macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank Mr. RYAN and Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker. I am really pleased to be here with my colleagues from the 30Something Working Group once again. Just to jump off what our good friend Mr. MURPHY was talking about. we are in the midst of the "New Direction Congress." Mr. RYAN. Mr. MEEK and I spent the last several years on this floor railing about the "culture of cor-" ruption." railing against our good friends on the other side of the aisle. whose only interest when they spoke about tax cuts was providing those tax cuts to the wealthiest few in this country. Now. what is amazing about our ability to move this country in a new direction is that we can really focus on those targeted tax cuts that will help the average working family. the regular folks. the people who dont have the ability to just kick back. put their feet up on the desk and live on Easy Street day in and day out. We are talking about people who live paycheck to paycheck. Not poor people who live pay~heck to paycheck. but people in middle America. who make sure that all their bills are paid. just like we are trying to do here with our PAYGO provision. but make sure all their bills are paid. But it takes every dollar they have to do it. Then you add to their budget the increased price of gas. which increases the price of food. which impacts every-. thing that -regular. everyday working families have to deal with. And we hit them under the Republicanled Congress with an Alternative Minimum Tax. that was never supposed to be directed at them. but ultimately scooped up so many of those hardworking taxpayers. And you know we distened to the garbage rhetoric that is so tired on the other side.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I am glad the gentleman jumped in. It is like either they have a tape recorder that is stuck on rewind. or maybe we are trapped in "Groundhog Day" and we dont know it. or maybe they are just tired. We used to be in meetings. and I have sat in many meetings where I have had
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. they also talked about earmark reform. They were railing on and on about earmark reform. Who brought- earmark reform to Congress? We did. Who brought about the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. hopelessly mired in a chaotic conflict in another country? If you rewind back to preNovember 7. what was their. cute. pithy. succinct little saying? Stay the course. We cant pull out. We cant cut and run. Who is scrambling to make sure they can protect their own political hides now and be supportive of making sure that we can withdraw. but in a responsible fashion? Well. it is they that spend plenty of time ..talking about that. We are the ones that are bringing about the beginning of the end of this war by putting those votes up on that board and bringing those bills to this floor that they refused to yield on.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. when we bring an energy package the week before we leave for the July 4 recess that .really begins to make sure that we end our addiction to foreign oil. they will know it was the Democrats. When we make sure we bring about an end to this war in Iraq. they will know it was the Democrats. And they will say repeatedly. "they" being the smart American citizens. American voters. they will say to our good friends on the other side of the aisle exactly what they said to them on November 7. after listening over and over to the same tired slogans. "Talk to the hand. We dont want to hear it anymore. We see through your garbage. And we are voting to make sure we can move this country in a new direction."
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

You stand here and scratch your head and wonder how it is they could allow it to get to this point. There is no logical. rational explanation. The only thing I could come up with is. A. they think that we were going to squeeze- and we are dealing with Monopoly money squeeze the people who have the least here and it is not real money and it is in this society. and that is the hosnotreal debt. or. B. it is not really my pitals that care for the sick and.the unpersonal debt. so it doesnt affect my insured. it is the families that have the personal bottom line. so it doesnt mat- courage to send their loved ones off to ter. or. C. which is the worst. they just war. it is middleclass families who didnt care. cant afford to pay another dime. Those It just didnt matter. Their rhetoric are the people that are going to get was of the utmost importance to them. soaked in order to fund these giant tax Making sure they could continue to cuts for the people.� pass tax cuts that benefited the Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. the people who need to be able tomorrow debt be damned. the deficit be damned. pay for their gas in their car and who none of that mattered to them. as long are running businesses who need to pay as they could keep their contributors for the vehicles their employees are ophappy. erating so they can make sure they can.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Could I ask you a question. Mr. RYAN? We are both on the Appropriations Committee and the committee is working very hard in a bipartisan way. I might add. to produce a product that we can really have the American people be proud of. Is the President talking about signing this bill into law?
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

You know. Mr. MURPHY. what you and Mr. RYAN just outlined is what Speaker PELOSI always talks about when we are in our Caucus meetings and when I have heard her talk about the direction that she is helping us lead this country. and that is the budget. and by extension the appropriations bills. are an expression of our values.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

No. but you do have t o be listening. It is very easy tQ stand as a Member of Congress in front of a group of people. have a town hall meeting. be in a room sitting on your couch in your office. and you are there but you are not listening.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

These are bills. because it is plural. that truly think about what the needs are of the average person. the person that we have been talking about for this whole hour that has a paycheck come in and has to figure out how they are going to pay all the bills with the money that comes in. -The help that we need to give them to do is to make sure not that we put money in their pocket. because like you said. Mr. RYAN. government cant do everything. Government is here to provide assistance when it is needed. when the person doesnt have the ability to deal with the issue on their own. 0l 2130 Like the cost of a student loan. like making sure that they earn a minimal amount of money so they can pay their bills and making sure that the government ensures that the domestic homeland security needs are taken care of. that we have an appropriate number of Border Patrol which has been woefully and inadequately funded under the Bush administration. They spend a whole lot of time beating on their chest and saying how important it is that we have a strong Border Patrol. The Bush administratioft did not fund as many or even ask for as many Border Patrol agents as the Clinton administration did. It is just rampant hypocrisy. That is all I have seen in the 21/2 years that I have been here. It is blah. blah. blah. All they do is talk. and it is hollow and empty behind the words. .They have the wrong kind of transparency on their side of the aisle. and folks see through it. That is why they are counting on us to make sure that we take care of these things.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. RYAN. you try to come up with what you can compare this to as far as the situation we are in and who we are dealing with here. It is like we are in the 21st century and we are negotiating with the Cro Magnon man. people who are stuck in the Paleozoic era. How do you even begin a conversation? If it is not their values. maybe it is that they are literallymaybe the tape recorder is broken. Maybe they are stuck in the age of dinosaurs. You can watch TV and see there are commercials on with Cro Magnon man. Maybe they have infiltrated the United States Congress.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I know. I know. I am going to offend the cavemen. But we work with a lot of them. People who think like cavemen. That is not a constituency I have to worry about too much right now. Really. that is what we have to deal with. Can you imagine sitting around the negotiating table with a caveman. How easy would be it to move the caveman off their view. Not very easy. We need the American people to help continue to communicate with our colleagues and tug them into the 21st century where we are dwelling.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

We need some more bipartisanship. And the Six in 06 agenda. the Medicare legislation to \ensure that we can negotiate for lower drug prices. the repeal of the $14 billion in subsidies. the passage of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. the minimum wage. those bills had an average of 65 Republican votes. We are glad to havethe rank and file Members who clearly were stymied and strangled by their leadership in the majority who are willing to do the right thing and come along with us. I wish we could see more of that bipartisanship and wide open eyes on the war in Iraq because we still have a -bunch of lemmings who continue to just be willing to walk off the plank and not ask any questions and continue the same mantra. It is really startling.. The bills that we put out on this floor to establish a timeline and to establish benchmarks and to ensure that we can begin to turn this conflict over to the Iraq government. maybe we got two Republican votes on thbse bills. And one we got one Republican vote on it. You know. over the weekend. because we have been waiting. and they all say wait until September. There are 14 who went to the White House and said to the President. you have until September. We are going to hang with you. but in September we .better see some results or else. Over the weekend. in my papers we saw commentary from General Petraeus who said. you know. it is n6t looking like we are going to be able to do any significant draw down or any draw down of troops in September. In fact. we may need to be in Iraq for 10 years. Ten years. Mr. Speaker. my children will be adults in 10 years. My oldest kids are 8. That means we will have spent virtually because what we are going on. 6 years in Iraq now. that means we will have spent my childrens entire life in Iraq. Can you imagine. Their entire childhood twisted and mired in another countrys conflict that we created for no good reason or at least for a reason that wasnt accurate with an administration who cant admit when they are wrong. There is no bipartisanship there. and lets just make that clear. When. God forbid. when we are still twisted in this war in Iraq next year. we will do our best that we vote to bring those troops home and establish those benchmarks and some accountability. But if we dont have the votes. to override a veto with our Republican colleagues. we will still be there next year. and that is what is going to decide the 2008 election. . It is not that I hope that happens because I dont. I want to make sure that the troops come home and are reunited with their family. but we will have a Democratic President at that point because the American people are done. Stick a fork in them. done.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Two things I just wanted to add on that. For veterans. it means the largest single increase in the 77year history for veterans health care in the Veterans Administration. What that means is that the people that I serve and that you serve that are veterans who are waiting 7 and 8 months to get their health care taken care of at their local VA hospitals. theyre going to get taken care of. Actions to match words. just like the gentleman from Connecticut said.
Date: 2007-06-21
Speaker: HERSETH SANDLIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this is a bipartisan amendment that is cosponsored by my colleague and good friend from Virginia. Mr. GOODLA FrE. as well as Mr. DEFAZIO of Oregon. Mr. LAMAR SMITH of Texas. Mr. SHERMAN of California and Mr. TANCREDO of Colorado. The amendment is simple and straightforward. It would prohibit the use of funds in the bill to implement the Diversity Visa Program otherwise known as the "visa lottery." The visa lottery program was established in 1990 and awards about 50.000 permanentresident visas to foreign nationals by conducting a random lottery. In the last Congress. the. State Departments inspector general testified before Congress that the Office of the Inspector General "continues to believe that the Diversity Visa Program contains significant risks to national security from hostile intelligence officers. criminals and terrorists attempt-. ing to use the program for entry into the United States as permanent residents." If for no other reason. national security is too important to allow this institutional randomness in our immigration policy. The visa lottery injects a level of unnecessary and responsible uncertainty into the immigration process. Our amendment is a practical provision that will make our Nation safer. When the House considered its immigration bill in the 109th Congress. the gentleman from Virginia and I joined together to offer an amendment eliminating the visa lottery program. and it passed with strong bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to provide similarly strong support to this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from . Virginia
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

have done a good job working together on a bipartisan basis to craft a bill that will work for Congress and work for the American people. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I just want to address my comments to the remark by the gentleman from Texas where he indicated that there is a 7percent increase in the legislative branch appropriations bill. That is factually inaccurate. If you take into consideration the $50 million rescission that we had in the CR for 2007. we are actually at a 2.4percent increase. Not taking that $50 million rescission. which came out of the Library of Congress. we are actually at a 4.4percent increase in this bill. So that is factually inaccurate. I want to make sure that we are dealing with facts. My colleague is incorrect. We have really made an effort. both
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

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. 2771. and that I may include tabular material on the same.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the Committee. I am pleased to present the Subcommittge on Legislative Branch appropriations legislation for the fiscal year 2008. The Legislative Branch bill is unique in that it appropriates funding for the entire Capitol Building and Grounds as well as nine legislative branch agencies and the 435 Members of this body and their offices. As a new member of the Appropriations Committee serving as a subcommittee Chair. I recognize the tremendous responsibility that comes along with being steward of this great institution. and I am honored by the Confidence and trust that Speaker PELOSI. Chairman OBEY. and my colleagues have placed in me. Historically. the Legislative Branch bill has enjoyed the bipartisan spirit that has come to define the Appropriations Committee and my experiences in working with the ranking member have beenconsistent with that spirit. Over the past several months. I have worked with Ranking Member WAMP. the gentleman from Tennessee. and other members of the committee from both parties to shape and determine the appropriations for the peoples House. We held 14 oversight hearings prior to developing this bill. and I am very proud of our accomplishments. I want to thank the members of the Legislatfve Branch Subcommittee for their help and. input. Vice Chair LEE.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I yield 32 minutes to the distinguished vice chair of the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch. -the gentlewoman from California .
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would like to congratulate Mr. WELCH for his initiative in moving this issue forward..
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thankthe gentleman for yielding. Yes. thats correct. As written in the report. the committee believes it is important to offset the greenhouse gases generated by the House. which is why we have directed the CAO of the House to purchase carbon offsets at the suggestion of the gentleman from Illinois
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

It is the intent of the subcommittee to eventually encompass all House operations. including travel and district operations. I would welcome this report from Mr. Beard and encourage his recommendations on how we will offset the remaining carbon footprint of the House.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Mr. WELCH. I look forward to working together on this important issue. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you for yielding. Chairman DAVIS. Like you. I am very concerned about the Comptroller Generals actions and have personally spoken to him to express my concerns. I am committed to doing all we can to ensure that the Comptroller General does not put up obstacles to workers rights to organize. In particular. I am dismayed the GAO. as a legislative branch agency. has retained outside counsel. rather than use its own attorneys to represent it before the Personnel Appeals Board. This action is unnecessarily costly and will likely delay the process of determining the outcome of the petition. The committee has reiterated these points in report language in this bill. We will be closely monitoring the progress of the Comptrollers review of eligibility. and we are requiring weekly reports on progress in these areas.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. at this time I would like to yield 1 minute to the distinguished chair of the House Administration Committee. the gentleman from Pennsylvania .
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. I want to thank the gentlewoman from California for her leadership on environmental issues and look forward to working with her on continuing the Speakers leadership on the Green the Capitol Initiative. both in terms of planting of the trees and the greening of roofs. and I look forward and appreciate her input. At this time. Madam Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas .
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I am grateful for the opportunity to add my voice of support to our valued public servants at the Govemment Accountability Office. GAO. Just as Congress relies on the GAO for the gold standard of fair and evenhanded analysis. so too must we ensure that our GAO workforce receives that same standard of fairness and evenhandedness when it comes to matters of their own employment. The issues that gave rise to the language in todays underlying Legislative Branch Appropriations bill are not new to the Government Oversight Committee on which I sit. or to the Federal employee community I am privileged to serve. Like many of my colleagues on the committee. I have received reports expressing concern about the process surrounding the recent Band II Restructuring Project. as well as the methodology. used in the 2004 Watson Wyatt Worldwide. WWW. compensation study. In that regard. I am particularly troubled that the WWW study is being cited as the reason over 300 hardworking. GAO employees who met or exceeded their performance expectations have been denied annual cost of living adjustments. notwithstanding public commitments to the contrary. As a majority of GAO analysts have now exercised their employment rights to organize a union. it is critical that the requisite election process go forward expeditiously and without interference. I thank my colleagues for this opportunity to voice my support for the GAO workforce and the rest of our valued Federal employee community.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition even though I am supportive of the amendment.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. very briefly. I fully support this amendment and appreciate the bipartisan cooperation that was endeavored in moving it forward. . I do want to express some concern about how the light bulbs will be adapted to the historical lighting that we have in this facility. in the Capitol complex. I look forward to working with the sponsors of the amendment as we move this legislation through conference to ensure that that occurs.
Date: 2007-06-22
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I look forward to working with all of my colleagues and Mr. WAMP as we move through the .conference process and commend. them. as well as Speaker PELOSI. for including the shifting from the light bulbs we use now to energyefficient and environmentally friendly light bulbs as part of the initiative of the greening of the Capitol. I yield back my time.