macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-03-28
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership. along with Congressmen GRIJALVA and ELLISON. I rise to support the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget. I announce today that the Republican budget. according to the Economic Policy Institute. is a job killer1.3 million jobs will be lost in 2013. 2.8 million jobs will be lost in 2014. and 4.1 million jobs will be lost in 2015. It will also. in essence. defund the Affordable Care Act. which will eliminate access to health care for many women dealing with reproductive health. dealing with essential health benefits. and also coverage of family planning services. It will cut $1.7 trillion from Medicaid. But the Budget for All will provide a direct opportunity for the School Improvement Corps. the Park Improvement Corps. and Student Job Corps. creating jobs. It will save TRICARE and personnel. The CBC budget doesnt impact personnel. wages and benefits and pensions for our soldiers. but it ends the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and saves money in doing so. It extends the earned income tax credit and the child and dependent care credit. It responsibly and expeditiously ends all of our military presence. but. more importantly. it creates an atmosphere for economic improvement and development by providing jobs to our young people. stopping the taking away of the lifeline of Medicaid. Support the Budget for All. Support the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise to say thank you to the many persons who supported the Homes for Heroes Act that passed the day before yesterday. This is an important piece of legislation that will place a person in HUD whose sole responsibility it is to monitor homelessness among our veterans. We believe that in solving the homelessness problem. we can also solve a lot of other problems that they have. I would like to thank all of the persons on the committee. especially my chairman of the committee. Mr. BACHus. my ranking member. Mr. FRANK.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman very much. Mr. Speaker. unemployment is going down. but there are people still unemployed. Right now we have a Senate bill on transportation. and many dont understand what that means. There is a wide gamut of highways and mass transit and infrastructure ready to be signed by the President of the United States so that millions of Americans can go to work. and this body wont allow us to vote for a bill that has already passed the Senate. Higher funding levels to be able to build. build. build. More jobs. 1.9 million annualized. Buy America. do I love it. Buy America. making sure that we buy the products right here in America so that not only are we building with American workers but are also supplied by them. Providing guaranteed transit funding for all of America. The crumbling transit infrastructure. were providing for it. And in Houston. Texas. we need those moneys. and we need the operational moneys. So heres my point: Unemployment is going down. The President is moving forward on employing and empowering Americans. And they wont put the Senate bill. the bipartisan bill. on the floor. Today we need to vote for the jobs here in America. I ask for a "no" vote on the rule.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. on rollcall No. 146 for H.R. 4281. I was detained because of meeting with constituents to allow the Senate Transportation bill to come to the Floor to save jobs and support new construction for transportation and infrastructure. Had I been present. I would have voted "nay."
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Americans all over the country know that our economy is improving. that the unemployment number is coming down. that people are finding jobs. that small businesses are doing better. but its a very fragile recovery. That infrastructure bill that is waiting in the Senate. which was passed 7422. is key to continuing the economic growth in this country for businesses. for families. and for people seeking jobs who have been laid off for a very long time. But now what we see here today is a conscious decision. Rather than give the Obama administration and President Obama any help with the continuing growth in the economy. which these jobs would mean if we had a longterm extension of the highway bill for all across America. theyve decided that theyll do a shortterm extension. This is a party that has complained about uncertainty in the economy. about uncertainty in the business communitywith a 90day extension. Cities. counties. and State governments are going to have to rethink what they contract forwith a 90day extension. There are those in the leadership who have already said. And then well need another 90 days. This construction season will be gone for equipment manufacturers. for engineers. for construction workers. all across the country in our local communities. who are in desperate need of infrastructure improvement. But theyve made a decision that theyre going to fight President Obama with the jobs that belong to middle class Americans all across the countryjobs that people need today to feed their families. Theyve made a decision: inject uncertainty. Those contracts and those jobs wont be met. and that will somehow be a victory for the Republicans in the House. but it will be a disaster for American families. for American workers. and for American businesses. This kind of coldblooded. political calculation to use the jobs of the American working people as political cannon fodder for your agenda in order to defeat the Obama administration is outrageous.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

It should be rejected by your party. and it should be rejected by my party because. when you put American peoples lives and their wellbeing and their family incomes and the economic growth in our communities on the line for this kind of partisanship. you should stop it. You should stop it.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. you should stop banging the gavel. because this is a critical issue for the American people. for their families. for their livelihoods.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today to oppose H.R. 4281. the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012. I am opposing this measure because it is merely a 3month extension. as opposed to a longterm reauthorization. States and municipalities need time to adequately plan their transportation projects. and these piecemeal extensions will not offer the certainty needed to see these projects through. It has been more than a month since House Republicans reported their seriously flawed bill. and they do not have the votes to pass it. I have served on the Transportation Committee for 20 years. and up until now. the committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion to produce a sound and commonsense transportation policy. Instead of voting on another extension. we should be considering the bipartisan Senate transportation bill. While I would prefer a longer reauthorization. the 2year bipartisan Senate bill will provide the kind of investment in infrastructure and job creation that is desperately needed.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Yesterday we debated the Republican budget plan. Today. we have a plan thats more of the same. except on steroids. As we debated yesterday. the question is not whether we should reduce the deficit or whether we should reduce the debt. Of course we should. The question is how we do it. And we should do it in a way that doesnt damage the ongoing economic recovery. which this proposal does. We should do it in a way that is balanced. meaning we have shared responsibility. The Democratic alternative that well debate shortly has that balance. We make difficult spending cuts but we also cut a lot of the loopholes and special breaks in the Tax Code because if you dont do any of that to reduce the deficit. it means youve got to reduce the deficit at the expense of everyone and everything else. And that. unfortunately. is what this budget does as well. It ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors. It slashes Medicaid very deeply. cutting the program by more than a third by the year 2022. where twothirds of the funding for that program goes to seniors in nursing homes and disabled individuals. It cuts deeply into education funding. both for prekindergarten/preschool as well as college. It cuts deeply into those important investments. including transportation. which we were debating earlier today. In fact. their transportation proposal would cut transportation spending next year by 46 percent. even though we have 17 percent unemployment in the construction industry. So this budget. like the one yesterday. makes the wrong choices for America. We can reduce our deficits and debt. Lets just do it in a balanced way with shared responsibility. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Nevada .
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. the reason the Republican budget and this budget do things like end the Medicare guarantee. do things like cut deeply into education for our kids future. do things like cut Medicaid by over $800 billion over 10 years. is because theyre not asking the very wealthy to share more responsibility in reducing the deficit. In fact. they double down on tax cuts. If you see from this chart from the Nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute. simply by locking in the portion of the Bush tax cuts that benefit the wealthy. millionaires. on averagepeople making over a million dollars a yearswill get $129.000. Then you heard talk about how theyre going to drop the top rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. That would give people earning a million dollars over $265.000. On top of that. they say theyre going to do that in a deficitneutral manner. Well. to do that. youve got to make up $4.6 trillion in revenue loss. Theyre going to do it by getting rid of all those deductions. One of the biggest ones is the mortgage interest deduction that helps middleincome people. So the net result of what theyre saying is more tax cuts for the folks at the very top financed by increasing the tax burden on middleincome Americans and financed by cutting important investments that help grow our economy. With that. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia .
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. well talk more later about the Democratic alternative and how we address the deficit in a serious and credible way without doing it in a manner that provides a windfall tax break to folks at the top at the expense of everybody else. For now. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey. a member of the Budget Committee. Mr. PASCRELL.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from New Jersey has 1 minute remaining.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. one thing I hope we can all agree on is that we need to protect our children and grandchildren and future generations. The question is not whether we need to do that. Of course we do. The issue is how. I keep hearing my colleagues come forward and passionately talk about that. but theyre absolutely unwilling to take the balanced approach that has been recommended by bipartisan groups. Everyone thats looked at this challenge says weve got to take a combination of tough spending cuts. but we also need some revenue from closing tax loopholes and asking folks at the very top to go back to what they were paying during the Clinton administrationby the way. the last time that we had a balanced budget. And yet. despite all that talk. they dont want us to close one loophole. In fact. almost every Republican in this House has signed this pledge to Grover Norquist saying they wont cut one tax loophole for the purpose of deficit reduction. that they wont ask folks making $1 million to contribute any more to deficit reduction. In fact. they propose to give them another windfall tax cut. Thats the choice they make. and because of that choice. they cut our investment in education for our kids. They cut investments that will strengthen our economy. help build our infrastructure so we can outcompete and outbuild and outeducate the rest of the world. Thats what we need to do for the future of our children. I urge everybody to vote against this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. All time for debate has expired. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New Jersey .
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Were here at a very important time for our country. As a result of extraordinary actions that have been taken over the last 4 years. and thanks to the tenacity of the American people and small businesses. we have begun to climb out of a big economic hole. If you look at this chart right here. youll see where we were back in January 2009. the first month President Obama was sworn in and took office. At that time. the economy was in total free fall. As a result of actions that were taken. weve begun to climb out of that hole and now weve had 24 monthsconsecutive monthsof positive private sector job growth. creating about 4 million jobs in the economy. We need to keep that job growth going. and thats what the Democratic alternative does. It builds on the Presidents proposals. In here. we have the Presidents jobs plana plan which has been sitting in front of this body since he introduced it back in September. We took some action on the payroll tax cut. That was good. But the President has also called for a major infrastructure investment to modernize our roads and our bridges. We fund that plan. as opposed to the Republican budget which. as weve heard. slashes transportationin fact. next year by 46 percent in spendingand which independent analysts have said will cost the economy 1.3 million jobs in 2013 and 2.8 million jobs in 2014. That is not the direction we should be going. We need to nurture the fragile economy. We need to deal with our budget deficits in a credible way. which this does. It takes us from deficits over 81/2 percent of GDP down to under 3 percent of GDP by 2015. and sustains them. And we do it in a balanced way by asking for shared responsibility. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York .
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I have great respect for the Speaker. I would just suggest that he may call it a tough choice to provide and lock in another round of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while cutting Medicaid by $800 billion. a full onethird. by the year 2022. Twothirds of that money goes to seniors in nursing homes and disabled individuals. I dont know if its a tough choice. Its certainly the wrong choice. And thats what this debate is all about. Its not about whether we reduce our deficits. but how. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Mr. LARSON.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I do think the focus should be on our children and on the future. and thats why our budget does not do some of the things the Republican budget does do. which is. for example. say that kids who have preexisting conditions. whether its diabetes or asthma. get insurance. We make sure that those kids cant be excluded because of preexisting conditions. They dont. We make sure that the interest rates on student loans dont double this July. as their budget would allow. because we think its important that those students have an opportunity to get the education to get ahead and succeed. So I hope we will continue to focus on that question as we debate the choices that are being made in this budget. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky. a member of the Budget Committee. Mr. YARMUTH.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Im glad the gentlelady brought up the issue of health care and how these budgets impact health care. She described their proposal as giving seniors a choice. Its interesting that they would give seniors on Medicare a choice that they dont want themselves to have. that they give Members of Congress a much better deal in health care than they would give to seniors on Medicare. Heres what their budget would do in ending the Medicare guarantee. This blue line shows the current level of support Medicare beneficiaries get from the Medicare program. up around 90 percent. That green line right there. thats the level of support Members of Congress get from the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. You can see its steady. as costs go up. the support goes up proportionally. The Republican plan. that red line. is the one for seniors. That takes support steadily down relative to rising health care costs so that seniors would have to eat those rising health care costs. They bear the risk. That is a bad plan for American seniors. Its a bad plan for America. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts. who has focused a lot on these issues as a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would just remind my colleagues that at the end of the 8 years of the Bush administration. after the tax cuts. which helped create the deficits. we ended up losing over 600.000 private sector jobs. Thats the result of trickledown economics. The last thing we want to do is go back to those policies. The Republican budget takes us back to our policies. We invest in jobs. With that. I yield 1 minute to the distinguished Democratic leader. whos been focused on jobs. Ms. PELOSI.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Yes. I would. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Again. our Democratic alternative invests in the Presidents jobs proposal. a proposal that has been sitting here in the House of Representatives since September. We reduced the deficit in a balanced and fair way. We make choices not to provide another tax break to the wealthiest but to say we need the combination of cuts and revenue. just like bipartisan commissions have done. I urge adoption of the amendment.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I want to start by thanking all the members of the Budget Committee. Republicans and Democrats alike. We had a very good debate in the Budget Committee. We had a good debate here on the floor. And I want to thank all our colleagues. We obviously have deep differences. but I think everybody conducted this debate in a civil manner. I also want to thank the chairman for the way he conducted the proceedings in the committee. And to all the staff. Republican and Democratic staff. I want to thank our team. headed by Tom Kahn. Many of them are here on the floor. As I think everybody knows. theyve spent many. many. many late nights working on this budget. So I salute all of them as well as the folks over at the Congressional Budget Office. We obviously think that this budget proposed by our Republican colleagues is the wrong choice for America. I now yield 3 minutes to the distinguished Democratic whip. my friend. our colleague from the State of Maryland .
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

If I could ask how much time remains? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 41/2 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Wisconsin has 51/2 minutes remaining.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today on a matter of great urgency for Americas students and their families. In just 3 months. if Congress does not act. millions of Americans will be thrown deeper into debt. Thats because on July 1 the interest rates on needbased student loans will double. from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. This interestrate hike will hit 7 million Americans who are already in financial need. With rates at historic lows. for the Congress to let these interest rates double is highway robbery. Congress should not require students and families who can least afford it to pay twice as much in interest on the same loans they got a year before at lower rates. Congress should help make college more affordable. not more expensive. Congress should help families to get out from under the crushing debt. not pile on more. Tens of thousands of students have asked Congress to act. but their pleas to help have been met with silence from the Republicans in Congress. Silence. Silence is not what they need. Action is what they need. Only Congress can set the rates for these student loans. The clock is ticking. Applications are being made to college. and the time to act is now. Congress should not let the interest student rate loans go up. Congress should not let the interest rates double on these families and these students.
Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. just last week. I had the privilege of coordinating and working with other Members of Congress to hold a briefing with Judiciary Committee members to discuss the jurisdiction of the hate crimes. We were privileged at that time. in the midst of their mourning. to have there the parents of Trayvon Martin. I had the further privilege. though not wanted. to be in Sanford. Florida. before their city commission in order to discuss the absolute dereliction of duty that occurred in this terrible tragedy. Now. many have raised the question of race. Let me be very clear: the race question comes into factor only because of jurisdictional Federal laws with which they are now investigating this case. but this is a case for every American and every parent. As our Speaker did. it is a case to which everyone can ask the simple question. The State and Federal jurisdictions are looking at this. and they should review it. For those of us who believe that the perpetrator should be arrested. we maintain that. He should have been arrested and should be arrested. but this is a question for every parent: When you send your children out to get Skittles and a tea. whether they should come back alive or whether you should have to find them in a morgue. I remain persistent on finding justice for Trayvon but also justice for all of the other young people and others who have been victims of crimes like this. with guns. where people have used their language of suspiciousness and where all they were doing is walking on the streets of America.