macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Well. I certainly would like to yield to the gentlelady from Michigan. I just simply want to say that the associations. the affiliations. and the organizations that you identified just very quickly represent the interests of working class people. represent the interests of those who wish to be part of the middle class. and represent those individuals who are responsible for the standards that we have that protect people in the working environment. that protect jobs here in America. and that protect the aspirations and hopefulness of those who recognize that things like public education are great equalizers. Congressman. I would very much appreciate the opportunity to yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan. my classmate and my friend. Congresswoman
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Not only have I heard it. but I have helped some of the teachers buy the supplies for their classrooms.
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you for that question. Congressman. It means all of those things. What it means for communities like the capital of the State of New Jersey. which is the city of Trenton. it means that our neighborhoods are unsafe. It means that police are running to situations that have already occurred. as opposed to having the resources and the capacity to understand what is happening out there and be proactive and preventative in nature. So it certainly does negatively impact the quality of life for those who live in the cityand cities particularlyand those who work there. I am particularly concerned about the seniors who invested in the cities years ago when the cities where the thriving environments. Congressman. and now they are still living there because they cant afford to move. So they are finding themselves in communities where. because of the housing crisis. there are vacant houses all around them. Members of gangs have settled into some of those houses. creating almost prisonlike environments for the people who cant even go outside and sit on their porch. And all of this has been the function of our disinvestment in our cities.
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank you for the opportunity to address this because I know this firsthand. In the capital city in the State of New Jersey. they have had to actually close libraries. Now. we already experience a digital divide in urban centers and in poor environments. and sometimes the only access that students have to computers and the Internet and the capacity to do research is in the libraries. in the local libraries. So it has negatively impacted their ability to get the information that they need to succeed in school. It has also negatively impacted those who are looking for jobs. who go to libraries to be able to research jobs on the Internet. It has had a devastating impact on the community. So when we look at our budget. the Progressive budget. and we recognize that we wish to restore services. restore funding to programs that empower our communities. it is giving them a chance. again. to become productive. productive in the work environment. productive in the school environment. It restores hope where hope has been taken away for so long.
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

First of all. let me just say for those individuals who. without any fault of their own. were victims of the trickledown economics that have failed us from 40 years ago to even today. those individuals who but for the shift in policies and having this negative impact because of trickledown economics which doesnt work except for perhaps on an essay paper. they struggled. They struggled. They lost their homes. they lost their family. they lost their health care. and they lost their health. The peoples budget recognizes the responsibility that government has to those individuals. So to extend the unemployment benefits for the 99 weeks. I believe it is over a 2year period. gives people an opportunity. as well as gives the policymakers an opportunity to create opportunities for these people to find jobs and to have some meager form of income while they are looking. because they basically have been left with absolutely nothing. So it is a further illustration that the peoples budget is a reflection of the peoples needs. I am so very fortunate to be associated with it. One last thing I wanted to raise as it relates to our urban centers. Mr. Speaker. right now in Washington. D.C.. there is a conference of the urban mayors from the State of New Jersey. I am going to have an opportunity to speak to them later on this evening. I tell you. I am very excited to talk to them about what it means to support the Progressive budget. the alternative Progressive Caucus budget. and what it means to their communities. whether it is for education. for teachers. for aides. for paraprofessionals. for police. for nurses. for hospitals. whatever. They will understand that this is a budget that recognizes that where the majority of the people live in this country there is a budget that acknowledges that their needs are paramount to the success of collective success of our economy and our country. I yield to the gentleman.
Date: 2015-03-18
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I am thankful for this opportunity to share the good news about the Progressive budget and to inform those who are here as well as those who are at home what this budget represents. One last issue that I think I would like to address that we may not have clearly or substantively articulated has to do with environmental issues. This budget acknowledges the devastating impact that we have had on the environment. and it takes concrete steps to reverse it. forcing polluters to pay for the carbon that is causing so much of our climate change. eliminating fossil fuel subsidies for Big Oil that. frankly. dont need government support. and ensuring EPA has the resources it needs to help reduce our carbon footprint. We have spent this last 45. 50 minutesI am thankful for this opportunitysharing the good news about the peoples budget. the Progressive budget. and I hope that anyone who has a need for additional information will seek this information out online. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-19
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. this morning. I speak on two issues of justice. One deals with my alma mater. the University of Virginia. And I would like to thank the young man. the student who experienced an unfortunate incident that caused him to have 10 stitches and to bleed on the streets of Charlottesville by the hands of those who were enforcing the law. I want to join him by saying that we all should be treated with human dignity. and I thank the Governor of the State of Virginia for a full investigation. We have to find a way to balance law and order with the dignity of the treatment of African Americans and all people. I will also say that the hostagetaking of the Attorney General nominee by those who will not push for her confirmation on the floor of the Senate. of the other body. is not the handling of the Constitution and the advice and consent that is necessary in the process of government. She is qualified. She is ready to serve. The Nation needs a chief law enforcement officer. We must come together and find that balance that the Constitution protects. and that is the right of all people to access and freedom of speech. But we must also respect law and order. We have to find a way to walk that pathway together.
Date: 2015-03-19
Speaker: MICHAEL F. DOYLE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsyl

vania. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to oppose this irresponsible and dishonest budget recently proposed by the House Budget Committee Republicans. Under this budgets grossly misguided priorities. people at the top continue to get richer while hardworking American families fall further behind. Last fall. at election time. congressional Republicans said they understood the pressures that American families were feeling. and they promised to help hardworking Americans. But this Republican budget would squeeze hardworking Americans even harder in countless ways. making it harder to pay for college. making it harder to pay for their health care. making it harder to ensure a secure retirement. This budget would eliminate health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans. cut nondefense government programs. from transportation to research to education. and make more than $1 trillion in unspecified cuts in Federal entitlement programs. This House Republican budget would make life a lot harder for hardworking American families like the ones I represent in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker. this is a budget that needs not to pass.
Date: 2015-03-19
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I am also here to say that the State of Texas. which is the largest State that deals in exportsthe top exporting State. accounting for approximately 18 percent of the national exportswould be hurt. In Texas. we have approximately 1.630 exporters that utilize the ExportImport Bank. In my district. 46 small businesses are using the ExportImport Bank. and 14 of these are minorityowned while five are owned by women. The bank is making a difference. In Texas. we have a saying: "If it aint broke. dont fix it." It aint broke. We are trying to fix it. and we are doing it by eliminating an entity that is making a difference for our economy.
Date: 2015-03-19
Speaker: BRENDAN F. BOYLE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsyl

vania. Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. SCOTT. One of the things that made the 20th century known as the American century was that the United States had the largest middle class in the history of the worldthe idea that if you worked hard and played by the rules. you would get a fair wage and good benefits and that your children would be even able to do a little bit better than you have been able to do. It wasnt always that way. though. in the United States. We can thank to a great extent some of the great advances that we had in the 20th century. as far as workers rights. to that of organized labor. Without labor unions. we would not have the strength of the middle class today. It is no accident that in the postWorld War II period. when you saw average incomes rise in the fifties. in the sixties. in the seventies. you saw average incomes rise for workers. sure enough. you saw the percentage of the American workforce unionized also increase. It is also no accident that. as the percentage of the American unionized workforce declined. so. too. did the average wages to the point at which we are today. where we have had a 20year period in which middle class wages are stagnant. in which the working class has actually fallen behind. and in whichno surprisewe actually have the lowest percentage of the workforce unionized today in over 70 years. Mr. Speaker. lets stand up for the middle class. Lets stand up for our workers. Let us reject this antilabor. antiunion. antiworker measure. and lets start fighting and working for those who are working for America.
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: MAXINE WATERS (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. this bill will provide an important and long overdue reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act or NAHASDA. Through NAHASDA. the federal government provides housing assistance to Native Americans and Native Hawaiians in a way that is tailored to address their unique housing needs. while respecting their right to selfdetermination. These groups experience some of the poorest housing conditions in our country so it is very important that we reauthorize the programs within NAHASDA. As a supporter of the reauthorization of NAHASDA. I did not object to the bill before us today moving forward under suspension. However. as I have pointed out in the past. this bill fails to ensure certain basic protections for the communities that rely on NAHASDAand as a resultI will oppose this measure. Despite my repeated objections. Republicans have refused to include a provision in this bill that offers protections for the Cherokee Freedmen. As many people know. the Cherokee Freedmen are the descendants of former African American slaves of the Cherokee. who are facing possible expulsion by the Cherokee nation. For the past several years. under the leadership of former Members including Carolyn Kilpatrick and Mel Watt. the Congressional Black Caucus has stood up for the rights of the Cherokee Freedmen. But Republicans have consistently refused to acknowledge this tragic history and do something to bring justice to this situation. And this bill is no exception. During the Committee markup. they rejected my amendment. which would have made NAHASDA funding to the Cherokee contingent on full recognition of the Freedmen as citizens of the Cherokee Nation. My position on this issue remains steadfast. and I cannot support continued silence in the face of such injustice. That is why I will not support this bill unless it grants the Freedmen the justice they deserve. I am also withholding my support from this bill because it contains a provision that would seriously undercut the central goal of providing affordable housing for lowincome Native Americans. This bill would waive a longstanding tenet of affordable housing known as the "Brooke Rule." which states that the maximum rent paid by assisted households must be no more than 30 percent of their income. The Brooke Rule is a basic safeguard that exists in the pubjic housing and Section 8 programs. It ensures that federally subsidized housing is affordable for the lowestincome households. By stripping away this basic safeguard. this bill would make lowincome Native Americans vulnerable to unlimited increases in rent without any kind of hardship examptions in place. This is simply unacceptable. It is a basic purpose of NAHASDA to provide housing for lowincome Native Americans. and this provision would seriously undermine that purpose. Republicans may not be concerned about the plight of the lowestincome Native Americans who rely on NAHASDA programs. but they are at the top of my concerns when it comes to this bill. Mr. Speaker. I would like to sincerely thank
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Ladies and gentlemen. on the bleached bones of many past great nations are written those pathetic words: Too late. Too late. We moved too late to save them. History is cluttered with them. We are almost at that point with Ukraine. Anyone who has followed the Russian model under Putin knows full well what his aim is to reclaim that territory. that empire. of the old Soviet Union. Now. if Ukraine goes. what happens to Lithuania. Estonia. and Latvia? And just today in the news we hear where Russia has threatened a nuclear response. I believe it is. to Denmark. Now. what is happening in the world? The world now is a very dark. a very dangerous. and a very evil place. And when those three things get together. there must be that shining light on the hill that shows the way out of the darkness. Throughout history. that light has been the United States of America. We must act here. Let us hope that President Obama will hear our plea as Democrats and as Republicans. We have got to help save Ukraine from Russia. I serve on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. For 12 years I have served on NATO. I have served as the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee.
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

I am here to tell you. ladies and gentlemen. if we dont act here. there will be a devastation on the European continent the likes of which we have not seen since World War II. We dont need to repeat that. Let us rise to this occasion. Let us do the right thing. Let us be that shining light on the hill that shows the way out of this darkness. Mr. Speaker. there are some times in life you have just got to stand up to the bully. The United States must stand up to Putin and let him know that there is a light in this world. and the United States is going to show the way. The best way to do that today is to pass this resolution. and lets send Ukraine the military help that they need to protect themselves and the legacy of this fine country.
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 162. a resolution which urges the President to utilize his authority. granted by Congress in December of last year. to begin providing military aid to the government of Ukraine. Since the February 2014 Revolution in which the corrupt thenUkrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country. the Russian Federation has made every effort through political. economic. and military means to subvert both the independence and the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people. I strongly support the current policy of the United States not to recognize the absorption of Crimea into Russia through referenduma referendum that took place against the backdrop of masked gunmen. widely believed to be unmarked Russian special forces. commandeering Crimean government buildings and intimidating voters. In a recently aired Russian television documentary. President Putin acknowledges that plans were already in place to reabsorb Crimea into Russian territory weeks before the March 2014 referendum was held. Russia has covertly infiltrated sovereign Ukrainian territory repeatedly. providing tanks. artillery. and rockets to separatist militias. which has resulted in a conflict leaving over 6.000 dead. 15.000 wounded. and more than a million displaced persons. Mr. Speaker. Russia is openly breeding opposition to Ukrainian democracy through its veiled support of separatists. who on July 17. 2014. destroyed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. a civilian airliner. utilizing a Russianmade missile which took the lives of all 298 innocent persons on board. The United States has already made available to Ukraine economic and nonlethal equipment meant to shore up the country from Russianbacked rebels. However. it is clear now that Russia has no intention of ceasing aggression against the democratic government of Ukraine. The time has come for the United States to provide military aid to Ukraine to shore up its military. a military under assault by these Russianbacked separatists who have repeatedly broken their promises for a ceasefire against the democratic nation of Ukraine. This military aid was requested by Ukraines democratically elected president Petro Poroshenko. in a joint meeting of Congress on September 14. 2014. and is endorsed by both Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Mr. Speaker. the United States has no intention of allowing Russia to redraw international borders as it pleases and subverting the democracy of our Ukrainian ally. That is why I strongly support this resolution giving President Obama explicit authorization to provide military aid to the Ukrainian government. With this aid. the United States is affirming its continued support of the Government of Ukrainian in its struggle to resist this heinous aggression from Russia. Mr. Speaker. I ask all Members to join me in voting for this resolution.
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. let me. with enthusiasm. thank the chairman of the full committee. Mr. ROYCE. and the ranking member. both my friends. and my friend from New York
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. we are approaching the 1year anniversary of the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian girls by psychopaths who call themselves Boko Haram. Since their abduction. almost every week has brought fresh reports of outrages and slaughters by the terrorists. but only silence about the girls. There have been some unconfirmed reports that some of the girls have been taken across Nigerias borders and that some have died of snakebites and illness. Recently. the Emir of Kano in Nigeria challenged every Muslim leader in the country to speak up and put an end to Boko Haram in their country. That is a good start. But lets also call on all of the leaders of Africa to unite. to rid their government and their continent of Boko Haram. and. as one. to do everything in their power to Bring Back Our Girls. Lets reunite them with their families. Lets end this horror. Lets Bring Back Our Girls.
Date: 2015-03-23
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today. along with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus. to commemorate Womens History Month. and address some of the unique challenges black women face. This is an issue of great personal significance to me and many of my CBC colleagues. It is hard to accept that in 2015. women still earn significantly less than men in the work place. The wage gap for black women is even greater. Black women earn sixtyfour cents on the dollar compared to men. while white women earn seventyseven cents on the dollar. These numbers are disheartening for all women. but illustrate the even greater challenge that black women face in the fight for equal pay. Moving forward. the discussion on equal pay in the workplace must move beyond talking points. We must act swiftly to decrease wage inequality. We must also ensure that the obstacle s black women in the workplace are included in the national discourse. While the phrase "womens issues" has become popular in academia and the media. it usually does not include many of the unique issues affecting black women. As poet and black feminist. Audre Lord. once said. "there is no such thing as a singleissue struggle. because we do not live single issue lives." Black women have never had the luxury of just being women. for black women. there is an intersection where race and gender meet. making our struggle so much more unique. Black women face a separate set of problems further alienating us from our male counterparts. We must consistently battle with the fact that we are black in a society that does not value black life. and women in a society that does not value the female contribution to society. Though a lot of progress has been made for women in the workplace. we still face so many obstacles as we work to permanently establish ourselves as professionally equal to men. In an effort to change these human injustices. we must increase the discussion on these issues. The end goal is to ensure that all women earn equal pay. regardless of race. Progress toward this goal is our responsibility and we must work tirelessly in achieving it.
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. as Congress debates how to best craft the 2016 budget proposal. I hope that heavier consideration will be given to reality over ideology. Lets look at the facts of what has actually worked in the past and what has not. Because in real life. the facts show that Democratic administrations have outperformed the Republican administrations in creating jobs by a significant margin. The most recent jobs report. for instance. showed that the economy added another 295.000 jobs in February. That is the 60th consecutive month of private sector job growth. and the longest streak in history that has been recorded. Over the past 5 years. the American automobile industry added over 500.000 jobs due to the Democraticled restructuring. And during the past 4 years. while our friends on the other side of the aisle predicted hyperinflation. the collapse of the dollar. and worse. we put more people back to work than all other advanced economies combined. Lets face the facts and consider what has worked in the real world in creating jobs.