macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. you know the numbers do not lie. Here they are. My colleague mentioned them. the gentleman from Texas mentioned them. 7.2 GDP increase. the highest rate of growth in 19 years. By the way. I never heard our good friends from the other side of the aisle say we were wrong. we were wrong in suggesting and proposing tax increases as a solution. we were wrong in proposing legislation that would have increased the deficit by almost $1 trillion. And yet they say that they are concerned about the deficit. All of us are concerned about the deficit. And we believe that one of the ways to lower the deficit. clearly. is to create economic growth and to incentivize the private sector to create economic growth. Our good friends on the other side. the Democrats. let me quote the gentleman from Hawaii . he said. quote. "I see public debt climbing through the roof." end of quote. The gentleman from New Jersey said. quote. "The Bush economic blueprint. the House GOP plan is also fiscally irresponsible." we have talked about that a little while ago. "becausethe debt it would create. saddling our children with debt and hurting longterm economic growth." And. yet. that party proposed increasing the debt that they are saying is high. We would all agree that we want to control that debt. the deficit. but they say that this. what the leadership of that party proposes. this year alone increases to the deficit of almost $1 trillion. You know. they may get upset at me because I am bringing up some of these facts. but I think one cannot deny the facts. One cannot deny that the Presidents tax cut proposal package. that this House. because of the leadership of this House. the majority leadership. is working. And they cannot deny that they propose amendments to increase the deficit by almost $1 trillion.
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Well. I think the facts bear that out. That is why. again. if you listen carefully you might even hear. you might hear that crunching of peoples mouths because they are eating their words. They are chewing those words. And one person who has been a leader and an inspiration to a lot of us here. trying to bring fiscal sanity to this. and obviously the President has been leading that charge. and the leadership here. but one of the Members in this freshman class that has done an incredible job is the gentleman from New Mexico . the person who understands the importance of controlling spending. who understands the Importance of controlling the size of the deficit. and who understands that the way to increase the economy. to make this economy grow. is not by taking more and more money from the American taxpayer. And. I thank him for joining us here. I would yield to the gentleman now.
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Let me. if I may. the gentleman is reminding us and me of what the situation was. It was absolutely right. That is why it is even more remarkable what the President and the majority in this Congress were able to do. More remarkable because we are dealing with the effects of 911. the effects of 911 when we all know what a travesty and a tragedy that was. We are dealing with the dotcorn crash. as the gentleman mentioned. We are dealing with the scandals in Wall Street. And yet. despite all those things. because the President had a plan. a fiscally responsible plan. the economy is picking up. Despite all of these things. despite the fact that we are at war. and I know that some people do not believe we are at war. The esteemed Democratic leader whom I respect and I am going to paraphrase it. I do not have the quote with me on the floor. she said something to the effect of. I do not feel that we are at war. She has the right to not feel that we are at war. but the reality is that we are at war. that we were attacked. And despite the fact that we are at war. because of the efforts of the President. because of his sound leadership. because of his truly sound leadership. because the leadership in this House and the majority party of this House and the majority of the Members. this House voted for that stimulus package that. again. our good friend on the Democratic side said. it is not going to work. I think maybe thinking the economy has taken such a huge hit because of 911. because of. the crash of dotcoins that no way. nothing can work. This President had a sound policy. It was approved by this House. by this Congress. and it is working. And without that tax relief. without those tax relief packages of 2001 and 2003. 1.5 million Americans would be out of work right now. Right now. Those are people that would not be working. Was it worthwhile taking all the heat. taking all the political heat to make sure that we produced. that the economy grew to produce those 1.5 million jobs? Ask those 1.5 million Americans if it was worthwhile. The tax relief package of 2001 contributed nearly $400 billion in growth in 2002. again. despite our dear friends on the Democratic side claiming that the tax program did not work. quote/ unquote as the gentleman from Maryland said. And again. since 2003 the tax relief plan. initial claims for employment insurance have declined by more than 10 percent since then. It is real. It works. We knew it was going to work. and we also knew. we clearly also knew that the Democrats answer to the problem. which was massive tax increases and massive additions to the deficit. would have been a total disaster. And so I for one am not apologetic. I for one am not apologetic when I say I am proud that I was part of a small part of making sure that the Federal Government took just a little bit less of the American hardearned taxpayers dollars.
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. When the gentleman was speaking right now. one thing that hit me and it hits me every time I listen to the gentleman and other colleagues on the Republican side. and I listen to our colleagues on the Democratic side. the gentleman Just said that it is the peoples money. And yet when we listen to the Democrats. they say we are giving. that the government is giving to the people. A gift. We are giving tax cuts. We are giving away this money. In other words. government. we. being government. is giving away this money. Wait a second. Since when did government create it? Did government produce it? Where does that money come from? The gentleman from Texas and I have had those conversations time and time again. We share a frustration when we hear those debates. That may be one of the reasons that when we are sitting on the Committee on the Budget and the gentleman from Iowa (Chairman NusSLE) had a proposal to cut just 1 percent in waste. fraud and abuse. we can recall that not one single Democrat. not one. could even make the mistake of voting to cut 1 percent of waste. fraud and abuse. Of course not. Because it is not the peoples money in their eyes. It is governments money. So if we waste it. if we throw it away on credit cards. whatever we do. it does not matter. There is more where that comes from. That is why they proposed between the House and the other Chamber. 25 times they proposed increasing taxes. Why? Because it is the governments money. The people are here. It seems they believe. to serve government. The people are like a cow that we milk. that government milks. That is the only purpose. And that Is a frustrating thing I hear all the time. And that is why I love to hear what I just heard from the three gentlemen that no. it is not. It is not governments money. It is the peoples money. And that is why I am not ashamed. I am not embarrassed when we support initiatives to allow the people to keep a little bit more of their money. The gentleman from Texas mentioned that it is a tiny percent of the budget that we are dealing with. but that tiny percent allows the American people to creat economic growth in a way that we have not seen in many. many years. And I do not know if the gentleman share those frustrations that I do.
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for again his leadership. I think it is worth restating. We hear it time and time again all the rhetoric that. I hear it every day. Republicans are cutting taxes on the rich. I think it is worth restating and the gentleman from Texas mentioned that some of the highprofile Democratic leaders around this country. some of them said they want to get rid of all the tax cuts they propose. I want to talk about what those were. what those are. what are some of those socalled rich people that the Democrats want to raise taxes on. And. again. if that were to happen. if they were to succeed. it would reinstate nine million lowincome Americans back on the tax rolls. Those are lowincome Americans that are now not paying Federal income taxes at all because of the previous tax cuts. It would reinstate the marriage penalty. Again. I repeat. I guess they think only rich people get married. It is a wakeup call. Not only rich people get married. It would cut in half the $1.000 per child tax credit. I am not going to comment on that. It would raise taxes on education savings by 75 percent. It would eliminate the income tax deduction for paying for college tuition. It would increase a double tax of dividends by as much as 62 percent. It would eliminate the small. I emphasize it would eliminate the small business expense again for small businesses. It would reinstate the death tax. and it would eliminate the emergency tax relief to areas affected by the attacks of September 11. 2001. That is what is at stake here. That is what we are talking about. Those are the tax cuts that before I got elected a majority of this Congress. Republicans. fought for. the President fought for and successfully got. That is why we have seen the economic growth. Those are the tax cuts that we better believe that I think the American people deserve. again. because I believe it is their noney. It is their money. They have the right to keep a little bit more of their money. and if somebody thinks that those 9 million low income Americans who are now not paying Federal income tax are rich. they have the right to think so. Like I repeat. the gentlewoman from California . who I respect. has the right to feel that we are not at war. I just respectfully say that they are wrong. We do not have a lot of time. but I know that the gentleman from Texas
Date: 2003-11-05
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman. Again. he is absolutely right. The bottom line. the tax cuts are working. It is doing what our esteemed colleagues on the Democratic side said time and time again it would not happen. It would not work. It is working. Those tax cuts are working. We mentioned who are receiving those tax cuts that so many want to repeal. and I also want to mention one last time their alternatives. Their alternative to the tax cut. their alternative to letting the American people keep a little more money that is working. their alternatives are what they propose. as I mentioned it before. to raise taxes 25 times. If we combine this chamber and the other chamber. 25 times to raise taxes. That is their alternative. and they also proposed alternatives to major legislation this year alone that would have added $890 billion to the deficit. The good thing is. thank God in a democracy we have alternatives. and the majority of this House went along with the Presidents alternative. Cut taxes on the American people. cut taxes on small business. cut taxes on the hardworking taxpayer of the country. The results. alas. no big surprise. economy is rebounding. It is rebounding strongly. So I am very grateful for the Presidents leadership.
Date: 2003-11-06
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. My Fifth Congressional District in Florida is home to one of the southeasts largest prison complexes. and that is the prison complex in Coleman. Florida. It -is a very small rural county. At Coleman. working for Federal Prison Industry is a heavily sought after benefit that the inmates want. If an inmate misbehaves. he cannot work for FPI and they have lost that privilege. Inmates who work are proven to be less violent and more able to be reintegrated into society. We have to remember that these Federal inmates have broken the laws governing our land. In turn. we house them. we feed them. we provide them with some of the best medical care which our taxpayers very often resent. When I say we. I mean the American taxpayer. We also offer. but not mandate. the opportunity for these inmates to gain some work skills. The Federal Government owes it to the taxpayers to utilize Federal Prison Industries for efficient and inexpensive government production. I regularly hear from the Coleman employees and members of their families. They all feel that knowing that an employee is working for FPI is a greater safety factor. My mama always used to say that an idle mind is the devils workshop. especially in prison. and keeping the prisoners busy to me is a safety issue for the prison guards. Given the current fiscal crunch that we are having and the estimates that we need to fund the ongoing war against terrorism. we should not pass a measure that will cost the taxpayers $589 million.
Date: 2003-11-06
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

(during debateQn.moion to.jstruct conferees on H.R.. 2660). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 108352) on the resolution (H. Res. 434) waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.
Date: 2003-11-07
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. this legislation has a number of component parts. concurrent receipt. It has a $500 million human capital performance fund that will reward civil servants for outstanding performance. something we have never had before. It has a services acquisition reform act element that will reform the way we buy and purchase services which can save literally billions of dollars for Americas taxpayers. and it has a national security personnel system that we have created that will allow the Department of Defense to shed the shackles of its 50yearold civil service structure. because when it comes to our civil service. the tradition of preserving traditions has become a tradition. It is time for that to change. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have come up with some statements on this that I think are off the mark. They have noted that this bill makes a mockery of labormanagement relations. This conference report includes chapter 71. the labormanagement relations in the list of nonwalvable chapters in title V of the U.S. Code. The agreement sets up an extensive collaborative process that requires the Department to work side by side with the unions and employee groups in setting up the human resources management system for the Department of Defense. The agreement sets up an extensive collaborative process that requires the Department to work side by side with the unions in setting up the process in which man-. agement and labor work together in the future. The second and third requirements are new to Federal law. No other agencies are required to coordinate with their employees. a good precedent. Another gentleman said that the bill eliminates overtime pay for civilian employees. That is absolutely false. Overtime pay is not eliminated. The agreement. in addition to having $500 million in a human capital performance fund for civil servants who perform in an outstanding fashion. the agreement provides the Department the authority to improve the current provisions in law relating to overtime pay for some of the Departments most valuable employees. It asks for this language not to scrap overtime pay. instead. they are asking for authority not to be bound by the voluminous restrictions and requirements in title V that dictate how. when. and where DOD is authorized to administer overtime pay. This will allow the Department of Defense to move into the modern age.
Date: 2003-11-18
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate the gentleman from Louisiana on. I think. a very good bill. controversial but weaving a lot of disparate sections together. I thank him and the others for the hard work and determined effort that went into the completion of this conference report. I want to point out two sections in particular under my committees jurisdiction which demonstrate the value we have gotten in adding flexibility to government contracting. First. we have the energy savings performance contracts that we make permanent in this legislation. Energy savings per-. formance contracts. ESPCs. allow agencies to contract with energy service companies to upgrade and retrofit existing Federal buildings with modern. energyefficient equipment. The agencies pay for this upgrade using the energy savings generated by the upgrade themselves. These contract mechanisms enable the Federal agencies to improve energy efficiency of their facilities without depending on annual congressional appropriations for capital improvements. From 1988 to 2000. agencies using ESPCs to leverage an estimated $795 million in private sector financing for energy improvements in Federal buildings. resulted in a 20percent savings. This legislation makes ESPCs permanent. I also want to describe a new acquisition authority granted in this legislation. This is the authority granted by the Department of Energy to engage in what are called Other Transactions in certain circumstances. Other Transactions. OTs. are contractual arrangements that support research and development without using standard procurement contract grants or cooperative agreements. They have been used successfully in the Department of Defense for a number of years. Firms who are understandably hesitant to conduct research for the government because of government patent rules. accounting practices. and business requirements are willing to consider working with us under these arrangements. Some companies that have tried to work with the government under normal procurement rules have found it impossible to remain competitive in the private sector and contract under standard government restrictions and rules. It is time to recognize the government needs the best. the most innovative research available. We need to become increasingly selfreliant in the energy field. We need to engage inventive firms that have until now refused to do business with the Federal Government because of arcane and inflexible standards. This new flexibility is a major step toward harnessing the magic of Americas research and development center in our quest for energy independence. I urge an "aye" on the rule and an "aye" on the bill.
Date: 2003-11-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. let me just say it is a pleasure to follow my friend and colleague from California. and I have enjoyed working with her on these issues and the leadership she has given to the human rights issues in Vietnam. I rise in support of H. Res. 427. a resolution to that congratulates the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam for its courageous leadership and calls for religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam. Mr. Speaker. Vietnams constitution protects the rights of religious belief. and the Vietnamese government has acceded to a number of international treaties to protect the right to faith and practice. Buddhism has a 2.000 year history in Vietnam. and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is an important part of this tradition. Yet. in 1981. the Vietnamese government outlawed the UBCV. the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. and has since detained and harassed many of its clergy members and subjected them to other forms of persecution. Earlier this year. the Vietnamese Prime Minister met with the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. the Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Church of Vietnam. and assured him that previous arrests were mistakes and that the government would respect and honor religious freedom. But despite these promises. the Vietnamese government arrested members this past September after they held a meeting to discuss church matters and elect new leadership. The punishment by Vietnamese authorities of individuals who practice their religious faith or exert other basic human rights are not uncommon in Vietnam. In addition to the arrests of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do and other members of the UBCV. the Vietnamese government has Imprisoned father Nguyen Huu Le. Dr. Nguyen Dan Que. Father Van Ly and three of his relatives. and many other individuals for practicing their faiths and for promoting human rights in Vietnam. As the United States continues to establish diplomatic and economic relationships with Vietnam. we have to remember that many of the most basic issues remain unresolved. including the lack of religious freedom and related human rights violations. House Resolution 427 sends a clear signal that we will not tolerate these violations. Mr. Speaker. I commend the new leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. and I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bipartisan resolution.
Date: 2003-11-19
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman yielding me this time. I just want to thank the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from California for working with US. This is a bipartisan agreement. I will let my colleagues know that Collin County is expected to 4ncrease by 73 percent in population by the year 2020. so this is a needed court and long overdue. Mr. Speaker. you know. the role of the Federal Government Is to serve people. And one way the government serves the people is through the judicial system. Well. the people of Piano. nearly 250.000 strong and the largest city in Collin County. do not have access to a nearby Federal court. Simply put. todays bill Is good legislation that is long overdue. Anytime a lawyer wants to file a court paper. they have to drive 48 miles to near the Oklahoma border to Sherman. TX. Anytime a police officer needs to sign a legal document. they have to drive nearly 100 miles round trip. That is not time well spent. If the role of the Federal Government is to serve the people. then its time to let Collin County hold court. You know. Piano consumes more than threefourths of the criminal cases in Sherman and nearly 4 out of 5 civil cases. Clearly there is a need In Piano for a Federal bench. The people of Collin County and the Eastern District of Texas are woefully underserved. On the top of that. the population of Collin County is expected to Increase by 73 percent by the year 2020. If we dont take care of this now. when will we? With four judges but just two courtrooms. the Sherman division badly needs another courtroom somewhere. That somewhere should be the city of Piano. Important to the city of Sherman. the bill also protects the Grayson County Courthouse Docket by expanding the Sherman Court jurisdiction to four new counties. Fannin. Lamar. Delta. and Hopkins. I also want to thank my friend Ralph Hall for his work on this Issue. I hope he believes we addressed many of his Initial concerns. Before I close. Id like to thank my colleagues in the Senate. Senators CORNYN and HUTCHISON. who helped get this bill through the other body. This measure has passed the House every Congress since 1991. only to die in committee in the Senate. Their leadership paved the way to make this possible for Collin County. In the name of good government. the Federal Government started serving the people of Collin County.