macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. let me begin by saying that I believe that today the Committee on Education and the Workforce brings a product that we can all be very proud of and that I believe everyone in this House can support. I want to begin by thanking a lot of people that made this possible. The merits of this bill and the content of this bill is pretty widely disbursed right now. so I want to take a moment to thank those individuals that made this bipartisan product possible. I want to begin with the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman BOEHNER). It just simply can be said that without him. this conference would have never been successful. and without him. we would not be standing here today to present a dramatically new reform of a 30yearold program that is going to prqvide. I think. a greater educational opportunity for Americas disadvantaged children. He kept his word about where we were going. he worked hard to see that we got there. and he worked very hard the last 24 hours to drag us across the finish line. I cannot think of a better working experience I could have had with the chairman of my committee. I also want to thank my Democratic Members of the conference committee: The gentleman -from Michigan . who probably knows more about reauthorizing ESCA than anybody else in the House of Representatives. the gentlewoman from Hawaii
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

bipartisan bill in 1994 that gained the Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the support of a large m~jority of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. KIL- House. But under the leadership of the DEE). who is our ranking member on gentleman from Ohio the Subcommittee on Elementary and and the gentleman from California (Mr. Secondary Education. and I want to GEORGE MILLER). we have produced a publicly thank him for his work to much better bill today. I urge all Memmake sure that we had an independent. bers to support this conference report. freestanding afterschool program as a Finally. Mr. Speaker. I want to part of this legislation. thank the chairman and the -ranking
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii . Again. I want to thank her so much for really being so tenacious on the question of making sare that these resources were targeted and that they were going to be there for the disadvantaged population and also for her outspoken support of the Womens Equity program in this legislation.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey . and I would thank him for all of his help here with the preschool portions of this bill and also the efforts to expand and support charter schools. I thank him for his work.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana . and publicly again I just want to thank him for all of the work that he did on flexibility. where he helped us overcome what was going to be a terrible. terrible political stalemate and I think worked out to the satisfaction of all of the" members of the conference committee.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York and thank him for all of his work. He probably said it many times in this committee. that if we gave disadvantaged children an opportunity to learn with all of the resources necessary and the welltrained teacher. he was fully prepared to accept the accountability. believing that those children could meet and exceed those marks of accountability. and I think it kept us focused on that central theme of this legislation.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in very strong support of the conference report for H.R. 1. the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Nearly a year ago. Congress embarked on a mission to improve the education of Americas public school students. Today. I am proud to say that we have produced a consensus bill that. when implemented by the Administration as intended by Congress. will dramatically expand the opportunity for all children in our country to learn.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. although I do not intend to object. I would yield to the gentleman for an explanation of his request.
Date: 2001-12-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. further reserving the right to object. I thank the gentleman for his explanation. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation of objection.
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. although I do not intend to object. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. .I want to congratulate the committee on the legislation that they have approved today. As many of my colleagues are all aware. we just finished the education reauthorization bill of the ESEA. and we are getting a lot of nice comments from around the country and from our Members in Congress about the bipartisan efforts to pass that legislation and to work out the differences that we have. I want to say to all. of the Members of Congress. that was facilitated by the fact that this committee and the Appropriations subcommittee was working in a bipartisan effort to support those efforts. They made it very clear they were willing to support the resources. the money necessary to bring about the reforms. but if the reforms were not there. they were not ptepared to put the resources into the bill. I want to thank the chairman. the gentleman from Ohio . Much of what was in our bill dealing with the targeting of our resources. with teacher quality. came out of a number of conversations he and I had and his wife. Mary. about the importance of high quality teachers and teaching in poor schools. and I want to thank him for supporting that effort. -The same goes to the ranking member. the gentleman from Wisconsin
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that I had suggested that the gentleman from California was coauthor of the McCarthy bill. He is not. But he has been very. very helpful with her in the drafting of that legislation. and the chairman has been very cooperative in this. But we have now been trying to get this bill scheduled for a month or more and just have not received any assurances that it will be scheduled. The practical effect of holding back on S. 1762 is that we have 18 months in which this solution can be put into effect. and status of the current law will continue to exist. Mr. Speaker. I yield suchtime as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York .
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Just in closing. Mr. Speaker. I would say that I want to make it very clear to the Members of the House that we have tried with all due diligence to get this legislation scheduled. We were informed at one point today that it would be scheduled. and then that changed in the last couple of hours. that it would not be. I do not know what the objection would be. and it is not clear to us what the objection would be to help out these families to provide this student loan forgiveness to those spouses that may have loans that have lost their spouse in the tragedy of September 11. but that has been articulated to us. As has been pointed out by theauthor of the bill and Members of the minority. extensive negotiations have gone on with respect to this legislation to try and make it workable. to try and make it deliver the benefit that is intended. That has all been worked out. Simply. what we now have is a determination about the scheduling of this. One could argue. one could argue that we could put thisoff until next year. but I think as we see these families trying to come to closure. both emotionally and economically. we would do this Congress proud to extend this benefit. We have made several provisions for the forgiveness of student loans. In this instance we simply have overlooked the spouses of those who *were killed in the terrorist attack. That can be remedied by the quick passage of this legislation. We really do not know the opposition to it. since we are simply told that it will not be allowed to come to the floor. but we have not had those people come forward and express opposition. So for that reason. we will be asking Members to withhold their support from the bill under current consideration. S. 1762. for the loan rate fix on student loans. As I said before. there is 18 months before this has to be dealt with. We would like to deal with it now. A lot of work has gone into it. But clearly. we do not have the ability to set the agenda here and we have to use those leverages that are available to us. I.would ask my colleagues to reject this bill so that we can get on with helping these families who are the victims of the terrorist attack on September 11. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support the Higher Education Relief Opportunities Student Act of 2001. and I thank the gentleman from California for his hard work and the bipartisan spirit which he brought to this important bill. This act will give the Secretary of Education the authority to adjust the laws governing student aid programs. if necessary. in response to the September 11 attacks. It will allow the Secretary to ensure that members.of the armed services and students are not punished financially by the attacks. We obviously support this legislation. I find it ironic that we are doing this piece of legislation. but we are not going to do the previous legislation under. discussion to help these families who have been devastated by these attacks. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I object to the vote on the ground that a. quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.
Date: 2001-12-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. I would also like to ask unanimous consent to add H.R. 3163 to the Suspension Calendar to provide student loan relief to surviving spouses of victims to the September 11 tragedies. I do not believe anybody would oppose this.
Date: 2001-12-20
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I join in this tribute to a career of remarkable service as a Member of this Congress. as our chief deputy whip. and as our whip for the last 10 years to my friend. the gentleman from Michigan . who will be stepping down from that position of whip and will be going on to run a successful race for Michigan. I have supported him in everything he has ever run for. and I plan to continue to support him. I have never been more proud of a public servant. I have to say to the Members of this House and to the public that may be listening. this is an individual that all of us can be proud that his district sent him to Washington because he never. never once veered from the track of taking care of the needs of his district. And as the gentlewoman from California has pointed out. on behalf of working families. he made it part of our agenda. he made it part of our lexicon. he made it part of our principles and part of our morality. He has done it in almost every meeting that I have been in. He has done it on our motions to recommit. We are not always given the best forum here to pursue these issues. but he has made sure that every opportunity we had. we did do it. Why? Because of his strong convictions about a notion of economic and social justice in this country. that those individuals who get up and go to work every day and work hard. that they ought to have the rewards to be able to support their families. If they fall on economic hard times. there ought to be an income supplement program so they do not have to lose their car or house or take their children out of school. Mr. Speaker. many people we are seeing in this recession have worked 15. 20. 30 years. and now they find themselves unemployed. He has been a champion. I had the pleasure of traveling with DAVID to Central America in pursuit of social and economic justice in Central America at a time when the violence was unbelievable. Many people forget what was taking place in Central America. the murder of American citizens. of religious individuals. of the archbishop. of so many people who were simply trying to get along. trying to live a life in Central America. He spent an incredible amount of his energy trying to bring the peace process around. We were eventually successful in Nicaragua. in El Salvador. and Guatemala trying to stop the violence. The gentlewoman has been deeply involved in those issues with us. Mr. Speaker. we should all aspire to be such a champion of economic and social justice. DAVID. I am very. very proud to have served in this Congress with you. I am very proud to be your friend. and I know that you are going to do great things for the people of Michigan and for the people of this Nation..
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. there are some very disturbing similarities between the Enron Corporations activities and the Republican tax cut. Last year a young reporter told the Enron Corporation and the investment community that the Enron books had been cooked. it was not on the level. the revenues werenot what they said they were. Ken Lay. the CEO. said not so. not so. In the meanwhile. he was selling his stock. leaving the shareholders holding the bag. Last year we said that if you had the tax cut and you did what the President wanted to do. what the Republicans wanted to do. it was the end of surpluses. They said no. no. it is not so. it is not so. Well. today we are told in the papers it is the end of surpluses. We have red ink. according to. CBO. as far as the eye can see. What did the Republicans do? The first thing they did was get a tax cut for the wealthy. The first thing they did was take care of their friends. And now the unemployed. those in need of prescription drugs. those on Social Security. are left holding the bag. Why? Because we are now into the Social Security Trust Fund $700 billion. $700 billion. The surpluses have disappeared. $4 trillion this year. There is a disturbing parallel of values here about taking care of the wealthy and letting everybody else hold the bag.
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support S. 1762. that reduces interest rates on student loans. I would like to begin by thanking four Members who worked particularly hard on this bill in a bipartisan spirit: the gentleman from Ohio . the gentleman from California . the gentlewoman from Hawaii . and the gentleman from Michigan
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the .gentleman from New Jersey . a member of the committee.
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York . a member of the committee.
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee . a strong supporter of this legislation.
Date: 2002-01-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2002-02-06
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. as we honor President Regans birthday today. it is fitting that we remember one of his most famous lines. "There you go again." Well. tragically. there you go again and here we go again. In the early 1980s President Reagan forced through a massive tax cut and military spending hikes that resulted in budget deficits over the next 12 years. The American tax payers paid trillions of dollars in additional interest costs. Longterm interest rates remained high. The penalty was on workers. on their families. on their children and on the poor of this Nation. Sounds familiar? There he goes again. President Bushs budget priorities. In spite of everything we have learned. as the previous speaker said. the world has changed since September 11. Everything has changed. the President said. Everything but this tax cut that was considered in an entirely different time. What do we see? We see Governors all over the country postponing tax cuts because the reality of their State budgets is they cannot continue to provide tax cuts and provide the services that their States need. whether it is education or highways or infrastructure repairs. What do we see now? Republican Governors postponing tax cuts. I do not think they think they are raising taxes. They think they are doing prudent economics on behalf of the citizens of their State. We should reject this proposal.
Date: 2002-02-13
Speaker: BOB TORRICELLI (democrat)
Chamber: S

and many otherswho have expressed their views and thoughts on this legislation. I thank the witnesses who testified before our committee. Finally. a very special thanks is reserved for my friend. JOHN CONYERS. the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and my coauthor in the House of the original election reform legislation. His commitment to this issue is unparalleled. With that. I conclude with the words I opened with of Dr. Martin Luther King: The history of our Nation is the history of a long and tireless effort to broaden and to increase the franchise of American citizens. Today. when we gather to discuss this reform measure. we are fulfilling the commitment Martin Luther King suggested in his words 40 years agoto broaden and increase that franchise. With that. I yield the floor.
Date: 2002-02-14
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. the bill that is before us today is almost savage in its insensitivity to the plight of American families who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. the plight of the American worker who lost their job before September 11 and found jobhunting much more difficult after September 11. the people who have lost their job since September 11 and do not qualify for any unemployment benefits because of all of the loopholes that have been riddled in this system. It is savage in its insensitivity to what these families are going through. I have had an opportunity to meet with unemployed workers in Los Angeles and Indiana and New Jersey. people who have worked for 15 or 20 years. and their job disappeared through no fault of their own because of terrorism. because of an economic downturn. and now they find themselves without any resources. Unemployment is running out. 11.000 people a day. While my colleagues are on recess. 120.000 people will lose their unemployment benefits. More people exhausted their unemployment benefits in December than any time since 1973. What does this Congress do? What does the Republican leadership do? It insists. it insists upon playing pingpong back and forth with the future and the lives and the wellbeing of these American families. Thirteen weeks of unemployment insurance for those people running out of unemployment who have exhausted their benefit is available today. but the Republican leadership is going to play pingpong. We are going to send it back to the Senate and go home. Happy Valentines Day. Listen to the unemployed. Maybe my colleagues do not spend much time with them. Listen to the people who talk about invading their 401(k)s. their IRAs to try" to save the mortgage. to try to say save their automobiles so they can continue to look for work. Listen to these individuals who are lining up never before in their life in food pantries so they can feed their families. Listen to the people who are working at the margins in the hospitality industry. They have no savings. They have no rainy day fund. They have no place to go. no credit. They were working at the margins. When that unemployment check stops. if even they are qualified. the music stops for them and their families. Listen to the young truck driver out there who is working for Sunkist when it went bankrupt. laid them off. 15 years. He finally bought a house in Los Angeles. Now he was scrambling. begging his extended family. -his friends to meet the mortgage payment. He invaded his retirement to make the mortgage payment. All he did was lose much of his retirement value down the road. No insensitivity at all on my colleagues part for these families. for these workers. for these employees who have been thrust into this system where they get no benefits. No. my colleagues are going to send the bill to the Senate and go home. to go home and turn their back on the American worker.
Date: 2002-02-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I am in opposition to H.R. 1542. This legislation extends the power of the Bell monopolies which the Telecommunications Act of 1996 sought to curb. I am particularly concerned about the negative effects this legislation will have on small businesses in my district if the bill passes. In the past couple of years. a number of Competitive Local Exchange Carriers have begun to provide highspeed data access in my district. If TauzinDingle passes. these small carriers will be priced out of thL market and hundreds of small businesses will lost a competitive choice in their data provider. This bill does nothing to lower data service rates. and it is bad policy. I urge my colleagues to vote "no" on final passage of H.R. 1542. Services will not be cheaper for consumers. Presently it cost me $20 more per month in Texas than I pay in Virginia for the same services.
Date: 2002-02-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I would like to yield back my time and request that time be yielded to the gentlewoman from California .
Date: 2002-03-06
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. America goes to war against terrorism. Americas fighting men and women are put in harms way. American soldiers lose their lives. And American corporations go to Bermuda. At a time of national emergency. accountants are writing advice to their corporations saying that maybe patriotism will have to take a back seat in the opportunity to maximize their profits by avoiding American taxes on their corporation by taking up illegal residence on the island of Bermuda. With the Republican tax cuts to the wealthy. the burden of paying for this war is falling more and more on middleclass and lowerincome Americans. More and more this war is being fought out of the Social Security trust fund that is paid more and more by middleclass and lowerincome Americans. but American corporations decide that they will escape any liability. any re�sponsibility for the payment of Americas efforts against terrorism by going to Bermuda and taking a tax holiday.