained in this bill. as you know. because it is an appropriation bill. But could I mention one thing. because there has been some question about this. The FISA court of review issued an opinion in 2002 which stated: all the other courts that have decided the issue held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information.
Date: 2006-06-20
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. that begs the question as to whether or not you can. in fact. effectively do that with the 72hour limitation. There are those running the program that suggest that that is not possible. not because necessarily the limitation on going to court. but all of the work that needs to go forward before you get to the court to get the approval. That is what we ought to be talking about.
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 to require data with respect to Federal financial assistance to be available for public access in a searchable and user friendly form. as amended.
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members - may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. Majority Whip RoY BLUNT and I introduced H.R. 5060. which would amend the Federal Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 to require data with respect to Federal financial assistance to be H4336 Co available for public access in a searchable and userfriendly form. The bill would require the Office of Management and Budget to create a Web site for all grant awards to be displayed in a format that would be easily accessible and free of charge. Each award would be required to be listed on the Web site within 30 days of its enactment. No such realtime disclosure is required today of grant awards. and available data is often untimely. Currently there is no central database of all entities receiving Federal funds. including the nearly 30.000 organizations that are awarded nearly $300 billion in Federal grants each year. In fact. several agencies have taken different approaches to making public information about grantees. and often little or no information is available on line. Our bill would put the framework in place for increased sunshine on the Federal grant process. allowing anyone with access to the Internet to review and search Federal assistance awards. thus providing greater transparency to the grantmaking process. I congratulate my friend and colleague. the gentleman from Missouri. for recognizing the importance of this issue and working so hard to bring this measure forward. I also want to thank my ranking member Mr. WAXMAN for working tq move this legislation forward in a bipartisan way. This bill adds muchneeded transparency to the Federal grant process. I also want to thank
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I thank my frielpd for his kind words and also thank him for his many. many contributions to the committee and the bipartisan approach we have taken to issues. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the majority whip. the gentleman from Missouri . who is the chief author of this legislation.
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

And as we shed more light and sunshine on congressional earmarks. grants are essentially executive earmarks. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana .
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: JOE BARTON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

and the ranking member of the committee. Mr. JOHN DINGELL of Michigan. Today the House is honoring the 100th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration. an organization responsible for ensuring the gold standard of safety for the medical products Americans use and the foods we consume. For a century now. the dedicated public servants at FDA have worked professionally and tirelessly to promote public health by regulating drugs. biologics. medical devices and cosmetics in a sciencebased way. As a result of their continued efforts. the United States stands alone. rightfully laying claim to the safest and most effective medical product supply in the world. Additionally. the agencys vigilant work on food safety protects us against natural and manmade threats to the safety of the foods we eat. The longstanding tradition of professionalism and diligence of this importance agency. which regulates roughly 25 percent of our gross domestic product. continues today under the able leadership of the Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs. Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach. Under his leadership. the FDA enters its second century of service. with both a broad history and a bright future. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Dr. von Eschenbach and his agencys outstanding staff on many important public health issues. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Dr. von Eschenbach and the more than 10.000 civil servants for their continued service to the American people who are safer and healthier because of their efforts. Again. I would like to commend Chairman BARTON and Ranking Member DINGELL for offering this worthy resolution and for their strong leadership on FDArelated issues. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2006-06-21
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today to urge the Senate to take immediate action to secure our borders. Our constituents have watched in disbelief and disgust as the Senate passed a noillegalleftbehind bill that gives instate tuition and Social Security to illegal immigrants. Rather than seal our gaping borders. the bill gives the green light to even more illegal immigrants to cross our borders. Though it would be a huge challenge to reconcile our varying bills. I ask my colleagues to stand with me to turn a terrible Senate bill into something that will secure America and make its citizens proud. I urge immediate action on a conference committee. so we can finally plug the holes in our border and show lawbreakers that Americans will not tolerate their disrespect for our laws.
Date: 2006-06-22
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I have the honor of chairing the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process of the Rules Committee. My Subcommittee was the first to address this legislation with a hearing last March. shortly after the measure was introduced. During our hearing. we heard from two distinguished Members of the House. including the bills sponsor. Representative PAUL RYAN. as well as Chairman LEWIS of the Appropriations Committee. And we heard the administrations positioh from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Deputy Director. now Deputy Chief of Staff for the President. Joel Kaplan. Finally. we received historical perspective on this issue from Donald Marron. the Acting Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Several problems were brought out with regard to the legislation. I believe that the Committees of jurisdiction have worked diligently with the author of the resolution to appropriately address most problems. Among the concerns brought out during our Subcommittee hearing were: The number of special messages that could be submitted by the President on each annual Appropriations law. The amount of time that the President could withhold funding for requested rescissions. The scope of the rescission request. specifically tax benefits and mandatory spending.. I am pleased that input was welcomed by Representative RYAN and that these concerns have been addressed. Parameters have been included that will lessen the potential legislative burden on the Congress and prevent the possibility of excessive delaying tactics by the President. I certainly do not believe that the underlying legislation is perfect. Despite the recent changes. I think that five special messages per bill may still be too many. Think about 50 possible expedited special messages that Congress would have to consider after passing 10 appropriations bills. The legislative burden may be extraordinary. In balance. however. since the bill gives us another tool to promote good stewardship of the peoples money. I urge my colleagues to support the Rule and the underlying legislation. I look forward to a full debate on efforts such as this to increase fiscal discipline in the Congress budget process. The material previously referred to by Mr. HASTINGS of Florida is as follows:
Date: 2006-06-22
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of fiscal .responsibility. As stewards of the taxpayers hardearned money. we have the obligation to ensure it is spent wisely. sensibly. and where it is needed the most. I want to commend Speaker HASTERT and Leader BOEHNER for working hard to improve the fiscal responsibility of Congress.
Date: 2006-06-22
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan Legislative LineItem Veto Act of 2006. The lineitem veto is a commonsense approach to restraining the growth in Federal spending. The Legislative LineItem Veto establishes an additional check against excessive. redundant. and narrowly focused spending provisions and specialinterest tax breaks. This legislation would simply allow the President to identify questionable and unnecessary -spending items in bills passed by Congress. It preserves Congress .power of the purse by requiring a simple up or down vote on the Presidents proposed rescissions. The final decision on spending or tax items remains in the hands of Congress. With the passage of this important legislation. this Republicanled Congress. continues to highlight its commitment to fiscal discipline and supporting policies that reform and reduce the growth of mandatory government programs. Necessary reform. such as a lineitem veto. can help rein in unnecessary and wasteful government spending while protecting the hardearned money of American taxpayers. Congress must act to bring greater transparency and accountability to the budget process. A constitutionally sound lineitem veto is a useful tool to eliminate government spending that contributes to the waste. fraud. and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Many governors currently have this ability. .including in my own State of Florida. This important tool serves the people well and will help save their hardearned money. The lineitem veto legislation gives Congress and the President yet another opportunity to bring spending under control. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to match their rhetoric with action and support meaningful budget reform.
Date: 2006-06-27
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However. I am greatly concerned about a provision that is in the bill for bilingual ballots. That language still remains in the bill. Let me be clear. I support legal im-. migration and certainly celebrating ones heritage. However. the bilingual ballot provision has long kept new citizens from increasing their knowledge of our language and from fully integrating into our society. Not only is it expensive to print ballots in a variety of different dialects and tongues. but it reinforces a fractious society. I had planned to offer an amendment with my good friend and colleague. Congressman Steve King of Iowa. to strip this arcane and divisive language. I ask my colleagues for support of this measure. You heard it here.
Date: 2006-06-27
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of the rule. and I want to thank Mr. SESSIONs. as well as Chairman OXLEY and Mr. BAKER and the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee. BARNEY FRANK. for working hard to bring this updating measure to us today. Madam Speaker. when the Financial Services Committee debated this bill. an issue came to my attention that needed a remedy. Many States like Florida that have far too many experiences with flooding have established a mediation process for residents who have flood claims. This process gives residents the opportunity to settle a claim dispute with FEMA without having to go to court. Florida has a 90 percent success rate with this process. which other States have actually begun emulating. This process brings quick results to homeowners. saves millions of dollars in court costs and is something. that should be encouraged. However. oftentimes representatives from FEMA refuse to show up. even though the mediation program is nonbinding. This is a travesty to residents who have already lost so much. Accordingly. my colleague and I from Florida. Congresswoman DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. introduced an amendment that requires FEMA to participate in State mediation claims. Again. this process is nonbinding. If a resident is unhappy witli the results of the proceedings. they may choose to file suit. But the language will ensure that residents have a choice. instead of FEMA making that choice for them by simply avoiding the process. I urge all Members to give homeowners the opportunity to settle their claims quickly without a team of lawyers and mountains of legal fees. I urge your support for the rule and also the underlying bill so that homeowners living in floodprone areas will have some certainty.
Date: 2006-06-27
Speaker: JO ANN DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the Financial Services Committee under Chairman OXLEY. Representative BAKER and Representative NEY. and their leadership in taking aggressive action to address the longterm financial security and management of the National Flood Insurance Program. . After Hurricane Isabel struck my district in 2003. I have watched as many of my constituents have struggled to rebuild their lives. My heart goes out to all those along the gulf coast as they face the monumental task of rebuilding as well. I still have concerns with oversight policies of the National Flood Insurance Program. Thousands trust and rely on their flood insurance to rettore property destroyed by flood waters. However. many have been disappointed to find that the claims adjustment process is unfair and inadequate. Although the NFIP falls under FEMA. the majority of flood insurance policies are sold and administered by private insurance agencies. Most of the management and oversight. functions have been contracted to the Computer Sciences Corporation. CSC. As a result. billions of dollars in policyholders premiums and. ultimately the borrowing authority of the United States Treasury. pass through a few hands. I believe that lack of oversight by FEMA has resulted in mismanaged and underpaid claims. A 2005 GAO study highlighted FEMAs oversight failures. stating that FEMA did not use a statistically valid method for sampling files to be reviewed in monitoring and oversight activities. As a result. FEMA cannot determine the overall accuracy of claims settled for specific flood events or assess the overall performance of insurance companies and adjustors in fulfilling their responsibilities to the NFIP. This amendment is in line with GAOs recommendation and would direct FEMA to utilize a statistically appropriate sampling method for claims reviews and quality assurance purposes. I offer this amendment to improve the oversight of the National Flood Insurance Program. My constituents. flood victims in Louisiana. Mississippi. Alabama. Texas. and Florida. and the American taxpayer deserve it. and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
Date: 2006-06-27
Speaker: JO ANN DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. Hurricane Isabel struck the eastern United States in September of 2003. one of the worst disasters in Virginia history. The financial damages exceeded $1.5 billion. Winds destroyed homes. knocked down trees and power lines. leading to massive power outages. Large storm surges flooded homes and properties across eastern Virginia. Maryland. North Carolina. and Pennsylvania. Many residents in my district. the First District of -Virginia. are still struggling to rebuild following Hurricane Isabel which struck them in 2003. Some are still living in FEMA trailers. Many have been shattered to learn that flood insurance wont cover their losses. I have spoken to many misled policyholders who had their claims mismanaged by the National Flood Insurance Program. Claimants were reportedly pressured to sign adjustors proof of loss within 60 days of the flood. even though they believed that the adjustors had underestimated both the scope of damage and the associated cost of repairs to their properties. My amendment would extend the proofofloss filing deadline to 180 days and should not be used as a technical basis to deny a claim. and make it retroactive to September 18. 2003 to provide muchneeded relief for Isabel victims. I urge my colleagues to support thig amendment.