macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

What is amazing. and you are so right. what has happened in the last several weeks is there has been an effort by the Bush administration- since this DPW port deal has come to light to portray this as people who have a problem with Middle Eastern countries and even have gone so far as -to say. well. why are you concerned. because Federal agencies control and conduct. all port security. I learned and knew this. but it was illuminated even more clearly when I went to the port that that is not the case. Yes. on the external port properties the government body running the port. in our case. in Miami it is the Board of County Commissioners in Miami. they are responsible for external security. But at a terminal in the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Company and under the five other terminals that DPW would take over. they are responsible for their own internal security. They will have intimate knowledge of the external security on the port property. and they are responsible for security internally. This is a foreign governmentowned company. This is not a private company from. a foreign country. It is a foreign governmentowned company. Would it be okay with anyone in this country. not the least of which should be the Bush administration. if the same situation occurred in an airport? Would we let a foreign governmentowned company run a terminal in our airports? Would we let them control loading and offloading passengers or cargo coming into an airport? Not in a billion. no pun intended. years. Really. Why are they so unconcerned about port security? Let us look at what the Coast Guard is responsible for. Again. thirdparty validators. The Coast Guard on a typical day .saves 15 lives. assists 117 people in distress. protects $2.8 million in property. interdicts 30 illegal migrants at sea. conducts 90 search and .rescue cases. seizes $21 million worth of illegal drugs. responds to 11 oil and hazardous chemical spills. and boards and inspects 122 vessels. There are 361 ports in this country that they are responsible for. and we have 95.000 miles of coastline. And the difference between what the Coast Guard has said they needed. $7.2 billion to really complete their mission in terms of port security. and what the Republican leadership here has appropriated. $910 million. is $6 billion. There is a disconnect from the top to the bottom here. It is shocking.
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

The thing that we did not mention yet that is the most outrageous is the President in his budget that he just proposed actually eliminates direct port security grants. He literally says. no. no. no. we do not need to directly appropriate grant money to individual ports for port security. I have a bright idea. He has a bright idea. He wants to let ports compete for security grant funding with railway stations and airports and have any one of these transportationrelated entryways to our country compete for security grants. I mean. I do not understand that. He proposed it last year. and the response from the Republican Congress was a $910 million appropriations for port security. And now he is proposing it yet again. Q 2330 Where are their priorities? If we are going to propose cuts to try to get the budget deficit situation under control. do we start with port security? I mean. when they are sitting down around the table in the Roosevelt Room. I really want to be a fly on the wall sometimes. Who in there is saying port security grants. that is what we should. that is how we are going to solve the deficit? Medicaid funding. we have got all the poor people covered with health care. who are the people the most in need. where are our most significant needs. let us cut those. It is astonishing.
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

There is also specifically related to this Dubai Ports World deal a way to deal with it. There is the bigger issue of port security. and then there is this deal. What .is it that is so darn important about this deal that it caused the President to threaten his first veto that if. God forbid. the Congress would do something crazy like pass leiislation to stop it. to slow it down to conduct the national security review that should be done? I have the legislation that I have introduced on the House side and Senators MENENDEZ and CLINTON and BILL NELSON from our State that have introduced on the Senate side that would say that we should not allow foreign government companies to own or lease ports from us in this country and we should stop this deal and we should review the other foreign governmentowned terminals that currently already are in the United States and give congressional oversight in that area.
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

There is a very simple solution: we return to PAYGO rules. We return to the days when we spent what we had. like people in American households try to do every single day andstruggle to do. But we have the ability to establish a rule. We. have the ability to follow a rule that says we will only spend what we have. We have advocated. as Democrats. restoring the PAYGO rule. and we have been repeatedly rejected by the Republican leadership because they just want to continue to borrow and spend. borrow and spend.
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. MEEK. the point I want to add is this body has openings for people of courage. and we encourage them to apply for those jobs over the next several months.
Date: 2006-03-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

There are job openings for people of courage. We need a few more people of courage. There are a couple on that side. but we need a whole lot more.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. we offer this motion to instruct. because today. all across America. employees are Worried sick about their retirement nest egg. They have seen big airlines like USAir and United cut and run on their obligations to pay the -promised pension benefits and. are wondering if they are next. They have seen majol. companies like Verizon. IBM. Motorola. Northwest. Delta. Sears Roebuck Company. Alcoa. Hewlett Packard. Lockheed Martin freeze their plans. We just read that General Motors will close its defined benefit plan to new management hires and give them a 401(k) instead. Theseare devastating developments that need urgent action by this Congress. Unfortunately. this House bill makes none of these provisions better. In fact. it may make some of them worse. This motion addresses two urgent issues. First. it provides needed help to the airline pension plans hurt by 9/11 and skyrocketing fuel prices from terminating. It would be devastating to hundreds of thousands of workers across this Nation if more airlines were permitted to dump their plans into the PBGC. When this happens. the big losers are the employees. Look at the pilots of United. for example. They had.a vested pension benefit cut in half. The average pilot lost $1.270. Here is what you see what happens when an airline or any employer is allowed to simply dump the plan into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. the government body that is set up to protect pensions. You. see here that the pilots. 14.000 pilots. and 6.000 of them were retirees who lost 50 percent of their benefits. they lost $1.370 a month for the rest of their lives. for the rest of their lives. Management. employees and ticket sellers and others. 42.000 of them. 12.000 retirees lost $221 for the rest of their lives as did the machinists and the ground crews. who lost $493. That is because the company made essentially a unilateral decision simply to dump this plan without justification into the PBGC. There are other actions that could be taken. The reason that we are here today is because a number of airlines have said. let us see if we can work with our employees if we can stretch out these plans. if we can keep from terminating them. We can work through these difficult times for the airline industry. that there may be a way to do this and get away from the tragedy that happened to these retirees and to their families. " Let us just be very clear about this. These are not 401(k) investments that went wrong in a bad market. these pen-
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota . a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for speakers. I believe I have the right to close. Is that correct?
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I offer an amendment. Thd Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment No. 6 printed in House Report 109386 offered by Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: At the end of the bill. add the following section:
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 11/2 minutes. Mr. Chairman. Members. I ask your support of my amendment. which will add State fish and shellfish methylmercury notification laws to this acts current list of exemptions. The gentleman from Georgia outlined that if there is a problem with any food. that we should have national notification so that eveyone in America may be notified regarding those concerns. The problem in particular when you are talking about fish and shellfish is that much of the problem deals with recreational fishing. So. for example. in Georgia. you might have a different level of mercury in the lakes and rivers there as opposed to the level of mercury in the lakes ahd rivers in Michigan. So it is imperative that we.have the ability to notify. under a States discretion the level of mercury poisoning and the caution and concern that those residents shobld have in that particular State. Methylmercury poisoning is a growing crisis in our country. The FDA recommends that pregnant women completely stop eating larger predatory fish. because the average methylmercury content per serving is so high that just one male is unhealthy. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that children and pregnant women can have significant exposure if they consume excess amounts of fish. Several States have begun to address current mercury levels. In fact. 44 States. have issued some form of a methylmercury advisory. . Members. I know you all share my concern for our childrens health and wellbeing. This amendment will not undermine the sponsors intent. There are other exemptions in this bill. If there is any substance that we exempt and ensure that there can be differing levels of advisories across the country. it is methylmercury poisoning. Mr. Chairman. I urge the Members support the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. a woman who does not have access to prenatal care. who does not know that she is pregnant. who already has a high level of mercury poisoning in her bloodstream. as many. many women across this country do. and then. becomes pregnant and continues to consume high levels of oilbased fish. how is that woman supposed to be advisedthat she should not continue to eat tuna. mackerel. salmon without going to the doctor? Is she likely to have access to a computer- and the FDAs Website to get that warning? I really doubt it.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. One of the things I want to point out that I think is important to note is that the petition process that the gentleman from Georgia pointed out. that whole process has been scored by the GPO. They have estimated that it would cost $400.000 per petition. Should we be creating the obstacles to information that women need? I will give you an example. I have a 2 2yearold baby girl. and I first found out about the dangers of methylmercury when I was pregnant with her and my OBGYN told me. do not consume tuna. Do not consitme any oilybased fish. Think about someone who does not have the access to prenatal care that I had. We have absolutely got to make sure that depending on the levels of mercury poisoning in a particular body of water in different States. that each State be able to decide the type and method of information that they provide. and that we not leave only the ability to notify women and parents of young children about the dangers of methylmercury on a Web site put out by the FDA. That would be inappropriate. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. just 35 days ago I attended the Presidents State of the Union address with other Members of Congress right here in this Chamber. And that night I was very
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Absolutely. The thing that I learned that shocked me given that I am.from Florida and we have the third highest Jewish population in my community in the country. I am the first Jewish woman to ever represent the State of Florida in the Congress. Our first U.S. Senator to ever represent Florida ever was actually a Jewish man. and that was back in the 1800s when Florida joined the Union. And it took until 2004 for Congress to send a Jewish woman to Congress. The expression we have come a long way but we have a long way to go is an accurate one. We have so much that we can talk about. I think that the thing that I want to highlight is that we have issues that are important to women and families that would not get addressed if we were not here in the numbers we are here. Child care. subsidized child care in particular. I was shocked last year when I learned in the Presidents budget that he put forward last year that he actually proposed a drastic cut in the number of subsidized child care slots that we would fund. We are talking about how it is possible for us to stand on the shoulders of other women and even think about running. We are talking about service in the House of Representatives. It simply is not possible for women to work who are moms. es*pecially singlemoms. if they do not have the ability to have their children cared for and well cared for. So for each successive budget- that I have seen. yet again the President has opposed a cut in subsidized child care cuts. It is just astonishing to me the priorities that this administration has where it seems to be more important to preserve tax cuts for the wealthiest few at all costs. and never mind the women who need health care. who only get it when they are on Medicaid. never mind young children who receive Medicaid. and that is the only source of health care. never mind moms who need to make sure that they can work and have a place to send their children for quality child cafe: I just do not understand where their priorities are.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. If I could just add. one of the things. and you are raising excellent points. women have so many challenges. Young women have so many challenges today. Young mothers have so many challenges today. such as ac-. cess to affordable health care and access to quality and affordable child care. Women disproportionately have lowerpaying jobs that pay minimum wage. and we have not seen a raise in minimum wage to keeppace withinflation. Really oftentimes I talk about the glass ceiling because there are still so many opportunities denied to women in the upper echelons of our workforce. but many women are just struggling to get up off the floor because they are working minimumwage jobs and trying to raise kids. They are the heads of households. They face all of these challenges. And one of the best ways for women to get ahead. and this is something my immigrant parents really instilled in all of my brothers and sisters. I come from a family of seven. they said education is the key to opportunity in this country. you. need to go to college. When they told me this it was a - pretty radical notion for a traditional Latino family to say not just the boys need to go to college. but the girls also should go to college. One of t he ways I financed my education was with Pell grants and students loans. loans which I am still paying back today. 0 2030 I still owe on my student loans. I make out that check every month. But it was the best investment I could have made in myself. because it opened the doors of opportunity. When you talked about the President. his priorities being so out of place and opposite of what they should be. the first thing that jumped to my mind was they want to cut student aid programs. They want to freeze the maximum Pell Grant. Many young women who want to go to college rely disproportionately on Pell Grants and student aid to finance that and make that dream happen. Yet they are slashing that. which is. again. one of the best investments you could make. If you talk about a young woman who is bright. she gets into college and cannot finance a college education. you are talking about not just making it that much harder for her to access these economic opportunities. but lets look at this realistically. If she is earning less because she is not able to get a college education or additional training. she is contributing less in the tax base in terms of our economy. It is such a wise investment to help people further their education and careers. because they become higher income earners. they pay more into the tax base. they spend more in their communities to help stimulate the economy. Yet we have an administration and a President who thinks nothing of making the biggest cuts to the student loan program in the whole programs history. Now. more than ever. we should think about investing in young women. not foreclosing those opportunities for them.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

You are so right. You are choking off womens opportunities at every level. Whether we are talking about the freezing of Pell Grants. this President has proposed freezing funding for Head. Start. Head Start. the place where disadvantaged kids. kids who it has been proven in study after study get their opportunity to succeed in school in a Head Start program. 19.000 kids would lose their opportunity to participate in Head Start.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. May I mention that my older sister. who was the older of the two to be elected to Congress. was a Head Start child. That program helped her become prepared for school. and helped my mother understand an education system that was totally foreign to tier.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

We come from three totally different kinds of communities. Like you in your community. I get stopped in the supermarket. I get stopped at my sons soccer games. at dance class. you name it. And the community I live in happens to be one that is sort of middle to upper middleclass. and it doesnt matter whether I am in the poorer section of my district or the wealthiest section of my district. people are scratching their heads. Their confidence in their government under this Republican leadership has been so badly shaken because of the corruption and the cronyism and the tax cuts and the priorities being totally wrong.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. If you will yield. since we are on the topic of breast cancer. I want to mention two weeks ago I lost a Member of my staff in my district office. She had a 3year battle with breast cancer. She died at the age of 49. She was the most wonderful. outsppken. helpful caseworker in our office. Her husband said at her memorial service. "You know. Idalia Smith did not die. She was killed. She was killed by cancer." He was angry that more had not been done to try to help elimi.nate breast cancer in terms of one of these horrible diseases that causes such suffering and takes people from us far. far too soon.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

It is so. sad how we literally now have reached the point in history where every person that you talk to can name a woman that they know that has touched their lives in some way that has fallen victim to breast cancer. One of my close friends. 42 years old. a mom of twin 5yearolds. just passed. away in December. also killed by breast. cancer. You know what is the most frustrating thing. is that we have only just in recent years been able to get NIH funding for womenspecific disease study. and yet the President has now proposed a cut in funding for every institute in the NIH. How are we going to reverse the trend in breast cancer? Breast cancer is not even the leading cause of death in women in this country. It is heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death. We only just accomplished having womenspecific studies in that area. Again. the priorities are just startling.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I just haVe this to say. We have talked a little.bit about priorities and we have talked about some very worthwhile programs that are being cut to the core. to the point where these kinds of services are going to be eliminated altogether. will be so crippled by lack of funding that they are not going to really function and serve the people they need to serve. The question for me. and I get angry .about this. I hbar colleagues talk about how they care about breast cancer research. they care about preparing kids for kindergarten. they care about making sure that educational opportunities are available. yet they have no qualms about voting to slash these programs to the core so they can give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. If that is not the clearest example of misplaced priorities. I. dont know what is. because there is an old saying. you put your money where your mouth is. So you can talk about supporting something. but if you are not willing to put your money into that to support it. you are just giving lip service to it.
Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Our colleague ROSA DELAURO from Connecticut has introduced legislation in the area of breast cancer that we still cannot get brought to this floor that would deal with drivethrough mastectomies. You have women in this country now who. after having their breasts removed as a result of breast cancer surgery. are forced out of the hospital by their insurance company in 24 hours and less after a radical mastectomy. regardless of what their doctor thinks. What Congresswoman DELAUROS legislation would Clo is it would ensure that it is the doctor. in consultation with the patient. that would decide what the appropriate length of stay is. That is legislation I worked on in Florida. and it is one that we should apply nationally. Yet we cannot get a hearing. even a hearing. on that bill under the Republican leadership in this Congress. That is why it is so important. Lis-. ten. I will say this straight out. It is not just important that we have women serving in Congress. it is important that we have women who share the priorities of most women in America. who are willing to come here to the Congress and stand up for the things that we care about. There is no point in having a woman here if she is just going to vote just like men have for generations. really. because why elect a woman then? We have got to make sure that we make progress. that we go forward. This leadership is not taking us forward. They are not taking us forward by any measure.