macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 1995-06-21
Speaker: BILL FRIST (republican)
Chamber: S

a Senator here. who said very clearly that he supports Dr. Foster. I quote to my fellow Senator on the other side of the aisle. their own colleague. Senator FRIST: "When people ask me why I support Hank Fosters nomination. I will tell them simply. because hes qualified to carry out the duties of Surgeon General. and I am confident he will perform that job well." I am disheartened that people would come on this floor and attack a decent man the way they are doing here today. I take offense at it. I apologize to Dr. Foster for it and to his family and his friends. This is about politics. Politics of the worst sort. This is" about pressure. Pressure of the worst sort. This is about sacrificing a decent man on the altar of rightwing politics in America. I hope that if we do not win this vote today on cloture that the American people will rise up. that they will phone their Senators. because there is a chance to reconsider if we do not win today. I am appalled at what I have heard here. I am appalled that people who claim to stand for family values and for a decent society. would attack a decent man in such a personal way. I share the views of my friend from Connecticut when he says. "Who in their right mind will put themselves through this and get caught up in Presidential politics like this?" Dr. Foster is an ob/gynan obstetriciangynecologistand delivered thousands of babies. Mr. President. only a very small percentage of his practice involved abortion. And this is how he gets treated. This is a man who. as my friend from Maryland said. could have been a wealthy doctor in the Northeast somewhere playing golf at country clubs on the weekend. but chose to go into the South where women had to travel 150 miles to get decent health care. I have letters I will put into the RECORD from doctors who served with Henry Foster. who saw that compassion. And people in this Chamber with a cushy lifestyle get on this floor and attack him personally for giving up his life. so he could serve people in need. so he could turn around the infant mortality rate in the Deep South. They say "He will be like Joycelyn Elders." What does that mean? What does that mean? I have never heard that before on this floor. When we take up a nominee. that people compare him to the person who held the office before. What does it mean? Think about it. More than one person on this floor has said it. The only thing I can think of is that they are both AfricanAmerican. I ask you to search your soul in this debate and stop the personal attacks on a decent human being. If you want to vote against him. vote against him. He deserves his day. I ask for 30 additional seconds.
Date: 1995-06-27
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. just a few short months ago. the Smithsonian Institution was surrounded with controversy. The planned exhibit of the historic Enola Gay. the plane that actually dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. was overcome with historic revisionism and distortion of fact by a group of people that was determined to editorialize and promote an antiAmerican message about the end of World War II. which we are celebrating this year. as you know. I am happy to report that starting tomorrow. that exhibit is going to be open to the public. and Secretary Heyman and the Smithsonian have created a new Enola Gay exhibit that every American can be proud of. The new exhibit. which I had an opportunity to view last week. tells the amazing story of the development of the B29 airplane. and it talks about how America researched and how American industry and how American ingenuity developed our air power so that we actually were able to win World War II. and it shows the brave crew that flew on a historic mission. Most importantly. the exhibit shows the true role America played in ending World War II. in saving both American and Japanese lives. Mr. Speaker. I congratulate the Smithsonian. I think the National Air and Space Museum is back on track as an exemplary museum for America. and I urge all Americans to visit the National Air and Space Museum here in Washington and see this great tribute to American aviation. American veterans. and American history.
Date: 1995-06-28
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I say to the gentlewoman. "I agree with you. MARCY." Mr. Speaker. as my colleagues know. for the past 40 years the Federal Government has supported its wasteful spending habits by increasing taxes on our businesses. our seniors. our families. our children. This week that destructive pattern will finally come to an end. Republicans will pass the first balanced budget plan in 26 years. and provide needed tax cuts to spur the economy and give money back to the people who earned it. Despite the whining from critics. I know tax cuts and deficit reduction go handinhand." The only way to reduce the amount of money the Government takes is to reduce taxes. I say to my colleagues. "The Government takes ir taxes from you. the people. and I fee compelled to remind everyone ir thiF body it is not our money. It belongs to the American taxpayers." Let us help America. Let us give them back what they deserve. a big old whopping mother of a tax cut and a balanced budget. Both are long overdue.
Date: 1995-06-29
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I cannot believe people are talking about not giving money back to the people of America. It is your money. We need to give it back to you. It is not Governments money. Mr. Speaker. today Republicans will pass the first plan in 26 years that balances the Federal budget. This budget ensures a secure future for this country and protects the children of tomorrow by eliminating the debt of today. This budget is proof that Republicans. unlike the President. are serious about eliminating the deficit. downsizing the G6vernment. and giving much needed tax relief to all Americans. This budget is fair. it is balanced and it is the right thing to do. I consider this one of the most important votes we will ever make in the Congress. We hold Americas future in our hands. This is the greatest Nation on Earth and this budget will ensure that it will have the financial security to stay that way. I encourage my colleagues to vote for prosperity. vote for our future. and to vote for our children. Vote "yes" on this budget. our country deserves it.
Date: 1995-07-10
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Ohio . He is exactly correct. Promises. promises. Tomorrow President Clinton is expected to break yet another one of his campaign promises. He promised American veterans and the families of those servicemen still missing in action that he would not normalize relations with Vietnam until we had a full and complete accounting of those still missing in action. But now. with 55 cases still unsolved. he is going ahead with normalization. praising the Vietnamese for their socalled cooperation. But. in reality. between 1992 and 1994 they provided us more than 21.000 documents. photos. and artifacts. Only 1 percent have pertained to missing Americans. The Vietnamese have not changed. if they had they would have already opened up all the records and we wouldnt be involved in bartering information for normalization. You know. I dont expect us to be able to count on the Vietnamese. But. we should at least be able to count on our own President. He should take a strong stand for America. instead of caving in to narrow special interests and giving away Americas integrity.
Date: 1995-07-11
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. well. here we go again. Our President. without consulting the Congress. has allowed the United Nations to make a decision to bomb in Bosnia. It is going on as I speak. The U.S. F18s. according to the press. are over there bombing. U.N. control of U.S. forces is unconscionable. without resorting to consent from the Congress. We did not declare war. If one American life is lost because of these actions. I think it is a disgrace to American integrity.
Date: 1995-07-25
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. for years now Washington has been piling regulations and mandates on its citizens with little regard for the heavy toll these burdens have on real people. Today we take the first step toward restoring common sense to Washington policymaking. Mr. Speaker. I would disagree with the previous speaker that this is a controversial issue. I think that on wastewater. San Diego is trying to get a waiver and they had to spend $2.2 million of taxpayer money just to complete the forms. To renew it every 5 years. they are going to. spend another $2.2 million. Mr. Speaker. that is government bureaucracy at its worst. It needs to be fixed. By making this simple correction. we can meet environmental requirements and save a local government and local taxpayers billions of dollars. Mr. Speaker. it is about time the Congress used good judgment. Let us pass this bill.
Date: 1995-07-26
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. even though I was a POW in Vietnam for 7 years. I understand the importance of our business access to Vietnams emerging market. But I refuse to endorse opening relations with a country that simply will not provide us with information which they fully admit to having about our POWs and MIAs. Vietnams communist leadership just cannot be trusted. They have led us to alleged crash sites that. on inspection. had been recreated for U.S. visits. We have received animal bones that the Vietnamese said were human bones. This does not illustrate cooperation. in my opinion. Vietnam never lived up -to the 1974 peace agreements. The time has come for the war to end. but it must be a twoway street. and Until Vietnam demonstrates that they can work with us in good faith. keep the promises that they have made. they should not be rewarded with all the benefits of full diplomatic relations with the wealthiest. freest nation in the world.
Date: 1995-07-27
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. how many times will we have to watch President Clinton flipflop on his Bosnian policy before we lift the arms embargo? How much more indecision and bad judgment calls. not to mention flubbed airstrikes by the United Nations will we have to endure? How many lives are we going to have to lose before common sense wins out? The President is upholding an embargo on a country that no longer exists that will further involve the United7 States and possibly our troops in a war that is not ours to fight. We do not need U.N. control. we need U.S. control. We keep hearing that we cannot lift the embargo because President Clinton wants to do whatever he can to keep the peace. Mr. Speaker. when is he going to realize that there is no peace to keep?
Date: 1995-08-01
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. the United Nations and NATO do not work. That is what the problem is. Once again we are facing the same arguments we have heard for over 2 years now. that the United Nations and its military command is serving some purpose to the thousands of people who are dying or suffering every day in Bosnia. some purpose. Most importantly. we will find ourselves again face to face with Americas worst kept secret: That is. the utter failure of our administration to define why the United States and our troops should be involved in a U.N. peacekeeping operation in a place where we have no national interest and where there is no peace to keep. These same mistakes have been made before. and they cost us American lives. It happened 2 years ago in Somalia under U.N. command. with no defined mission and no defined purpose. The socalled humanitarian mission that first brought us to Somalia ended up costing us lives. like that of Sgt. James Joyce. our Army ranger who died on October 3. 1993. His father. Lt. Col. Larry Joyce. who was my constituent. testified before this House as to how dangerous it was for the United States to think that we could solve the worlds problems. and how irresponsible of us it was to use our troops as bargaining chips in the international peacekeeping game. President Clinton is making the same mistake -again. He is using United States military troops as a bargaining chip in a game where the United States is not even a player. just like Somalia. How disappointed Larry Joyce must be today. Instead of knowing that his testimony and his sons death is making a .difference. .he is being forced to sit by and watch this country make: the same tragic mistakes -again. endangering Americas -stature. and more importantly. the lives of American soldiers. I urge my colleagues to end the arms embargo and vote in favor of this resolution.
Date: 1995-08-03
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. as you may or may not know. this is not the original amendment that I offered. My original amendment completely eliminated funding for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and used the savings for deficit reduction. However. it became necessary to make changes and offer the compromise that is before us today. I have chosen to support this compromise amendment because it accomplishes two goals. First. I believe that a cut of $60 million is an important first step toward the total elimination of this Agency. Next year. we can fight for total elimination of this Agency. We owe that to the taxpayers of this country. The second. and most important part of this compromise. is the stipulation that AHCPR will not be able to continue to take $5.8 million each year from the Medicare trust fund as they have been doing since their creation in Whether the Agency is eliminated or not. this house can not. in good conscience. take money from our Medicare system which.will be broke by the year 2002. So. by supporting this amendment. you will be increasing the Medicare trust fund by $5.8 million. I would like to share with you how AHCPR uses Medicare funds and its appropriated moneys. They are used to produce studies such as. and I quote. "Cardiologists Know More About New Heart Attack Treatments Than Primary Care Doctors"-and quotethe "DoctorPatient Relationship Affects Whether Patients Sue for Malpractice". Can you believe that a Government that has a $5 trillion debt take money from Medicare and spends millions on an agency that produces these types of reports and a host of others that are duplicative and useless. The Office of Technology Assessment has concluded that AHCPRs guideline program is one of 1.500 such efforts performed by both the Federal Government and the private sector. It is obvious that we do not need to fund this Agency that employs 270 bureaucrats and in 6 years has spent 778 million taxpayer dollars29.4 million of which has been siphoned off from the Medicare trust fund. Let me reiterate this point. If we dont pass this amendment. $5.8 million will be taken out of Medicare next year and every year after that. In 7 years when Medicare goes broke. this agency will have stolen $80 million from our senior citizens. The -American people want a balanced budget. They want the Government to stop spending their money on things that we dont need and cant afford. And we dont need. nor can we afford. the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. A better name for this Agency would be the Agency for High Cost Publications and Research. I urge members to help lower the deficit. help save Medicare. and help protect taxpayers from having to fund a needless bureaucracyhelp save medicarevote for this amendment. I. would hope that the gentleman would help us accept this. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 1995-08-11
Speaker: JESSE HELMS (republican)
Chamber: S

U.S. Senator. Washington. DC. DEAR SENATOR HELMS: I have been learning that you are one of the best friends of the AmericanNicaraguan Citizens who were expropriated or confiscated by the Sandinista Government. This petition is sent to you. asking for your continuous effort to intervene before the U.S. Congress. so that the Nicaraguan government activates the due process of all of the U.S. Citizens who are still awaiting for a favorable resolution of our expropriated properties. I have been claiming since 1990 and doing what I think I have to do to get my property back. At the moment. I could not find the way to get my problem solved. Once more. I want to let you know how grateful all American citizens are knowing that you and our Republican party are interested in bringing back the justice to Nicaragua and its people. as well. Thank you for your time and hope for success. Sincerely yours.
Date: 1995-09-07
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. it is not a question of really dollars. it is do we want to defend this country or do we not? The question is. do we want an aircraft that is capable. or do we not? The B52. which they say can be extended way out there. cannot be. That airplane helped get me out of Vietnam when I came within 2.500 feet of us. scared the Vietnamese to death. and ended the war. However. they are old. I got a chance to fly one at Seymour Johnson in Goldsboro. NC. when I came back from the very outfit that had bombed Hanoi. and I will tell the Members. when I flew that airplane it scared me to death. because I looked at it and the skin is all wrinkled. the airplane is old. They are hard to maintain. You did not know if they are hard to maintain. You did not know if they were going to fly. Just recently. this picture illustrates what happened to one of our B52s. Members may have read about it in the paper. Two of the engines fell off of the thing. That is how old they are. Not only that. but they damaged the wing. which we can see there on the left. and damaged one of the other engines. They could not even jettison their fuel. which newer aircraft can. They could not land immediately. They had to fly around until they got some of their fuel out in a bad airplane. You are asking us to extend the life of this aircraft 30 more years. That is absolutely ludicrous. asking our military to fly in a piece of junk. and that is about what the B52s are today. For 30 more years. risking the lives of our men. our servicemen. is against the will of the Nation. I believe. It is time to buy new aircraft and it is time to keep the B2 line open. It is a superb airplane. It can do the job. It has been proven that it gives our military and added capability that is immeasurable. and it is a program we cannot do without.
Date: 1995-09-21
Speaker: ARISTIDES FIRST (republican)
Chamber: S

YEAR A year after American troops landed in Haiti to secure the return of its exiled President. the country is clearly in better shape. Despite the fears of his detractors. JeanBertrand Aristide has not. incited his followers against their former oppressors. but urged reconciliation. Most Haitians no longer live in fear of political violence. Mr. Aristide has reached out to business leaders. He has made a credible beginning. but there is still much to do. Mr. Aristide wisely declared he will not run for another presidential term. resisting the temptation to take advantage of his popularity to carry on the Haitian tradition of governmentbypersonality cult. Now he needs to use the time left in his term to broaden his governing skills. Mr. Aristide is not much of an administrator. Mr. Aristides senior officials operate with little direction. and the country is still chaotically governed. The simple necessities for doing businesssuch as electricityare still in short supply. While there has been some domestic investment. virtually no money has come into the country from foreign investors. and international lending institutions are leery of providing aid with few government structures in place. Inflation. however. has fallen below 25 percent from 52 percent last year. and gross domestic product has risen by 3 percent. compared to a 10 percent decline last fiscal year. The recent highly flawed parliamentary electionswhich resulted in overwhelming victories for Mr. Aristides Lavalas Partyhave left opposition parties feeling disgruntled and cheated. Although there was little evidence of outright fraud. the electoral commission was unacceptably disorganized. The electoral commissions inept chairman was dismissed. but reform of the commission itself has been stalled. The United Nations force of 6.000--includIng 2.400 American troops--is due to leave at the end of February. The new police force has made a good start. Recruiting has been selective. and officers have won confidence in neighborhoods where police were regarded as the enemy. Reform of the justice system is proceeding well. with judges and prosecutors receiving training from international experts. But with no civil service tradition. much of the government bureaucracy is still dysfunctional. Given Haitis violent history. simply calming the countrys polarized political climate is an impressive achievement. But Mr. Aristide now needs to break his isolation. cooperating with his senior ministers to come up with a coherent plan for getting the country back on its feet. For now most Haitians are simply grateful that they can sleep free from fear. But that gratitude will wear thin if Mr. Aristide does not figure out how to take the next steps. which include everything from creating jobs to collecting the garbage.
Date: 1995-09-27
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. we are not here to try to undercut unions. On the other hand. I do not want somebody that is elected by a union to come and talk common sense. and you know this TEAM Act is probably one of the most commonsense pieces of labor legislation that this House has ever seen.
Date: 1995-10-11
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me correct the statement that was just made. It is not $90 billion. $90 billion in the Democrat plan takes us out to the year 2006. Guess what? There are 4 more years before the baby boomers arrive. and that is where the real problem exists. Our reform takes us out to that point. and there is a $300 billion difference in their plan and ours. They do not fund Medicare. As my colleagues know. today is an important day for me because I am 65 and I have got a Medicare card. Guess what? I worried about it because of the bankruptcy. so I have spent months working with doctors. hospitals. nursing homes. insurance companies. and seniors in my district. as have a lot of us around the country. .to save Medicare and find a solution. As my colleagues know. we have come up with a smorgasbord of choices. and I am proud to have been a part of the reform effort. not only for myself. but for every American who depends on Medicare. I am proud knowing that Congress has not just looked toward the next election. but we have looked to the next generation to make a better America for our kids.
Date: 1995-10-12
Speaker: CHARLIE NORWOOD (republican)
Chamber: H

from the Tenth District of Georgia talk about specifics of the plan. and also I hope he will allude to these arrests that were referred to earlier by our friends on the other side.