macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-09
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise to celebrate the contributions of the Asian Pacific Islander American community and to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I also want to take this opportunity to thank and commend my good friend from California. Congressman HONDA. for his strong leadership as Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Mr. Speaker. for over 200 years. Asian Americans have played a pivotal role in the development of our great Nation. When it was time to build the transcontinental railroad. they were there. Chinese immigrants were paid $28 a month to do the very dangerous work of blasting and laying ties over treacherous terrain. It was their labor under harsh working conditions. for meager wages. that helped in the development and progress of our Nation. When our Nation was drawn into war. they were there. From World War H through the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Asian Americans have been on the front lines in our battle to defend and protect our Nation. There are 32 Asian American Medal of Honor recipients. and thousands of others who have. served and continue to courageously serve our Nation. When hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. they were there. The Asian American community in my home city of Houston joined all Americans around the country in welcoming Katrina evacuees and- assisting the relief efforts. In Houston. the Asian American community raised more than $200.000 for the Katrina Relief Fund and took in over 15.000 displaced Americans. And the contributions of this community will continue far into the future. Tomorrow. when it is time to cure the diseases of the future. they will be there. There are more than 105.000 Asian American doctors in the United States. Tomorrow. when new worlds are to be explored. they will be there. There are thousands of Asian Americans working in the space program. And tomorrow. when it is time to elect the leaders that will guide our great Nation. they will be there. in Congress. on the Supreme Court. and as President. If our country is to live up to its promises in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. every ethnic group vxill have one of its own to serve as President. This is why we must protect the voting rights of Asian Americans and others to vote under the Voting Rights Act. We must win this battle now. so that the 14 million Asian Americans. together with all Americans. can have the equitable input that they justly deserve into our political process. They helpetl to make America great. The greatness of America rests on the shoulders of all Americans. none more so than our Asian American brothers and sisters.
Date: 2006-05-09
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Id like to thank the gentleman from California for putting together this Special Order to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Mr. Speaker. I proudly represent one of the largest Vietnamese communities in the world outside of Vietnam- in Orange County. California. Many of them came to the United States only about thirty years ago. seeking refuge from an oppressive regime in an unknown land and facing an uncertain future. These individuals risked everything for a chance to live freely and provide better opportunities for their children and for their families. Since their arrival. these Vietnamese refugees have become Americans in the finest and truest sense of the wordhard working people trying to create a better future for themselves and their families. One success story that I love to mention is that of Mr. Chieu Le. founder and chief executive officer of Lees Sandwiches in Orange County. California. In 1981. one year after immigrating to the United States from Vietnam. Mr. Le and his family bought their first catering truck and began serving sandwiches in the community. Twenty years later. they opened the first Lees Sandwich Shop in Garden Grove. Califomia. Today. Lees Sandwiches is the fastestgrowing restaurant chain in the West. with over 35 stores in operation or development. And Mr. Le and his family have given back to the community as well. raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of the 9/11 attacks and the South Asia tsunami. But Mr. Le and his family are only one example. Dr. NguyenLam Kim Oanh of the Garden Grove Unified School District is the first VietnameseAmerican woman elected to a school board in Orange County. Or actress Kieu Chinh. who has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows including E.R. and The Joy Luck Club. and was the subject of the Emmyaward winning 1996 documentary "Kieu Chinh: A Journey Home." And groups such as the Union of Vietnamese Student Associationsa nonprofit. volunteerrun organization that puts together the annual Tet Festival in Orange County. which draws twenty to thirty thousand attendees. Or the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliancethe largest PanAsian Pacific Islander organization in Orange County. Their health outreach programs. afterschool programs. and policy advocacy. programs make a real difference in the lives of Orange County residents. Through their hard work and dedication. Vietnamese Americans and other AsianPacific individuals and groups like these have become an integral part of the Orange County familyas entrepreneurs. as community leaders. and as activists for worthy causes at home and abroad. On behalf of all my colleagues in the House. I offer them our praise and our gratitude.
Date: 2006-05-09
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to pay tribute to the struggles and enormous contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to our Nations culture. It is an honor to pay tribute to the many achievements and honor the countless unique contributions to the United States made by Asian Pacific Americans across our Nation. May commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in 1843. Therefore. it is appropriate that during the month of May we recognize the contributions made by Asian Pacific Americans to our communities. May 10. 1869 marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad and its completion is greatly credited to the labor of the Chinese immigrants. Today. there are over 14 million Asian Pacific Americans living in the United States and this represents 5 percent of the population. The rich history associated with the Asian Pacific American population has been a great contribution to the culture of the United States. Over the years. the Asian Pacific American communities have made significant contributions to Texass diverse culture.. The United States is a land of immigrants. and the history reflects a -Nation that has greatly benefited from the many contributions of its immigrants. The Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Cpmmerce (GDAACC) is the largest Asian American Chamber in the United States with 1.200 members currently enrolled. Located in the Asian Trade District in Northwest Dallas. GDAACC. is the focal point of Asian American economic development and cultural exchange. In recent years. due to great efforts to expand the number of programs that provide assistance to members. sponsors and partners. the GDAACC initiated the Asian Festival and approximately 15.000 people were in attendance. GDAACC is also responsible for initiating the Leadership Tomorrow Program. the MultiEthnic Education and Economic Development Center. and the Texas Asian American Business Symposium in Dallas. Texas. The Asian Pacific American community is well deserving of the many accolades they receive because their contributions have greatly enriched the culture and history of our Nation.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. our country is facing an increasing nursing shortage. Currently. in California. we are one of the 30 States that faces significant shortages in fulltime registered nurses. But by the year 2020. 44 States are expected to have significant nurse shortages. We are going to need more than 400.000 new nurses nationwide. We need to take immediate action to recruit and retain nurses for our Nations medical facilities and address this critical shortage. Today I am introducing the Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act of 2006. This bill will help recruit and retain more nurses by providing financial incentives for students to enroll i and complete nursing programs. It would forgive up to $17.000 in Federal loans over a 5year period for people who have been working for at least a year as a fulltime registered nurse. It is time for us to take action and to address this ongoing nursing shortage. I urge my colleagues to help me and cosponsor this bill.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the pharmaceutical -industry influenced the passage of a Medicare prescription drug plan last year. It is not great. it is just all we got. The deadline is May 15 for seniors to enroll in this program. If seniors are not enrolled in 5 days. they will face a financial penalty each month for the rest of their lives. Since it took effect at the beginning of this year. the logical problems of implementing this plan have proved enormous. Seniors across the Nation have complained about the confusing number of plans to choose from and the change in prescription benefits each offers. Research has shown that many of those who contact the Federal Govern-. ment for help receive incorrect information or no information at all. It is no surprise then that millions of seniors have yet to select a drug plan. Now with only 5 days to select the right plan or face a steep penalty. these seniors find themselves under pressure to make the best decision for their health and their pocketbook. Mr. Speaker. serious health decisions require time and information. Our seniors deserve more.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate both our ranking member and the Chair of the committee for the bill that they put together. This is a fair reauthorization bill. Mr. Speaker. I do have some concern. though. that the bill does not do enough to address equipment shortages from our Reserve and National Guard units returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these units are forced to leave their equipment in the theater when they return home. and this has resulted in some Reserve and National Guard units having less than onethird of the equipment they had prior to being deployed. Conservative estimates state that it would cost nearly $20 billion for National Guard and Reserves to reequip to preIraq war levels due to the extensive weaf and the extreme conditions and loss of equipment in the theater. Many areas of the gulf coast are prone to flooding. and with hurricane season less than a month away we need to make certain that the Guard and Reserve have the resources and the equipment necessary to response to natural disasters. In June 2001. just days into the hurricane season. Tropical Storm Allison caused extensive flooding and damage in our congressional district. and the National Guard and Reserves were instrumental in providing assistance and rescue in high water. We saw again last year when Katrina and Rita hit the gulf coast how important our Reserve and National Guard units are to natural disaster response. Congress needs to ensure that the equipment necessary to perform these duties is available if similar strikes occur. Mr. Speaker. we must ensure not only that our troops have the necessary equipment to fight overseas. but that troops serving here at home have the equipment to protect Americans and respond to natural disasters.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time. I would like to thank all of my colleagues on the committee and the committee staff for their hard work on what I believe is a very good bill. In particular. I would like to thank our Personnel Subcommittee chairman. Mr. McHUGH. for working with me this year on several issues pertaining to sexual assault and harassment of military women. and Chairman EVERETT of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee for his cooperation in ensuring that we do not put technology ahead of policy in the realm of military space. I am also very happy to report that this bill includes language to strengthen congressional oversight of detainees issues. particularly with regards to the issue of command responsibility. The Department of Defense wants to say that they are holding people accountable whenever detainee abuse occurs. but where does -the ultimate responsibility lie? A full 95 percent of the courts martial cases of detainee abuse involve the enlisted personnel. As of last month. only five officers had been criminally charged in connection with abuse cases. none of them above the rank of major. and I do not believe that that is command responsibility. It is clear that this committee and this Congress take the issue of detainee abuse seriously. but we cannot fool ourselves into thinking the problem is solved until this issue of command accountability has been effectively addressed. Our work on detainee issues is far from over. but the language in this bill is definitely a step in the right direction. The budget we received from the Department of Defense this year had many major flaws. misguided increases and outofpocket health care costs. severe cuts to National Guard funding. and other budgetary shell games that have sacrificed the wellbeing of our servicemembers to avoid the pain of cutting big ticket items. but this committee came together in a very bipartisan way to address these problems and we ended up with a bill that we are proud of. It is not a perfect bill afid I hope that the next rule will allow for my colleagues amendments that will make this bill even better.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. American women have a constitutional right to choice as guaranteed by the right to privacy. However. our servicewomen and the wives and daughters of our servicemembers are denied this basic right when stationed at military installations overseas. This amendment guarantees that women who selflessly pledge to defend our Constitution at all costs are afforded the same rights that they fight to uphold. Current law allows women stationed overseas to access abortion services on a military base only after an act of rape or incest or when her life is in danger. It is bad enough that victims of rape or incest have to pay for these procedures out of their own pocket. But as American women. it is unconscionable that they cannot access the same safe. clean and legal reproductive services available to women here the United States. even if they are paying for it themselves. Are we really asking these brave and noble women. who are ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. to relinquish the same rights that they fight so valiantly to uphold and defend? I encourage my colleagues to stand with our servicewomen as they put their lives on the line. Lift the ban on privately funded abortions and support this amendment.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to support providing much needed relief from the alternative minimum tax. but oppose those provisions providing special tax breaks for the wealthiest. I am disappointed that important legislation to help the American middle class is tied to an irresponsible tax giveaway to the wealthiest among us. The dividends tax break would help only 1 in 7 families making under $100.000 a year. The capital gains tax break affects only 1 in 20 such families. In a time of massive deficits. we should not be passing such unnecessary tax cuts. It is unfortunateY that an important tax breakthe AMT--is tied into this bill. While I support the AMT fix. I strongly object to the crass political ploy of attaching it to a tax break that disproportionately benefits the very wealthiest among us. The original purpose of the AMT was to ensure that taxpayers with high incomes would not take advantage of loopholes in the tax code and pay little or no income tax. However. because the AMT is not adjusted for inflation. it will penalize middle income families. The IRS calls this tax the "Number 1 most serious problem" facing taxpayers. We must extend AMT relief to ensure that middle class families do not face the burden of this complicated and expensive tax. That is why I am encouraging my colleagues to vote for the Democratic substitute. The substitute would eliminate AMT liability for individuals whose income is less than $125.000 and for couples whose income is less than $250.000. It is simpler. broader relief. and we can pay for it by restricting tax shelters. But an extension is only a temporary fix. We must amend the AMT to accomplish its original purpose rather than unfairly penalize millions of taxpayers. If we do not make serious changes. the AMT will affect nearly 35 million taxpayers in 2010. An extension is a good first step. but we should continue to work on policies to make the tax structure sensible and fair.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the resolution and thank my colleague from Ohio for alleligible beneficiaries to enroll in part D before Mondays deadline. Last night our office did hold two enrollment workshops to help seniors in our district navigate the Medicare Web site to choose a plan that best suits their needs. Large numbers could not choose a plan because of the confusion that they had. even though they walked out with the principal versions from our volunteers who worked the Internet. I didnt vote for the Medicare Modernization Act. and we could have provided seniors with a more.comprehensive and less confusing benefit. But make no mistake. I want every Medicare beneficiary to get the most out of what benefit Congress did pass. That is the reason I support the resolution. What I question. however. is the House Leaderships decision to schedule this particular bill. We could be spending time on legislation to actually fix the problems associated with part D. We could consider legislation to reduce the price of the drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies. That was a question my seniors had at the workshop. We should also consider legislation to extend an open enrollment period and give beneficiaries a onetime chance this year to change plans if they decide to instead of discussing ways to improving the clearly flawed plan. which does nothing substantive for our seniors. Also. my colleague from Connecticut talks about CMS actuaries. These are the same actuaries I think that told us this plan was going to cost 400 billion. Now we know with the money we may spend on it we could actually give seniors a quality plan without so much confusion.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. thank you. It is so great to be here with my 30 Something colleagues once again. and just to take off from where you left off. we try to help illuminate things during our hours and underscore for the American people. Mr. Speaker. what is really going on inside this Chamber and inside this Capitol and the debt. the colossal debt. that we are literally caving in under.
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Just like our poster here. the colossal debt that we are caving in under that Mr. MEEK just described. Sometimes it is hard to get your arms around. or mind around. what 1 billion is. One billion is a very big number. So we took the time to analyze or break down for folks the things that are analogous to 1 billion. and let me just walk people through that. Mr. Speaker. and this might be helpful for you. Mr. Speaker. as well. The question is. how much is $1 billion really. Well. for example. 1 billion hours. ago. humans were making their first tools in the Stone Age. One billion seconds ago. "it was 1975 and the last American troops had pulled out of Vietnam. Gee. I guess we sort of wish we were 20 years in the future and we could be saying that about the troops in Iraq. but I digress. One billion minutes ago. it was 104 A.D. and the Chinese had first invented paper. and $1 billion ago in Republican terms. Mr. Speaker. that was only 3 hours and 32 minutes at the rate that our government spends money. So when you talk about people who live paycheck to paycheck. people who are struggling to make ends meet. people who are desperately trying to not live off of their credit cards. it does not appear to matter to the Republican leadership here. Mr. Speaker. E 2030 My colleagues. it really is astonishing to me. I have only been here 14 months. Both of you are more senior than me. but I am really surprised that some people actually believe what the Republican leadership says when they say they are the party of less government and more fiscal responsibility. Is an $8 trillion debt fiscally responsible? Is being in debt to OPEC responsible? I mean. where is the fiscal responsibility in that?
Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I think we are going to need to do these charts on dry erase boards from now on because it changes so rapidly and in the wrong direction that we are wasting public resources by printing them on unchangeable paper.