macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 1995-06-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. today I take the floor to honor the 1995 National Basketball Association backtoback champions. the Houston Rockets. Let me take a minute out of our day because we are going to talk about the defense budget. to say that the Houston Rockets have definitively proven hard work. great coaching. great teamwork. and uncompromising drive are the best ingredients for champions. just like our country has shown. Hakeem Olajuwon. the most valuable player in the finals for 2 consecutive years. was a teammate of Clyde Drexler. and they both played at the University of Houston during the 1980s. They can now share the world championship. The Houston Rockets are coached by Rudy Tomjanovich. Their -outstanding players include. Robert Horry from Alabama. Sam Cassell from Baltimore. Kenny Smith. who played college basketball at North Carolina. and. again. Clyde Drexler. a Houstonian and graduate of Sterling High School in Houston. and Hakeem Olajwon. who was born in Nigeria. joined by our team owner. Les Alexander. who is actually from Florida. They have shown each of us what hard work and teamwork and pride can do. They also demonstrated that especially immigrants have a great deal to offer to our society. Because. my fellow Members. as Americans we all come from somewhere but we also are all in this together. Our congratulations to the 1995 Houston Rockets. again. backtoback champions.
Date: 1995-06-15
Speaker: TIMOTHY A. BOGGS (democrat)
Chamber: S

Senior Vice President for Public Policy. Time Warner. Inc.. Washington. DC. DEAR MR. BOGGS: Your faxed letter of June 13 contains misleading statements which do not accurately reflect my position. On May 4. 1995. I met briefly with you. Ron Schmidt and HBO/Time Warner executives. in the presence of my staff. regarding the program access provision of S. 652. During that meeting. HBO/Time Warner urged me to support deletion of the program access provisions of the bill. I stated that the program access provision was of enormous importance to small cable operators. including those in South Dakota. I suggested that if the program providers disliked the provision. they ought to negotiate with the small cable operators to reach an agreement which might address the problems this portion of S. 652 is attempting to solve. Specifically. since Ron Schmidt is from my home state. I suggested that he talk to a small cable operator from South Dakota. Rich Cutler. to see if an industry compromise were possible. At no time during our conversation did I indicate that any specific action by Time Warner would result in deletion of the program access provisions. I have had no further conversations with HBO/Time Warner about this matter since that meeting. My staff has not portrayed my position as being anything other than the industry negotiations suggested on May 4. Nothing I said during our short meeting could be construed as suggesting some sort of quid pro quo. which would be wrong. if not illegal. I resent the inference in your letter that I suggested something other than an industrynegotiated solution. Your letter indicates that failure to delete the program access provisions from the bill would vitiate any negotiated agreement HBO/Tlme Warner had reached with the small cable operators. While HBO/Time Warner is free to negotiate contracts as they see fit. such tactics. in my opinion. cannot be considered as good faith negotiations. Your letter implies that I tacitly approved such a condition. which is not the case. I expect you to send this letter to the same individuals who received your letter to me. Your letter is misleading. and does not accurately characterize my position as presented in my May 4 meeting with HBO/Time Warner. Sincerely.
Date: 1995-06-15
Speaker: ANNE BINGAMAN (democrat)
Chamber: S

Assistant Attorney General. U.S. Department of Justice. Antitrust Division. Washington. DC. DEAR Ms. BINGAMAN: I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman of the Ameritech Regional Regulatory Committee (ARRC). ARRC is an ad hoc.group of the five state regulatory commissions in the Ameritech region: Illinois. Indiana. Michigan. Ohio. and Wisconsin. The ARRC mission is to facilitate the exchange of information among the public utility commissions of the -five states regarding telecommunications issues in general and telephone companies operating within the five respective jurisdictions in particular. The ARRC is made up of representatives of the commissions and/or staffs of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. the Michigan Public Service Commission. the Ohio. Public Utilities Commission and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. On behalf of the ARRC. I want to thank you and members of the Department. Staff for devoting many hours to meeting with the ARRC to seek input from and accommodate concerns raised by the respective state regulatory commissions and/or their staffs. concerning the proposed request to Judge Greene to authorize an interLATA experiment in parts of Michigan and Hlinois. Specifically. Mr. Willard Tom and Rbbert Litan of your Staff traveled to the region and met. with-.the ARRC staff on a number of occasions concerning the proposed: experiment. Moreover. the ARRC staffrepresentatives received and were allowed to have input on the various drafts leading up to the proposed modification of the Decree filed with the Court on April 3. 1995. Although there may still be issues which individual state com.missions and the ARRC may be raising in comments before Judge Greene. I can say on behalf of all of the ARRC states that the willingness of the Department of Justice to work with and specifically accommodate a number of state concerns represented an exemplary level of cooperation and team work between the Department and the state commissions. Should the modification to the Decree be adopted by Judge Greene. by its own terms it calls for various regulatory and enforcement activities to be undertaken both by the States and the Department of Justice. I am heartened by the cooperative process that has occurred to date and feel that it bodes well for implementing the proposed trial in a manner which is in the public interest. Again. on behalf of the ARRC. I express my sincere thanks for the Departments extra efforts to hear and attempt to accommodate state regulatory issues and concerns. Sincerely.
Date: 1995-06-15
Speaker: TIMOTHY A. BOOS (democrat)
Chamber: S

Senior Vice President for Public Policy. Time Warner. Inc.. Washington. DC. DEAR MR. BOGGS: Your faxed letter of June 13 contains misleading statements which do not accurately reflect my position. On May 4. 1995. I met briefly with you. Ron Schmidt and HBO/Time Warner executives. in the presence of my staff. regarding the program access provision of S. 652. During that meeting. HBO/Time Warner urged me to support deletion of the program access provisions of the bill. I stated that the program access provision was of enormous importance to small cable operators. including those in South Dakota. I suggested that if the program providers disliked the provision. they ought to negotiate with the small cable operators to reach an agreement which might address the problems this portion of S. 652 is attempting to solve. Specifically. since Ron Schmidt is from my home state. I suggested that he talk to a small cable operator from South Dakota. Rich Cutler. to see if an industry compromise were possible. At no time during our conversation did I indicate that any specific action by Time Warner would result in deletion of the program access provisions. I have had no further conversations with HBOfTime Warner about this matter since that meeting. My staff has not portrayed my position as being anythingother than the industry negotiations suggested on May 4. Nothing I said during our short meeting could be construed as suggesting some sort of quid pro quo. which would be wrong. if not illegal. I resent the inference in your letter that I suggested something other than an industrynegotiated solution. Your letter indicates that failure to delete the program access provisions from the bill would vitiate any negotiated agreement HBOiTime Warner had reached with the small cable operators. While HBO/Time Warner is free to negotiate contracts as they see fit. such tactics. in my opinion. cannot be considered as good faith negotiations. Your letter implies that I tacitly approved such a condition. which is not the case. I expect you to send this letter to the same individuals who received your letter to me. Your letter is misleading. and does not accurately characterize my position as presented in my May 4 meeting with HBO/Time Warner. Sincerely.
Date: 1995-06-27
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. yesterday I met with 100 senior citizens from my district to talk with them about the cuts they will be facing under this new Republican budget plan that came out of the conference committee. They do not understand why leaders in Washington would cut their senior health care plan in order to finance a tax cut. Frankly. Mr. Speaker. I do not either. I also had a chance to visit with some doctors who asked me not to cut Medicare. These doctors were declared Republicans. They said. for the first time in 30 years. they have been able to adequately provide health care for seniors through the Medicare program. We should cut fraud in Medicare by funding Operation Restore Trust. to eliminate fraud in health care. but we should not arbitrarily cut Medicare to finance our egregious tax cut plan. The Republican budget agreement cuts Medicare. education. job training. and then cuts taxes. They want to cut taxes and also cut Medicare at the same time. Then they say that are not cutting Medicare to finance their tax break. Something is fishy. Mr. Speaker. Congress should work hard to cut the waste. fraud. and abuse in Medicare. I hope we can agree that seniors should not be used to balance the budget for sound bites in Washington. Let us be fair to the students and seniors and not punish them for a balanced budget. Its not good government. Mr. Speaker. I submit for the RECORD an article from the Houston Chronicle.
Date: 1995-06-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise as a proud cosponsor of this resolution. There is a need to set aside our flag as a special item and in a special place. an exception to the freedom of speech. That is what this constitutional amendment is about. We can disagree on particular language that we have. and I am sure that the U.S. Senate will even make some changes in it. But I think what we are doing today is so important. We need to make the flag designation a separate symbol of our country. Once again. I rise again in proud support of this resolution.
Date: 1995-07-11
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the Republicans have a plan to cut $270 billion from Medicare between now and the year 2002. During that same period. they plan to cut at least $245 billion in taxes for the most affluent in our country. Does that sound like they are concerned about the senior citizens in our country? The Republicans claim that Democrats are engaging in scare tactics. They want the public to believe that $270 billion in Medicare cuts will be painfree and that seniors will be better off. maybe even have more freedom. Seniors have the freedom of choice right now. They -can go to their own doctor. They can go to their own hospital. Let me reiterate to my Republican colleagues. this is free enterprise. I think the public would be a little more confident in the Republican promises if the Medicare cuts were driven by a genuine health care concern instead of the balanced budget. Medicare is not bankrupt any more than the Defense Department is bankrupt. If you want to have senior citizen health care. you have to pay for it. You have to pay for it every year just like we have to pay for the Defense Department. The Medicare system is not bankrupt. We just need to have the guts to pay for it.
Date: 1995-07-11
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. during rollcall votes Nos. 478. 479. 480. and 481 on H.R. 1868. I was un.avoidably detained. Had I been present I would have voted "no" on all. I ask unanimous consent that my statement appear in the RECORD immediately following rolicall vote No.
Date: 1995-07-11
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. included in the fiscal year 1996 Energy and Water Appropriations package are two projects of great interest to me for which I want to express my support for funding. They are as follows: Corpus Christi Ship Channel. Texas. is a navigation project which is budgeted for operations qnd maintenance at $2.190.000. Continued funding of this project is essential due to the impact on the local economy. The project provides for widening and deepening the existing channels to (40.5 miles) and basins from the Gulf of Mexico to deepwater ports at Harbor Island. Ingleside. and Corpus Christi. and a branch channel to the port of La Quinta to provide a project depth of 45 feet It also includes the construction of mooring areas and dolphins at Port Ingleside. one mooring area and six dolphins constructed initially with seven others deferred to be constructed when required. Lower Rio Grande Basin. South Main Channel. Texas. is a comprehensive flood controldrainage .-project which is budgeted at $900.000. It provides the major outlet component of an overall flood protection plan for Willacy and Hidalgo Counties. The authorized plan calls for construction of a major channel extending from near McAllen to the Laguna Madre. and related fish andwildlife mitigating measures. The authorized plan would provide two year protection to rural areas which drain into the South Main Channel. one hundred year flood protection to the cities of Edinburg. McAllen and Lyford. and 50year flood protection for the cities of La Villa and Edcouch.
Date: 1995-07-18
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. on Monday. July 17. and Tuesday. July 18. I was in my district and had townhall meetings originally scheduled. and missed rollcall votes 500 through 516. These events were planned prior to the change in the calendar. I missed these votes. I would like to put in the RECORD my intentions for voting and also my votes. as follows: Intended votes of Gene Greenl04th Congress Rollcall Vote 500 ................................................ Y es 501 ............................................... N o 502 ............................................... N o 503 ............................................... N o 504 ............................................... N o 505 ................................................ Y es 506 ................................................ Y es 507 ................................................ Y es 508 ................................................ Y es 509 ................................................ Y es 510 ............................................... N o 511 ................................................ Y es 512 ............................................... N o 513 ................................................ Y es 514 ............................................... N o 515 ............................................... N o 516 ............................................... N o
Date: 1995-07-19
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. this morning weve gathered to talk about the Medicare Programits health and its future. and specifically impending cuts. In recent weeks weve heard a lot of facts and figures. and well hear even more in the weeks to come as we proceed with our work. As we do. however. I think what we have to keep first and foremost in mind is that were not talking just about numbers. or charts. or abstract concepts. What were talking about is the Nations seniors and their health and health care. I regard this to be among the most important issues we will address in this Congress. Medicare is a program that is approaching its 30th anniversary. It is a program that has resulted in virtually universal coverage for the elderly. When I say this. I am referring to the fact that 99.1 percent of Americans over age 65 have health insurance coverage. There was a time when that wasnt the case. and that time was not all that long ago. As we proceed with this debate. I think we all recognize and concur on both sides that there are many areas where we should look to make improvements. The task before us is how do we accomplish this goal in the most effective way. One way is to reduce fraud and abuse. Every year millions of dollars are lost to health care fraud. That is why I am so pleased to see that the Department of Health and Human Services has formed a national hotline to report health care fraud involving the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. This tough new antifraud initiative is known as Operation Restore Trust. Its tollfree number is 1800HHSTIPS (18004478477]. This is certainly a very strong weapon to fight health care fraud. However. it is an effort that will not be successful unless individuals participate in this fight. I encourage all citizens to help. Now with specific regard to cuts we have heard our majority colleagues say they want to cut $270 billion out of Medicare. What I find difficult to fathom is that the beneficiaries of these cuts will be those who are quite affluent and who do not need this type relief. Based on the current plans we have seen to overhaul Medicare. approximately 37 million beneficiaries will have their Medicare benefits cut. The facts are as follows: Those who get a tax break are the wealthiest 13 percent of seniors. Those who pay for the tax break are the poorest 22 percent of seniors. The average interest income of those who receive the tax break exceeds the total income of those who dont. And over 4 million seniors of modest means will see a dramatic increase in their outofpocket costs. This. to me. is grossly wrong. We should not cut benefits to one group that is so in need just to give a tax break to another. That is something I cannot condone nor can I support. What we need to do is work to correct the program. We need to see that it works better and more efficientlythat it is a more streamlined and economic program. We must ensure Americas seniors that Medicare will be around for the next 30 years. That must be the goal toward which we work. It certainly is mine.
Date: 1995-07-19
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the pollsters .have told the Republicans they need to start telling the American people they are saving the Medicare system. But do you save it by cutting it by $270 billion? The American people are not stupid. The American people can clearly see that a $270 billion cut to their senior citizen health care system to finance a tax break is not saving the system. . Only in "Washington speak" could the Republicans say this: We are cutting $270 billion from the Medicare system in order to save it from bankruptcy. And by the way. we are giving a $245 billion tax cut. But we are really saving Medicare by cutting it. How can the Republican majority make this palatable? They say. "Tell the American people this is a steep cut to save the system." Great idea. but the people in my district are much smarter than that. You do not save Medicare by cutting $270 billion from it. The Republicans are not trying to save the Medicare system any more than Hugh Grant was asking for directions.
Date: 1995-07-19
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. very respectfully. and I tried to be respectful. but it is always whenever anything related to Mexico is brought up. it is basically the same people. So what deduction can we get from that. regardless of the mainstream issue? I thank the gentleman. appreciate his comments.
Date: 1995-07-19
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I take the time only to echo the words of our chairman and to agree with all of the accolades that he has made about the chairman and about our ranking member. We certainly appreciate the concern and the dedication and the sensitivity which the distinguished chairman has shown to the authorizing committee and to those that work in that area. I associate myself strongly and wholeheartedly with the remarks of our chairman. the gentleman from Kansas .
Date: 1995-07-19
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I also wish to thank the gentlewoman for her cooperation and agree with the chairman in assuring her that because of her generosity and understanding our situation on this legislation. we will work nonetheless to assure her and those that feel like her that we will give them ample opportunity. In the meantime. we ourselves are trying to correct any deficiencies in the program. So I am assuring her we will work together. and we appreciate her understanding of the issue this evening.
Date: 1995-07-20
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. as we debate Chinas mostfavored nation status. we must view American policy toward China with consideration of many issues. Those issues include human rights. trade. the peaceful transition of Hong Kong and weapons proliferation. Human rights must continue to be a vital consideration as America formulates its policy toward China. as well as policy toward other areas of the world. Obviously. we are all concerned about Chinas recent behavior. and the detention of American Harry Wu. Regardless of our action here tonight. Mr. Wu must be released. and we should .ontinue to pursue that result. However. the United States must pursue policies which are specific to each of the issues which affect our relationship to China in order to achieve positive results. The continuation of Chinas mostfavorednation status is a necessary part of Americas policy toward China. To be effective. to spread the word of freedom around the world. America must continue to be engaged in world events. Through American influence. positive changes can be made in other societies. including China. The transfer of information. which our trade relationship provides. is crucial to achieving change in China. without MFN. this change will not occur.
Date: 1995-07-20
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. [Mr. DE LA GARZA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)