macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. in closing. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Madam Speaker. we have had three bills so far. and we are getting ready to offer two others that all speak to this very devastating impact on our childrenhuman trafficking and sex trafficking. I think the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act. H.R. 285. does focus on a particular niche that is heinous. Our children are on the Internet. they are tech savvy. and they easily can become victims of an attractive site or attractive sounds and music. so I think this legislation. again. pinpoints a very serious issue. The bill is an amendment of an existing legislation that includes a mens rea. There must be intent. but we do know. in the course of legislation. we have the opportunity to make sure that what we do does meet the test of getting those who are truly the perpetrators. I would hope as this bill moves to the Senate. as we recognize the importance of this legislation. we. again. be reminded that one size does not often fit all and that judges can rightly have discretion to a sentence of life. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation so that we can have a comprehensive approach to legislative bills that have been on the floor today to attack head on. if you will. those who prey on our children. young men and women. people who find themselves lost with no place to go and become the serious victims of child pornography. sex trafficking. and human trafficking. As Members. we know that. many times. the entire life of that individual is changed forever. I yield back the balance of my time and ask for support of the underlying bill.
Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York . who. as I indicated. has worked unceasingly on empowering the most vulnerable. particularly in her work on empowering women. vulnerable women around the world. providing them rights. and. of course. the work she has done in collaboration with Congressman POE and our committee in her work on this bill.
Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

The bill also makes it clear that it is not the victim who is sold and exploited who is the criminal. The criminal is the john. the child abuser who solicits a minor or a trafficker who puts a woman or man out on the street to be bought and sold. Human trafficking is harmful not only to the victims. but to society at large. Last May. this House passed this bill in total agreement. and I urge the Senate to follow it and pass it also. It is time to help the survivors get the resources they need to rebuild their lives and to punish the evildoers who purchase and sell these innocent children.
Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In closing. let me emphasize what I just said earlier. Two people were caught at Miami International Airport. They were caught by officers of TSA who had received training to detect trafficking and observed the interaction between the two men and a young woman. It was the exact description that I gaveholding a little girls hand. holding a teenagers hand. looking innocentbut our DHS personnel could be the savers of the day. Just a few years ago. in our own airport. a number of Chinese nationalsyoung womenwere brought in. ultimately. to be held against their will. It was astute personnel who knew that even though girls traveled together that something was wrong. That is why this legislation is so important. The bill before us today seeks to codify in law the training of DHS personnel on how to deter. detect. and disrupt human trafficking and. where appropriate. to interdict a suspected trafficker during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities. Our front liners from the Department of Homeland Security are everywhere. There is not a place you can travel when entering this countrythrough our airports or through our portsthat our agents in some capacity. in some roles. are not there. For the CBP. this means officers at our ports of entry will be trained on how to identify potential victims of traffickingsmuggling. human slavery. For the TSA. it means that screening personnel. who screen approximately 1.8 million passengers a day. will be knowledgeable about signs of trafficking. Importantly. the bill requires that the training received be appropriate for a particular location or environment in which the personnel receiving the training perform their official duties. streamlining it to make it work. This will help tailor the training received so that it is relevant to the specific personnel receiving the training. Mr. Speaker. with this bill. we have the opportunity to call attention to the human rights crisis that is human trafficking. I am glad that this bill has been generated out of the Homeland Security Committee. which emphasizes the security of this Nation but. as well. the important act of making sure America stands against human trafficking. January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. To ensure that continued attention be paid to this often hidden crime. I urge the passage of H.R. 460. The bill before us today will not eliminate human trafficking. but it may help prevent it by ensuring that DHS frontline workforce is properly trained to fight it. In conclusion. let me say that we are all committed. Again. I refer to all of us. To report suspected human trafficking. dial 18663472423. If you are a victim. to get help. call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 18883737888. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his leadership. and I thank our committee chairman and ranking member for their leadership. I ask for support of the bill. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-01-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me explain the problem we have and the need for this bill today. The bill is the exact same language that passed this House last Congress. and it came through our committee. the Energy and Commerce Committee. Now. what this bill does is give the Department of Energy some deadlines to make a decision on our national intereststhat is what it doesso we can do it. They have held those permits sometimes up to 2 years to make that determination. If you have a free trade agreement with the United States. we can export natural gas to you. But they need to decide the national interests. I want the DOE to do that. but I also want to make a decision in very quick time. We know who our friends are. we know who our adversaries are. We dont really want to send it to our adversaries. we want to send it to our friends. So that is DOEs job. The reason we need this bill is that right now today. or yesterday. gas is $2.88 per million cubic feet. It was up about $4. which is still not great for a producer. But what we have been doing in south Texas is flaring natural gas. It is bad for the environment. It is bad for the people who produce it because they dont have a customer. And what we need to do is be able to export what we cant use. In Texas we are very proud of Blue Bell ice cream. In fact. their advertising slogan is: "We eat all we can and we sell the rest." I have a chemical industry. I have a utility industry that uses natural gas. They are using it. But we still have a lot of production. So why would we not use all we can in our country and sell the rest and make somebody else pay for those jobs that we have in our community? And that is the problem. We know the price of oil is going down. But oil and natural gas sometimes come out of the same well. So that is why we need to make sure that we have the right. on a reasonable timeframe. to export natural gas to countries that we want to be friendly with. I would love to have a natural gas export right now to Ukraine. The infrastructure over there is not there. It could get there with some reversing pipelines. H.R. 351 represents a bipartisan effort to legislate and warrant its approval. We worked together on this bill. and it represents that hard work. The bill is good for the economy. the climate. and the U.S. security interests. The United States has natural resources to become the largest exporter of LNG in the world. Our natural gas reserves can meet all our domestic natural gas needs and still have an excess capacity of 3 trillion cubic feet. Before we discuss H.R. 351 it is important we clarify the LNG permitting process. just so there is no confusion. A project applicant must submit two separate applications: the first to the Department of Energy and the second to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC. In the Department of Energy. there are two complete separate processes. First. the project must submit an application to export. If the project sends LNG to a country with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement. the application is automatically approved.
Date: 2015-01-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the ranking member. I appreciate it. If the project sends the LNG to a country without a free trade agreement. then the DOE must issue a permit based on the public interest. These are very important determinations. However. LNG will not leave the United States with DOE approval only. For a project to actually export LNG. in either case. the applicant must receive a FERC permit. FERC reviews the environmental impacts of the actual LNG facility. FERC conducts and reviews all environmental impacts to satisfy the requirements of NEPA. No company will export a single cubic foot of LNG without FERC approval. FERCs process takes 12 to 18 months and costs approximately $100 million. We have worked extremely hard to protect the environment. It is the DOE nonFTA process that is the problem. The DOE currently has approximately 30 nonFTA permits awaiting decision. The DOE has held most of these permits almost 4 years. Even the DOE recognized this huge problem and tried to address the backlog last summer by changing the approval process. Unfortunately. the changes failed to expedite approval or provide any certainty to companies who are investing $100 million. and these are U.S. companies. H.R. 351 resolved this issue only after it receives all environmental permits. H.R. 351 would place a 30day timeline for the DOE to issue a decision after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission completes its environmental reviews. Once again. we have protected the environmental review process. We have protected the public interest. And DOE. which held some of these applications 4 yearswe cannot allow DOE to sit on these permits any longer. They must do their job and do it in a timely fashion. Opponents of H.R. 351 say if all permits are approved. we will export more than 35 trillion cubic feet. Opponents say exports will double or triple domestic natural gas prices. Opponents say exports of that size will endanger our domestic industry. raise electricity prices. and have ruinous effects on our economy. Mr. Speaker. I urge passage of the bill. Mr. Speaker. I represent enormous petrochemical facilities. power generators. and workers. I remember when domestic natural gas prices caused companies in my district to move jobs overseas. If what opponents of H.R. 351 say were even remotely possible. I would be the first one to oppose this bill. My constituents work at those facilities. Those facilities pay taxes and fund the hospitals and schools in my district. There are dozens of applications pending at DOE. No more than a handful of projects will be constructed and ultimately export LNG. But each project deserves a fair opportunity at review. Each company deserves the opportunity to pursue financing in the capital markets. The government should not make those decisions. Each LNG facility costs billions. not to mention the jobs associated with pipeline construction. electric transmission. local services. etc. I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 351 and support this bipartisan effort.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from New Jersey and fellow member of the Committee on Homeland Security. Mr. PAYNE. and obviously my senior for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of Ranking Member PAYNES legislation. H.R. 615. the DHS Interoperable Communications Act. This commonsense. bipartisan legislation builds upon recommendations made by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security by requiring DHS to develop a strategy for achieving interoperable communications among the Departments components. During an emergency. be that a terrorist attack or natural disaster such as Superstorm Sandy that devastated my home State of New Jersey. it is essential that first responders are able to communicate. It is also essential that components of the Department of Homeland Security are able to communicate with one another at all times. H.R. 615. as introduced by my colleague from New Jersey and before us on the floor today. seeks to make that aspiration a reality. Sadly. Mr. Speaker. in the 14 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. we have still not reached the day where interoperable communications is a universal reality among State. local. and Federal agencies. Ranking Member PAYNES bill puts us on a path to fixing that reality as it relates to the Department of Homeland Security. Importantly. the bill clarifies and enhances the Departments Under Secretary for Managements responsibility for achieving and maintaining interoperable communications among the components of DHS. By doing so. the bill focuses this important mission and will aid Congress in conducting the oversight necessary to see that the policy goals of the bill are achieved. As ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. I look forward to conducting robust oversight of DHS operations in many areas. including interoperable communications. Mr. Speaker. I applaud the gentleman from New Jersey for his work on this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 615. the DHS Interoperable Communications Act.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. as a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee. I rise in support of H.R. 423. "The Social Media Working Group Act of 2014." which would establish within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a social media working group. The Social Media Working Group would provide guidance and best practices to the emergency preparedness and response community on the use of social media technologies before. during. and after a terrorist attack. Today. people are relying more on Internet enabled communications to engage and be engaged in personal. professional and commercial communications. Since September 11. 2001. our nation has committed resources toward the preparation of our first responders and citizens in preventing. mitigating and responding to terrorist events. As these efforts continue. we must keep pace with the rapid changing nature of the Internet. Part of this requires that Congress ensure that the Department of Homeland Security and especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency can reach citizens in new ways so that critical information is received in a timely manner. In 2012. smartphones. most particularly phones running Apple Computers lOS and the open source Android operating system. accounted for at least 40 percent of the mobile devices used in the United States. In the first quarter of 2012. mobile phone consumers spent over $109 billion. while consumers of landlinetelephone service spent $64.4 billion. The Federal Communication Commission reports that this trend is expected accelerate as United States consumers participate in a worldwide trend towards mobile communication devices and away from traditional means of receiving and sending information. Electronic tablet computers and ereaders. the other fully enabled portable Internet devices. smartphones are increasingly a resource for people to access information. share content. and communicate their views. Social media is quickly emerging as a major source of information that citizens rely upon to receive news and engage government. The number of people using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008. In a 2011. a Pew Internet Center Research Project reported that 79 percent of American adults said they used the Internet and 59 percent of all Internet users say they use at least one of social networking service. such as Facebook. Twitter. Linkedln or Instagram. The reasons for supporting this bill are obvious and I ask my colleagues in the House to vote for its passage.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Today. Mr. Speaker. I sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control requesting an alert to the public that highlights the importance of our children becoming vaccinated for this outbreak of measles. particularly the MMR. The United States is experiencing a large multistate measles outbreak that started in California in December of 2014 and has spread to six additional States and Mexico. From December 28. Mr. Speaker. through January 21. 2015. 51 confirmed cases linked to this outbreak have been reported to the CDC: 42 from California and nine from six other Statesthree in Utah. two in Washington. one in Oregon. one in Colorado. one in Nebraska. and one in Arizona. But the spread of this is enormous. The most disturbing aspect of this outbreak is that 86 percent of the patients who have contracted the disease had either been unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. The outbreak is aggravated by the large number of children whose parents have chosen not to get the MMR vaccine. What I want to focus on. Mr. Speaker. is for us to be cautious and for us to be able to do the right thing. The saddest case was an 8monthold baby in Arizonainnocentwho was exposed to the measles. I ask that we take this seriously. as a member of the Homeland Security Committee. and find a way to alert parents to make the right decision for their children. I will be continuing to work on this and have asked my own community to send out an alert to help save those children and the others who are vulnerable to the measles outbreak.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. this is a very important evening. I thank my colleagues. both Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey and Ms. KELLY. for. first of all. taking up a very important challenge of being able to lead the members of the Congressional Black Caucus through this period of challenge to America. I am reflective of the number of Members who have had the chance to convey their thoughts. and each one I thank personally: our chairman. Mr. G.K. BUTTERFIELD. for his leadership and his internal knowledge from his walk in life of the civil rights journey.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today. along with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus. to recognize the lasting legacy of the Selma marches. 50 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King. Stokely Carmichael. Congressman JOHN LEWIS. and a number of other fearless fighters. led the historic marches from Selma to Montgomery. Alabama in protest of discriminatory voting laws. In the years prior to the Selma marches. less than 1% of the black voting age population was registered to vote in Dallas County. where Selma is located. However. more than 80% of Dallas County blacks lived below the poverty line. Various efforts to get blacks in Dallas County registered to vote were met physical violence and economic intimidation. But with the local leadership of the Dallas County Voters League. and the help of two national organizations. the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee. the Selma marches were born. During the first march from Selma to Montgomery. in what would become known as "Bloody Sunday." the nation watched in horror as African Americans were brutally beaten by police officers. attacked by dogs. and sprayed by fire hoses. Their courage. in the face of dehumanizing treatment from law enforcement. thrust the issue of segregation and race relations in the Deep South into the national consciousness. It led to President Lyndon B. Johnson presenting to a joint session of Congress what would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. the most important piece of civil rights legislation in the history of this country. 50 years later. the images of "Bloody Sunday" are permanently etched into our Nations history as a deep and painful reminder of the struggles we triumphantly conquered to get to where we are today. And yet. the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. at the hands of law enforcement. serve as tragic reminders that we still have so far to go. The work of Selma is not finished. The work of Dr. King. Stokely Carmichael. and Congressman LEWIS is not finished. But we must remain encouraged and faithful for the progress still left to achieve. While the discriminatory voting laws of the 1960s are no more. we have encountered a new brand of voter disenfranchisement in 2015 that poses a serious threat to the electoral process. And once again. the great citizens of this nation must fight to protect their constitutional right to vote. It is with the painful lessons learned from the marches on Selma. and with the same tenacity and fearlessness that we will continue to fight this battle today.
Date: 2015-02-02
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlelady from Ohio for yielding to me. I want to thank both the gentlelady from Illinois and the gentleman from New Jersey for providing this opportunity here to speak tonight on something that I think is very important. As a member of the CBC. a very proud member. I am here because we rise to commemorate a slice of American history that speaks to the spirit that is America. We rise to acknowledge the sacrifice and the forethought of a generation whose risks were ultimately Americas reward. We rise to recognize the American heroes and sheroes of Selma on the 50th anniversary of this Bloody Sunday. From Selma. we learned that sometimes protests and objections that are deemed unAmerican today may later be considered the greatest manifestation of American democracy. From Selma. we learned that because of a young persons protests today. he may be called an outside agitator. a troublemaker. or even a provocateur. but that same young person. because of that same activity. may later be called courageous. a hero. or even a Congressman. Yes. from Selma. we learned that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they are on the side of righteousness. Selma taught us. as Dr. King suggested. that it is always the right time to do what is right. But at the time of that fight. the likelihood that this generation of young dreamers would be successful in transforming an entire society seemed slim. They persevered anyhow. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. these young people fought for what was right no matter the consequence. Today we must learn from their example. we must persevere in the fight for working families. despite those that believe that there should be no floor for the poor and no ceiling for the rich. We must protect the precious right to vote for all people. We must persevere despite the fact that there is little reward for fighting for people who cannot fight for themselves. and we must fight for what is right and not what is popular. We must remember that it is our legacy to fight on the side of righteousness when we debate giving access to health care. access to education. access to the right to marry. and access to just plain old justice. I look forward to this collective will and this collective commitment of the CBC because I know that we can never forget Selma. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady from Ohio.