macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-09-07
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I stand here before you in support of this bill. My district has been devastated by the record number of storms that have made landfall this hurricane season. Many people in my district are still without power. I want to thank Chairman YOUNG and the ranking member. In 1992. FEMA was in shambles. Tonight I want to send a special thanks to President Clinton and to Director Witt whose leadership was instrumental in getting this organization working and back on track. And I want to thank all of the volunteers who worked together to bring relief to the victims of Bonnie. Charley. and now Hurricane Frances. Working side by side and neighborhood to neighborhood. they have helped all of us weather the storms. We are truly blessed that no further lives were taken during this latest storm. We need a dedicated method of funding. not piecemeal dollars here and there. to adequately meet the needs of Florida and any other disaster that occurs in this country. I hope that we will have a clean bill. one that is not loaded or loved to death with amendments that do not pertain to the support and help of people who truly need the relief these funds promise. Thanks again for the support. I also want to mention all of the organizations. FEMA. but under that the Army Corps have worked extremely hard and many community organizations and groups. the Red Cros�. They are too numerous to name. so I want to make sure I revise and extend my remarks so I can thank all of these people that have come together. the fire departments. the mayors. local governments. the Federal agencies. Senator NELSON has been on the ground from day one. I want to thank everybody and all of the Florida delegation and all of the people that worked together to make things better for the people of Florida.
Date: 2004-09-08
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the Maloney/Woolsey/Sanchez amendment to restore Womens Educational Equity Act. or WEEA. funding in the Labor HHS bill. I am standing here again. as I did in 1999 with my late colleague Patsy Mink. to urge Congress to provide $3 million in funding for this vitally important program. WEEA was established in 1974 to promote educational equity for girls and women. including those who suffer multiple discrimination based on gender. race. ethnicity. national origin. disability. or age. The program was also established to urge compliance with Title IX which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. In the last 29 years. WEEA has funded more than 700 projects throughout the United States. And. unlike a number of programs this Congress has funded. the results speak for themselves. Girls and women in this country are doing better. For the first time. womens educational achievement equals or surpasses that of men. Women are also more likely to graduate. more likely to engage in school activities. and less likely to engage in high risk activities. However. as women advance through their educational careers. they become increasingly less likely to enroll in advanced placement courses. especially those in math and sciences. . According to 2000 figures. only 18 percent of engineering degrees are awarded to women. and only 10.6 percent of employed engineers are female. As a representative from Orange Countyone of the largest aerospace and defense industrial bases in the countryI know this is a problem. Time and time again. my aerospace and defense contractors tell me that they simply cant find enough people to hire. especially enough women. and that they are having to turn to foreign students to meeting hiring needs. It doesnt have to be this Way. Programs such as WEEA will help fill those programs with our women. And because of the lack of role models in these fields. classroom textbooks and other. educational materials do not sufficiently reflect the experiences. achievements. or concerns of women and. in most cases. are not written by women. Studies show that women teachers. especially in the K8 grades. often feel uncomfortable or underqualified to teach math and science. Studies also show that many of our young .women perceive math and science as "unfeminine." Why is this? Is there something hidden in the curriculum? Is it in the way that we teach? What makes women believe they are best suited for other fields? WEEA programs are searching to find the answers to these questions. Three million dollars is a small amount of money to expend on a program with tremendous payoffs. Support WEEA. Vote for the Maloney/Woolsey/Sanchez amendment.
Date: 2004-09-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. it is just a matter of decency. We see now major reforms going on in the administration of mutual funds and how their relationships are on behalf of workers. the disclosures of fees. the disclosures of their transactions. time days. one scandal after another. with people cheating the owners of the money out of their funds. Now we see the machinations of corporations as they try to cover up the potential liability or the potential failure or the loss of these pensions of the workers. Transparency is the watchword of the day. The workers of America. of corporations that are in danger of unloading these pensions and getting rid of these pensions. the workers of this country are entitled to that information. I would hope that this House would support this in the name of the transparency. in support of the position of the Bush administration. in support of the position of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation that this information should be made available. and I would urge an aye vote.
Date: 2004-09-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I thank the comments of my chairman. the gentleman from Ohio . on this situation. But I must say I continue to disagree with the gentleman. and I disagree on two grounds. First and foremost. we have made several requests to him to ask the PBGC. and we have specifically have asked. the Democrats on the committee have asked the PBGC for this information. They will not make it available to the committee. much less the public. They will not make it available to the committee because the chairman of the committee must make that request to them. So when you talk about us going into longterm pension reform. Mr. Chairman. at a minimum we ought to have this information about the magnitude of the problem and the variations among the various corporations and the industries that are involved in this. if we are going to. in fact. deal with some kind of longterm and necessary fix. that I hope we Will. and I thank you for holding those hearings. We need that information as members of the committee at a minimum. But. furthermore. this information was available up until 1994. Then the Clinton administration cut a deal on the financing of GATT. and this information. the corporations prevailed on them to make this secret in exchange for a premium increase to pay for GATT. Who got left out? Who was not at the table? The American worker. So all of a sudden they did not get the information anymore. The point and the magnitude and the necessity for this amendment. let me just point out that according to Standard & Poor. 290 of the 362 companies in the Standard & Poors 500 that offer defined benefit plans are underfunded by $165 billion in 2003. The point is this. that this is a huge. looming problem. You know the people who just went through bankruptcy at U.S. Air and thought they had cured their problem? Well. when United said. we think we might offload our pension onto the public taxpayers. all of a sudden the people at U.S. Air are in trouble again. We think these people ought to have that information. so they. when they are negotiating. because if United does this. it is a likelihood that U.S. Air does it. and if U.S. Air does it. it is a likelihood that Delta will do it. Well. that is a catastrophe for the PBGC and for those workers. There is something about transparency. We insisted in other financial arrangements where individuals have their money in the hands of third parties. and in this case we ought to do it for corporations. So I appreciate. and I have said to the chairman very often. that he has given attention to this problem. We hope to have a longterm solution. But this is fundamental to the rights of workers at this most perilous time with respect to the security of their pensions.
Date: 2004-09-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman would yield further. I appreciate that argument. but in reviewing the case. the Bush administration said they support the disclosure under this provision of the law. and the PBGC supports that. I do not think these two entities are interested in destroying these corporations. The fact of the matter is this information was made available for many years.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

changed their vote from "nay" to "yea." So the resolution was agreed to. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. they are going to take away your overtime if you are a chef or a nursery school teacher. No matter how low your pay. they are going to take away your overtime. Workers in the financial services industries. the insurance claims adjusters. journalists. hello. journalists. you are about to lose your overtime. What is it you guys have against these hardworking Americans that you are going to rip them off this pay that they are entitled to? Well. let us understand. Let us understand what it is about. Let us understand that these are people who work hard and rely on this. and this Congress. this Congress should not be the handmaiden of this activity. Aird if this amendment prevails. if the ObeyMiller amendment prevails. these workers will have another chance at holding onto that pay for their work that is so terribly important to them. I would hope that we would reject all of the scare tactics. we would reject the Solicitor that has not gotten it right yet. and we would reject the Department of Labor. Remember the Department of Labor when they issued these regulations. they said none of these people are affected? Then Senator JUDD GREGG ran around and created an amendment and entered 50 categories of people that he .wanted to exempt from the people that the Department of Labor said were not impacted. That is what the Republicans response was in the Senate. They immediately exempted 50 professions because they were terrified that the regulations were wrong. and the regulations. in fact. turned out to be wrong. They said they did not cover fire and policemen. and then they had to cut a side deal with firemen and policemen because they were wrong. So let us not trust the Solicitor of the Department of Labor. Let us go with what CRS says. This is what the Congress has done. and we do this every appropriations season on riders. This is a rider to protect the American wageearner in this country. and I hope that we will pass it.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I rise in opposition to the Hayworth amendment. I think it is unfortunate. as the gentleman from Michigan pointed out. that this amendment is offered here. This amendment will not stop the impact of the NLRB ruling. it will simply stop the enforcement of that act. so those who want to seek to organize under the act will go forward. and we will find out about penalties for noncompliance or the results of the actions much later. some years from now. if this amendment passes. But I think it is also important to note the gentleman sort of belittled the efforts of the gentleman from Michigan . myself. the leaders of the tribes. the leaders of the AFLCIO sitting down together to work this out. And yet he cites that the California arrangement was basically the subject of negotiations where. in fact. the tribes. the labor unions. and Governor Schwarzenegger came up with an arrangement that some say is stronger than the current National Labor Relations Act. The point is these are goodfaith negotiations. We have had several meetings. Many people were surprised that either of those organizations would walk into the same room to sit down and discuss this. but they recognized the problem here. The problem. unlike State governments. is that you have tens of thousands of workers and potentially many tens of thousands of workers working in Indian gaming facilities. who. if they are not properly treated. if they are mistreated. not saying they will be. they are not enrolled members of the tribe. and they really have no recourse. They have no recourse to that activity. They cannot vote against the mayor. they cannot recall the city council. they cannot organize their fellow citizens because they are not members of that tribe. As my colleague knows. in many of these instances. the size of the tribe may be a couple hundred people. Obviously. they cannot run a casino because the workforce there is several thousand of those individuals. So I do not think it is a matter of national policy. And the Indians have recognized this in our discussions. that you would leave people without some recourse to an ability to organize. That is why they have recognized. at least in these discussions. that we should go forward and try to see whether or not we can develop a system that honors sovereignty and is a parallel system to provide for the protection and the recognition of these workers. That is. in effect. what we are doing now. And I did not quite undelrstand the previous exchange. because the suggestion is somehow that this is makework. I hope not. because I. obviously. and many of the people in that room are very prominent people and very busy people. I hope we are not wasting our time. Now. what has happened since this amendment appeared. those meetings have all been canceled. So I think it has been destructive to that process.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I am sorry. but I will have to ask him to repeat the question.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Reclaiming my time. which the gentleman yielded to me. Mr. Chairman. I would respond that. actually the chairman of the San Manuel Tribe will say no. that that was not the case. But I would tend to agree with the gentleman. Exactly. That is what we are trying to do here as representatives of the Federal Government. recognizing the doctrine of sovereignty and protecting that with the tribes.
Date: 2004-09-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. there is a little bit of having it both ways. The gentleman from Arizona says he respects the California compacting process. yet in the 106th and 107th Congress. we debated this amendment when he wanted to prohibit the State of California or any entity negotiating a compact with the Indians from even discussing labor rights. I am a little bit confused here about what it is. The gentleman does not like the negotiations that were going on because he likes what California is doing. but now we see in.fact this amendment is not just about what happened with the National Labor Relatfons Act. because he has been trying to prevent the tribes or States from engaging in any discussion on terms and conditions of employees. This was long before. The gentleman does not come here with some pure heart. The gentleman is subsuming what those compacts could be about. and this Congress. recognizing sovereignty. passed legislation to allow for that compacting to take place. That is what the law is. that those arrangements take place between the governors and the tribes.
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I. along with my constituents and all of the American people. want to extend a happy birthday to William Jefferson Clinton. His leadership in so many areas is sorely missed. in particular as today on the assault rifles that without his leadership we would not have passed. Many Members gave up their seats in the House of Representatives because they felt it was the right and honorable thing to do to protect the American people from these assault rifles. We had leadership in President Clinton in so many areas. He had the foresight to appoint Jesse Brown as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. who fought for the veterans. His contributions as far as economic development. housing. laying the foundation for a program that is being gutted under this last administration. it just goes on and on. SSo I would like to put my comments in the RECORD and let President Clinton know that I dearly love him and the people dearly miss him.
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation to honor Lance Corporal Thomas E. Creek by renaming the Amarillo V4 Medical Center for him. As we are once again forced to confront on an almost daily basis the sacrifice of the young men and women who are serving our Nation. it is fitting and appropriate that we continue to honor the uncommon bravery of those soldiers who came before them. Thomas Creek embodied such bravery. when in February of 1969 he selflessly gave his own life to save the lives of fellow Marines in Vietnam. * Mr. Speaker. by all accounts. Thomas Creek was a young man who deserves this honor which we can bestow upon him today. and I am proud to support this bill. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support the bill introduced by my colleague. the gentleman from New York . to rename the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Sunnyside. Queens. New York. after Lance Corporal Thomas P. Noonan. Jr. Lance Corporal Noonan was mortally wounded in combat in Vietnam. For his actions under fire. he received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart. Mr. Speaker. I support this bill and thank my colleague for consideration in honoring a valiant veteran who gave his life defending the principles that America stands for. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. on September 13. 2004. I was unavoidably absent due to an important meeting and missed Rollcall votes numbered 441 through 443. Had I not been unavoidably detained earlier this afternoon. I would have voted "yea" on Rollcall votes No. 441. 442 and 443.
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the resolution to honor the 58th birthday of the 42nd President of the United States. William Jefferson Clinton. I came to Washington the same year that the President did. We both were elected in 1992 and took office in 1993. Those 8 years were the best anyone could imagine. Under his leadership. the United States ran a budget surplus for the first time since Lyndon Baines Johnsons administration. The economy had its highest productivity level in decades. and nothing has been seen recently that even remotely compares to this. This President had the leadership to push through Congress an assault weapons ban that stopped dangerous and unnecessary automatic and semiautomatic guns from our neighborhoods. Rather than leaving important policy decisions to others. he took the lead in some unpopular positions to place this country in a position to lead the world. Under the Presidency of Mr. Clinton. our country achieved new heights of respect. I wish former President Clinton my best wishes on a speedy and successful recovery. Once again I want to wish a happy birthday to William Jefferson Clinton. I speak for my constituents and many millions of Americans in expressing my gratitude. We thank him once again for his leadership of service. and this country truly misses him.
Date: 2004-09-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the gentleman from New Jersey before he leaves. I know that he heard about the backdoor announcement made by the administration on the Friday afternoon befor6 Labor Day: the cost of Medicare for seniors is rising by 17.5 percent to $78.20 per month. This is something that I know my grandmother and all of our grandparents cannot afford. The blame for this increase has been put on the rising medical costs. However. it is this administration with its close ties to health care lobbyists that has failed to do something about spending. In fact. that bill that we passed. the Republican Party will finally do what they have been trying to do for 35 years to the program: destroy the program with these inflated costs. Can the gentleman address this? .1 come from Florida where Claude Peliper. my mentor on health care issues. the most wellknown advocate for seniors. a man who fought for years and years to strengthen Medicare and Social Security. would be rolling in his grave if he were here today. This is a life and death issue for many of our senior citizens. The bill that was passed that prohibits the Secretary from negotiating the prices of the drugs. the bill that was passed in the House in conference. not one single Democrat was permitted to be in the room. the peoples House. not one. And in the Senate. for the first time ever. the Senate leader was not able to pick who was going to be in the room. Can the gentleman from New Jersey explain to me and to the people who are listening today about this increase and what can we do to repeal this hideous Republican bill that was pushed through by this President?