macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-12-18
Speaker: LINDA E. STIFF (democrat)
Chamber: S

Acting Commissioner. Internal Revenue Service. Washington. DC. DEAR ACTING COMMISSIONER STIFF: Under present law. more than 23 million taxpayers will be subject to higher taxes in 2007 unless legislation is enacted to limit the reach of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). We realize that this fact is causing concern for many taxpayers and is creating administrative difficulties for the IRS as the agency prepares for the upcoming filing season. As the leaders of the Congressional taxwriting committees. we want to assure you that legislative relief is forthcoming so that no new taxpayers will be subject to the AMT for taxable year 2007. To accomplish this. we are committed to extending and indexing the . 2006 AMT patch with the goal of ensuring that not one additional taxpayer faces higher taxes in 2007 due to the onerous AMT. In addition to allowing the personal credits against the AMT. the exemption amount for 2007 will be set at $44.350 for individuals and $66.250 for married taxpayers filing jointly. We plan to do everything possible to enact AMT relief legislation in a form mutually agreeable to the Congress and the President before the end of the year. We urge the Internal Revenue Service to take all steps necessary to plan for changes that would be made by the legislation. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. Sincerely yours.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I rise in support of the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act. H.R. 4040. Like all products of compromise. it does not contain everything all of us would have liked. But it is a positive step forward in an area of public policy crying out for reform. and I am glad we are able to make this progress today. Given recent press reports about unsafe levels of lead in childrens toys. this legislation _appropriately establishes the toughest lead standard in the world when it comes to childrens products. Additionally. while not going as far as it ultimately should. H.R. 4040 subjects a much broader range of products to independent. thirdparty review. I am also pleased that the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act reverses the recent underfunding of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC. by increasing its authorization to $100 million by FY 2011including an additional $20 million to modemize the CPSCs testing lab. It is neither reasonable nor responsible to task an agency with a job as important as protecting the public health without providing the resources necessary to accomplish that task. Finally. this bill takes concrete steps to improve public notice of produdt recalls and. strengthen enforcement against bad actors in the consumer market. As we begin discussions aimed at finalizing this legislation with the Senate. I hope we will be able to make. additional -improvements to this bill by broadening the scope of mandatory product testing. enhancing families right to know. and including robust whistleblower protections for those courageous enough to Bring serious safety hazards to light. Madam Speaker. the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act is a good start. I look forward to working with my colleagues to achieve the strongest possible consumer protection legislation in the months ahead:
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: HERSETH SANDLIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman. the distinguished chairman. for yielding. Madam Speaker. throughout the year the House has made great strides and has made tough choices. beginning the difficult work of getting the Nations fiscal house in order. The Blue Dog Coalition has worked closely with our colleagues to draft fiscally responsible legislation that complied with PAYGO rules that the new majority put in place at the beginning of this Congress. rules the minority rejected for the past 6 years. I commend the Speaker and the majority leader for their firm commitment to fiscaldiscipline. Under their leadership and that of the Ways and Means. Committee. this House voted twice to provide AMT relief for 23 million families without burdening future generations with more debt. Madam Speaker. there can be no mistake as to why the House is faced today with effectively waiving PAYGO for AMT relief: the bad habits of my colleagues in the minority who would continue to use borrowed money .to provide the relief. thereby raising taxes in the form of interest payments. and the obstructionism and the lack of fiscal responsibility of the minority in the U.S. Senate. They would prefer to protect those who evade taxes even when the cost of that protection is to further mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren. For these reasons and others. I urge my colleagues to vote "no" on the Senate amendment on behalf of the children in our lives and the children in our districts.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. today I am voting against H.R. 3996. a bill adjusting the Alternative Minimum Tax. While the bill helps some middle class families. it does so at the expense of ex-. panding our national debt and burdening the next generation with the cost of paying for it. I voted for the original version of this bill that came before the House earlier this fall because it was fiscally responsible. It brought relief to middle class families in a budgetneutral way by closing tax loopholes for hedge fund managers and corporate CEOs who shieli their income offshore. Unfortunately. the Sen ate stripped out the provisions that would re place the revenue lost through this AMT ad justment. so I cannot in good conscience sup port it. The AMT was originally enacted to ensur( that high income taxpayers pay at least a min imum amount of federal taxes. It prevents indi viduals from taking unfair advantage of thE various preferences and incentives under thE regular income tax and reducing their incom tax liability below what we as a society con sider an appropriate tax contribution giver their wealth. The reckless tax policies ad. vanced by President Bush during the past E years further complicated the way the AMT ir. applied. As a result. it will affect around 2C million families next year. many of whom the AMT was not originally intended to reach. Reforming the AMT is warranted. and thats why I voted for this bill when it was paid for. Now we have a $50 billion giveaway thats not paid for. Instead. it will increase our national debt. a debt financed by China and other nations. And the next generation---our children and grandchildrenwill be stuck paying China back instead of investing in America. Thats wrong. I believe that we must adhere to the payasyougo rules that this House adopted at the beginning of the year. Just as a family has to balance its checkbook. the federal government must do the. same. A federal government that is not -fiscally sound cannot make the necessary investments we need in education. health care. housing. defense. homeland security. and other national priorities.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I rise to support the importance of patching the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) this year. Although it would have been. my strong preference to pay for the middle class tax relief we are providing today. I do not believe we should penalize 23 milliorm Americans for the Republican partys fiscal irresponsibility and intransigence. Throughout this debate. we have demonstrated that it is possible to provide important tax relief in a fiscally responsible manner. Unfortunately. the White House and an obstructionist minority in the other chamber have blocked these efforts. That obstruction is regrettable. But it must not be permitted to create an additional liability for millions of middle class Americans the AMT was never intended to burden. Madam Speaker. the hour is late. The need is clear. I urge my colleagues support.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to the Senate amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill for an unconditional $70 billion for the war in Iraq. This amendment gives the President a blank check to continue a flawed strategy that has no end in sight. It does nothing to bring home our brave men and women of the armed forces serving faithfully in Iraq. many of them on their third tour of duty in that country. at considerable sacrifice and strain to them and their families. Nor does this amendment place any conditions on the Iraqi government. which has continually failed to pursue political reconciliation. Our intelligence comtnunity has publicly concluded that the political situation Iraq is getting worse. not better. Moreover. the indefinite presence of American forces has sadly contributed to Iraqs political stagnation because it has allowed the different factions there to postpone making the difficult compromises necessary to achieve stability and reconciliation. Meanwhile. our men and women of the armed services continue to die every day in Iraqs ongoing civil war. A strategy of more of the same is no strategy at all. I have and will continue to vote to ensure that our troops in Iraq receive the support and equipment that they need. That is why in November I voted in support of the House measure to provide our troops in Iraq with an additional $50 billion. At the same time. this House legislation required the safe and responsible redeployment of our troops in Iraq. That legislation aimed to transition the U.S. military mission in Iraq. It would redeploy our combat forces out of Iraq by a target date of December 15. 2008. The House proposal. modeled after the approach recommended by the bipartisan BakerHamilton Commission of the Iraq Study Group. would focus the remaining forces on the more limited missions of training Iraqi security forces. providing logistical and intelligence support for Iraqi security forces. and engaging in targeted counterterrorist operations against AIQaeda and affiliated groups. The House bill also called for a "comprehensive diplomatic. political. and economic strategy that includes sustained engagement with Iraqs neighbors and the international community for the purpose of working collectively to bring stability to Iraq." Instead of supporting the sensible approach passed by the House. the Senate Republicans. taking their cue from the White House. threatened to filibuster it. Now these same political elements have collaborated in sending us an amendment for more war funding with no accountability and no.plan to redeploy our combat forces. This irresponsible approach will have the effect of prolonging the war. not bringing it to an end. While I am opposed to another blank check for war funding in Iraq. I support continued military operations and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan. Moreover. my opposition to the Senate amendment does not extend to the underlying Omnibus. whichwhile far. from perfectwas at the end of the day the best that we could do this year.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

represent. and I am sure Mr. RYAN has some need in his district. But the critical investment in infrastructure is something that had been ignored for so long in this country. We are dealing with it. We made the difficult decisions and passed the bill. and we overrode the Presidents veto on it. I do hear in my district frustration: Why arent you taking on the President and why dont you do more to overturn his decisions? Well. we have divided government. and under the Constitution. in many cases the President. the executive. has the upper hand. especially in foreign policy. He has vetoed a number of things. He has vetoed the childrens health bill twice. Unfortunately. we lack the votes by a small margin to override those vetoes. He vetoed some of our appropriations bills. Multiple vetoes that we have come close to overriding on. On the water resources bill. overwhelming bipartisan support to do the critical infrastructure investment that will prevent the flooding and that will prevent disasters in this country. I am proud of that accomplishment. That is something that hadnt been done.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. so much. Mr. MEEK and Mr. RYAN and Mr. ALTMIRE. Let me tell you something else that we are laying down our marker on. We are not going away. The obstructionist Republicans might think that they have our number and that they have been able to block the efforts of this Democratic majority in trying to move this country in a new direction. but they will be sadly mistaken as we gradually turn this ship of State around. It takes a.long time to turn a cruise ship around. something that is the size of this government. and it takes a long time to undo the horrendous damage that was done to this country during the 12 years of Republican majority in this Congress. We slowly have been peeling the film of the culture of corruption that hung over this Capitol before we took the majority back. 0i 1915 We have feverishly worked to move this country in a new direction to expand access to health care. to make sure that we put our domestic priorities on the front burner. Now. we might have done that within the Presidents number. and thats essentially not what we wanted to do. What we wanted to do is make sure we werent spending 10 times more in Iraq to continue this war than we were to increase the funding for health care and for education and for veterans health care funding. Thats why. within the Presidents overall budget number. we reordered our priorities. We made sure that instead of cutting NIH funding grants and cutting health care. that we increased funding for the NIH grants. We made sure that we provide access to health care instead of cutting it by $595 million. that we increased it so that we could expand access to health care to -more people. We made sure that instead of cutting veterans health care benefits we passed still the largest single increase in the history of the VA. a $3.7 billion increase. We have a Democratic stamp on this budget. We passed a budget that has our priorities. the American peoples priorities. and refocuses attention on the domestic needs that we have in this country. and we will be back after this recess and make sure that we are going to focus on the needs of the American people. Ill be happy to yield to my friend
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

If the gentleman would yield on the energy issue. specifically. were trying tQ make sure we expand our investment in alternative energy research. that we use renewable energy resources. that we make sure that we reduce the carbon footprint that we have here in America. that we really significantly impact the continuing global warming that we have. And do you know what our good friends on the other side of the aisle.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

So in the time that I have been involved in public service. which is over 15 years now. the mantra of our good friends on the other side of the aisle has always been that they are the party of less government. and that they are the party of fiscal responsibility. And in recent history. and in longterm history. my understanding is that its this President that built up more foreign debt than all 42 previous Presidents combined. and this President that took us from a $3 billion surplus to a $5 billion deficit. in his first term.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Excuse me. Trillion. Forgive me. Trillion dollars. And so who. the question that I have for you is. so which party is the party of fiscal responsibility? Which party can be trusted to make sure that we have a vibrant economy. that we create jobs. that we dont operate in a deficit situation and that we have PAYGO rules that ensure that we dont spend more money than we take in? Which one would that be?
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Okay. I wasnt quite certain because if you listen to the rhetoric on the other side of the aisle. they talk a good game. But when it comes to action. backing up the words with action. just like when the President stood in that rostrum a couple of years ago and laid out the notion that we should end Americas addiction to foreign oil. but then promptly pushed an energy bill through the then Republican Congress that gave away those $14 billion in subsidies to the oil industry that were now trying to repeal. That was just unbelievable. And I cant use certain words that I think should be applicable to that situation because it violates the House rules. so I wont. But I think we all know what the definition of saying something and doing another actually is.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

In my wrapup remarks. first of all. I want to thank each of you that are parts of the 30Something Working Group. and Mr. MURPHY. who headed home to his family this evening. for continuing to hang in here and coming out. We certainly could have disbanded the 30Something Working Group. Mr. RYAN. We could have said. you know. our work here is done. We won the majority and now we can just. you know. go make good policy and go home. But its clear that our work is far from done. We have a lot left to do on the agenda. We have to make sure that we deal with expanding access to health care. that we continue to push for the remaining provisions of the energy bill that we were not able to get included. We have to make sure that we focus on bringing our troops home. And people need to understand that werg not. were going to be relentless in continuing to try to make sure we do that. People should understand that the vote tonight did not pass with. the vote on the funding for the war in Iraq did not pass with a majority of Democratic votes. It passed with a majority of the Republican votes. This is this Presidents war and this is the Republicans war. and it will continue to be their war. They are the ones that are leaving our troops twisting in the wind with their families being separated from them with repeated. overthetop tours of duty. three and four times over there. having more than a year. less than a year between tours of duty. Weve got to make sure that we think about our troops and focus on the fact that it is clear now. even with the reduction in violence. Mr. RYAN. that the Iraqi leadership has made no progress. And theyve made no progress because they dont need to because they know right now with the message that this President is sending that were going to be there as long as they need us. Theres no pressure. no incentive. and we need the American people to understand that we will continue to come out here. we will continue to talk about the priorities that they care about. And now that were in the majority were going to continue to press to adopt those priorities and shame the Republicans on the other side of the aisle every single day until we get dangerously close to this election and we put some fear in their hearts so that they dont continue to stick with this President who is completely wrong on the priorities that the American people care about.
Date: 2007-12-19
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Before you close out. I dont know if you guys did this last night. but we do need to congratulate in absentia Mr. MURPHY on his marriage. because he got married a couple of months ago and. you know. he is going to look forward. to spending some quality time with his new bride. and so we wish him and his new wife very well.
Date: 2008-01-15
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Dr. Kings legacy and recognize the innumerous Americans who continue along the path he paved towards justice and liberty for all citizens. It is rare that one person can change the fate of our Nation. however Dr. King was able to do just that. Dr. King relied on his relationship with God and his faith in justice to articulate his vision for America in a way that touched the hearts and minds of the American public. Dr. King called on all of us to no longer stand alone in silence. but to stand up together as a voice against injustice. He inspired us to fight for change through nonviolent means. and paved the road for us to continue that fight even after his death. Few people would sacrifice time and energy for loved ones. fewer for strangers. yet Dr. King humbled himself to do just that. He ultimately sacrificed his life and his family sacrificed their patriarch for the struggle towards political justice for all Americans. Today we pay homage for their selflessness and publicly thank them for their commitments to humanity. Dr. King left us with the challenge to courageously fight and secure the civil rights for all. from the impoverished and disenfranchised underclass to the politically and economically endowed. Although his challenge was issued 40 years ago. we still have not fully realized his noble request. Todays Martin Luther King Day is as much about the past as it is about the future. Dr. Kings dream is truly timeless. and I hope that our next generation will find inspiration in his faith and vision.
Date: 2008-01-16
Speaker: A CKERMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 912) condemning the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and reaffirming the commitment of the United States to assist the people of Pakistan in combating terrorist activity and promoting a free and democratic Pakistan.
Date: 2008-01-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2768.