macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. this is now the second week of the Republican shutdown of our governmentshut down because they want to put insurance companies back in charge of Americas health care. Republicans in the House think they can get out of this horrible mess they created by partially opening one part of the government or another. Today. its Head Starta program I strongly support and one that used to be supported on a bipartisan basis to provide education. health and nutrition services to atrisk children. When Republicans voted to shut down the government. they closed the doors on thousands of these children and their families. After several bad news articles about the Republicans shutting down Head Start. they now want to partially open it. Keep in mind. restoring funding to Head Start only serves a small percentage of atrisk children who need preschool and are eligible for it. It is not enough to restore one set of earlylearning services for atrisk children but to not fund the Child Care and Development Block Grant. special education services. and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. which provides early childhood services for children from lowincome families as well. If the Republicans are serious about supporting early childhood education. we should vote on the clean. Senatepassed budget to reopen the government so that services for those kids and their families can be fully restored.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

We should have that vote today. Its time to stop the Republican shutdown. I call on the Speaker to let us vote. Let us vote. Let us vote on a bill to open the whole government. As of today. enough Republicans have publicly stated that theyre ready to join all of the Democrats to vote to open the government. Republicans should allow the House to vote on the Senate billa bill that was negotiated by the Speaker of the House. Mr. BOEHNER. and the leader of the Senate. Mr. REID. but was rejected by the Republican caucus. Bring that bill to the floor. Let us vote. and let these children get these services.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak on H.J. Res 84. Head Start for LowIncome Children Act. Head Start represents an innovative idea from a Democratic led Congress that was created for the education of our smallest citizens who come for poor or low income households. We know that if these children have an early start in education it levels the playing field of life and they can have an equal opportunity to succeed. Families in my district who rely on Federal Government programs like Head Start are hurting. The pain did not start with the shutdown. but with sequestration which hit Head Start programs for 3 to 4 year olds in the Houston Area hard: $5.341 million dollar cut. 109 employees cut. 699 slots for children cut. On October 2. I joined hundreds of Head Start supporters from across the country and many of my colleagues to protest the closing of Head Start programs due to the Federal Government shutdown. I picked up one of the tiny blue chairs that represented the thousands of Head Start children from around the nation and said that an empty Head Start chair represents a future doctor. engineer. president. or teacher who is at risk because of the Federal Government shutdown. My support of Head Start and Early Head Start is based on what I have seen and heard about programs like the AVANCEHouston Early Head Start program serving parents and children in the 18th Congressional District.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to voice my opposition to H.J. Res. 84. the Head Start for LowIncome Children Act. While I appreciate the concern for the harmful effects of the shutdown on Head Start and am deeply troubled by the children cut off from Head Start services. I am unable to support this funding bill. A far better approach to undoing the damage caused by this shutdown is to pass a clean continuing resolution. CR. that funds the entire government. On the heels of devastating sequester cuts which caused more than 57.000 children to lose their Head Start slotsover 4.000 of whom live in Texasthis shutdown continues to harm even more of Americas most vulnerable families. Already. thousands of children have been affected by Head Start program closures and reduced services due to a lack of federal support from this crisis and thousands more children are at risk of losing their seats in classrooms as the shutdown continues. However. this piecemeal approach to funding Head Start fails to provide Americas children with the same support as a fully operational government through a clean CR. The populations served by Head Start often rely on many other vital programs that provide critical assistance to students who are most in need. such as the National School Lunch Program. the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). special education programs. and Title I programs. none of which are included in this funding bill. The implication of students losing vital classroom time. nutrition. and instruction is severe and only makes the mission of improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps that much more difficult. I urge my colleagues to immediately pass a clean CR and reopen the full government so we can put an end to the current political stalemate and bring the focus back on undoing the harmful effects of the sequester.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak on H.J. Res 84. Head Start for LowIncome Children Act. Head Start represents an innovative idea from a Democratic led Congress that was created for the education of our smallest citizens who come for poor or low income households. We know that if these children have an early start in education it levels the playing field of life and they can have an equal opportunity to succeed. Families in my district who rely on Federal Government programs like Head Start are hurting. The pain did not start with the shutdown. but with Sequestration which hit Head Start programs for 3 to 4 year olds in the Houston Area hard: $5.341 million Dollar cut. 109 Employees cut. 699 Slots for children cut. On October 2. I joined hundreds of Head Start supporters from across the country and many of my colleagues to protest the closing of Head Start programs due to the Federal government shutdown. I picked up one of the tiny blue chairs that represented the thousands of Head Start children from around the nation and said that an empty Head Start chair represents a future doctor. engineer. president. or teacher who is at risk because of the Federal Government shutdown. My support of Head Start and Early Head Start is based on what I have seen and heard about programs like the AVANCEHouston Early Head Start program serving parents and children in the 18th Congressional District.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I was detained and missed the following votes: 1. Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule providing for consideration of H.J. Res. 89. H.R. 3273 and H.J. Res. 90Had I been present. I would have voted "no" on this bill. 2. H. Res 373Rule providing for consideration of H.J. Res. 89Federal Worker Pay Fairness Act. H.R. 3273 Deficit Reduction and Economic Growth Working Group Act. and H.J. Res. 90Federal Aviation Administration Continuing Appropriations Resolution. Had I been present. I would have voted "no" on this bill.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank my friend from New York. Mr. Speaker. it is absolutely the right thing to do to make sure we pay Federal workers on time whether theyre the Capitol Police or any other public servant doing the work of our country right now. It was also the right thing to do on a bipartisan basis to make sure that Federal employees are not punished through no fault of their own. We did that unanimously by the vote on Saturday to make sure that Federal employees do not have to bear that burden when theyre not the ones making the bad decisions. What is very puzzling. Mr. Speaker. is. in having voted unanimously to say that were going to make sure we pay those Federal employees who are being furloughed. we would at the same time block them from going back to work for the American people. I just dont understand. Mr. Speaker. how the Speaker of the House can explain that to the American people when we have in our possession here in the peoples House a piece of legislation that. if we were allowed to vote on it. could reopen the entire government right now. without preconditions. Now. weve heard from our Republican colleagues that they want to open one little piecelets open the national parks. Lets open another little piecebut on Saturday. what we did was vote to make sure that every Federal employee. whether they work for the national parks or any other Federal agencyeveryonewould get paid for yesterday. for today. for tomorrow. So why would our colleagues want to let one more day go by when were compensating Federal employees and making them stay at home? Why wouldnt we open the Federal Government today so that they can do the work that were paying them to do on behalf of the American people? It is absolutely mindboggling. Mr. Speaker. that our Republican colleagues would take that position. In the Senate right now youve got a Senator from Texas. Senator CORNYN. who is blocking that particular provision that we passed unanimously. I hope that he will let it go. But over here in the House. we have a bill that the Presidents waiting to sign right now. All we need to do is pass it. and the votes are here in the House to do it. If the Speaker doubts that fact. theres an easy way to figure it out. We all know that. Put it up for a vote. Whats the Speaker afraid ofa little democracy in this House? So were going to be paying all the Federal employees. as we should. because they absolutely should not be penalizednot for one day that were forcing them to be out of work. These are men and women who are dedicated to providing service to our country. They want to get back to work. and what this House is saying is. Were going to keep paying you. but were not going to let you go to work for the American people. That is an astounding position to take. Lets vote to open the entire government right now. Lets take up the Senate bill. Lets get it done.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend from Florida. As the gentleman said. we discovered right now that the government is still shut down because our Republican colleagues want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. ObamaCare. when in fact we could open the government right now by passing the bill thats in our possession. Mr. Speaker. I want to talk a little bit about negotiation because the President and the Democrats in Congress have been trying to have a budget negotiation with our Republican colleagues all year long. In fact. in March. the House passed its budget. and in March. the Senate passed its budget. And just like the textbook says. youre then supposed to have a negotiation between the House and the Senate to negotiate your differences to reach a compromise. What happened? The Speaker of the House refused to appoint negotiators from the House. We tried three times to get a vote. each time the Speaker said "no." In the United States Senate. on 18 occasions. in fact 19 now. the Democratic leader and Senator MURRAY tried to get consent to have a budget negotiation between the House and Senate. On 18 occasions. Senate Republicans said "no." They didnt want to talk. They didnt want to negotiate. So the clock ticked until we got down to government shutdown. And then what happened? The Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic leader had a negotiation. On Sunday on national television. the Speaker of the House told the country that he had a negotiation with Senator REID. They had gotten a deal. But guess what? The Speaker reneged on the agreement. Why? He told us that. too. He couldnt sell it to a reckless faction of his own party. He wanted to allow that faction of the party to run the country and shut down the government. Now what are our Republican colleagues saying? That theyre not going to let us pay our bills on time unless we adopt the Republican budget agenda. Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my colleaguesand I think this is an important question for the countryif the President of the United States said that he would veto a debt ceiling bill. that he would veto legislation to pay the countrys bills on time unless Republicans adopted the Presidents budget and the Presidents agenda. our Republican colleagues would say hed lost his mind. Our Republican colleagues would probably start impeachment proceedings. And yet. thats exactly what theyre doing. Theyre saying that they wont take responsibility in joining us to pay our countrys bills on time unless we adopt the Republican budget agenda unless we say lets get rid of the Affordable Care Act. unless we do everything their way. Again. if the President was to take that position. you would say he was off his rocker. So now. our Republican colleagues are coming up with a fake committee where it actually sets the rules.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman. So after all this refusal to negotiate. you now want to set up a fake committee on deficit reduction where you refuse to even include the idea of reducing the deficit in part by shutting down tax breaks for big oil companies because you dont want to use one penny of revenue. even from closing tax loopholes. to reduce the debt and deficit. I hear from my colleagues how important it is to reduce the debtand it absolutely isbut apparently its not important enough to shut down one tax loophole for special interests. End this sham. Vote on the Senate bill. Open the government.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3273. the socalled "Deficit Reduction and Economic Growth Working Group Act of 2013." which establishes another supercommittee to make recommendations on spending and changes in the statutory limit on the public debt. the latest gimmick of the Tea Party dominated Republican majority to extricate themselves from the fiasco they created when they voted to shut down the government. The bill before us is a bad idea brought up at the worst possible time. The bill seeks to recreate the supercommittee Frankenstein monster that failed its assigned task and ended up giving us the Frankenstein monster called sequestration. We have been there and done that. We are not going down that road again. Additionally. this bill is not a genuine effort to reach an agreement on budget and fiscal priorities. If that were the case. House Republicans would not have rejected the numerous requests of House and Senate Democrats over the past six months to go to conference to reach an agreement. Let us review the record leading up to the Republican shutdown and the cost of the recklessness course of action: $150 million a dayThe pricetag for closing down the government In 1995. the record threeweek closing cost $1.9 billion in todays dollars. 800.000plusFederal employees expected to be furloughed as a result of the GOPs irresponsible shutdown. 192The number of days House Republicans have refused to negotiate on a federal budget. setting the stage for a GOP government shutdown. 128The number of points the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped on Monday in reaction to the GOP shutdown. 72Percent of American voters opposed to Congress shutting down the federal government to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act. 68Percent of Americans who say shutting down the federal government even for a few days is a bad thing for the country. 49Republicans who say shutting down the government over Obamacare is a big MISTAKE. 45The number of times GOP have unsuccessfully tried to repeal or undermine Affordable Care Act. 18The number of times Senate Republicans have blocked Senate Democrats efforts to go to conference and negotiate on the budget to avoid a government shutdown. Mr. Speaker. Democrats are and have been willing to negotiate over honest differencesbut not before House Republican vote to open the government and remove the threat of government default. And there is an easy and verifiable way for them to demonstrate their good faith. and that is by bringing to the floor for an immediate vote on the clean CR already passed by the Senate. The President has stated repeatedly that he will sign a clean CR. Our constituents are waiting. It is time to end the madness. Mr. Speaker. let the House vote on H.J. Res. 59. as passed by the Senate today. That is the best way to keep faith with all persons who serve the American people as employees of the federal government. and those who depend upon the services they provide.
Date: 2013-10-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we in Texas know that when the cattle starts stampeding. youre really in trouble. so my friends on the other side of the aisle havent realized that the cattle in the United States is stampeding: 57.000 seats of Head Start are going. veterans centers will be closed in a couple of days. Federal courts are looking at whether or not they can stay open past October 15. U.S. attorneys are laying off various U.S. attorneys across America. up to 4.000. We actually have rules in this House. the rules that brought about the agreement in the beginning of the year where we actually agreed to the 986 number that the Republicans had. We agreed to the tax reform that the Republicans had and Democrats agreed. But now they want to throw on us another supercommitteefools follytalking about discretionary spending. the debt ceiling. and entitlement reformall decent ideas. but open the government first. Get the bill on the floor that is clean. Open the government. Raise the debt ceiling to pay our bills. Let the American people get back to work. Let our veterans get services. Stop throwing down another committee. We dont catch cattle. We dont go after cattle in Texas by throwing down a committee. We get it done. Lets get the job done. Lets stop the stampede.
Date: 2013-10-09
Speaker: DANNY K. DAVIS (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Illinois

Mr. Speaker. Concordia University of Chicago is an American private Lutheran liberal arts university. located in the village of River Forest. Illinois. 10 miles west of downtown Chicago. In 1855. Lutheran ministers Friedrich Johann. Carl Lochner. and Philipp Fleischmann established a private teachers seminary in Milwaukee. Wisconsin. to train day school teachers for Lutheran schools. In 1857. the responsibility for the operation of the school was taken over by the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod. The synod moved the school to Fort Wayne. Indiana. uniting it with a theological seminary which had been founded there by followers of Johann Konrad and Wilhelm Lohe. In 1861. the theological seminary was moved to St. Louis. Missouri. later to Springfield. Illinois. and then back to Fort Wayne. Indiana. in 1864. The teachers seminary was moved to Addison. Illinois. Concordia University makes its foundation with the 1864 move to Addison. Illinois. Originally called Concordia Teachers Seminary. then Concordia Teachers College. the institution is the oldest in the Concordia University system. The original building is gone. but a monument still stands on the site of the seminary in Addison. Illinois. In 1913. the college moved to its present campus in River Forest. Illinois. In 1979. the institution expanded its educationcentered program to become a full liberal arts institution. and it changed its name to Concordia College. In 1990. having experienced a tremendous growth in its graduate offerings. the school recognized and changed its name to Concordia University. The university was officially known as Concordia University. River Forest until 2006. when the current name was adopted. In 2006. CURF was the only university in the 10school system to achieve the rank of top tier on U.S. News & World Reports "best college" list. They were also awarded this ranking in Concordia University Chicago has a prominent and a prestigious music department among schools of a similar size. However. education is still Concordias largest academic program. Other programs include business. communications. theology. and many other undergraduate degree programs. Concordia Universitys enrollment for the 20122013 academic year is 5.454 students. and many of these students plan to become church workers. I am inspired when I read the universitys mission statement. which is: As a distinct. comprehensive university of the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod. centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ and based in the liberal arts. Concordia University equips men and women to serve and lead with integrity. creativity and compassion in a diverse. interconnected and increasingly urbanized church and world. Mr. Speaker. I congratulate and salute Concordia University on its 100 years of teaching and service in the Chicagoland community.
Date: 2013-10-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Standard and Poors. Mr. Speaker. indicates that the wealth of American families has grown three times since President Obama has taken office. But here comes the government shutdown. the Republican government shutdown. Yesterday I rose to the floor of the House to mourn the fact that we lost five brave young men and a young woman over the weekend in Afghanistan doing their duty. I wrote to the Secretary of Defense to direct him and ask him to immediately pay those moneys for the memorial services and other dollars to their families. We all are concerned. but there comes the government shutdown. a shutdown because of something totally unrelated. the Affordable Care Act. Never during the time of Speaker PELOSI did we have a government shutdown. So. today. we will come together. as Republicans and Democrats. mourning the loss of those soldiers and having H.J. Res. 91. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that every single Member be counted as an original cosponsor of this bill to pay those families that are now mourning and that we never. ever again. never. ever again say "no" to our families who have seen their young men and women fall on the battleground. We dont have to do this but here comes a government shutdown. Let us all join on this bill. Let us be cosponsors. I ask the leaders of this bill to put every single Member on this bill.
Date: 2013-10-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I rise in enthusiastic support of H.J. Res. 91. and I thank the ranking member and the chairman for recognizing that all Membersall Membershad a pain in their heart regarding those mothers and fathers who are now suffering the loss of their children. four young men and one young woman. to my recollection. names that we should never forget because we are a Nation at war. For that reason. I believe that this was of great concern to the administration and Secretary Hagel. Theyre in a dilemma. a conflict. if you will. on the present shutdown of the government. But I would say to the chairman and ranking member. this is what Congress is all about. fixing the problem. Mr. Speaker. I will place into the RECORD my letter to Secretary Hagel asking for relief for these families. Now we have it.
Date: 2013-10-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

If I might just inquire. a question of the Chair on H.J. Res. 91: Would you accept a unanimous consent request to ask that every Member of the House be considered an original sponsor or cosponsor of this legislation. H.J. Res. 91?