macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman. And certainly Ive worked with the gentleman from California on a number of issues. and I rise in vigorous opposition to this amendment as the cochairman and founder of the Pakistan Caucus. And let me frame the reason. First of all. we have a very responsible and sizable Pakistani American community that champions the idea of a democratic and economically stable Pakistan. It was only a few years ago that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. However. the government that has carried on. although living in a difficult neighborhood and having difficult challenges. is a result of her efforts to try to bring democracy to Pakistan. The people of Pakistan live in a very difficult neighborhood. and if we abandon this assistanceobviously. defense assistancewe abandon the people of Pakistan. We abandon those who want an education and economic stability. We abandon those soldiers in the Pakistani military who have fallen in battle fighting against terrorists. We will abandon those who have been in the Swat Valley. We will abandon those who have been in the mountains of Pakistan. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

It will abandon those who are fighting for democracy. with the Pakistani President heading to participate in NATO with Ambassador Sherry Rehman here. who interacts with Members of Congress. Let me tell the American people. Pakistan is an effective ally with challenges. and we should not deny them the opportunity to correct and turn the corner. I ask my colleagues to recognize the value of Pakistans alliance. It is better to be engaged than to not be engaged. Let us oppose this amendment. It is the wrong direction to go.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me thank the gentleman for his hard work. and let me have an open letter to our friends in Pakistan. Pakistani Americans. that your friendship is appreciated. The hard work that we have done together is appreciated. But we are looking to begin the reopening of those borders that are crucial to the survival and the efforts of our men and women who are presently in Afghanistan and on that border. And I would also say that with the leadership of the new ambassador. with the efforts that have been made by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. they understand. and have made announcements that they would begin the opening of those lines. not only of communication but travel. and we would hope that that would happen soon. Again. I emphasize working with the Pakistani people is crucial. Developing allies is crucial in that very difficult neighborhood where Pakistanis themselves are subject to terrorist acts.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the ranking member of the Transportation Committee. and I thank him for his leadership. Many Members have firsthand experience in addressing some of the angst of our constituents. whether its in West Virginia or in the State of Texas. California. Ohio. maybe even Utah. We recognize that we have an obligation as part of the international family to engage in trade. That its part of the economic fabric of this construct in which we work together. But Mr. RAHALLS motion is both instructive and vital. For those who have had the opportunity to receive most recently Federal transportation dollars. the city of Houston has waited a mighty long time. But in the course of doing that. unfortunately. over two decades of trying to secure funding for a light rail project. we have seen the steel industry in America decimated. The story of the San Francisco bridge is not only tragic. it is with great sadness that one would lose jobs and opportunities because of the way that particular project was bid. It is no insult to China for America to stand up and demand that we Buy American. It is no insult to our other allies for. Mr. Speaker. that is what everyone does. This motion creates an even playing field in a new world matrix where every man and every woman on the international field of trade is for themselves. Let me tell you the story of dealing with Federal funding. Ive made every effort to press for the building of railcars. We dont make railcars. What we have are companies that are based here in the United States. owned elsewhere. but are based here and therefore they make these particular railcars in the United States. Thats at least halfway because it does create jobs. I frankly believe that if we are giving Federal funding. those same companies should try to relocate the railmaking process in the area where the light rail or the rail system is going. The prohibiting of the segmentation of highway transit and Amtrak projects is brilliant because what it does. again. it creates an even playing field for the construction companies. for those who are in essence experts on making the aspects of highway and transit. and allows them the even playing field of bidding. To require opportunities for public notice is crucial to give our companies an even playing field. Why should we be ashamed of trying to rebuild manufacturing. to try to put life back into the steel industry. because nothing is ever final until you make the effort to do so.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

This gives us the opportunity again to match what is being done in other countries. There will be American companies that will tell you that bribes are passed. while they are trying to negotiate. by others trying to do business overseas. I had a constituent in my office today that said that they engaged with a Korean company. They went in with an agreement. they had a signed agreement. They gave them their intelligence and proprietary information. They said that we will match this and do this together. When they got to the endpoint. that Korean company said. well. weve got to go out for bid. when they had been promised. the American company. that that would not be the case. that they would be partnering all the way. Mr. Speaker. let me tell you what the final results were. The Korean company didnt go out for bid. They took the proprietary information and they did the job themselvesnever did this kind of work. dont know how to do the work. but the American company was left out the door. Not exactly fitting what Mr. RAHALL is saying. but as an example of why we have to match the kind of intensity on the international arena. We have to match it by protecting American companies. I would say that this is an important. vital motion to instruct. and I want Federal dollars to be utilized for American companies. I believe this is the right approach to Buy American.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak in favor of Congressman RAHALLS Motion to Instruct Conferees to close the loopholes in the Buy America laws. By closing these loopholes. we can create more American jobs. and revive our domestic manufacturing base. Our economy is still recovering from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Today. more than 2.2 million construction and manufacturing workers are still out of work. Lets use this opportunity to get them back to work. Provisions contained in the Senate amendment to H.R. 4348 will help ensure that the materials used to construct our roads and bridges are produced in the United States. These projects are financed with taxpayer dollars. and we should be using materials produced domestically. not outsourced overseas. I want to encourage my colleagues to support this motion. and to seize this opportunity to promote our construction and manufacturing industries. By producing and manufacturing domestically. we will create and sustain goodpaying jobs in our local communities.
Date: 2012-05-17
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize and celebrate the achievements of Asian and Pacific Americans and their invaluable contributions to the American family. It is a privilege to represent an extremely diverse district in Orange County. where many Asian Pacific Americans call home. As a Member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). I am a proud cosponsor of House Resolution 621. recognizing May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. It is also a time to honor the rich traditions and immense contributions Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have made to our nation. May is also Older Americans Month. a time where we recognize older adults and show our appreciation for their guiding wisdom and commitment to our communities. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge three extraordinary APIA community members from Orange County for their distinguished contributions that have enhanced the moral fabric of my district. the state of California. and our country. Arts and music play an instrumental role in preserving and promoting the Vietnamese American culture. I would like to honor Mr. Tu Cong Phung. a renowned musician. Composer Phung arrived in the United States in 1980. as a boat refugee from Vietnam. His romantic music captures the essence of love that has become an integral part of Vietnamese musiclovers across for over 50 years. Mr. Minh Tam Nguyen is a businessman. educator. and a veteran. Mr. Nguyen and his family immigrated to America in 1975 and began serving the community as a social worker in California. Mr. Nguyen founded Tams Beauty Salon and Tams Beauty Colleges and has educated over 25.000 students during his career and is proud to serve the Orange County immigrant community.
Date: 2012-05-18
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. as one of the cosponsors. I rise in strong support of Amendment #108. This amendment would strike Section 3503 of the legislation. which allows the Maritime Administration to exempt itself from the Federal Acquisition Regulations. the Competition in Contracting Act and Federal Property Management laws. and thus dispose of obsolete vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet using less than full and open competition and a transparent process. This amendment should be adopted because it will help ensure competition in contracting for ship disposal by the Maritime Administration. If this amendment is not adopted. MARAD will be permitted to enter into contracts to dispose of their ships without competition or transparency. This puts American jobs and industry at risk. MARAD has expressed an interest in sending decommissioned ships to China to be scrapped. China wants this steel because it is stronger and better than what they produce. This will result in us buying inferior steel from China and China buying our steel at depressed rates because of no competition. Our firms have to be able to compete on an equal playing field and our own government should be encouraging it. We should be encouraging the recycling of superior American made steel to be used here. Instead. Section 3503 stacks the deck against competition and against domestic firms. Why should we give China superior products in a sweetheart deal? If they want better steel they can pay fair market price or make it themselves. President Obama in his memorandum for the Heads of the Executive Departments and Agencies from March 2009. on Government Contracting. said that. "the Federal Government has an overriding obligation to American taxpayers. It should perform its function efficiently and effectively while ensuring that its actions result in the best value for taxpayers � . . Excessive reliance by agencies on sole source contracts . . . creates a risk that taxpayer funds will be spent on contracts that are wasteful. inefficient. subject to misuse or otherwise not well designed to serve the needs of the Federal Government of the interest of the American taxpayer." The President was right and this amendment holds MARAD to this standard.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 4201. "Servicemember Family Protection Act." This legislation amends the Servicemember Civil Relief Act and provides protection for servicemembers who lose temporary custodial responsibility for a child from court due to deployment or anticipated deployment. Upon return from deployment. the court must reinstate the custody order that was in effect preceding the deployment provided that the reinstatement is in the childs best interest. H.R. 4201 would prevent previous and future deployment from being considered in the determination of a childs best interest in a motion seeking a permanent order to modify custody. In addition. it also creates a uniform nationwide standard for dealing with servicemembers and deployment. Just as our service men and women are stationed around the world fighting for our rights and freedom. we must protect their rights here at home. According to a report from USA Today. military divorces reached an all time high in 2011. When children are involved. these divorce proceedings face even greater complications. It is unfair to say the least. to use a servicemembers previous service to this country and possible future service against them in child custody battles. Not only does this create division in family households. it also creates negative feelings towards military service in the minds of the dedicated men and women who protect our freedom. Past problems in these court cases have centered on a lack of uniformity of the law. Many states even lack laws concerning deployment as a criterion by courts. In previous cases this has caused servicemembers to fight custody suits in up to three states: the state where the suit began. the state where the child is residing and the state where the servicemember is stationed. Dealing with child custody battles is difficult even in civilian life. With the additional stress many in our military face. sometimes it can become unbearable. The Department of Defense and Service has even observed a connection between child custody battles and military suicides. There must be justice and uniformity when deciding child custody disputes for our servicemembers. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3140 "Mass Transit Intelligence Prioritization Act."
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I thank you for yielding. and I thank the chairman of the full committee and the ranking member. As a ranking member of the Transportation Security Subcommittee. its my privilege to rise to support H.R. Let me thank the author of the bill. the gentleman from Minnesota. for his leadershiphe is always speaking eloquently but fighting for our veterans. and we thank you very much both for your service and your leadershipand also to thank the gentlelady from Florida for her kind and astute remarks regarding the importance of TSA. In the last 24 hours. there was a breach of security in San Diego when an individual went through a secured door and boarded a plane. The immediate response of some of the commentators was: What was TSA doing? I think the only comment is: They were doing their job. And that breach obviously occurred before any entering into the secured area. but it tells us how important TSA really is and being on the front line of securing this Nation and being part of the team that has allowed us to not have a tragic incident on our soil since 9/11. It is important to have the TSA comply with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. USERRA. ensures that our valued citizens who have served in the Armed Forces. Reserves. National Guard. or other uniformed services are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service. They deserve this protection. Under current law. the TSA is not required to comply with certain provisions of Federal labor laws. including USERRA. This is not right. Currently the TSA. which has more than 50.000 employees. is not required to hold positions and promotions for employees who are called away for military service. Ten thousand veterans serve on the TSAs workforce. That is onefifth. or 20 percent. of their entire workforce.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 2764. "WMD Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2011." This legislation amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). through the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA). to undertake various activities to combat the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Those efforts would include assessments and analyses of threats and the sharing of such reports with federal. state. local. and tribal authorities. While our intelligence community is strong and sophisticated. it is made even more powerful through the sharing of information between federal. state. and local officials as well as across bureaus. We are all working towards a common goalto keep the US and its citizens safe. In order to ensure we are working with all of our available resources and information. we must continue to advance regulations that allow for the sharing of information between our officials. This also includes ensuring that local law enforcement officers across the nation are trained to identify any potential threats and contact the correct authorities. A partnership between DHS analysts and local law enforcement can enhance situational awareness with respect to the threat of terrorism to the millions of Americans who rely on mass transit systems. including the threat of an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction. Mass transit systems across the world have continually been a target for terrorist threats. namely the 2004 terrorist attack on a packed commuter train in Madrid. Spain that killed 191 people. There was also the suicide bombing attack in London that left 50 dead in 2005. While we have so far been fortunate to have not had any incidents of terrorism in our mass transit systems. we know of the threat planned by alQaeda to commemorate the both anniversary of 9/11 by attacking US mass transit systems. Thankfully. a Naval SEALS raid on Osama bin Ladens compound discovered and thwarted this plot. Past incidents that were looked over by federal authorizes have been resolved by local enforcement officers. It is imperative that they continue to assist the efforts of the DHS and that the DHS is open and accessible to these officers via the communication of appropriate information.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Coming from Texas. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas. the ranking member of the subcommittee. for this legislation. I rise in support of H.R. 915. We have heard that there has been a constant intrusion of activity over the border. specifically dealing with drug cartels. We recognize that it is important to utilize the combination of resources. and fusion centers represent an excellent logistical use of that. as they have been in our urban centers. Let me support and salute the utilization of fusion centers because it is extremely important that we provide a safe and secure border in the United States and on border States.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Again. let me thank the gentlelady from Illinois for her outstanding leadership on this. Its been a joy to work with her. The American people are certainly appreciative of her efforts in leading this fight. I also want to thank Ms. MAXINE WATERS. who is our subcommittee ranking member. and I also want to extend congratulations to Senator HARRY REID and Senator TOM COBURN. I also want to just say a word for the bipartisan relationships that have developed on this bill. This is how we move bills forward. This is how weve got to move the country forward. and this is what the American people are looking to us to do. This is not a Democratic or a Republican Congress. It is a Congress of the American people. And the progress of this flood insurance bill is indicative of that fact. With that. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

I misspoke when I referred to Ms. WATERS as the ranking member of the Housing Subcommittee. That honor goes to the Congressman from Illinois
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the topic of this Special Order.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you so much. Congresswoman LOWEY. Thank you for your leadership and your commitment as a Jewish American woman. and for blazing a trail. And thank you for acknowledging my daughter and sons bar and bat mitzvah.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

It was the twins. yes. both of them. and it was a pretty incredible weekend. It was really amazing to. coincidentally. have the Bnai Mitzvah service and ceremony during Jewish American Heritage Month. Their birthday is May 15. and we had a wonderful celebration last weekend. Thank you so much. And thank you for being an incredible example. As a Jewish mother who is raising Jewish daughters. thank you for being an incredible example for them.
Date: 2012-05-30
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much. It is now my privilegeboy. its hard to say enough good things about an incredible woman. a fighter. someone who has been a champion for the values that I know I was raised to believe in around my family dinner table growing up. the epitome of Tikkun olam. Mr. Speaker. let mewere going to use some Yiddish phrases here and Hebrew expressions tonight that some may not understand. But the foundation of the Jewish community. and our commitments to service and our commitment to fighting injustice. is based in the notion of Tikkun olam. which means repairing the world. And so often. we have mountains in front of us that seem so tough to climb. and repairing the world can seem like an insurmountable obstacle. But working together to address a little bit of injustice. just a small bite at a time. but banding together to do it. is something that the Jewish community has stood for for many years. And there is no finer example of someoneI have to tell you that JAN SCHAKOWSKY. as a representative from Illinois. and as someone who had a reputation that I became aware of long before I actually had the privilege of serving in this institution. was someone I wanted to be like when I grew up because she has been the absolute epitome of what I know I was taught to believe in around my family table. which was that we should stand up for people who have no voice. fight for the civil rights and civil liberties that are instilled as Jewish values. And Im so thrilled that you joined us here tonight. Congresswoman JAN SCHAKOWSKY from the great State of Illinois.