macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-09-28
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. It gets.worse. I was watching the hearings yesterday. FEMAs responsibility is to coordinate the response of the Federal Government in a natural disaster. They literally are the point agency. and all of the agencies in the Federal Government are basically brought under their direction. So what was Mr. Browns response to. I think it was a question from the gentleman from Connecticut . about what he did to coordinate the disaster response. His answer was that he told the mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana that they should issue a mandatory evacuation. and they did riot listen. according to him. That was the sum total. That is what he kept repeating. That was the sum total of his response to the question of how did he coordinate the vast resources that FEMA has at their disposal and every agency in the Federal Government: that he picked up the phone and called two people and told them to evacuate New Orleans. Well. I do not know about you. but if I had at my disposal the Department of Homeland Security. the Department of Energy. the Department of Health and Human Services. the Department of Housing and Urban Development. and the list goes on. I think that I could probably think of a couple more things to do besides make two phone calls. This was the biggest natural disaster in American history and his response was to make two phone calls. Now. that may have something to do with the fact that his only previous experience was running the Arabian Horse Association. I do not know. but I would think even with a clean slate. and not knowing almost anything. not being an expert in disaster response at all. I would think I could do a little bit more than make two phone calls.
Date: 2005-09-28
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. listening to the gentleman from Ohio . I am thinking about all of the reasons I ran for Congress. and I decided that public service was a career choice for me. and that is because I want to make the world a better place. We all do. Certainly the three of us do. Our colleagues do. The vast majority of the Members here want to do that. It leaves such a bad taste. What has happened over th6 last several months and what came down today with one of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. what came down a few weeks ago with another colleague on the other side of the aisle. the whole thing swirling around with Mr. Abramoff and the lobbyist. and we even had a gangland murder connected with that in my district in Hollywood. Florida. it is so pervasive. it is so disturbing. it gives me deep concern that people end up thinking that we are all just like those individuals who have strayed. We have got to make sure that we can restore some confidence. we can go back to why we all ran in the first place and move this country in the right direction again. You have got cronies and phonies that are infiltrating the government. The culture of corruption that has become so pervasive here. not just in this body but at the executive level as well. it is worst than startling.
Date: 2005-09-28
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. the thought occurs to me that people might be wondering why this even matters. I mean. so many times I talk to people and they say to me it is just the way politics is. They are going to reward their friends. They get into power and they are going to reward their friends. and that is just the way politics is. And what I have to say to them. what we are trying to say to them. is that this culture of corruption is pervasive. The culture of corruption is pervasive. It would disturb me deeply if it was just Members of Congress and we could say. there are some bad apples where people have gone astray and that is all it is. But it goes so much deeper than that with- this administration. with the leadership on the other side. This is how deep it goes: We have got cronyism and corruption that runs all the way up the ladder. I will just outline for you what I am talking about. Let us look at the appointments that have been made. As recently has come to light. Mr. Brown was totally unqualified to be .the director of FEMA.
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Messrs. VAN HOLLEN. BAIRD. FATTAH and McINTYRE changed their vote from "yea" to "nay." Messrs. CRAMER. BISHOP of Georgia. DAVIS of Alabama and PETERSON of Minnesota changed their vote from "nay" to "yea." So the resolution was agreed to. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. Stated against:
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise today to request that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 3824. the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (TESRA). Species conservation is an essential tenet in the effort to promote and maintain a healthy environment. Although I agree with Congressman POMBOS initiative in principle. after reviewing the legislation closely I came to the conclusion that this bill would jeopardize critical habitat protections that endangered plants and animals need to survive and recover their populations. and it would do little to protect the planets most threatened wildlife. As a Senior Member of the House Science Committee. 1 also have serious reservations that in its current form. H.R. 3824 attempts to substitute politics for sound science in decisions involving endangered species. letting expediency and profit motives influence what should be scientific decisions.
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Califoriia

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I just want to say that when the gentleman talks about a taking. that is not what his legislation does. All that has to happen is that a landowner proposes a use for his property. and if that use is ruled as a taking. the landowner gets compensated. The landowner does not show that they could do that. that they could go through the city zoning. they could go through the county zoning. that they would get those permits to build those houses or whatever else he wants to do. or he could build that commercial establishment. no showing of that. Yet. under this legislation. he is entitled to compensation. Nothing has. been taken. only the suggestion in the proposal on a plan.
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The. bipartisan substitute that we have introduced here in fact goes to fundamental and basic changes in the Endangered Species Act to both provide for the better protection of the species. but also to make this Act far more workable. far more definite in. terms of the interests of landowners. the impacts and the timelines and the guidelines that will be offered to them to make this Act work. That is the spirit of the reform of the Endangered Species Act. That is not what is taking place in this underlying bill. In the managers amendment that was just introduced. it has been suggested now for the last several days that there is a recovery plan in the underlying bill. The managers amendment. in fact. strikes that recovery plan in terms of its basic. fundamental necessity for the recovery of those species. So the difference between the substitute and the underlying bill is in the substitute. you will. in fact. have enforceable recovery plans where other actions have to be measured against the impacts on those recovery plans. the habitat that is developed under those recovery plans to make sure that the recovery of the species continues. That is no longer a requitement. That is no longer a requirement in the substitute bill. That is why I would hope that people would understand that if you really want to provide for the reform. if you really want to provide for the reform of the Endangered Species Act. if you really want to make this Act more userfriendly. if you really want to have it based upon science. if you want to have the recovery based upon science. you Want those determinations made with the best science. then that is what the substitute does. There has been a bait and switch here. Up until just recently. with the adoption of the managers amendment. you could argue that that is what the underlying bill does. But. with the new language that is introduced in the managers amendment. that is no longer the case. and I would hope that people would understand you will not be able to provide for the kind of recovery that this Nation expects. that our constituents expect. and most Members of Congress expect with that legislation now with the managers amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 15 minutes to the gentleman from New York and ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time.
Date: 2005-09-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. I thank the gentleman from New York . the cosponsor of this legislation. and all the rest of the cosponsors for their support of thisamendment. I want to thank all of my colleagues who joined in this debate today. and I think that it is important that we adopt this substitute. Earlier the gentleman from California got up on the floor. and he was upset that somebody had said that the underlying bill would eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. Yesterday. that statement would have been true. He had a right to be upset. But today when the managers amendment was offered and was accepted. the Endangered Species Act was eviscerated and let me tell you why: Because the bill. prior to that amendment. contained this language: The term to jeopardize the continued existence means. with respect to any agency action. that action reasonably that would be expected to significantly impede directly or indirectly the conservation longterm of the species in the wild. That language was struck in the -managers amendment when you struck on page 4. strike lines 3 through 11 and redesignate. The point is this. there is now no statutory protection in law if this bill is passed for the protection of this species because there is no standard of jeopardy. That was not true last night. it was not true this morning. but it is true this afternoon. You can shake your head until the cows come home. The fact of the matter is. that is what took place in this amendment. So the evisceration is now complete because there is no standard in the bill for jeopardy. Ladies and gentlemen. it is important that we accept this amendment. this bipartisan substitute. because this is our last best chance to hold on to what this Nation holds dear. and that is the protection and the diversity of the species that inhabit this Nation. and the effort that we have made as a Nation to make sure that our actions and governmental actions. and the actions of others. do not destroy and bring to extinction these species. Those protections that we have provided since the inception of this act when the gentleman from Michigan
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to engage the gentleman from Minnesota in a colloquy and seek support to inblude language in a future supplemental bill to provide individual assistance to residents in Broward and MiamiDade Counties. Florida. who suffered damage because of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina struck Broward and MiamiDade counties as a Category One storm on August 25.. The Federal Emergency Management Agencys initial assessment revealed that over 170 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in Broward and MiamiDade counties because of Katrinas fury. Following the initial assessment. local and State authorities documented that there were at least 219 homes in Broward and.189 homes in MiamiDade severely damaged or destroyed. FEMA denied assistance to individuals in Broward and MiamiDade Counties on August 31. 2005. On September 6. 2005. Florida appealed FEMAs decision and provided specific information to support its original request. including the disproportionate number of lowincome residents impacted and the fact that the State does not have disaster relief funds. This appeal was also denied. leaving hundreds of south Floridians with little hope of Federal individual assistance.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from Minnesota. and I look forward to working with them to correct this inequity.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. it is great to see that our ranks are expanding. in more ways than one in the 30something Group. just a little ribbing to the gentleman from New Jersey . We have been talking about this for the last couple of weeks. and it is almost hard to pick a jumping off point when it comes to the culture of corruption and cronyism that goes on here. I am the newest one of us. so I sort of have the freshest look. I was so hopeful when I came here 10 months ago that we would be able to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship and that of all types of investigations. of any investigation. that the investigation of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina would be one that you would think would be a nobrainer as far as bipartisanship. It has to be similar to the 9/11 independent commission. and it is not just about that we need Democrats and Republicans. It is that we need no partisanship involved in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. the investigation of Hurricane Katrina. The analogy we have been using on the floor is having a committee in the Congress that is lopsided in terms of partisanship and internal and not independent investigating Hurricane Kabrinas aftermath would be like saying- that the Enron executives or the Tyco executives should be allowed to investigate themselves and determine what happened and report back to the public or the Federal Government as to what happened. I think that people would be pretty outraged if we allowed the.Enron CEO to handle their own investigation. Back in 1994. I was serving in th6 Florida House of Representatives with the gentleman from Florida . and I remember when Mr. Gingrich took- the floor repeatedly and pointed then to what he called.an arrogance of power. I have to tell Members it did not take them very long to come full circle and be kings of the hill of that arrogance. They have literally defined the word. We have reached a point now where what they pointed to that they said developed over 40 years. it only took them 10. So they have a much shorter learning- curve than some of our predecessors. The cronyism and the corruption has got to stop. We could go through a long list of people hired who were totally unqualified for the positions they were appointed to. And then to add insult to injury. also engaged in corrupt activity during their tenure. one of whom. Mr. Safavian. was just arrested.- just indicted. and he was in charge of procurement at the White House. I
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. what this boils down to is. it is about the three Cs: We have competence. cronyism and corruption. That is what this Chamber has become about. It is a question about their incompetence. There has clearly been corruption. and we have only to list the myriad of people who are in hot water at the executive branch level and. unfortunately. in this Chamber on the other side of the aisle. As much respect as we might have for our colleagues. wve have an even greater respect for this institution. and. unfortunately. there are quite a number of people who forget their need to respect this institution. And if it were not bad enough that we have a laundry list of people now who have been hired as cronies who were unqualified at the executive level for the position that they took on and then later engaged in corrupt activity. on top of that now just yesterday we hear a report that Special Operations forces were taught by individuals who have been determined to be in this country illegally. illegally. and who are now in the process of being deported. We have Special Operations forces who do not even like to acknowledge that they exist being taught foreign language by people who were found to have been in this country illegally. two from Indonesia and one from an African country. Let us go further because I wish it stopped there. Just yesterday. we found that there is a spy apparently in the White House. I mean. a spy in the White House. I do not know. I am new. I am a freshman. and 9/11 was 4 years ago. I would think that by 2005. as 4 .years has passed. the crackdown and effort that the administration and the Republican leadership here has been engaging in it to shore up our homeland security and make sure people feel safer. and security has been the issue. How in Gods name do we have illegal immigrants from areas that one might question the motivation of some of the people and why they are here because certainly those nations that these illegal immigrants are from have had al Qaeda representatives come? We cannot make a blanket statement about it. but no question there have been problems with those countries. Special Operations forces being taught by illegal immigrants and a spy in the White House. and we have. cronyism that is running rampant at the executive branch level and ethical problem after ethical problem and indictments in this very institution. My God. if that does not cry out for a new .direction- and this country to be taken in a new direction. I do not know what does. I came here and held up my right hand and swore to uphold the Constitution and the integrity of this institution. and I want to underscore the summary that the gentleman from the State of Illinois said the other day on a news program. The way he characterized what this institution has become is that the leadership in this institution has taken this institution from the Peoples House to the auction House. and there is no other Way to describe it. That is the bottom line. And it is really sad.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. since the rule for the energy bill tomorrow was just filed. it seems a good place to jump off from. because I really hope that now that tomorrow we are going to be throwing the door. blowing the door wide open to more offshore oil drilling in the United States coastal regions. the gentleman from New Jersey represents the Jersey shore. I represent the eastern coastline. the gentleman represents the eastern coastline. Sorry. the . gentleman from Ohio does not have much of a coastline. But we have some deep. deep concerns that are going to be dealt with on the floor tomorrow where. for the first time. we are going to have the possibility of drilling much closer to the United States coastline in places that have been subject to a ban and moratoriums. Given the track record. particularly recently. of competence. cronyism and corruption. I am hopeful that we are not going to see the giveaways that are in this bill tomorrow turn into what we have seen in terms of the three Cs in the last several weeks and. quite honestly. in the last several years.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. tomorrow they will be trying to create the mythology for the American people that this is going to do something to reduce gas prices.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

There is not a single item in this bill that will reduce gas prices. not tomorrow. not next Tuesday. not 3 weeks from now will one penny get cut off a gallon of gas as a result of this bill. What will happen is it will put more money in the pockets of the people who make money off the energy industry. we are going to waive the Clean Air Act provisions. it limits FTC penalties for price gouging. and it is almost completely impossible to increase refining capacity. There is a taxpayer subsidy for oil companies. These are the provisions in this bill. There is a giveaway of Federal lands in this bill. Madam Speaker. it is unbelievable. We just did this 7 weeks ago. and now we are going to give them more. I mean. where does it stop? We have an alternative. I say to the gentleman from Florida . if the- gentleman would like to outline some of the provisions in it
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. if my colleagues do not mind me jumping in here. lest people think that we are just on the Floor here pointing fingers and only being critical. we have our own alternative proposal. the democratic alternative to the energy bill tomorrow. People might think that we as Members of Congress are somehow different than our constituents. I am just a minivan mom. I do not drive a big old SUV. I drive a mini van. I wish I could drive a car that was smaller. but I have 3 little kids who have to be striapped into a car seat. I have 6yearold twins and a 2yearold baby girl and I. like most moms. do not have much of an alternative -in terms of making sure I have a car that is safe. that is big enough to haul them and all their soccer stuff and Brownie stuff and baseball stuff. just all their stuff. That is what parents across this country deal with every single day. Last week and the week before and the week before that. I paid $45 to $50 to fill up my tank. Whenever I end up spending $45 to $50 on anything. I swallow hard. When you have to do that once a week. there is a problem. We make an okay income as Members of Cofngress. Think about the people who are struggling paycheck to paycheck. Tomorrow on this floor. we are going to offer a real alternative to the energy bill. We are going to offer an alternative that puts some bark into the Federal Trade Commissions bite. We are going to give explicit authority to the FTC to define. for the first time. price gouging and what it is and how to penalize for it and make sure that there are factors that can be determined. We are going to make sure that everybody in the supply chain. including home heating fuels. deals with price gouging measures. We are going to make sure that it is not just one end of the chain. the energy chain. but the whole thing. We are going to establish a strategic refinery reserve. Our substitute would increase our Nations refinery capacity by establishing a strategic refinery reserve. Madam Speaker. we are taking real steps in our proposed alternative tomorrow which. of course. is not going to pass because the Republicans much prefer their industryladen benefits package. which is the best way to describe this bill.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Pork. We will substitute any appropriate word. We have to make sure that we. provide some realrelief to the minivan moms and dads across this country.
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. and yet they are still. in the aftermath of Katrina. in the aftermath of Rita. with ballooning deficits and horrific corruption and cronyism. still talking about tax cuts. making the tax cuts permanent. They are still talking about budget reconciliation. which is Washington speak for cuts. They are still talking about not providing what people in this country. in the middle. in the middle. the average hardworking American needs. You know. the gentleman from Ohio
Date: 2005-10-06
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

No. I was just going to suggest that you give out the website. And we always encourage people who watch us each week to contactus. give us your thoughts and opinions and please let Members know.