macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman very much. Again. this is a historic day. Madam Speaker. and it is a day. tragically. when we wish we had been able to stamp out this dastardly act. if you will. collective act of trafficking of our children. the advertising and the sheer slavery of it all. holding people against their will. using them over and over again. I. too. have had the opportunity to see firsthand the devastation of ones who have been trafficked and then ultimately feel that their lifes career can only be in prostitution. These may be adults. but they started being abused and exploited as children. Just about a year or 2 ago. we had Attorney General Holder in my district. with all of those who were gathered around the issue of trafficking. human slavery. and had a meeting in the district. and the outpouring of the crisis was enormously overwhelming. This morning in a markup in the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee. of which I am the ranking member. Madam Miller is the chairwoman. we discussed unaccompanied minors coming across the border. victimstobe. if you will. 60.000 coming across our border. children who are unaccompanied who are clearly potentially victims in this horrible human trafficking. So I am a cosponsor of the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act and am well aware of the heinousness of depicting and advertising for these sex acts with children under 14 and those over 14. And I know for a fact that this is the beginning of the end of many of their lives. We know that there are ultimate acts that are so terrible that a child cannot overcome. that the sexual acts that are being advertised. in whatever means. are lifeending in many instances. And so the idea of making this the kind of crime that shows the concern of the American public is important. I would also say to you that I am one that is concerned about mandatory minimums. and I hope that as we make our way through. there will be further discussions of this legislation. But at this time I stand in support of it. I have always said that the weakness on the mandatory minimums for me is when you involve undermining. destroying. killing. using in an abusive sexual manner. trafficking. and holding against their will children. They are vulnerable. They are without the resources to help themselves. And let me say this. Many runaways in this country fall victim to this. Many unaccompanied children that come across the border fall victim to this. Many children who are in conditions where they do not have a family structure fall victim to this. But they fall victim to this because there are so many who will exploit.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman again for his leadership. But there are many who exploit. continue to exploit from the comfort of their home. How terrible it is to go into workplaces and find that individuals are using their computers to engage in this. How horrible it is to go into homes and find computers filled with this kind of trash. and how horrible it is to see that people will profit from the advertising and the selling of commercial acts in whatever way they do. So I would thank the sponsors of this legislation and recognize that we have opportunities to look at how we construct this kind of remedy for these tragic and horrible acts that ultimately result in the death of our children. either at their own hand. tragically. or by those who would abuse them through commercial sex acts. This should be something that we should stamp out of our society. out of our system. and out of this Nation. We need to begin to do it as we make our way through these bills today. Madam Speaker. this bill. of which I am a cosponsor. the SAVE Act. has a commendable purpose and I am convinced that it will help in our efforts to end exploitation of children. H.R. 4225. the "Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2014." amends title 18 of the United States Code to impose a criminal penalty for knowingly selling advertising that offers certain commercial sex acts. Specifically. it provides for criminal liability for the advertisements of commercial sex acts that are prohibited under existing 18 U.S.C. �1591 if the advertiser either: (a) benefits financially or receives anything of value from that advertising. or (b) distributes the advertising. It provides for a statutory maximum of five years imprisonment or a fine. It does not mandate a statutory minimum sentence or fine. And while I strongly agree with the purpose of the billI do wish it had gone through regular order in the Judiciary Committee on which I serve. It is critically important that the bill allows those who might have concerns because of certain unintended consequences to voice those issues before the full committee. My wish is that going forward. we would assume regular order in the Judiciary Committee and yield to the conventions which have made our Committee a force and one with prestige and honor throughout its history. I ask my colleagues to support this important legislation which helps end exploitation of our precious children.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of this bill. It is extremely important. I would like to underscore that there is no politics in sex trafficking. This body is often described as being bitterly partisan. But today that is not the case as voices on both sides of the aisle and hard work on both sides of the aisle have joined to work to try to make it better and try to stop this abuse. We have already heard and know that trafficking in human beings is nothing less than a modern form of slavery and that the incidence in foster children is tremendously high. A foster child named Angela came to my office one day and told me the story that at 10 years old the boyfriend of her foster mother started selling her as a prostitute. and her younger brother. She was horrified one day when she saw a picture of herself and her younger brother in a magazine advertising that they were for sale. She spoke out at school to her counselor and they didnt believe her. When the authorities from the welfare agency came to the home she told them she was being abused. and they told her to be grateful to her foster parentswhy is she raising such problems. So there is clearly a need for educating and involving States and agencies in being more sensitive and identifying the victims of child abuse and child sex trafficking. It is something we do not want to acknowledge that it exists in our own country. But every time you see a child on the street. a child prostitute. there is a tragic story behind that young girl or boy of intense abuse. Regrettably. too many of them come out of the American foster care system. a system that is supposed to protect them. This bill is incredibly needed. I congratulate Mr. DOGGETT and Ms. BASS for their hard work on this.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I thank Mr. REICHERT and Mr. DOGGETT for this work. and the work of the Ways and Means Committee. which is a vital component to this holistic approach that we have now embraced dealing with human trafficking. The foster care system that many of us have embraced that needs overhaul. as a member of the foster care task force and caucus. as a member and founder of the Congressional Childrens Caucus. I have been dealing with foster care children for a number of years. In fact. I served as a cochair of the Foster Care Task Force in Houston. whose purpose was to give relief to what was then called Foster Care Grandparents. whose grandparents were involved in the foster care system. That is the friendly side of foster care. But I think it is so very important to recognize that we are still facing that large gap of those youngsters who age out. along with youngsters who are 12. 13. and 14 who have been in the foster care system all of their life. We have heard the stories that they go from house to house. maybe some of them had 30 homes. places where they have lived. for a period of time that they have been in foster care. What I have seen as I have been on the streets of Houston when we spend a night out on the streets going places where we knew children and young people would be sleeping. that these were children who had either aged out. who had in fact run away. or been in foster care on the streets of Houston. They are a number one target for the dastardly act of sex trafficking. child trafficking. and human trafficking. So I rise today to support this legislation. again. as it adds to an overall omnibus approach to going after anyone who wants to hide behind the vulnerability of a child and take advantage of them. This bill provides for full resources for foster care children so that they do not find the most welcoming track someones ugly words that. in fact. are here to undermine them and to take them into this life. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation because. in fact. it stops those children from going into a life that will ruin their life and to make them find a place where they can find solace.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman. the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. for his leadership on so many issues of compassion and passion. and certainly this issue. I thank the chairman of the full committee. as well as the author of this bill. Mr. SMITH. I was on the Judiciary Committee when Megans Law was passed. Now I am on the Homeland Security Committee. So I raise this paradoxical question: who equates sex trafficking and tourism? That is what is going on internationally around the world. Individuals who may have been convicted here in the United States. may be labeled here in the United States. can secure passports and have a full and flourishing and horrific ongoing experience by utilizing and abusing the children in foreign countries. Many times. these countries are developing nations. We can call the roll of names. Many times. law enforcement are collaborating with these sex tourists. There is an area set aside for these sex tourists. In fact. it is called that. They go there with impunity and abuse childrenstreet children who have no other way to go. This is an important initiative. Again. it is the round circle of addressing this question holistically. Just today in the markup in the border security and maritime security committee we discussed. as I indicated in earlier debate. the 60.000 children that come across the border to the United States unaccompanied. We also mentioned the need to provide enhanced training for our CBP officers at the border. That will complement this legislation. which establishes protocols to discern those individuals who are coming into our country who are convicted pedophiles. It is Megans Law International. It is Megans Law relief for those who are being abused outside of our border. I am very pleased that there is an Angel Watch Center to assist the CBP and that the effort has been made in this bill to ask our President to collaborate on bilaterals with countries to establish the link between their convicted sex predators and to be able to identify them. as we identify them here in the United States. to stop this dastardly act across and around the world. So I congratulate the proponents of this legislation and I hope this will be one more step in saving some childs life. They may not be in our boundaries. They may not be within our borders. but they may be outside of them. And I can assure my colleagues that it is documented every day that sex tourism is a big business. Until we put a stop to it in some way. it will continue to grow. With that. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation. H.R. 4573. and I thank the proponents of the legislation.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his extraordinary leadership on this issue and so many others. Great appreciation to the sponsor of this. my good friend FREDERICA WILSON. who spoke with great feeling on the floor. We appreciate so much your leadership in this area and other areas. These young girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their school in the middle of the night. terrorized and held captive. and may now be sold like so many inanimate objects into a lifetime of forcible rape. There is no kind of crime more appalling. no offense or worse. no act of depravity more harmful to the community of nations than this kind of barbarism. As horrible as this crime is. this represents only a small fraction of the global trafficking in human beings. Just today. a report by the U.N. noted that trafficking. forced labor. and modern slavery are big businesses generating profits estimated at $150 billion a year. It is a global enterprise that we must put out of business. They committed this terrible act in part because they wanted to send a message. Well. lets send one back to them today. a message that the nations of the West will spare no effort. no expense in helping to return these girls safely to their families. We will pursue the perpetrators of this atrocity by every legal and lawful means to the ends of this Earth or until the end of their days. Let us declare that the children of this world here at home or in some farflung corner of the world are not for sale. They are not to be used as slaves or as shields or as barter. All those who attempt to profit off this ancient evil will be considered the common enemies of humanity. My time is up. We will not stop until these girls are returned to their homes.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership. the chairman of the committee from California. and Mr. SMITH from New Jersey. who is managing the bill. and I thank very much the sponsor of this legislation. Ms. WILSON. who has brought us together around a very important statement. Members of the United States Congress will have the ability to stand and to take a very public view that the thugs of Boko Haram will no longer be able to run rampant without the attention of the United States and the people around the world. I have. Mr. Speaker. the geographic area in which Nigeria is in. from Benin and Togo. to nearby Ghana and Niger. Chad. and Cameroon. We wonder where these girls are now. So it is very important that we are condemning this horrific act. We wonder where these children are. We have used the term "girls" and we want to bring them home. but these are children who cannot consent to leaving home. to marrying. to changing their religion. So in one sweep we have sex traffic girls. we have violated religious freedom. and we have taken children away from the bosom of their family. So as I hold up in my hand these names. many whom we should callthese are real people. I would ask today as we stand to support this resolution that we push for a relief fund for these girls. we push for Nigeria to establish its own special ops so that they can safely find these girls. and we tell the Islamic world. we tell al Qaeda in particular. to stop funding these groups. And we thank Mr. ELLISON.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chair. I thank the ranking member and my colleague from California. Chairman MCKEON. in particular. for all the work and guidance that he has given us as he leaves the Congress at the end of this year. I am sure we will fete you in better ways. but thank you for the work you have done. I want to thank the chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. Chairman MIKE TURNER. for his leadership this year. We have worked in a bipartisan manner. We have had three critical goals in mind as we have done this: supporting our troops with the equipment that they need. cutting wasteful spending. and investing in our future. The subcommittees portion of H.R. 4435 supports all of the highpriority acquisition programs in the Presidents budget. H.R. 4435 provides $8.3 billion for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter. $3.8 billion for Army aviation upgrades. $1.4 billion for the Ospreys. and $997 million for U.S. Marine Corps ground equipment. However. our subcommittee didnt just rubberstamp everything. We actually took a very careful look at what programs were working. which ones were slow. and what wasnt getting done. We were able to identify more than $600 million in funding that we put in other places in the bill. They were used to increase funding in numerous areas in an effort to provide additional equipment for our military and preserve critical production capabilities for the future. Specifically. the bill provides an additional $450 million for the EA18G Growler aircraft for the Navy. $340 million for additional ground combat vehicles for the Army. $80 million in additional funds for the procurement of body armor. $250 million in funding for the National Guard and Reserve equipment account. and numerous other investments. Finally. the chairmans mark includes important oversight legislation on numerous major DOD programs to ensure that the Congress has the information it needs to make future judgments. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 270. line 11. strike "REACTORS." and insert "REACTORS. AND DEFENSE NU-
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. every day. the United States faces an extremely urgent and dangerous threat. and this threat goes beyond the traditional dangers of states possessing nuclear weapons. What I am talking about right now is the very real possibility of these dangerous materials landing in the hands of terrorist organizations. Because of this real threat. I know that there is no one in this Chamber who will deny the importance of nonproliferation programs and how effective they are in combating one of the greatest threats to the United States security. For example. just imagine if Ukraine still had its nuclear materials today. Imagine the disaster we would be in as the administration endeavored to accelerate the removal of nuclear materials from Ukraine. but the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. an incredibly important nonproliferation program. could not adequately respond because it required additional funds. but the Department of Defense could not transfer those necessary funds. This is exactly the type of situation we are trying to avoid by passing my amendment. Fortunately. the United States removed over 235 kilograms of highly enriched uranium over 2 years from the two remaining sites in Ukraine in 2012. This is enough highly enriched uranium to develop more than nine nuclear weapons. We do not have the ability to predict the future. especially with challenges and threats we will face. This is why we need the ability to be flexible. This is essential. and that is exactly what my amendment provides. The Department of Defense has been transferring approximately $1 billion per year to NNSA weapons programs. and over the next 5 years. DOD will be providing around $1.5 billion annually for NNSA weapons and Naval Reactor programs. What the Sanchez amendment would do is to allow the Department of Defense to have the option of transferring funds to nonproliferation programs. It does not remove funding from weapons programs or Naval Reactor Program. but it provides DOD the flexibility to allocate funding to areas which they believe will effectively secure dangerous nuclear material and to respond to emergencies and threats as they may arise. Nuclear weapons materials remain dangerously vulnerable. so terrorist groups continue to seek these weapons and material every day. I would like to ask my colleagues from both sides of the aisle. if there was a loose nuclear weapon or missing fissile material or the risk of these materials landing in the hands of terrorists. why would we not want the Department of Defense to have the flexibility to engage nuclear weapons experts from NNSA? That is exactly what my amendment provides. Once again. my amendment doesnt take any funding away from weapons nor from Naval Reactors. but it simply removes the barriers and provides the Department of Defense the flexibility to use all of its resources to effectively address such nuclear threats. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. may I ask how much time I have left? The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman from California has 11/2 minutes remaining.
Date: 2014-05-20
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I would like to correct my colleague. It was not the fourth year in a row we have debated it. For example. we didnt debate this last year. I would further like to say that one of the reasons we have asked for Naval Reactor moneys is because of the shortfall that they had this past year that they werent able to react to because they didnt have the flexibility. So with all of these issues going on with terrorists. in particular looking for nuclear arms or material. I think that it is important for us to give the Department of Defense that flexibility. The same type of thing that they found themselves in a bind for with the reactors this past year. it would be important not to find ourselves in a bind if we would need it for this year. And I would also like to remind my colleagues that yes. we put some more money into nonproliferation this year after many years of cutting it. but we put a significantly more amount of money into the nuclear armament piece. Mr. Chairman. I would just ask my colleagues to vote for the flexibility for the Department of Defense. I have no further speakers. and I urge my colleagues to support my amendment with the underlying bill. Mr. Chair. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2014-05-21
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in honor of the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the incredible impact it had on our Nation. The ruling of Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools across the United States. and it dedared the doctrine "separate but equal" unconstitutional. It is truly something to be proud of. as Americans. But as we celebrate. let us not forget the precedent case to that. and that was about a young Mexican American student who. along with her family and others in their community. truly set the stage in the fight to end segregation in all of our schools. This happened in my county. in my district. in my home. The case was Mendez v. Westminster. In 1945. when Sylvia Mendez was not allowed to go to an allwhite school in Orange County. California. her parents. Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez. fought for integration. And guess what. They won. Segregation in Orange County ended. and the rest of our State followed. and 7 years later the entire country followed. So as we commemorate the grand case of Brown v. Board of Education. let us also remember Mendez v. Westminster. two historic achievements that opened the doors for a better education for all our children throughout this great Nation.