macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Thank you very much. .Mr. Speaker. and thanks to Mr. SKELTON. the outstanding Congressman from Missouri. I rise to support H.R. 2956. If we could stop this war today. it would please my constituents. And if we could do it without more violence. I would be picketing to do it. All of us know. that have any common sense. that we cannot bring the troops home today. but .we can develop a good strategy to make sure that they get the message in Iraq that we are coming home. We still -have 150.336 troops over there. Are we going to stay until they all get killed? We talk about how many have lost lives. I was a nurse in the Veterans Administration for 15 years. and I saw the damaged lives of these veterans coming home from war. What are we doing for ourselves and the. future? This is not a partisan issue. this is an issue that saves America. Mr. Speaker. the most recent report from the Department of Defense. states there are 150.336 brave American troops in the middle of a violent civil war in Iraq. Meanwhile. the President has repeatedly made it clear that nothing will discourage him from pursuing a war that has no end in sight. . Congress cannot and should not keep waiting for the President to change course. We must change the course ourselves. 2008 must be a year of transition in Iraq. Iraq has to grow out of the shadow of the United States. Iraq needs to take responsibility for its own decisions. learn from its own mistakes. and find its own solutions to its own problems. Recently. the Iraq Study Group suggested that the time has since passed when one country alone could work alongside the Iraqi leadership to steer Iraqs future. Rather. as the report says. "the United States should immediately launch a New .Diplomatic Offensive to build an international consensusfor stability in Iraq and the region." This recommendation is perhaps the lastbest hope for war weary Iraqis and Americans alike. Mr. Speaker. our brave men and women are serving with great honor in Iraq. Their service has paved the way for a democratic society. It is time for the Iraqi government to stand up. so our troops can begin to standdown. -1 urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the diStinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. Speaker. two separate headlines on the front page of todays Washington Post tell the sad story of two of the Bush Administrations biggest national security failures. First. its disastrous Iraq policy. and second. its failure to complete the mission against al Qaeda and the Taliban along the Afghan/Pakistan border. One headline reads. "CIA Said Instability Appeared Irreversible." The article describes how. on the same day last November. the BakerHamilton com-. mission received two starkly different portrayals of what was happening in Iraq. One came from President Bush. who portrayed a rosy picture. and the other came from the man who President Bush put in charge of the CIA. General Hayden. who was responsible for providing a cleareyed analysis based on cold facts. And what he reportedly told the commission was. and I quote. "Instability of the Iraqi Government was -irreversible." Irreversible. he said. These starkly different portrayals of the situation go to the core of our problems in- Iraq because the President has been in a state Qf denial. Happy talk is no substitute for a realitybased policy. And indeed. the Presidents decisions based on wishful thinking have led to decisions that have weakened. our national security. Yesterday. the U.S. intelligence experts confirmed the gloomy assessment that General Hayden made last November. and todays report to Congress confirms that the Iraqi Government has failed to make sufficient progress in.key areas of national reconciliation. The other headline on the front page of the paper today on Washington Post reads. "U.S. warns of stronger al Qaeda and describes al Qaedas growing presence and strength along the Afghan/ Pakistan border and reveals -the consequences of our failure to complete the job against al Qaeda in that area." Mr. Speaker. we must insist that the Iraqis assume greater responsibility for their own future. and we redouble our efforts against those who did attack us on September 11. 2001. Thats what this bill is about. Its time to change direction. I urge my colleagues to adopt this bill.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of Chairman SKELTONs bill to bring American forces home from Iraq and to begin to end this tragic war. a war borne of lies. ignorance and arrogance. The cost of this war.has been high to our country. to our economy but. most importantly. to our men and women in uniform. for they have taken all of the sacrifice for our Presidents decision to take this country to war in Iraq. Our military responded honorably to the Presidents decision. but he failed to honor their sense of duty and their courage with a plan that was designed to succeed. His failed policy has cost their families. their communities. and most tragically. it has cost them their limbs and their lives. The war in Iraq cannot be wonr. and it cannot be lost. It can only be brought to n end.. The President continues to display both sheer arrogance and tragic ignorance as he refuses- to change policy. Over and over again. it says the same thing. to stay the same course. to give them more time and that success is just around the corner. The American people realize that staying the course in Iraq was not a plan. and it is not going to work. I have "SE H7699 known. as many of my Democratic colleagues have. that staying the course is not acceptable. We honor our troops when we have the courage to bring them home and end this war.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I stand in strong support of this legislation. H.R. 2956. I have to remind my colleagues that I am from Florida and it does matter who is the President. and we should never forget the 2000 election because it matters who is the President of the United States. President Bush intentionally misled the American people by supplying false grounds for going to war. and I personally never supported the war in Iraq. This war has cost over a half trillion dollars. This war is now costing over $12 billion per month. I stand with the American people and I wholeheartedly support our troops. yet I cannot support a truly senseless war that has killed 3.600 Americans and left over 26.000 severely wounded. The soldiers did not vote for this war. but when given a mission. they do the best they can to complete it. The military is doing the job they were sent to do. There was a flaw in the mission from the beginning. and the flaw lies with us. I want to be clear. The Presidents checking account has been overdrawn. The Bush administrations manipulation of taxpayer dollars to fund this war is over. and 70 percent of the American people oppose this war. This war needs to come to an immediate end. I urge my colleagues to vote "yes" on the bill. Lets redeploy our men and women.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of The Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act. and I thank Chairman SKELTON for his leadership and his dedication to the readiness of our troops and the continuing excellence of the United States armed forces. The President continues to ask this Congress and the American people to "stay the course" in Iraq. Well. Mr. President. today the American people and the Congress say. "No more!!" Instead. I add my voice once again to the growing number of retired military generals. the Iraq Study Group. and untold thousands of rankandfile oni the front lines who are calling. for a new direction in Iraq. . The success of our military depends on a sound strategy. Yet. instead of fighting terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan. our armed forces are overextended after four years of refereeing a civil war in the sands of Iraq. The Presidents escalation of this war.-his socalled "surge"-is not working. That much is clear. Since the escalation of this war 6 months ago. more than 25.000 troops have been sent to Iraq. 600 more U.S. soldiers have died and more than 3.000 troops have been wounded. Countless thousands of Iraqis are dead. and today the -violence in Iraq is at an alltime high! Our troops have performed heroically in Iraq. but the Iraqi .government has failed to meet any of the benchmarks endorsed by the President in January. Political reconciliation within Iraq is nonexistent. A change of course is long overdue. The time has come for the United States to responsibly redeploy our troops from Iraq and to refocus our. efforts on protecting Americans from terrorism. The time has come for Iraqis to take primary responsibility for their country and their security. Mr. Speaker. this bill will do exactly that. Let me be clear on one additional point. Democrats support the troops. As a Member of the Appropriations Committee. I have consistently voted to fund our troops and provide our soldiers in the line of fire with the resources they need. I do this because our brave service men and women are not risking their lives each and every day for one political party or the other. They are risking their lives for America. Our Nation owes our troops a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice. But "stay the course" is not that strategy. It is a slogan that continues to fail them. No. Mr. Speaker. if we really want to support our troops. it is now time to get them out of Iraq and redeploy them to other areas where they can fight the terrorists who have attacked. and who continue to threaten our Nation.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: LINDA T. SAENCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. today we take a firm stand against the Presidents tragic war policy in Iraq. Toda.y we vote on H.R..2956the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act. This legislation is another appeal to a tonedeaf administration that our current path in Iraq is failing. The American people have had enough. They have had enough of the needless bloodshed. theyve had enough of the misleading explanations. theyve had enough of the broken promises. theyve had enough of the lack of vision from this President. The Presidents policy is based on false pretenses. for which there are oow only imperfect options. After losing more than 3.500 of our servicemembers. and spending close to half a trillion dollars. it is time to bring our troops home. I salute the courage and professionalism of our soldiers who have served our country in Iraq. They overthrew an authoritarian regime and captured a dictator. Now it is time for our commanderinchief to bring them home. The ongoing instability in Iraq is a political problem that requires a political solution. To continue to ask our service men and women to make the ultimate sacrifice for this misguided policy is simply immoral. I urge my colleagies to join me in supporting this legislation because we must bring our troops home.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

and Messrs. ISRAEL. DINGELL. RUSH. and GORDON of Tennessee changed their vote from "nay" to "yea." So the motion to table was agreed to. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chairman. allow me to first thank the chairperson of the Financial Services Committee. Chairperson Frank. He has done an outstandingjob with his leadership. I also thank the JIonorable MAXINE WATERS. the subcommittee chairperson. for her sound stewardship. and. of course. Ranking Member BACHus for his bipartisanship because it helped to synthesize this piece of legislation. And I also thank the cosponsorship of Congresswoman BIGGERT. She has been cogent with her cosponsorship. Madam Chairman. let me simply say that this is bipartisan legislation that we are talking about and the striking of the 100.000 vouchers over 5 years will put an end to what started as bipartisan legislation in the committee. This was passed overwhelmingly in .the committee. and it was supported by the ranking member of the committee. This is not. as was indicated. a handout. It is really a hand up for the disabled. It is a hand up for the elderly. And it also benefits lowincome to extremely lowincome persons. many of whom are working and still not in a position to afford affordable housing. Many of them need the kind of help that this bill is providing. The truth is. and you shall knowthe truth. and it will set you free. So at this moment. I am going to take the ax of truth. slam it into the tree of circumstance. and let the chips fall wherever they may. The truth is one in seven households in this country spends more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Threequarters of a million people are homeless on any given night in this country. Congress has not provided new section 8 vouchers since 2002. The truth is we can pay for one of these vouchers with 2 seconds of what we spend on the war in Iraq. We can pay for all of these vouchers with what we spend on 22 days in Iraq. The truth is the need exists for these vouchers. The truth is it is time for Congress to act and to authorize these new section 8 vouchers. Madam Chairman. at this time I would like to yield 1 minute to my outstanding colleague Congressman CHRIS MURPHY.
Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chair. it is beyond my comprehension to conclude that because people are working and in need of housing assistance. they should be evicted from the very assistance they are paying for because they dont make enough money to move to a better home. Im doing this not only for the people of my district. but Im also doing this for the people in my colleagues district as well. because he has a deficit of 13.177 rental units for persons who are in need of this type of affordable housing. This is not housing for those who dont need it and who are not qualified. The elderly need it. The persons who are with lowincome and very lowincome need it. and those who are disabled. And for edification purposes. when we talk about persons with extremely low income. we are talking about persons who make at or below 30 percent of the area median income. And many of these persons are using 50 percent of what they earn on housing. So. Madam Chair. I am appreciative of what the gentleman has offered. but Im going to ask persons to please vote against this amendment and vote for the disabled. vote for the elderly. vote so that persons with low income and extremely low income can have affordable housing. Madam Chair. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: HARRY REID (democrat)
Chamber: S

as I presided. He made it clear that he would be perfectly willing to allow a 50vote majority vote on both the LevinReed amendment. and the Cornyn amendment or the proposed McConnell amendment. I think if there is any attempt to obstruct the will of the Senate. it is by those who are suggesting that we must have a 60vote threshold. I think Senator REID made it clear that he would be happy to entertain a limited debate and a majority vote on the LevinReed amendment. the Kyl amendment. or other amendments that may be appropriate onthe policy in Iraq. I also understand at this moment. under the pending unanimous consent. the Senator from Illinois is to be recognized.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to redesignate Lock and Dam No. 5 of the McClellanKerr Arkansas River Navigation System near Redfield. Arkansas. authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Act approved July 24. 1946. as the "Colonel Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam".
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 781. offered by my colleague. Mr. Ross of Arkansas. to redesignate lock . and dam No. 5 of the McClellanKerr Arkansas River Navigation System as the Coloiel Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam. The bill has the support of the entire Arkansas delegation. Colonel Maynard made an undeniable contribution to the State of Arkansas through his professional duties and social services. Educated at West Point. he was -the district engineer of the Little Rock Engineer District for 3 years. where he oversaw the planning. design and construction of the 13 locks and dams on the McClellanKerr. At the time. this was the largest civil works project ever undertaken in the State of Arkansas. To this day. the locks and dams provide inland waterway transportation for commerce and wellpaying jobs for many of the residents of Arkansas. Billions of dollars in goods move through the States ports each year. Colonel Maynard was an integral connection between the project and Congress: he provided congressional testimony in support of McClellanKerr. and he consistently met the deadlines our body designated for the project. Because of his work promoting waterborne transportation in Arkansas. Colonel Maynard was appointed by three separate Governors to serve on the Arkansas Waterways Commission. He served on the commission for 21 years. His civil roles included a variety of leadership positions for charity groups to better our society and for groups such as the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce to help promote business in his community. Although Colonel Maynard passed away October 22. 2005. he remains a symbol of how best to engineer our civil works projects for the benefit of all. His memory could also be used to call attention to the vital role inland waterways have for our economy. and remind us of the improvements and necessary maintenance projects needed for our commerce on these rivers to thrive. I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting H.R. 781. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 375) honoring United Parcel Service and its 100 years of commitment and leadership in the United States. as amended.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within Which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 375. honoring United Parcel Service and its 100 years of commitment and leadership in the United States. This resolution. as introduced by the gentleman from Georgia . honors the 100th anniversary of the United Parcel Service and recognizes its role in our global transportation system. Since its founding in 1907 by James E. "Jim" Casey and Claude Ryan in Seattle. Washington. with $100 borrowed from a friend. United Parcel Service has grown from a twoperson foot and bike messenger service into a worldwide transportation and logistics corporation. Today UPS is the worlds largest package delivery company. employing over 427.000 workers. utilizing approximately 92.000 vehicles and operating the worlds eighth largest airline. UPS plays an integral role in the movement of goods in the constantly changing global economy. moving over 15. million packages through its network each business day. It is an important spoke in the global transportation wheel. connecting the flow of goods and information in the United States to more than 200 countries. In 1929. UPS became the tirst package delivery company to provide air service. In 1975. it became the. first package delivery company to serve every address in the continental USA. UPSs contributions to our Nation go beyond simply transporting goods or providing logistics to our businesses. It has maintained its role as a leader in good business practices. with a commitment to social responsibility and diversity. It has also made a significant dedication to environmental stewardship through the UPS "Green Fleet." whicfi recently passed the 100 million mark. The company also plays an important philanthropic role in the United States and has made sizable contributions to .numerous charitable organizations around the world. I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting House Resolution 375. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I simply wanted to add that UPS also is very environmentally sensitive and uses natural gas in metropolitan areas. I would move that we support this resolution.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 375. Honoring United Parcel Service and its 100 years of commitment and leadership in the United States. I have a UPS facility in my district on Sweetwater Lane in Houston and I have visited the facility many times to speak with management and the employees who are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I even delivered packages with the UPS employees a few years ago on the Beltway 8 and Intercontinental Airport Route. Many of my constituents work at this UPS location and I am pleased that UPS continues to be a responsible employer and corporate citizen. Many businesses have difficulties surviving over time. but UPS has stayed strong for 100 years. We appreciate their strong relationship with the local communities and the services they provide worldwide. I am pleased to honor UPS for their 100 years of service and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I move to 8uspend the rules and pass the bill to reauthorize and improve the program authorized by the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965. as amended.
Date: 2007-07-16
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 799.