macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-09-26
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Resolution 1030. legislation honoring the United States Border Patrol. Without a doubt. the United States Border Patrol provides a critical service to this Nation. We rely on them to be highly trained. to be very qualified. to carry out the challenging and important job of securing our Nations borders. And not just at the Southern border. like what we have in California. But I was recently at a hearing that we had up in Seattle to talk about the issues going on at our northern border. and. of course. our Border Patrol was there. And the issues that they have. the things that they confront are vast. and it is such a difficult. difficult job to do. So we really do want to honor and let them know. as the House of Representatives. that we understand that their jobs are done in difficult conditions. in the desert. forest. and with professionalism and with unfailing dedication. So I support the work that the United States Border Patrol is doing. And for that reason I think that we should not only honor them with words but also provide our Border Patrol agents with the resources that they need to do their job. As I said. when I was up in Seattle. one of the things we kept hearing over and over from the Border Patrol is that they need more resources. They need more people at the borders. They need more technology at the borders. In the 9/11 Act. Congress promised to increase the numbers of Border Patrol agents. of immigration agents and of the detention beds that we need when we get these people who are coming without the right documents and that we would also provide stateoftheart technology to help the Border Patrol actually secure the borders. But. unfortunately. time after time after time in this House. that has been voted down. We have not lived up to the promise. and the Border Patrol remains understaffed and without access to necessary space and equipment that they need. So I expect that this House Resolution 1030 will receive broad bipartisan support. I cant imagine too many people who would vote against it. and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues who cast this vote to actually fulfill the promise of this vote. and that would be to give the muchneeded resources to the United States Border Patrol. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2006-09-26
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I would just like to say to the previous speaker that I would really like to see the information on 300 or 400 people running across the border at one time. Because I have just never heard of a case like that. Having said that. we do support the Border Patrol. We. are glad that Mr. JONES has this resolution up on the floor tonight. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2006-09-26
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise to today to express my strong support for H.R. 6164. the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006. I commend the Energy and Commerce Committee for bringing a bipartisan bill to this floor. It is long overdue for Congress to reauthorize the NIHthe last NIH authorization was 13 years ago. This bill authorizes 5 percent increases in funding for the NIH annually through FY 2009. In addition. it will increase the effectiveness of research efforts by reducing repetitive research and maximize strategic coordination and planning. This reauthorization will improve the transparency of research activities. accountability of research dollars and coordination of research efforts at the NIH. The reforms that are proposed in this bill will allow the. NIH to continue to achieve groundbreaking scientific discoveries that will benefit millions of Americans. While this NIH reauthorization bill provides for increased funding for each fiscal year. I am extremely disappointed that Congress has not recently followed suit the last few years. After successfully doubling the NIH budget over 5 years in a bipartisan manner that ended in 2003. funding for the NIH since 2004 has failed to keep up with. inflation. And funding was cut in actual dollar terms for the first time in 36 years in 2006by $62 million. For 2007. the President and the Republican congressional leadership have proposed a freeze in NIH funding. In addition. all 19 Institutes would receive less funding in the House version of the FY 2007 LaborHHSEducation Appropriations bill. This is going in the wrong direction. If Congress does not provide annual funding increases for the NIH. the reforms undertaken in the NIH Reauthorization bill will be less meaningful because we will not be able to provide the NIH and scientists the resources to discover new breakthroughs in biomedical research. Those discoveries. in turn. will lead to better ways of diagnosing and treating many diseases. I am very proud of the fact that the National Institutes of Health has its home in my congressional district. We also have a flourishing biomedical research industrywith thehelp of the NIHthat is on the threshold of many new discoveries and many new cures. We have the potential for breakthroughs in so many areas. While I support the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006. Congress must -adequately fund the NIH at the level it deserves. Now is not the time to rest.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank God for our peace officers. and I especially thank God for. Officer .-Rodney Johnson. who will be laid to rest today. On Thursday he left the comfort and safety of his home so we might be safe in our homes. On Thursday. he put his life at risk so that our.lives would not be at risk. On Thursday. he sacrificed his life so that we might have a better life. A wife has lost a husband. children have lost their father. humanity has lost a great humanitarian. Thank God for peace officer Rodney. Johnson. May he rest in peace.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. when are the House Republicans going to allow a minimum wage bill to come up on the floor where we actually vote on the minimum wage? It needs to become law. As health care. groceries. energy. housing cpsts skyrocket for average consumers. House Republicans would rather help their CEO friends than average Americans who are just trying to make ends meet. Today. fulltime workers who earn the minimum wage are only bringing home $10.700 a year. The average corporate CEO makes that much money during his first 4 hours of work for the year. This is simply not fair. Yet. for months. House Republicans have refused to allow a clean minimum wage vote on this House floor. Do House Republicans really expect that a family can live on less than $11.000 a year? The Democrats want to take the Nation in a new direction. one where the needs of all Americans are addressed. We want a clean vote on the minimum wage. And. Mr. Speaker. in light of the Republican leaderships unwillingness to move legislation on the minimum wage. I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 2429. the legislation to increase the minimum wage.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the life of Santa Ana Police Deputy Chief Bruce Carlson. who passed last Thursday after his long fight with liver cancer. Bruce loved our community and the people of Santa Ana. Bruce joined the Santa Ana Police Department on January 7. 1973. as a patrolman. Through his dedication to service and understanding the concerns of others. Bruce rose in rank to become Field Operations Bureau Commander. overseeing the largest and the most complex operation at the department. His legacy in Santa Ana is not confined to his work with the police department. Bruces closest friends know him to be caring. to be a thoughtful man who would go out of his way to help his community. Bruce demonstrated true courage and maintained a very positive outlook on life throughout his struggle with cancer. He was a tremendous leader and made many significant contributions that helped to make the Santa Ana Police Department the national leader that it is today. especially on homeland security. Bruce Carlson is survived by his wife and his two children. and our tloughts and our prayers are with him today and with them.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. working families are feeling the financial squeeze now more than ever. At.a time when gas prices. tuition bills. and housing costs are skyrocketing. real wages for fulltime workers are declining. Lowincome families are suffering even more. with the lowest inflation adjustment minimum wage in 50 years. The Bush economy has made it difficult for the income of all working Americans to keep up with the rising costs. Democrats have a plan to reserve these misguided tax cuts and redirect them to the middle class and working people who need them most. Mr. Speaker. since the Republicans in this body have refused to raise the minimum wage for the past 9 years. and since they seem intent on adjourning this body before taking up a straighteupordown vote on raising it. I now ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 2429. Congressman GEORGE MILLERs Fair Minimum Wage Act.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we now know what the administration Wanted to hide from the American people: that the consensus view of all 16 intelligence agencies is that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse. not better. that it has fueled the jihadist movement and made us less safe. and not more safe. The Bush administration was wrong about weapons of mass destruction. They were wrong about alleged collaboration between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. and they are wr6ng about this bill. � This bill will weaien. not strengthen. our national security. They are wrong because this bill will place our troops in Iraq and elsewhere around the world in greater danger of torture. both today and in future conflicts. They are wrong because this bill will further erode our already tarnished credibility and moral standing around the world. Let us always remember that our strength flows not only from the force of our military but from the power of our example. And they are wrong be.cause we have learned the hard way that information extracted through torture and extreme. coercion can be unreliable. Remember when Secretary Powell at the United Nations told the world that Saddam Hussein had mobile bioweapons labs? That information came from a person that we turned over to Egypt who was tortured. and the CIA has since acknowledged that information was false. and yet that was importantrinformation that was used as part of our argument to go to war in Iraq. This is. a defining moment for our Congress"and our country. It will define who we are as a people and what we stand for. and yet it gives the President too much of a blank check to unilaterally decide that answer for all of us. It gives the President the authority to unilaterally define what constitutes specific acts of torture. It gives the President the authority to unilaterally decide who. can be detained as an enemy combatant. including American citizens. and. therefore. send them into a legal limbo. Mr. Speaker. when we take very important decisions in the name of the American people. we better get it right. This bill gets it wrong.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Messrs. GORDON. OTTER. BRADY of Pennsylvania. STUPAK. MOLLOHAN and KANJORSKI changed their vote from "no" to."aye." So the motion to recommit was rejected. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. as an original cosponsor of this bill. I commend the Financial Services and Judiciary Committees for working together in a bipartisan spirit to move it forward. I especially want to thank Ranking Member CONYERS and Ranking Member FRANK and -you. Chairman OXLEY. for your support and leadership. This bill provides much needed relief to Floridas commercial firms. which are experiencing severeincreases. and I mean thousands of percent increases in insurance premiums. This is not endemic to Florida. It is really happening across the Nation. Surplus lines are a safety valve on traditional insurance markets. In some cases. they are the only way firms can get insurance when regulated lines fail. Market perception of unsustainable increases in catastrophic risk has resulted in the precipitous decline of insurance coverage availability at astronomical cost to consumers. This bill expands market capacity to provide surplus lines coverage. It eliminates hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative costs and duplicative filing fees. which are passed on to consumers. Maintaining the status quo means higher costs for commercial firms. consumers. and ultimately our economy. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill because it ensures that companies are able to obtain insurance. meaning they can stay in our communities. provide much needed jobs and keep our economies strong. Companies in my home State are literally closing their doors or leaving Florida altogether because they cannot get insurance. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. this is a day I have waited for for a long time. and I really want to commend the author. the ranking member. Ms. WATERS. and all of the committee for bringing this bill before us. I come from a county where the median price of a singlefamily home is almost $800.000. where 800foot condos sell for about $500.000. As you might imagine. the FHA program simply does not work and hasnt for a long time. Recently. there was an analysis done in California. Factoring in housing costs. California has one of the poorest populations of the 50 States. and this measure is going to help tremendously for normal working families to have an opportunity to get that piece of the American Dream. And- I really am very pleased that it is here today. I think I have asked Mr. FRANK on a weekly basis when this is going to be done. and I really commend you. for moving this forward and I understand there is a significant chance the Senate will do so as well. It is very important. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I. too. have no further requests for time. and I want to reiterate the comments of my colleague from North Carolina. It has been a pleasure to work with him. and I look forward to this being the first of many opportunities to do that.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. while I intend to cast my vote in support of the Higher Education Act extension. I am extremely concerned about the unintended consequences on students at Nova Southeastern University in my congressional district and many other degreeseeking students that rely on financial assistance. Nova Southeastern University is the largest independent institution of higher learning in Florida. offering the benefits of education to 25.000 students. Nova Southeasterns student body is unique. Eighty percent are evening and parttime graduate degreeseeking students who participate in the workforce while they are seeking their degree. Nova ranks first in the Nation in awarding postgraduate degrees to Hispanic students and is among the leaders in awarding advanced degrees to African American students and disadvantaged students who depend on financial assistance to further their education. Until earlier this year. Nova was also one of the Nations leading participants in the School as Lenders program. This program allowed Nova to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in lowcost loans to students. Premiums from the sale of these loans provided the university with millions of dollars annually which it used to educate its students. School officials estimate that this years premiums issued through an -Eligible Lender Trustee may be worth as much as $10 million for the school. But this is not just about one institution in south Florida. The version of H.R. 6138 that the House will vote - on and ultimately pass today threatens to eliminate the ability of every school issuing loans through an Eligible Lender Trustee to control these premiums. Ultimately. the students seeking to improve their lives through higher education will bear the brunt of this change. HR. 6138 also eliminates the ability of school lenders and Eligible Lender Trustees to issue lowcost PLUS loans to graduate students. The expensive cost of graduate and professional school programs often requires students to withdraw multiple loans. Eliminating an important source of these loans will drive graduate students to seek more expensive loans. with greater fees and risks to the students. While the overall goals of this legislation are noble and I support the programs that benefit so many. I encourage Members to carefully review the legislation because some of the provisions will hurt students more than help them and in some cases destroy a young persons dream of a higher education and a better future. I understand and support this legislation but believe that not every aspect of it includes the rosy picture that has been painted here today.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I appreciate the fact that she is going to vote for the ultimate bill here. Just to address some of the School as Lender issues. All schools in the School as Lender program may continue to operate as they.have been. All schools that have an Eligible Lender Trustee agreement in place may continue to operate. but they must comply with the School as Lender program requirements. It is only fair that schools that make loans to their students under the Federal student loan programs comply with the same rules. whether they provide the loans directly or through a trustee. No students loan is in jeopardy. every eligible student will get a loan. and it will now be a lowcost loan because of the fierce competition in the student loan market. In fact. because all schools must use the funds earned on these loans for needbased grants. students are the big winners under these rules. Indeed. Senator TED KENNEDY has written a letter to Secretary Spellings on August 1 demanding that this loophole under the School as Lender provisioft for those Eligible Lender Trustee agreements be eliminated. Shame on those schools who dont want to use these funds for needbased grants for their students. but instead on their inflated administrative budgets. Finally. let me just comment on the work that we have done on Pell Grants. Since I was elected in 2000. I can -tell you. I am pretty proud of the record of this Congress. Republicans and Democrats. in terms of increasing Pell Grant funding. Since 2000. we have increased Pell Grants by 71 percent. from $7.6 billion a year to $13 billion a year. The maximum award since 2000 has gone up from $3.300 per student to $4.050 per student. Since 2000. we haye had an increase in enrollment of 36 percent. from 3.9 million students to 5.3 million students. And under the underlying Higher Education Act. we have even strengthened the Pell Grant program further. We have provided for yearround Pell Grants for the first time. We increased the authorization level to $6.000. the highest amount in history. We have also had FellPlus initiatives. to say if you are a high achieving lowincome student. you will get an extra $1.000 your first 2 years. and in your third and fourth year. if you are a high achieving student who is Felleligible and you have a 3.0 GPA and you agree to major in math. science or foreign languages. you will get an additional $4.000 per year. So we have the strongest. most vibrant Fell Grant program in history. It is one that we can all be proud of. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this extension because truly Fell Grants and Perkins loans are the passport out of poverty for young people.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: TUBBS JONES (democrat)
Chamber: H

legislation will help to publicize common sense measures that can be taken to prevent the senseless death. injury. and loss of property that result from these tragedies. H. Res. 295 is supported by the Center for Campus Fire Safety. the National Fire Protec.tion Association. the International Association of Fire Chiefs. the International Association of Fire Fighters. the National Association of State Fire Marshals. and many others.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of runaway youth prevention programs. Children are our greatest resource. and positive investment in our children is essential for Americas future. We are facing a potential crisis in America. There are nearly 20 million American teenagers that are at serious risk of not achieving a positive adulthood. For our Nations homeless youth. this path towards positive adulthood is even more challenging. It is estimated that each year there are 1.5 million runaway and homeless youth in the United States. Last year. in Dallas County we saw about 9 thousand children ran away from home. We cannot simply forget these children. They need a lifeline. a place to stay. and the tools to have a bright future. The Promise House Emergency Shelter and Street Outreach Programs are exceptional programs that are vital to Dallas. Promise House offers invaluable services for runaway and homeless youth. I have seen- firsthand the outstanding contributions Promise House has made to the Dallas Community. Promise House not only gives these young people a safe place to stay. but it gives them a lifeline. and a chance to change their outlook and situation. I would like to commend the staff of Promise House. Dr. Harriet Boorhem. and the many volunteers for the extraordinary service they provide to the Dallas community. I would also like to thank Mr. PORTER for offering this Resolution.
Date: 2006-09-27
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank Chairman YOUNG and Chairman LATOUIETTE and Ranking Member OBERSTAR for their work in bringing this important bill to the House floor for a vote. It has been nearly 20 years since we have passed a bill to help out our Nations rail workers who were injured on the job and unable to continue working in the railroad industry. I am pleased to see that everyone has agreed to support an increase in their allowed monthly earnings limit so that these hardworking men and women can work freely in jobs that are not as physically demanding as those in the railroad industry. H.R. 5483 will increase the outside earnings limits for disabled workers from $400 to $700 per month. which will then increase yearly based on the Social Security index. We all know that the cost of living in this country is skyrocketing. Whether it is the cost of needed medicines. increased insurance premiums. or the high price of gasoline. this small increase will make a major impact on the ability of these individuals to provide for their families. I stand in strong support of this legislation. and I am happy to see everyone has come together today and that the views of all interested groups. not just a select few. were included in this legislation. - I encourage all of my colleagues to support this important legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.