macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-07-28
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5. the Medical Malpractice bill. H.R. 5 may have been conceived with good intentions. but it is a bad bill. It is a particularly bad bill for low income Americans. If a patient is injured by a caregiver due to medical malpractice. and that patient sues. it should be up to a judge or a jurynot the U.S. Congress. to decide how much compensation should be awarded. Injured patients who dont get their fair compensation will suffer. They will suffer in two ways. First of all. its hard to put a blanket price on damages resulting in life or limb. Secondly. if the compersation is not sufficient. what will happen to the disabled patient when the money runs out? Who. then. will pay for their longterm care. or for the children of someone permanently disabled or even killed? Ill tell you who will pay for them: the American taxpayer. Those children and disabled people will enroll in federal programs to help them exist day by day. American taxpayers pay for those programs. Mr. Speaker. this bill wont do anything to. lower the cost of health care. This legislation is good intentions that will have bad consequences. I ask my colleagues to consider very carefully who will end up paying at the end of the day. The American taxpayersyou and I. not the care providersat faultwill end up paying for the damages incurred from medical malpractice.
Date: 2005-07-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this conference report to provide funding for the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2006. Despite a tight allocation. the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Interior subcommittee performed an admirable task in providing the necessary funding for the continued management of federal lands and the operation of our countrys environmental programs. I was disappointed to learn. however. that the bill does not provide much needed funding for a project I requested for the City of Houston and the University of Texas. Houston to conduct a risk assessment of air toxics in the Greater Houston area. The Houston Chronicle recently completed a fivepart series titled "In Harms Way" that investigated air toxics in the "fenceline" communities near industrial facilities in Houstons East End. In particular. the series noted that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found that folks residing in some of these neighborhoods experience higher levels of potentially carcinogenic compounds than other areas. For many years. residents have had concerns and questions about the quality of the air in Houstons East End. the potential relationshp to local industry. and the potential health effects on their families. The City of Houston. partnering with the University of Texas School of Public Health. is already working to characterize the science and weigh the evidence on health effects. Federal funding would allow us to broaden the scope of these efforts to ensure that we include the full range of risk assessment activities in our effort to improve the air in Houston: While I. remain disappointed that the Appropriations Committee did not include a lineitem appropriation for this project. I am pleased that my colleague from Washington. the Interior Subcommittee Ranking Member. recognized the need for this air toxics assessment and has agreed to work with me to encourage the EPA to include this assessment as part of its fiscal year 2006 operations. I thank my friend. Mr. DICKS. for his willingness to work with me on this effort. The folks in these fenceline communitiesmy constituentsare often the workers who produce many of the essential energy and petrochemical products we all use everyday. and they deserve accurate information about their environment. With that. Mr. Speaker. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
Date: 2005-07-29
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I want to commend the Chair and ranking member for their efforts. and the subcommittee chair and the subcommittee ranking member. We are so delighted to come to this point. .and I know that our ranking member of the full committee is probably so worn out he cannot get here today. But I would like to commend all of that leadership for the diligence. the good works. and the good attitude. the inclusiveness. and the long overdue legislation as a result for the American people. And. foremost. the staff. I want to associate myself with the previous speakers recognizing and complimenting the staff because we could not have done it without them. I thank the Senate for their quick action. I just watched the Senator get up and talk about how important it was not to hold up the bill. But today we in the House of Representatives send a clear message to the American people that investment in Americas transportation system is a top priority. This H7574 Co bill will help to create new. goodpaying jobs. promote economic development. address congestion. air quality and highway safety problems. Since 2003 the Nation has anxiously awaited a transportation reauthorization bill. and rightly so. Eaeh year the American people waste 3.7 billion hours in traffic gridlock. 2.3 billion gallons of fuel. to a total cost of $63 billion. We need to address these issues. In addition to this congestion cost. the everdeteriorating infrastructure of this country desperately needs attention. Late last year. the Texas Section of the Civil Engineers released a 2004 report card in which the States infrastructure received a dismal cumulative assessment of below average. An everincreasing population is placing enormous strain on highway capacity. The Texas Transportation Commission can fund less than 40percent of the worthy road and highway projects. 12.000 of the States 48.000 bridges are structural deficient. and deteriorating air quality poses an even greater risk to the health of residents. particularly seniors and children. In closing. I am delighted the product before us is finally one step away from bringing the muchneeded funding certainty to our States and communities that have sought them since the expiration of TEA 21. While I regret the investment level falls short of the Transportation Departments $375 billion estimate that they advocated. our committee responded that this investment level represents a good step in the direction of the Nations transportation needs.
Date: 2005-07-29
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Reclaiming my time. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his comments. and. as I take my seat. I want to once again thank the chairman and the. ranking member for their leadership.
Date: 2005-07-29
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I would like to submit this letter from the President of the Maryland Washington Minority Contractors Association detailing the discrimination that his members continue to face in transportation contracting.
Date: 2005-09-02
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation to provide $10 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for the relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Without question. this appropriations bill is only an early estimate of the funding needs along the Gulf Coast and will most likely be only the first installment of federal funds dedicated to this devastated region. As Houstonians learned in June 2001 during Tropical Storm Allison. it takes quite a while to accurately assess the damage and determine just how much is needed to repair that damage after a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina. We remember all too well the flooding and destruction that Houstonians endured during Tropical Storm Allison. The memory of our pain and frustration during that time puts Houston in a unique position to empathize with and help our neighbors in Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama. Houstonians are selflessly rising to the occasion and helping hurricane victims in need. Our hospitals within the Texas Medical Center are using their resources to evacuate the critically ill in Louisianas hospitals and have done an admirable job of reuniting evacuated patients with their families. The goodhearted members of our community are coming out in droves to volunteer. to help in any way they can. And our schools are opening their doors to the children of Hurricane Katrina. so that the devastating events of the past week will not thwart their education and the bright future that lies ahead of them. As we applaud the overwhelming generosity of the people of the Houston areaas well as communities all across the country who are coming together to provide muchneeded help--it is critical to remember that the responsibility for relief ultimately lies with the federal government. There is no question that the federal government was unprepared for the kind of devastation -that has ravaged Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama. As we support the local governments who have. without hesitation. stepped in and played a tremendous role in the relief effort.-we must ensure that the generosity of these communities is met with a federal commitment to reimburse them for the expenses theyve incurred as good Samaritans. Across our country. American hearts ache as we witness the extreme suffering of our fellow Americans in Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama. I am proud to support this $10 billion disaster relief bill. which will be the first step in helping our brothers and sisters to rebuild their lives. Yet as we sympathize with their plight. it is impossible to deny that a majority of Katrinas victims fell through the cracks of our countrys safety net long before the hurricane hit land. The faces of Hurricane Katrina will long be branded in our memory. Let us not forget those faces as we address future issues facing our countrys safety neta safety net that we know all too well can mean life or death for the disadvantaged in our country.
Date: 2005-09-06
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my support for the people affected and harmed by Hurricane Katrina and to pledge my total support for their aid and recovery. There is so much to be done to help the people on the ground. and there is so much to do in Washington to scrutinize and improve Federal policy regarding disaster prevention -and response. and we must undertake that review and those efforts. But I am also deeply frustrated and angry by the Bush administrations failed response to this tragedy and its failure to take responsibility for its own mistakes. According to the New York Times. the administration. led by Karl Rove. has begun a political damage control operation to blame the local officials in Louisiana. the Governor and the Mayor of the City of New Orleans. for the Federal Governments failures. No one can undo the damage that has been done. and I wish we could. We should be putting our efforts into helping these people and repairing that damage. I wish the administration would have put as much energy into an early and timely response. an effective response to Hurricane Katrina. as the energy they are putting in now to developing a political strategy to undermine the local officials who have suffered so much in their own communities.
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support H.R. 3169. the Fell Grant Hurricane and Disaster Relief Act recognizing the state of emergency that the country is in in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless with hundreds. maybe even thousands. dead. Nbarly 100.000 college students have been displaced in some 30 colleges in the gulf coast region that have been severely damaged by the hurricane. In addition. countless more student borrowers have been left without jobs. without any income. and yet must Stptember 7. 2005 repay their college loans. I support this legislation because it is the right thing to do. and I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for introducing this legislation and responding in this manner so quickly. It authorizes. as the gentleman said. the Secretary -of Education to waive the requirement for students to repay their Pell grants if they withdraw from college due to a disaster. The Secretary can use this authority to ensure that the Pell grant recipients affected by Hurricane Katrina are not punished financially as a result of this national emergency. While this is a necessary and appropriate step. we also must recognize that Congress should be doing more to provide relief for these 100.000 students. I say that not as a point in contention. I say that as part of the dialogue that we have been having between the two sides of the aisle on this committee as we start to assess the situation that these students find themselves in. There is great urgency to this bill for these Pell grant recipients so they can quickly calculate the situation that they are going to be in and the question of how they continue their education in another location. But I would hope that we would go further quickly. because this only deals with the recipients of Pell grants. and yet we know that we have hundreds of thousands of students that have student loans and student campusbased loans available to them. all of which have been thrown into question. Today. the gentleman from Michigan
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan . the ranking member on the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness. "
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. I just want to thank the gentleman from Florida for introducing this legislation. for bringing it to the floor. and I hope that we can get the Senate to give its timely attention. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Mississippi. I would like to extend my sympathies to all of the persons who have suffered. Mr. Speaker. I am not asking for help for the survivors because they are black. of the black race. I am not asking that they be helped because some of them are of the white race. I am asking for help because they are all of the human race. and that is the race that counts. I believe. Mr. Speaker. that we must do something that is critical: We must not continue to call them refugees. Because. Mr. Speaker. these are taxpaying Americans. They have earned the right to be called American citizens who are in need of our- help. So I beg today that we extend the hand of friendship and that this Congress spend whatever is necessary to restore their lives.
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I want to just highlight that this is not an isolated incident. It would be easy to say that FEMA was just overwhelmed and could not possibly have been expected to be prepared for a storm the size of Katrina since this administration changed the rules of the game when it comes to FEMA. FEMA used to be an independent agency prior to the Bush administration and prior to its being absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11. FEMA was an independent agency with adirector and a $taff that had expertise in disaster preparedness.. I want to just highlight for my colleagues prior to Hurricane Katrina some of the instances of irresponsibility on FEMAs part under Secretary Browns leadership. In 2004 Florida officials recorded 123 fatalities from last years hurricanes. We had four hurricanes that hit Florida last year. FEMA pays expenses for 315 deaths. 123 fatalities documented from last years storms. FEMA pays expenses for 315 deaths. There is something wrong with that. In 2004 FEMA reimbursed over 5.000 people $9.3 million for rental assistance when a followup study showed that. most residents never left their homes. In 2004 FEMA reimbursed people for 11piece bedroom sets when they just owned a bed. In 2005 HurricaneKatrina strikes Florida damaging over 200 homes. FEMA has declined to pay individual assistance to those homeowners. And I stood in the yard of an 86yearold woman on Monday who lives in my district who was in tears. whose hearing was so poor she could barely hear what I was saying to her. Her home had no roof. Her neighbors home across the street was basically crumpled in his. yard. and around the corner was the same type of home with the roof ripped off and lying on the front lawn. FEMA has decided that there is an 800home standard for destruction or damage before they Will pay individual homeowners reimbursement for their damage. Let me just show my colleagues the type of damage that FEMA says people are not eligible for assistance. This is what FEMA will not pay for. After Hurricane Katrina. as a Category 1 storm. struck Florida last week. this is the damage that they say these people do not deserve reimbursement for because we did not have 800 homes suffer this kind of damage.
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

FEMA is saying that the standard they are. using in 2005. and as I have outlined for my colleagues. which they had no such standard in 2004. coincidentally in a Presidential year. they are saying that because Florida did not reach the threshold of 800 homes that were damaged that our homeowners who have damage are not eligible for individual assistance. meaning they cannot get. reimbursed by the government. by FEMA. for the damage. Now. I will not claim by any stretch of the imagination that Floridians suffered the same type of strife and damage that people in the gulf States did from Katrina. but I will argue that hurricanes know no boundaries. Hurricanes do not respect State boundaries. Katrina did not know the border of Florida and Alabama and on westward. The impact on a homeowner in Florida is the same as it is on the homeowner who suffered the same kind of damage in a gulf State. This is what FEMA is denying. It is disgusting. And it is just not going to stop. We have got to get the word out to people. Mr. Speaker. that there are places that they ran turn to for help. but clearly FEMA was not one of them.
Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. to piggyback on what the gentleman from Florida said about tax cuts. I mean it is just mindboggling that yet again. their answer. their solution for everything is more tax cuts. I mean. I would not believe it unless I had it in print in front of me. but Treasury Secretary Snow said just the other day. today is September 7. he said yesterday at a press statement. this is in response to what we should do about Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. He said. "Making the tax cuts permanent would be a real plus in a situation like this. because people would know they had going forward the advantage of lower tax rates." Snow said. "And when people know they have lower tax rates locked in going forward. it affects their behaviors. It makes them more confident of the future." Now. let us talk more about FEMAs failure. because that is really what it boils down to at the end of the day. because we need FEMA to be there. we need FEMA to generate confidence in Americans. Mr. Speaker. the Republicans. and I am going to use the word "Republican." but the Republicans ran last year on being the party that would be the best choice to protect people. They were the security party. That is supposedly the thing that tipped the scales. Well. it is not just an issue of security in a terrorist crisis. which all of this resulting from Hurricane Katrina calls into question now. about whether they really are the party. They are clearly not the party of crisis.
Date: 2005-09-13
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texa

Madam Speaker. as a former psychiatric nurse. I rise to express concern for the mental health needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The State of Texas reported last week that 9.2 percent of the Katrina evacuees in Texas need mental health assistance. Approximately 5 percent have serious mental illness. At least 11 percent of the children suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. La~t week. I introduced H.R. 3708. the Hurricane Katrina Mental Health Relief Act. This bill would dedicate 10 percent of the disaster relief funds for mental health services to victims and first responders. It is supported by the National Mental Health Association. the National Alliance of Mental Health. American Psychological Association. American Public Health Association. American Psychiatric Nurses Association. American Association of Social Workers. the National Council for Community Behavioral Health Care. and the Mental Health. Care Association of Dallas. I invite my colleagues to join me. in supporting this legislation.
Date: 2005-09-13
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. it is a pleasure to be here with my colleague once again and an honor to serve with him. Ijust have to commend the gentleman. I saw him when I was watching my TV coming off the plane yesterday. the gentlemans trip to tour the devastated areas and. particularly Hancock County. which I think the gentleman particularly went to with his Committee on Homeland Security colleagues to highlight that it was not just New Orleans. it was not just the ground zero area of New Orleans. Ground Zero was actually Hancock County. and the communities there that essentially. it appears. have been forgotten. or at least neglected because they are smaller and the focus does not appear to be on them. So I was so proud of the gentleman to see him doing that. Once again. the gentleman is stepping up for people who need him. This is not. we are not here for a love fest. but it did my heart some good to know that colleagues of mine were going where their help was needed.