macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-11-03
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Before you close. I want to just comment on the gentleman from Illinois. Thank you. Mr. JACKSON. for what I know you are about to begin. which is an eloquent presentation on the importance of construction. It looks as if the airport that you have been fighting on for many years. and if we would listen to you on the particular project that you are speaking of. but also as we look to infrastructure around America. we would be able to create what Im getting ready to see. We would be able to compete with some of these other nations that he will cite that will have probably more airports than the United States. I just want to thank you. Mr. JACKSON. for your astuteness. and we look forward to hearing you. And thank you for the Progressive message.
Date: 2011-11-04
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. I rise in support of this bill and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it. The 29th District of Texas that I represent encompasses the Port of Houstonthe largest foreign tonnage port in the country. It drives economic activity in region. and is home to one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world. Because of this. security on the waterway is critical. and the Coast Guard has been exceptional in providing that security. The Coast Guard enforces the nations laws in U.S. waters and on the high seas. and protects the lives and property of those at sea. The Coast Guards missions include maritime search and rescue. illegal drug and migrant interdiction. oil spill prevention and response in the marine environment. marine safety. maintenance of aids to navigation. enforcement of U.S. fisheries. and other marine environmental laws. and maritime defense readiness. I know this bill is not perfect. but I support it because it provides the Coast Guard with the resources they need to meet the security and environmental demands they are tasked with. The measure authorizes programs of the Coast Guard in FY 2012. Passage of the bill will continue todays high levels of offshore safety. ensure important projects are not delayed. and will protect the lives and livelihood of those who live and work around American waterways. such as the Houston Ship Channel. Mr. Chair. I again thank the Committee for their work on this bill and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.
Date: 2011-11-04
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. I rise in support of the McCaul Amendment to the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act. For over 75 years. the Jones Act allowed only one nongovernmental organization. the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). a notforprofit marine classification society located in my district in Houston. the authority to review and inspect U.S. flagged vessels on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1996. Congress expanded this authority to allow foreignbased classification societies to perform similar tasks. Today. five foreign classification societies act as Agents of our government on behalf of the Coast Guard. Unfortunately. four of these foreign organizations also act as Agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the review and inspection of Iranian flagged vessels. These foreignbased classification societies also continue to have business interest with. and often operate within. other rogue nations and state sponsors of terrorism. I support the McCaul Amendment. which would close this loophole in our laws and send a clear message to foreignbased classification societies that you must choose to work with the United States or work with state sponsors of terrorism. such as Iran. I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the word and spirit of the Iranian sanctions regime that this Chamber has supported time and again. and vote in favor of this amendment.
Date: 2011-11-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I apologize for my raspy voice. but my passion for standing up overrules my voice. I am speechless. combined with outrage and anguish over the little boys that have been sexually abused. It is not a question of football and what is king. It is not a question of what State it is and what great university it is. It is a question of adults and institutions ignoring the pain of these children. It is documented that it takes 2 years before a child is willing to talk about sexual abuse. And in my own State today. an 18yearold took her life because she had been sexually abused by a family member. and finally. it was investigated. I dont know how long the law enforcement took to investigate it. but she finally took her life with the belief that no one would be prosecuted. So Ill be introducing legislation that will immediately suspend all Federal funds of any institution that is found to have covered upemployed someone who has been engaged in sexual abuse and no one reported it. including the prosecutors office. who are now just saying that they will be looking at this in the State of Texas. It will exclude scholarships and Pell Grants. I intend to introduce that legislation and stop the funding now for any institution that thinks that they are above the law and will watch a grown man perform a sexual act on a child and refuse to do something about it. Refuse to do something about it. It is an outrage.
Date: 2011-11-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Reestablish manufacturing. If manufacturing makes things. weve got to buy things. How do you buy things? You have money to buy it. And Ive been supporting this for a very long time. Im part of the Manufacturing Caucus. In addition. its very important that we do as the WPA did during the time of the horrible aftermath of the Depression. and the Workforce Investment Act would be assisting 8 million people and give all of these people a chance to fix the infrastructure all across America. Cars will stop going into potholes. bridges will stop having cracks in them. and we will be able to put people to work. TANF. if it were fully funded and if it had an emergency contingency fund that many of us have been speaking about. this would make availablecreate temporary jobs for adults and summer jobs. but. more importantly. it would create 240.000 jobs. And the same thing with the infrastructure. Again. how many people have traveled with a limited amount of gas but traveled over bridges and freeways and found them in disrepair? This is a simple process.
Date: 2011-11-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

If I might. as I close. I did mention education. Many of us know that we are facing huge cuts in education. Again. who does it hit? The vulnerable children in public schools. And I just have to. before I leave the microphone. mention the North Forest Independent School District. the only majority minority school district left in the State of Texas. targeted for closing. not because its not welcomed by parents. teachers. and others. but because the State simply wants to be on a budgetcutting trip. if you will. And I leave the podium by saying to my Governor. Governor Perry. as Ive talked about impoverished children. dont close. and dont condemn our children who are trying to learn in North Forest Independent School District. And to my colleagues: Education creates jobsand I mentioned the teachersbut also. it invests in our children. I thank the gentlelady for yielding to me.
Date: 2011-11-14
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. after more than 300 days in the majority. Republicans have failed to enact a much needed jobs agenda that will strengthen Americas weakened economy. While failing to put forth a solid jobs agenda. they have simultaneously said no to President Obamas American Jobs Act. Sadly students. teachers. first responders. and Americas families are paying the price. The clock is running out as the deadline for a deficit plan from Joint Select Committee on Deficit reduction looms ahead. In these last few days. I challenge the Joint Select Committee to put politics aside and to work together to create jobs and protect Americas most vulnerable citizens. As the unemployment rate remains high. millions of Americans continue to live at or below the poverty line. Texas has the second highest rate of food insecure children in the nation. Last year 4.2 million Texans either experienced hunger outright or altered their consumption to avoid going hungry. I urge the Joint Select Committee to reject any policies that will increase hunger and poverty in America. We must ensure that the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction focuses on economic growth and job creation to stop the spread of hunger and poverty in our country. Lastly. I urge the Committee to do whatever it takes to prioritize steady growth of our investments in science. technology. and STEM education. It is when our economy is hurting the most that we should be redoubling our efforts to innovate our way into a brighter future of new jobs. new technologies. and untold societal benefits.
Date: 2011-11-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Instead of Republican legislatures across America. Madam Speaker. focusing on creating jobs in their States and working with this Congress to create jobs. we find ourselves shackled by 40 States implementing voter ID lawslaws/provisions that limit voting by requiring the presentation of photo identification that. however. is limited to Stateauthorized voter ID. which has a negative impact on our seniors. laws that exclude the most common forms of IDstudent IDs and Social Security cards. But they offer no alternate procedures. Changes requiring limitations or the outright elimination of early voting opportunities bury us to firsttime voters. such as the elimination of sameday registration. Madam Speaker. couldnt we do better than to counter the 15th Amendment. which indicates that there should be no laws that would thwart anyones right to vote. or even the 24th Amendment that indicates that we should not have a poll tax to allow people to vote? Rather than creating jobs through passing the American Jobs Act or standing" up and denouncing the sexual abuse of children. which is a crisis and an outrage. we are stopping people from voting by putting in place voter ID laws. Voter suppression. the Constitution will not tolerate itthe 15th Amendment and the 24th Amendment. Let us open this opportunity for all people and fight the real issues that the American people want us to address.
Date: 2011-11-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Youre absolutely right. Just one point about Make It In America and the idea of companies such as Siemens. our colleague from California. indicated. that they are in California. rightly so. And we should be very. very strong in making sure that our Federal dollarsthis is not selfish. We are probably more expansive and liberal than many other countries around the world to ensure that if youre using our Federal tax dollars. you build it and make it in America. and you spread it. Theres a company called Caf. and I know that theyre located in New York. We want them to spread some of that construction and building work down in Houston. Texas. because theyre building a light rail with $900 million. potentially. of Federal dollars. So we can do this together. make everybody happy. create jobs. and insist upon putting our families. our young people. and America first in job creation. building buildup and making it in America. I thank the gentleman.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I rise today to recognize Mr. Daniel Foster. the recipient of a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. and who is a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. However. he has waited more than 1 year to receive his benefits that he both deserves and has earned. because the Department of Veterans Affairs has lost his benefit application over and over and over. person by person. As a result of this carelessness with Mr. Fosters files. he was unable to receive his VA benefit checks for the last year. and he was not able to pay the mortgage on his disabled fathers home in Costa Mesa. California. where he resides with his father. Now the home is scheduled to be foreclosed on November 23. the day before Thanksgiving. Mr. Foster does not reside in my district. but he came and asked for help. I am happy to say that Representative ROHRABACHER. Mr. Fosters Representative. has now opened a case on his behalf. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee. I work every day to ensure that our veterans receive the benefits they need and deserve. So I will continue to follow Mr. Fosters case and will encourage veterans in my district who are experiencing these types of difficulties to please contact us at our Garden Grove office.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. three weeks ago. this House passed legislation to repeal the 3% withholding rule for contractors doing business with the federal government and an adjustment to the formula used to calculate Medicaid and tax credit eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. Todays billsent back to us by the Senatepackages these two initiatives with the Veterans Hiring Tax Credit contained in the American Jobs Act and several other provisions designed to support veterans looking for work. Madam Speaker. its about time. Finally. if only in a small way. we are moving legislation to accelerate job creation in this Congress. With unemployment rates for todays returning veterans hovering above 12%. these steps are the least we can take to support our service members transitioning to civilian life. Frankly. I would go further and complete consideration of the rest of the American Jobs Act without further delay. As regards the rest of the legislation. it is no secret that I would prefer savings from the adjustment to the Affordable Care Act formula be repurposed to other pressing health care needs. That being said. I support the adjustment and have long been a cosponsor of the bill to repeal the onerous 3% withholding requirement. Accordingly. I will cast a "yes" vote for todays legislation.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I rise in opposition to H.R. 822. the National RighttoCarry Reciprocity Act. This illconceived bill is yet another distraction from what should be the most pressing concern of this Congress. putting Americans back to work. Whats more disturbing is that this bill jeopardizes public safety by mandating that States honor even the most lax concealedweapon laws of other States. The gentleman from Illinois is incorrect: this is about criminals. For my constituents in south Florida. gun control is a serious issue. MiamiDade County has one of the highest rates of gun violence in the country. In the entire State of Florida. there are almost 800.000 permits for concealed firearms. Floridas process for issuing concealedcarry licenses is problematic enough. and I would certainly not suggest foisting it on any other State that has stronger safeguards that protect its citizens. But this bill will do exactly that. For States that require age minimums or safety training before getting a concealedweapons permit or that prohibits certain violent offenders from getting a permit in the first place. that all goes out the window if this bill is passed into law. What we get in return is the worst of the worst. a lowestcommondenominator of all of the State laws. For example. in just one 6month period in 2006. Florida gave concealedcarry licenses to more than 1.400 individuals who had pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies. 216 of them had outstanding warrants. 128 of them had active domestic violence injunctions. And under this bill. other States will be mandated to honor these permits. They will be mandated to allow Floridas selfadmitted felons to carry concealed weapons in their States. This is why the Nations leading law enforcement organizations strongly oppose this bill. Its also opposed by more than 600 members of the bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns. including many of my local mayors of both parties in south Florida. Why would this bill be a higher priority than creating jobs? This is the 11th straight month of this Congress. and the House majority still has no jobs agenda. Regardless of how Americans feel about guns. the overwhelming majority would agree that gun policy is not a higher priority than job creation is right now. I urge my colleagues to vote "no" on this bill. and I urge my friends across the aisle to stop putting American lives at risk and start putting them back to work.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. I rise in strong support of H.R. 822. the National RighttoCarry Reciprocity Act of 2011. This important. bipartisan. legislation reinforces fundamental rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution by allowing any person with a valid. stateissued concealed firearm permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman. and as a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. I can share with personal experience the frustration of my fellow hunters and outdoorsmen the absurdity of having to know which states recognize visiting permit holders from other states and which states that do not. Our country should not force its lawabiding citizens to check in their fundamental right to selfdefense at the state line. The National RighttoCarry Reciprocity Act would clarify this matter by requiring states that allow concealed carry to recognize each others permits. similar to how states recognize each others drivers licenses. Righttocarry laws also help deter crime. Presently. 40 states have righttocarry laws. Based on crime data from the FBI. righttocarry states have 22 percent lower total violent crime rates in comparison to the rest of the country. In my home state of Texas. violent crime has dropped 20 percent and the murder rate has dropped 31 percent. since the enactment of its righttocarry law in 1996. This legislation is also inline with recent rulings found by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2008 in District of Columbia v. Heller and again in 2010 in McDonald v. City of Chicago. the high court found the right to possess a firearm for selfdefense cannot be infringed. I am a proud cosponsor of the bill and have cosponsored similar legislation in previous Congresses. I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up in support of the U.S. Constitution and the millions of hunters and outdoorsmen in our country and vote in favor of this bill.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chair. I rise to oppose the severely flawed H.R. 822. the National RighttoCarry Reciprocity Act. This bill would make it difficult for states and local governments to enforce their firearms laws and puts the safety of the public and law enforcement at risk. State and local regulations of firearms vary dramatically. Some states have no standards for carrying a firearm beyond the minimum federal requirements. In Maryland. alcoholics and drug addicts. those convicted of certain crimes. or those with a propensity for violence or mental instability. among other things. may not obtain a permit to carry a firearm. This bill would require Maryland to accept concealed carry gun permits from other states even when the permit is not in compliance with Maryland law. Since there is no national database for concealed carry licenses. it is difficult for states to authenticate conceal carry licenses from out of state. This is one of the reasons Maryland currently does not recognize any outofstate permits. The inability to quickly and accurately verify the validity of out of state concealed carry permits creates additional risk for law enforcement officers. William McMahon. the President of the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association. recently called this legislation "dangerous and unacceptable." I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this misguided bill.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I have an amendment at the desk. Mr. Chairmal. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 6. line 1. insert "(A)" after "(1)". Page 6. line 4. strike "(2)" and insert "(B)". Page 6. line 5. strike the period and insert and". 1(2) maintains a complete database of all permits and licenses issued by the State for the carrying of a concealed handgun. and makes that database available to law enforcement officers from all States 24 hours a day.". Page 6. after line 5. insert the following: The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 463. the gentlewoman from Texas and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 6. line 21. strike the close quotation marks and the following period. Page 6. after line 21. insert the following: "(d) A person may not. under this section. carry or possess a concealed handgun in a State. unless the person provided at least 24 hours notice to the designated law enforcement agency of the State of the intention of the person to carry or possess a concealed handgun in the State.". The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 463. the gentlewoman from Texas and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII. further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas will be postponed.
Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. In answer to the gentleman from Texas question. whats wrong with it. is this is supposed to be a country that affords everyoneregardless of any category that you fall intothe opportunity to vote. The voter suppression laws that have been passed by Republican legislatures. championed by Republican Governors across the country. have systematically targeted specific groups of individuals based on their propensity to vote differently than the legislators who support those laws would like to see them vote. In other words. they are essentially blocking access to the polls for people who vote against their interests. against Republican interests. Blocking anyones access to the polls is unacceptable to begin with. but insidiously trying to influence the outcome of an election through systematically changing the law to prevent people who are likely to go to the polls to vote for your opponent is the most heinous form of antidemocratic policy. I mean. its the kind of policy that you would see in countries that we abhor. countries that we criticize. For example. lets take the photo ID laws. and we have a photo ID law in Florida. There are photo ID laws across the country. You may have told the story about the 96yearold woman from Tennessee. Im sure youve already talked about that this evening. If you look at the statistics. which you may have gone over as well. 11 percent of Americans dont have a photo ID11 percent. Twentyfive percent of African Americans dont have a photo ID. and I dont know the number. I was looking for the statistic for Hispanics. It is unacceptable to say that the only way you can identify somebody is by requiring them to carry a photo identification in order to vote. Thats just ridiculous. Modern technology today allows for signature matches. All of our supervisors of elections have the signatures on file either in the oldfashioned way. written on a piece of paper. or scanned into a computer where they can match the signatures. Thats how they have done it for many years in Florida until they imposed the photo ID law. All photo ID laws are an obstacle in the path of an individual who is more likely to go and vote for someone who is not a Republican. Im sorry. elections should be won fair and square.