macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-10-07
Speaker: GEORGE W. BUSH (democrat)
Chamber: S

President. The United States of America. Washington. DC. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: On behalf of my Government and the people of Israel. I wish to express my sincerest condolences on the horrible tragedy that has befallen the United .States. especially the people of Louisiana. Mississippi and Alabama. in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I would like to offer Israels assistance in volunteering our medical teams which include hundreds of doctors. nurses. technicians and other experts that specialize in trauma. natural disasters and public health. We also offer field hospitals. medical kits and equipment for temporary housing. reen_forcement for. hospitals. or any other assistance that you may require. I was informed by my security establishment that these teams and equipment can be ready in 24 hours. During these difficult times. we. the people of Israel. stand firmly by your side in a show of solidarity and friendship. Sincerely.
Date: 2005-10-07
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my disappointment and opposition to the Rule regarding H.R. 3893. The Gasoline Security Act. as reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. includes language that takes away States rights to have State decisions on Clean Water Act permits and water quality related to the placement of refineries and pipelines decided in State courts. Instead. the Gasoline Security Act overturns 33 years of successful State/ Federal partnership and forces States to defend theiractions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In the absence of this provision. challenges to State decisions would be brought in State courts as they always have. The Gasoline Security Act dilutes State authority to protect water quality. I offered an amendment that would. have prevented this dilution. unfortunately it was riot make in order. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that before any Federal permit or license is issued that could result in a discharge into the States waters. the State in which the discharge would occur must issue a certification that the proposed activity is consistent with the States water quality standards. Such a certification must 1e issued within a reasonable time (not more than one year). and if the certification is denied. the Federal permit or license may not be issued. This authority is the States ability to ensure a role in Federallypermitted activity within the States borders. The provisions contained in both the refinery and pipeline titles of the Gasoline Security Act are modeled on a similar provision in the recently enacted Energy Policy Act. This language was inserted in response to a specific case in Connecticut where the business community wanted to construct a pipeline over State and public objections. The proponents of the pipeline believe that Federal courts will be less deferential to Connecticuts position in denying the water quality certification. In fact. less than two hourq after President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act. Islander East Pipeline Co. went to the Federal Appeals Court seeking to overturn Connecticuts decision. I urge my colleagues and members of the Rules Committee to help.stop the trampling of the States rights to. defend the quality of the environment and public health by making in order my amendment to modify these provisions from H.R. 3893.
Date: 2005-10-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3893. which in many ways is little more than a hastily assembledand opportunistically revivedretread of discarded ideas from past energy debates. Mr. Speaker. our constituents are asking for transparency in markets and price relief at the pump. So what does this bill do? Rather than empowering the FTC to launch an aggressive investigation into recent reports of marketmanipulation. this legislation actually reduces the maximum penalty for price gouging from $11.000 per incident to $11.000 per day. So much for strengthening transparency and deterrence. Instead of ensuring additional -refining capacity. this bill blames and then proposes to eliminate key provisions of the Clean Air Actas if public health protections are the barrier to additional r6fining capacity. They are not. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concludedand industry representatives concedethat the decisive factor is economics. Indeed. far from cheering this legislation. Attomeys General from across the nation are sounding the alarm that H.R. 3893 will cripple states ability to meet basic clean air standards for our citizens. Finally. not content to relieve industry of its environmental obligations. H.R. 3893 extends the gravy train begun several months ago by. lavishing oil companies with an additional $1.5 billion over and above the $4 billion they just received under the last energy bill. Thisduring a time of record deficits and industry profits. Mr. Speaker. we do indeed have an energy crisis in this countryone that cannot begin to be solved by the kind of special interest wish list being passed off as legislation today. In the near term. we .need to restore confidence and transparency to the marketplace by taking decisive steps to punishand deter market manipulation where necessary. Next. it is imperative we make long overdue improvements in automobile fuel economy while diversifying our fuel mix to include alternatives like cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. Finally. we need to invest in the next. generation of 21st century technologies that create jobs. protect the environment and move us towards energy independence. I ask my colleagues to embrace that vision and tooppose this bill.
Date: 2005-10-17
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 457. Tfiis bill recognizes the importance of chemistry in our everyday lives and supports the goals and ideals of National Chemistry Week. The theme of National Chemistry Week for 2005 is "The Joy of Toys." This seemingly comical name belies the hard work and amazing developments in materials science that have gone into the production of safer and more durable toys for children of all ages. Children have a wide array of choices when it comes to modern toys. Gone are the days of making ones own toys .out of sticks and stones. Chemistry has yielded materials that are nontoxic and harbor fewer germs than before. Chemistry has helped develop crazyshaped materials in colors that change. depending on temperature. I admire the work of countless chemists. engineers and materials scientists that has produced marvels for the delight of children and the benefit of society. Mr. Speaker. today I am happy to celebrate National Chemistry Week and urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 457. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2005-10-17
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 491. a bill expressing the sense of Congress regarding the raising awareness and enhancing the state of computer security in the United States. and supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Security. Infrastructure Protection. and Cybersecurity of the House .Homeland Security Committee. I have had the opportunity to work on the broad Homeland Security aspects of cybersecurity. However. it is important to recognize that cybersecurity includes a wide variety of challenges that affect governments. businesses and individuals on many levels. The Department of Homeland Security has the considerable responsibility of working to protect the computer systems that operate some of our nations most critical infrastructure like dams. oil pipelines and water treatment systems. It is essential that the federal govemment coordinate with state and local govemments in addition to the owners. operators. and vendors of the computer control systems. I urge the Department of Homeland Security to act swiftly in building better partnerships and information sharing relationships between the public and private sectors in order to improve cybersecurity. In addition to the governments responsibilities. private businesses need to recognize the. sensitivity of the information that they store and process. and commit to adhering to industry best practices to ensure the security of their computer systems. Consumers should be able to expect that businesses can and will protect sensitive personal and financial information. National Cyber Security Awareness Month is also an important tool for raising individual citizens awareness of the steps they. need to take to protect their personal computers and files from hackers and viruses. Every individual should consider protecting their computer by: (1) Using antivirus- and antispyware programs with firewalls to protect against infected incoming files. and outside hacker attempts to control your computer. (2) Updating software and operating systems with the most recent patches from the manufacturer. (3) Refusing to provide personal information to unknown. online sources. (4) Using strong passwords that contain at least 8 characters that include numerals and symbols. (5) Backing up computer files. (6) Educating kids on how to safely use the Intemet. and teaching them not to give out personal information. I hope that Cyber Security Awareness Month will encourage governments. businesses and individuals to take steps to improve the security of their computer systems. and I urge my colleagues to support this important initiative.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Tekas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to appeal for temporary protective status for Pakistanis who are temporarily in our country. This would allow them. Mr. Speaker. to stay in this country for up to 18 months at a time when their country has experienced a devastating impact from an earthquake. As we know. millions are homeless. scores of thousands are dead. and millions more are in need of our assistance. Many of the persons who are here. temporarily do not have homes to return to. This appeal would allow them to stay in this country until they will have an opportunity to regather themselves and their lives. Pakistan has been our ally in the war on terrorism. This is the right thing to do for the people who are here. the people of Pakistan. and it is also the right thing to do because it shows the soft side of our power.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 177. particularly with regard to Section 5. which will increase the ceiling of the federal share for the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment project. I introduced this section as a standalone bill in the 108th Congress. and it was passed by the House last year. I am pleased to see this legislation being passed again in its current form. Section 5 will increase the authorized Federal share for the Orange County California Groundwater Replenishment. OCGWR. This will help Orange County to complete this important and muchneeded project. which will serve about 2.3 million residents of north and central Orange County. and it will create a new water supply of 72.000 acrefeet per year.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio for his comments. and he is absolutely right. Number one. I am sorry I was not able to participate with my colleagues last night. I was in my district. And when you are in the district. you really get a true sense of how people are feeling. The gentleman is absolutely right. there is a crisis of confidence out there in America. People really have had their confidence in their governments ability to deal with their everyday problems badly. badly shaken by one scandal after another. by one more bit of evidence of corruption! and cronyism. What all of this points to is and is emblematic of is a system that cries out for reform. We absolutely have to have some reform here in Washington. and oneof the first reforms that needs to occur is to change this partisan committee that is stacked with Republicans and is currently not being participated in by Democrats and shift it to an independent bipartisan commission that is going to be able to be objective and review what really happened. Every day that has gone by since Katrinas aftermath. a little bit more trickles out. a little bit more dribbles out. and if we are going to be able to restore the American peoples confidence in their governments ability to respond to disasters like this. be they natural disasters or manmade disasters in the form of terrorism. we have to start by restoring their confidence and utilize a process that is going to be objective and that they know they can have confidence in in terms of the outcome. like the 9/11 Commission. There is a neverending possibility of more disaster looming over us. Even now. we have Wilma. the 21st storm looming out there in the ocean. potentially about to bear down on Florida and then the gulf coast again. nearing this weekend. If we do not get the American people answers as "to how the aftermath of Katrina occurred and make sure it does not happen again. it is not like we have the luxury of time being on our side. We have storm after storm. We have the fact that you never know when a manmade disaster is going to occur. By their very nature. they are surprise attacks. It means it is ever more important we reform the system and make sure that our government is ready to respond. that we have a comprehensive ability to do that. When we have people engaging in CYA. which is exactly what is occurring here. and when you look at the former Director of FEMA. who in todays paper it was revealed was more worried about his. title in the aftermath of.Katrina than getting the job done. that is deeply disturbing.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Let us explain what we are talking about. In the press today there was an email exchange revealed between the spokesperson of FEMA and then Under Secretary Brown where he was appalled that Secretary Chertoff had made him. I think it was the point person. I forgot the title he was given. in the aftermath of Katrina. But he looked at it as a slight. an insult. and somehow a demotion from his position as Under Secretary. In the devastation and aftermath of Katrina. is that what we want the FEMA Director to be worried about. what he is called?
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

That is how out of touch this administration is. They are that badly out of touch. and that is why the system cries out for reform. We have to make sure we reform the system so that we can restore peoples confidence and that they understand that the three Cs are incredibly important: No more corruption. no more cronyism. and we have to restore peoples confidence.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I have mentioned this before and likened the lack of desire on Zhe part of the Republican leadership here to establish an independent commission. For example. if the executives and CEO of Enron after the fiasco that corporation went through. it would be as if we said. Okay. Mr. CEO of Enron. you go ahead and investigate what happened at Enron and do a report and a full examination of the doings of your corporation and you get back to us and let us know what steps need to- be taken to prevent it from happening again. We can do the same thing with Tyco. I think the gentleman is smiling. and people who might hear this description would be sort of laughing to themselves saying of course we would not do that. This leadershili is saying of course we would not have an internal partisan committee that would investigate. For some reason that is not.ludicrous to the people who run this institution. It would be ludicrous to anybody who was a rational person who would actually want to get to the bottom of what happened. One would think given the information that has come out slowly over the last weeks now that there would be some more deep. abiding concern. Let me go back to what I was saying earlier that came out today. Secretary Chertoff. according to The Washington Post. apparently belatedly named Brown the onsite disaster coordinator on the night of August 30 and declared Hurricane Katrina "an incident of national significance." which is the highest order catastrophe under their new national response plan. .H8898 This was the reaction of thenUnder Secretary Brown and his assistants. "Demote the Under Secretary to PFO. principal Federal officer?" an outraged FEMA press secretary Sharon Worthy wrote Brown at 10:54 p.m.. soon after Chertoffs decision. "What about the precedent being set? What does this say about executive management and leadership in the agency?" Browns reply was. "Exactly." Reading a little further. there are emails "that show that the governments response plan. 2 years in the making. began breaking down even before Katrina hit the gulf coast. "Before the storm hit. Browns deputy chief of staff. Brooks Altshuler. said White House pressure to form an interagency crisis management group was irrelevant even though a task force and principal Federal officer are key parts of the plan." He says this: "Let them play their Reindeer Games as long as they are not turning around and tasking us with their stupid questions. None of them have a clue about emergency management." Mr. Speaker. these are the people that were responsible for making sure that the people in that picture.survived and actually got out and did not have to float in a refrigerator to save their own lives. This is what they were worried about. their own little title and the petty garbage that you would think is reserved for the smallest of issues.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. onQ of the things that I wanted to highlight was one of the things we have been asking people to do. H.R. 3764 is the Democrats bill that would establish an independent commission on the response to Hurricane Katrina. The way that the administration relented on the independent 9/11 Commission. as the gentleman from Florida
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we have been talking about what they are not doing. that they are not establishing an independent commission. Let us mention what they are getting ready to do because we all can .describe what we think the response to the aftermath of Katrina should be. Obviously. a pretty significant fiscal hit on our economy. No question about it. Between Katrina and Rita. we have refineries down. We have gas prices that have skyrocketed out of control. We have people having to dig deeper into their pockets. A dollar is not going as far as we would like it to or as it was previously before the storm hit. So one would think that the Republican leaderships response would be to ease up on the tax cuts. Let us pull back on making them permanent. Let us push back the reconciliation process. which is Washington speak for budget cuts. Let us make sure that we can ease some of the pain and dull the sharp point that has been the aftermath of Katrina. So. instead. what is their response? Because it certainly is not any. of that. This week on Thursday we expect what will be an extremely close vote on a rash of Republican spending cuts that will cut to the core. to the deepest heart of the people who need the help the most. the people who have truly been impacted by the aftermath of Katrina. They are actually going to ask us. force us. to vote on cutsin the Medicaid program. forceus to vote on cuts in the Food Stamp program. force us to vote on cuts to higher education. This is a laundry list of items that they are going to propose now. A 2 percent acrosstheboard random set of cuts thatare going to impact the people who were hurt the most by the aftermath of Katrina. It boggles the mind. How that could be a natural response to the needs of the people who are hurting the most is just so far beyond me. I feel like I am dealing with people who live on another planet sometimes.
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman from Florida will continue to yield. I was just going to say that all of this points to this culture that the gentleman from Florida referred to earlier. this culture of corruption and cronyism. And it has created this groundswellof need for reform. We cannot go on like this anymore. I mean I am raising young children. He is raising young children. The gentleman from Ohios
Date: 2005-10-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. in our last few minutes. I want to just point out that the responsibility. lies at the feet of the President. He has the bully pulpit to ask people who are among our wealthiest to make sacrifices. I represent a community that has a lot of -wealthy people. and I know they say to me all the time. you know what. I am willing. They understand what the needs are. They get it. and I know we have an hour tomorrow night. that we are going to have an opportunity to come out here again. One of the things I think we should talk about. and I do not want to do a rush job on it. is there are steps we can take. There are things we can do to make people whole. There is a way that we can restore Americans confidence in their government. and there are reforms that we can and must make. I hope we will have a chance to talk -about that more tomorrow night because we have got to take this country in a new direction. It would be irresponsible for us to continue hurtling down the path of irresponsible public policy and harm that we are bringing on.people who are already knocked to the ground. and now we are putting our boot on their neck to keep them that way.
Date: 2005-10-19
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Jf California. Madam Speaker. it is Republican "tort reform week! in the House of Representatives. However. I think a more appropriate name would be "distort the truth week." Two bills on this weeks House calendar. the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act unjustly slams the courthouse doors in the face of injured plaintiffs. And why are we voting to shut the doors of courthouses to legitimate plaintiffs? So the Republican Partycan give a gift to special interests and the fast food industry and the NRA. It is time to put a stop to this charade. If the goal* is to prevent frivolous lawsuits. then punish the lawyers who file them. But if the goal is to give unscrupulous food companies and gun dealers free reign to make their products more dangerous. then by all means I urge my colleagues to support both bills. However. my goal is to protect the American people.. to ensure safe business practices in food production and in the gun industries and to preserve the integrity of our judicial system. That is why I am voting "no" on both the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. I urge my colleagues to do the same.