macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-26
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 227. which I introduced to recognize the contributions to our Nation of Indian. Americans. and specifically the graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology. After winning independence in 1947. India began building a democraticnation to provide its citizens with equal opportunities. fl 1530 One of the successes of the new nation was the Indian Institute of Technology. or IIT. which was established in Kharagpur in May. 1950. Today there are seven IIT campuses across India. IlTs have become synonymous with excellence in technology and engineering education. Since the inception of IIT. thousands of graduates have sought and achieved the highest levels of professional successes in the United States and indeed throughout the vrorld. iT graduates are estimated to have stimulated the creation of over 150.000 jobs in the U.S. Most Silicon Valley firms have at least one IIT graduate among their top executives. In my district in Northern Virginia. we literally have dozens of IIT executives running their own companies. producing thousands of jobs. Almost all IIT alumni attribute their success to the rigorous educational foundation they received at IIT. Mr. Speaker. the U.S. has attracted more IT graduates than any other country because we remain on the cutting edge of the science and technology fields. In recognition of IIT graduates contributions to our Nation. the second Global IIT Alumni Conference will be held in nearby Bethesda. Maryland from May 20 through 22. The conference will attract over 1.500 attendees from all over the United States and around the world. Mr. Speaker I am pleased that the House is recognizing the achievements of Indian Americans and IIT graduates in helping to make the United States the global leader it is. Indian Americans are wonderful ambassadors of their homeland. and they strengthen the strong friendship between India and the United States. the two largest democratic nations in the world. Mr. Speaker. I urge all my colleagues to join me in recognition of the important contributions made by Indian Americans and IIT graduates to our national economy. I thank the House India Caucus and all the cosponsors for their support of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-04-26
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to thank the gentleman from Illinois on the other side of the aisle for helping us bring this bill to the floor and the gentleman from Louisiana. a Rhodes scholar and one who has brought credit to his -heritage. to his State. and this body by serving here. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
Date: 2005-04-27
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. 34 States currently have parental consent laws when it comes to minors and abortion. Unfortunately. they are too often and too easily ignored simply by going to another State. Today. the House is going to vote to make it a Federal crime to transport a minor across State lines for an abortion. This legislation would not affect State laws. but would prevent minors from being transported to evade a parental consent law in the girls home State. The average American parent would be outraged if some adult took their child across States lines for an abortion. The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act protects parents and minors from adults who might conspire with or even pressure them to cross into another State for an abortion. This bill is for our kids and for a better America. I urge a "yes" vote.
Date: 2005-04-27
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. While many States require parental notification or consent before an abortion procedure. others do not. The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. RosLEHTINEN) introduced this bill to prohibit the transportation of a minor across State lines in order to obtain an abortion. As we have all heard in the discussion today. there are no Federal parental notification laws and not every State operates under the same rules. There are some States that do not require a parental consent form or notification. or their laws may be tied up in a court challenge. as was the case in Florida. but the voters voted overwhelmingly to have parental notification. When a minor is transported across State lines to evade these State laws. the rights of parents have been violated. I only have daughters. I have three daughters and certainly any parent realizes that their children cannot have such a minor thing as a tattoo or a body piercing or even receive vaccines in school without their consent. Is it asking too much that our children receive parental consent before they undergo an outofstate and serious medical procedure. all without their parents consent? Can you imagine learning that your daughter was transported across State lines because she thought it was her only option? That is just plain wrong. Mr. Chairman. we must support the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act today. Certainly Congress does not want to condone nonparents transporting young women across State lines for the purpose of evading the parental involvement laws in the girls home State. To me that is a dangerous and unconscionable precedent to set. Across the country. officials must obtain parental consent before performing even routine medical procedures.
Date: 2005-05-03
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. recently the Wall Street Journal highlighted a disturbing trend among labor union boards. They are engaging in pension fund blackmail to bully corporations into agreeing with their partisan political agenda. A top AFLCIO lobbyist was referring to financial services funds backing the Presidents personal retirement account proposal and he said. "We have no intention of letting any of these companies get away with this while they manage our workers funds." And 3 trustees representing the New York City Employees Retirement System sent a letter to several investment banking companies demanding to know their Social Security stance. These union boards should be ensuring their members pensions are being wisely invested in qualified ethical companies. How can we say that SarbanesOxley has strengthened corporate responsibility if labor unions are investing in and managing corporate boards based on their political interest rather than their fiduciary responsibilities to their members and the corporations for which they represent?
Date: 2005-05-10
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of Janice Rogers Brown. In the discussion over the filibuster. much has been lost with respect to the individuals who have been nominated. that is. who they are as real people. Janice Rogers Brown is an outstanding member of the California Supreme Court. As attorney general of the State of California. I had the opportunity to review her record and on two occasions to vote to put her on the appellate court and then on the California Supreme Court. She has worked in various different areas in the legal field. One of the outstanding periods of her work was as legal affairs secretary to Governor Pete Wilson. who on many occasions commented on the outstanding job she did for him. the tremendous legalmind she had. and the ability for her to listen to all sides and then come to a considered opinion. Mr. Speaker. in the effort to resolve the problem in the other body. I hope that Janice Rogers Brown will not be left behind. She is an outstanding candidate. someone who would do well to serve on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. and someone who has had an outstanding record as a member of the California Supreme Court.
Date: 2005-05-11
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Mr. Sanford Walke of Hernando Beach. Florida. He was the chief engineer in the army during World War II. and Mr. Walke recently was a person to whom I presented the Purple Heart for his heroic actions in battle. On a flight over Germany on July 8. 1944. Mr. Walkes plane was shot down over France. The last one to jump out of the plane. he was forced to open his parachute over enemy territory. He was then taken as a Prisoner of War and held in a German prison camp. He was put on long and arduous marches until he was able to escape with another British soldier months later. The two soldiers were hiding in a barn in a German village when the British tanks rolled in and took over the town. Thankfully. the British took care of him until he was able to reunite with his American soldier buddies. Mr. Speaker. true. American heroes like Sanford Walke should be honored for their service to our Nation and for their commitment and sacrifices in battle.
Date: 2005-05-12
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee for the work they have done in bringing to the floor the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. H.R. 1544. and I rise in support of that bill. Yesterday. we had a reminder. if we even needed a reminder. of the events of 9/11 and the aftermath. Yesterday. as we were proceeding out of this Chamber. we were urged by those who were in uniform to move faster. to move to a place of greater safety. And that is an apt analogy for the bill we bring to this floor today. because we truly are attempting to do a better job in terms of the funding on the Federal level for first responders. There is no doubt that this Chamber. acting with the other Chamber and the executive branch. attempted as best we could at that time to come up with a comprehensive approach to get funding to first responders in view of the threat as we saw it after 9/11. But in the intervening 3plus years. we have seen that that which we have done is not perfect. that there are improvements to be made. Certainly first and foremost among these is to establish a basis for the kinds of funding that will go out to the first responders. This bill is a true effort to attempt to establish a rational risk assessment. that is. a rational means of determining what the greatest threat is to this country in the aftermath of 9/11. and then proceed to have the funding follow that. This is extremely important. because in some ways it goes against the grain of those of us who serve in this body who want to make sure that every single one of our districts gets the best amount of money that it possibly can. In this particular situation. we are acting as national legislators. making a determination as to what the national threat is. and then responding to that national threat in the most effective way possible. That is why I salute the chairman and ranking member. I tell my other colleagues here that this was a unanimous decision by the members of this committee. Hopefully. we will receive a unanimous decision here on the floor of the House.
Date: 2005-05-17
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. there is a very serious governmentwide backlog of security clearance investigations which has caused unacceptable delays in the process. This .threatens national security. and it costs taxpayers a lot of money. Because there are so few security clearances and so much work to do. we are overpaying people because of the work. It is just the law of supply and demand. This backlog is the result of poorly designed management structures and a lack of clearance reciprocity. As a result the Committee on Government Reform. which I chair. held a hearing. and we authored legislation that was included in the 9/11. Act to address the structural problems that plague the security clearance system throughout the government. Given the longevity of this problem. it is understandable that government agencies and Congressional committees have sought out their own ways to try to avoid bottlenecks in clearance processes. Section 516 of this bill is just such a workaround. It gives DHS the authority to continue to conduct clearance investigations for itself because governmentwide it continues to be very dysfunctional. The 9/11 Act reforms addressed the managerial chaos that has plagued security clearance policy by creating a new oversight authority for all Federal security clearance policy. Although this hew oversight entity will likely grant a number of agencies the authority to continue to conduct their own investigations. it will also be responsible for developing and enforcing consistent standards for investigations across government. We need to give it a chance to do that. Under this amendment. the Congressionally mandated oversight authority will be responsible for ensuring that investigations for DHS security clearances are done in the most timely and efficient manner once the 9/11 Act reforms take effect. once they take effect. This will keep us on the path to security clearance process reform for all agencies and safeguard both national security and the pocketbooks of the American taxpayer. I would ask all Members to support this amendment.
Date: 2005-05-17
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky and I want to thank the minority for working with us. I understand their frustration.
Date: 2005-05-17
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I ask Members to support the amendment. The Acting Chairman. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Virginia .
Date: 2005-05-18
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I would like to first of all add my thanks to both the chairman and the ranking member of this committee. for the bipartisan way in which they have approached this issue. I was not ajmember of this House of Representatives on 9/11. I saw. as did many Americans. an attack that many of us had never anticipated. It only brought memories of what my parents generation must have felt on the day that we had the attack at Pearl Harbor. The question before us really now is what is the proper response and what will that response be by our legislative branch. There has been established a Department of Homeland Security. It is an amalgamation of many departments and agencies that previously existed. It has been an effort to try and bring a single focus to a major issue. our response to terrorism. It was a welldone job under the circumstances. Yet now we are here some. 3plus years after 9/11. and we recognize that everything we. did was not exactly perfect. We recognize there are bhanges that must be made. This authorization bill is the first chance that our committee has to present to the House our effort to try and get our arms around not only this problem but the response to this problem. and that is the Department of Homeland Security. While there are other elements of the executive branch which deal with this. the primary responsibility is With the Department of Homeland Security. and we have attempted on a bipartisan basis to look at the issues. to do the proper oversight. to try and make some recommendations. but none should be deluded to the fact that we somehow believe this is the total response to the problem. E 1245 This is our first effort. This is the beginning of a job that is going to be ongoing. Much like the Defense Department was organized in the late 1940s. early 1950s. and while it took time for Congress to properly get its arms around that. we similarly must do that now. Time is not on our side. The terrorists are not waiting until we get organized. so we must make sure that we do this in the best fashion possible. in a timely fashion. I would say that I am very proud of the fact that the bill that has been. brought to floor is a bill that got the unanimous support of the members of this committee. both Democrat and Republican. It is a worthy bill. It is a worthy effort at our direction to the Department of Homeland Security. There will be things that we will do in the future. One of the things mentioned by the ranking member that I believe is a real step forward is establishing the position of Assistant Secretary for cybersecurity. There is a. need to have a concentration on that issue. There is a need to have that at a heightened level. There is a need for us to understand the embedded nature of cyberoperations- in our society. both public and private. I believe that we have on a bipartisan basis reached that conclusion. I thank both the ranking member and the chairman for the work they have done. I would ask that the Members support this bill as presented by this committee. -
Date: 2005-05-18
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 1817. the Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006. I applaud the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) for his leadership and commitment to securing our Nations borders. Congress has not been idle when it comes to our Nations security. recently passing the REAL ID Act in the emergency wartime supplemental. I applaud all of these changes. They provide identification checks that will keep our vital infrastructure facilities like chemical and nuclear power plants safe from terrorists. I know firsthand the value of security. as my hometown recently experienced the unfortunate confluence of illegal immigration. Social Security fraud. and potential terrorist threats. I live in Crystal River where there is a nuclear power plant. and it was found to have contracted with a businessman who. unbeknownst to them. had actually been using illegal immigrant day laborers who provided false or stolen Social Security numbers to obtain governmentissued drivers licenses. This issue brought home the vital importance of not only upgrading our identity verification processes but also of securing our borders. These people actually had been deported but sneaked back into the country and got a little too close to a critical infrastructure site for this Member of Congress to be able to tolerate. We worked to strengthen our ID laws. but we also must work to strengthen our borders. Today our borders are overwhelmed. To anyone watching today. it is clear that America needs border patrol agents. Just last week in the Committee on Government Reform. my colleagues and I heard testimony that the Department of Homeland Security does not have enough agents and that it despefately needs more. Last years intelligence reform bill authorized 2.000 new agents. These new border patrol agents will deter illegals from entering the United States and will enhance response capabilities by almost 20 percent. However. funding was only proposed for 210 of these agents. This is unacceptable. 210 agents cannot adequately protect our borders. Accordingly. I join my colleagues on the Immigration Reform Caucus to call for the full 2.000 new border patrol agents. I thank the gentlemhan from California again for placing this as a priority of securing our borders and authorizing the additional agents that America needs. Mr. Chairman. I strongly urge my colleagues to protect our borders and to vote in favor of the Homeland Security Authorization Act which does better protect nuclear power plants and chemical facilities.
Date: 2005-05-18
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York . chairman of the Committee on Science. someone who worked closely with our committee.
Date: 2005-05-18
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just say that what this amendment will require us to do with precious Homeland Security dollars is pay up to 50 percent more for goods that bear the American label and in many cases cost us access to the best hightechnology surveillance equipment. lab equipment. equipment and cameras to protect our borders. I just -do not think it makes any sense in this environment of a global economy. and I urge its defeat. Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against section 413 of H.R. 2361. on the grounds that this provision changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI. and therefore is legislation included in a general appropriation bill.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

I raise a point of order against the provision beginning with "notwithstanding" on page 121. line 11. through the comma on line 12. on the grounds that this provision changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI and therefore is legislation included in a general appropriation bill.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I have three other points of order. I will raise them individually. I have a point of order against the provision beginning with "notwithstanding" on page 121. line 22. through the word "laws" on line 23. on the grounds that this provision also changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against the provision beginning with the word "notwithstanding" on page 124. line 6 through line 7. on the grounds that this provision changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairjnan. I raise a point of order against the provision on page 124. lines 15 through 25. on the grounds that this provision changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI... therefore it is legislation included in a general appropriation bill.
Date: 2005-05-19
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for agreeing to this amendment. Mr. Chairman. water is one of the most precious resources Floridians possess. Representing several of the States largest water reserves. protecting the quality and availability of our water has always been a top priority. Unfortunately. the EPA is proposiflg this dumping rule that would damage the integrity of Americas water. The proposed rule which they now have said that they are not going to implement was not a very well thought out one. The blended wastewater concept would then be discharged into our waterways. .The consequences of this strategy could be very dire. Certainly in a State like Florida where we have more than our share of heavy rains during rainy season. and you can be darn sure we are going to have a lot of hurricanes again. it would be virtually playing Russian roulette every time that citizens would be drinking tap water. I cannot in good conscience allow the rule to go forward and have that communicated to the EPA. I am very delighted that today a letter did come from them that they are not going forward with this. But keeping it in the legislation is very wise policy.
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction to members of the Armed Forces serving in a combat zone for contributions to their individual retirement plans even if the compensation on which such contribution is based is excluded from gross income. and for other purposes. as amended.
Date: 2005-05-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

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.R. 1499.