macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of backing our troops. of backing them to the hilt. with the Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act. or the HERO Act. H.R. 1499. introduced by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). As you know. people may contribute to $4.000 a year to the popular indi.vidual retirement account. IRA. However. the funds that go into an IRA are supposed to be posttax money. Well. when you are serving your country in Camp Victory in Iraq or working in Afghanistan. your combat pay is taxfree. That is right. it is taxfree. and it ought to be. The theory behind that is if you are going to volunteer to risk your life. serve your country and protect our great freedom. you should not be taxed. As a result. some military men and women come home serving in harms way with money that they would like to put into an individual retirement account. but they cannot. It is against the law. That is wrong. The HERO Act changes that outdated and unintended tax law so that our soldiers. sailors. Marines and airmen can save some of that money for their retirement for their families golden years. Crazy as it may seem. right now these men and women come home with much more disposable income. yet they are not allowed to save some of it in an IRA. but they can spend it on cars. new clothes. family vacations. Yes. all of those things are nice. especially when you have been in the desert for 9 months and you just want the creature comforts and luxuries of home for you and your family. But those things are temporary. Retirement savings is about making a better future for yourself and your loved ones. and our troops should have the option of saving for retirement if they want to. I say it is high time we change that. and that is what the HERO Act is all about. It is about tax simplification. it is about retirement savings. it is about helping our military who are out there fighting for us. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as she may consume to the gbntlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). the author of the bill.
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the Hero Act is going to help our combat troops by modifying a tax law that has unintended consequences. given their situation. Most of us know that IRA contributions are limited to $4.000 this year. and the cap on annual contributions will increase to $5.000 in 2008. All of this is temporary legislation. but we would like to *have it permanent. as well. I say to the gentleman from Michigan . According to the Joint Committee on Taxation. this bill would provide $31 million of tax benefits to military families over the next decade. H.R. 1499 provides meaningful assistance to our troops that we can all support as the House considers ways to improve the retirement security for Americans. I work on retirement legislation in my membership on both the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. and I look forward to meaningful legislation moving forward from both committees in the near future. However. this legislation needs to move on its own as soon as possible. Our troops are earning combat pay in dangerous situations. and to the extent that they can save some of it for their longterm needs. I think we ought to encourage them to do so. We will pass this bill with no controversy. and I hope our colleagues in the other body follow suit in the near future. It is the right thing to do. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to thank our Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman. the gentleman from Indiana (Chairman BUYER). as well as the gentleman from California . the Ranking Member. the gentleman from Illinois . and the subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Arkansas for giving Congress the opportunity to vote on the Servicemembers Health Insurance Protection Act. Today. when a man or a woman makes a decision to serve their country through the Armed Forces. most have to give up their employersponsored health care. Although TRICARE insures these enlistees. in the eyes of their health care providers. they are technically without coverage until they return. and then they are subject to unfair premium increases as a "new employee.." America asks these young men and women to fight for ourcountry. then we allow their insurance costs to increase when -they return. How. many would ask. is this at all fair? The bill that we have before us. H.R. 2046. specifies that when a person enlists in the military. they will return to the same lowcost. employersponsored health insurance that they had before their absence. This commonsense legislation enjoyed unanimous support from Committee on Veterans Affairs members. is supported by the Department of Defense. Department of Labor. and veterans groups around the -country. I look forward to voting in favor of H.R. 2046 andI encourage my colleagues to do the same. Certainly those members of the military. whether it is active or the Reserve. when we have so many people serving today in the war on terrorism. they deserve to have this kind of legislation passed so that they can come back home and again provide the kind of health care insurance that their family needs.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. by direction of the Committee on Rules. I call up Hofise Resolution 291 and ask for its immediate consideration.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

jMr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. With regard to an amendment that was allegedly not made in order. I want to reiterate. Mr. Speaker. that we brought forth this legislation under an open rule. Obviously. an amendment has to be germane and not violate the rules of the House. We very much attempted to bring forth this appropriations bill under an open rule. and we are pleased that we were able to do so. and obviously that permits the amendment process to be wide open and obviously fair. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada . my distinguished friend and a great leader in this House.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within Which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 291.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is an important appropriations bill. and it is one that we are pleased. obviously. to bring forward under the great tradition of open rules. So I very strongly support not only the underlying legislation but also the rule. and I would ask for an affirmative vote by all of our colleagues on the previous question as well.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I rise in support of H.R. 2520. which I really view as a noncontroversial. bipartisan piece of legislation that we should all be able to agree on. I think one speaker a moment ago talked about �cience and our obligation to promote science. I would agree with him. but with this caveat: science tells us what we can do. science does not tell us what we should do. That is an ethical dimension. and we are called upon oftentimes to decide what the ethical thing to do is. Here we have a piece of legislation dealing with an emerging area of science. but one that has already proven itself to be effective in human application and one that also shows itself to be easily obtained.. that is. we either throw away umbilical cords. throw away the umbilical cord and the placenta at the time of birth. or we save the blood that can be captured at that time to make it available such that the stem. cells can .be taken from that and utilized in this therapeutic fashion. This bill would also allow us to do research with these stem cells. There is a tremendous frontier out there. There is a tremendous frontier that shows tremendous opportunity for success. I do not want to overhype it. I do not know far it will go. but certainly it has not gotten the attention that needs to be given it. When we talk about stem cells. we can talk about how we obtain the stem cells. We can do it in several ways. And there is an ethical dimension. an ethical dilemma that exists with respect to the second bill that will be up today. There is no such dilemma that exists with respect to this bill. We can obtain this in very easy wayjs. voluntarily. asking mothers at the time their children are born to donate these units such that others might be helped. We have been laggard in our approach to this particular area of science. Again. I say. where we have no ethical question. where we have strong support from the sci~ntific community. we should do no less than to support this bill strongly.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. we need to remember that embryonic stem cell research is legal. In the absence of the Federal Government. the States are already taking the lead. California is at the forefront of establishing a robust embryonic stem cell research program. New Jersey has followed suit. and seven other States are in the process of doing so. We do not want our stem cell research policies left to the vagaries of State electoral politics. The Federal Government in general. and NIH in particular. must be involved. The less NIH is involved with its timetested methods and procedures. the less we are assured of good ethical guidelines and scientific methods will be followed. Instead. we will have more and more individual States attempting to set up their own reghlatory schemes. something they may or may not be equipped to do. Opponents argue that it is the product of a utilitarian world view. that somehow this is a zerosum game. if the Members will. in which life is taken in order to give life. I think the strictures that are established by H.R. 810 negate that argument. Under this bill. Federal research will proceed using those embryos not used in fertility clinics. embryos voluntarily given that would otherwise be destroyed. that is. embryos that held the promise of life but are certain not to fulfill that promise. What we are doing is extending the potential life where otherwise there would be none. I urge passage of H.R. 810.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. just in response to what was said on the floor. this is a statement that has appeared on the floor. and also in print. which says that the bill before us prohibits Federal funding used for the destruction of embryos. By its very definition. it requires the destruction of embryos when it does. the research. That ought to be very clear. The process talked about requires the destruction of embryos.
Date: 2005-05-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I am one of seven children. I am the second oldest. My older brother John is 2 years and 2 days older than I. We grew up together closer than any other members of the family. After I left this House on the first occasion. within 2 years. my brother developed Parkinsons. He has now suffered with it for 15 years. I have learned a lot of things from my brother. but one of the things I learned most of all was there is a difference between right and wrong. There is a moral dimension in most of the serious issues that we must face. Would I like to support embryonic stem cell research without a question of ethics because it might assist my brother? Sure. Would I like to see embryonic stem cell research in the area of cancer where it might have helped one of my sisters who has had cancer? Yes. Would I like to see it in terms of research of cancer that plagues 4yearold children like my nephew? Of course. But can we divorce all of that from the ethical norm that we must present here? We look back in history and. yes. America has oftentimes promoted science. But America has made mistakes in the past. The worst mistakes we have ever made in the history of this Nation have been when we have defined a part of the human family as less than fully human and then done things to them that we would not allow .done to ourselves. We have done it with slavery. We have done it with the Tuskegee medical experiments. Other countries have done it as well. The commonality among all of those mistakes. the greatest mistakes in our Nations history. has been the ease with which we defined members of the human family as less than fully human.. We are talking about embryonic stem cell research that requires the destruction of the embryo. the destruction of part of the human family. We should remember that as we talk here today. We should resolve doubt in favor of life as we do in our criminal justice system. as we do in our civil law system.
Date: 2005-05-25
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. this week we have heard people of all types arguing vehemently either for or against embryonic research. It is hard for lay people to cut through all this scientific mumbojumbo. so let me ask a commonsense question: At what point is it not okay for researchers to create life in order to destroy it? Some argue that we should destroy human embryos to try to save an existing life. That is just totally immoral. And it is not the governments place to fund destruction of those embryos with taxpayer money. What makes America the strongest Nation on earth is that we protect those who cannot protect themselves. I commend the President for his promise to veto H.R. 810.
Date: 2005-06-14
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I love freedom. and I think Americans should have the freedom to fly whenever they want to. wherever they want to and on whatever airline. they want to. Right now that is against the law in Dallas because of the Wright amendment. This outdated law restricts flights out of Dallas Love Field to just those States near Texas. It is not the Federal Governments job to dictate to passengers how. when and where they can fly. That is why the gentleman from Texas and I introduced the Right to Fly Act. George Will noted Ronald Reagans. take on government saying. "Washingtons approach to intervening in industries is if it moves. tax it. if it keeps moving. regulate it. if it stops moving. subsidize it." Will continues. "Regarding airlines. the policy is if they are failing. keep them flying. if they are prospering. burden them." Well. the Wright amendment has outlived its usefulness. and it is time to repeal it. I urge my colleagues to free Love Field and to cosponsor .the Right to Fly.
Date: 2005-06-14
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flbr

ida. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlemans willingness to engage in a colloquy. and I thank him very much for yielding time to me. I wish to express the concern of many of my constituents regarding potential threats to the integrity of the Small Business Administrations loan program. Under current law. no funding for the Small Business Administration funds may be used to assist individuals who are in the United States illegally. Actually. to date. the best information we have is that SBA has never guaranteed a loan to an individual living illegally in the United States. However. SBA only guarantees the loans. while banks actually provide the funds to applicants. Thus. the burden of ensuring the legal status of loan applicants is actually placed on the financial institutions. While banks have internal measures designed to specifically prevent fraud. the success of SBAs policy hinges on prompt notification. rather than upfront security. Unfortunately. the post9/11 world has highlighted the consequences of fraud. My c6nstituents and those around the United States demand that Congress act aggressively to strengthen and protect the integrity of the SBA loan system rather than passively waiting for the worst. Can the distinguished gentleman describe what steps have been taken to combat this sort. of fraud and to protect America?
Date: 2005-06-14
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his time and consideration and certainly look forward to working with the Chairman on this important matter in the future.
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. since congressional passage in 1994. Mens Health Week has brought muchneeded attention to the health needs of American men. Mens Health Week encourages employers. community service organizations. public health departments. and health providers to raise awareness of mens health needs and to support preventive health measures. Annual checkups. especially for men over the age of 40. are perhaps the single most important factor in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. According to CDC. women are 100 percent more likely to get an annual physical exam than men. In addition to lower. life expectancies than women. men are more likely to die of strokes. heart disease. cancer. and accidents. Yearly physicals have increased awareness of risks to mens health that will save lives and keep men healthy and active. Mr. Speaker. I urge all men to take advantage of Mens -Health Week and go and get a physical. Your health is worth it. and your family certainly will appreciate it.
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. the way that the Cuban people will regain their dignity is to regain their freedom. While they are oppressed by a regimd that denies them all human rights and denies them their dignity. they will not be able to live as all peoples are meant to. Let us remind ourselves what we are dealing with here. As the gentleman from Virginia stated. there are five remaining terrorist states in the world. after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the liberation of Iraq. Five remaining terrorist states. But the FBI will tell you. and I would request our colleagues seek this information and this briefing from the FBI. that the most aggressive and dangerous antiAmerican espionage service of those five terrorist states remaining is the one of the Cuban dictatorship. Yes. it is a bankrupt economy. Castro does not care about the suffering of the Cuban people. He does care about one thing. though: Intelligence services to fight against the interests of the leader of the free world. the United States. Nineteen Cuban agents. designated as spies. were expelled from the United States in recent years because of their work as spies. Fourteen members of Castros spy network have been indicted and are in Federal prison today. The President of the United States. a year ago. after much study. came forth with a very serious and comprehensive policy. which is very similar to the Reagan administrations policy towards the Soviet Union. One of the ingredients of President Bushs policy with regard to the Cuban dictatorship. one of five remaining antiAmerican terrorist states. is the reduction of hard currency to that regime. Now. as was stated by the majority leader. Castro extorts payment even on humanitarian packages. at both ends of the process. The bottlom line is that these regulations permit humanitarian aid to continue. Our constituents are the ones who send that humanitarian aid.
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. it is important to defeat this amendment. I thought I heard it all on this floor. but to hear a thugocracy called a fledgling democracy is something I never thought I would hear here. It is a regime of gangsters by gangsters and for gangsters. against which President Bush has a very important and solid policy that will succeed. Cuba will soon be free. Mr. Chairman. I ask my colleagues today is to continue to stand with the Cuban people against the thugocracy and to defeat this amendment. [] 1245
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. when I listen to this debate. I am reminded of the phrase "the more things change. the more they remain the same." This is very similar to the debate when the Soviet Union was still in existence and President Reagan had a comprehensive policy to try to eliminate that regime. And the debate is the same: it- is going to hurt the people. When President Reagan was trying to cut off the funding:. it is going to hurt the Soviet people. they are the victims. No. No. Ronald Reagan was right then. George W. Bush is right today. which is why the Assembly of Civil Society. the umbrella organization. opposition organization within Cuba. that just recently had a heroic meeting in Havana. publicly supports the Presidents policy. They understand that dignity is not a gift. They understand that the only true road to dignity is freedom: freedom of election. freedom of association. freedom of religion. and freedom of the press. This amendment would go a long way to reversing the policy that is working. Just as many wanted to reverse Reagans policy that succeeded in defeating the Soviet Union. this amefldment is trying to reverse the Bush policy that will ultimately allow the Cuban people to live in freedom. the freedom that they so much deserve.
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I rise to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from Virginia . the chairman of the subcommittee. and the gentleman from Maryland on an important issue regarding democracy in Venezuela. Mr. Chairman. 2 weeks ago. several Members of Congress went to Venezuela and heard about the intimidation by the Venezuelan Government of. a democracy advocate named Maria Corina Machado. Ms. Machado is the leader of Sumate. a Venezuelan nongovernmental electoral watchdog. Currently. she is charged by the Venezuelan Government for accepting illicit foreign financial contributions from our own National Endowment For Democracy. Recently. Ms. Machado was invited to the White House to see the Presi-. dent and share her concerns about the endangered state of democracy in Venezuela. This Congress should stand behind Ms. Machado and support the growth of democracy in Venezuela.
Date: 2005-06-15
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. moving to one other matter. it is my understanding that the 2006 Science. State. Justice and Commerce. Appropriations bill requires agencies to notify the Committee on Appropriations 15 days before funds are reprogrammed to implement egovernment initiatives. As the chairman of the authorizing committee with jurisdiction over the EGovernment Act. and in fact I was one of the authors of the EGovernment Act. I would ask the gentleman from Virginia if he will share information that he obtains with the Committee on Government Reform on the funding and implementation of egovernment initiatives in this bill so we could be so Advised.