macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-02-16
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I salute President Bushs leadership on the need to strengthen Social Security with personal retirement accounts. I am hearing a lot of haranguing on the other side. most of it untrue. This debate begins and ends with our pledge that nothing will change for people 55 and older. This current debate must focus on the future of younger Americans. Social Security was created for a much different America. Created in 1935. current taxes more than covered current opinions. The average working male lived to age 60. when people retired at age 65. When Social Security started. 42 people supported one retiree. Now 3.3 workers support one retiree. and it is on a downward trend too. We have got to do better for our children and our grandchildren. We must strengthen Social Security for our children and for Americas future.
Date: 2005-02-16
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. like many of my colleagues. last year. I received hundreds of calls from angered constituents after the obscene display at the Super Bowl. What was most frustrating was that I had to explain that the FCCs hands were tied. the FCC wanted to punish the broadcasters who allowed this material to be displayed before our children during prime time. but they could not. A $27.500 fine does nothing to deter networks that generate billions of dollars in revenue. Today. however. I can tell my constituents that I voted in favor of the Broadcast Decency Act. Introduced by my colleague. Representative UPTON. this bill increases the slap on the wrist in penalties to a fair punishment of $500.000 for broadcasters who break the rules. Freedom of speech should be protected but not at the cost of our children who simply want to catch a football game. I look forward to voting in favor of this bill and thank Representative UPTON for his efforts.
Date: 2005-02-16
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that remark and I appreciate the gentlemans remarks that just spoke. God bless you. I stand here before you as a former prisoner of war in Vietnam. Despite 7 years in captivity. with. 42 months straight in solitary confinement. I am one of the lucky ones because I came home. Some of the men I served with in Vietnam did not. and guys. say. oh. we really had it rough. I tell my colleagues. the guys in that Bataan Death March are the guys who had it rough. Those are the guys that gave their lives for this Nation. and we can never repay them in my view. I firmly believe we need to send a strong. clear signal that we must account for Americans who are prisoners or classified as missing. and while I was in captivity. I made it my duty to memorize the names of my fellow POWs. committing about 374 names to memory just from tapping on a wall. never seeing them. We were trying to memorize them in case anybody got out because every one of us thought we could escape. So we knew the names but we did not have any idea what they looked like. Most of the time we never saw another American except occasionally through a crack in the door. but I knew they were there. and I know some did not come home. especially from Cambodia and Laos. This just is not about VietnAm. It is about the Korean War. Desert Storm. Afghanistan. Iraq and World War II. I fought in Korea as well as Vietnam. I am on the U.S.-Russia Commission on POWs and MIAs. We have been looking for them. and we know some of them were taken to the Soviet Union. We are starting to hear about it in the press now. We know some of them are still alive. at least some are from the Korean War. and we know there may be some still alive today from Vietnam. We are still searching for them. So help me. if they are alive and we do not get them out. we have not done our job. I truly appreciate what my colleagues are doing with this resolution. I think it is important that America know that we never leave anyone behind. We are Americans and we take care of our own. I hope todays action is not just lip service but people continue to act. follow through on finding our fellow Americans. We owe it to our men and women in uniform and their families because. after all. we are the land of the free and the home of the brave. God bless our military servicemen and the POWs and MIAs. that are still out there. I salute each and every one of you.
Date: 2005-02-16
Speaker: KATHERINE GARNER (republican)
Chamber: S

Executive Director. DEAR BOARD MEMBERS: United States Senator John Cornyn will introduce legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act next week. Among other things. the Open Government Act of 2005 would provide meaningful deadlines for federal agencies to act on Freedom of Information requests and impose consequences on federal agencies for missing statutory deadlines. In light of the fact that some federal agencies have had requests for information pending for as long as seventeen years. the Foundation believes Senator Cornyns proposals are much needed and overdue. The proposed legislation would also make it easier for successful litigants to recover their attorneys fees when litigation becomes necessary. strengthen reporting requirements on government agencies FOIA compliance. establish an ombudsman to resolve FOIA complaints without the need to resort to litigation and enhance the authority of the Office of Special Counsel to take disciplinary action against government officials who arbitrarily and capriciously deny disclosure. The Foundation therefore enthusiastically endorses Senator Cornyns proposed legislation and encourages each of your organizations to do the same. Sincerely.
Date: 2005-03-03
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia. a political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba. Mr. Ferrer Garcia is a peaceful prodemocracy activist in Cuba. In January 2002. he was forced from a bus and beaten by the tyrants thugs. In March 2003. 2 years ago. he was arrested as part of the dictators crackdown on peaceful prodemocracy activists and in a sham trial sentenced to 25 years in the totalitarian gulag because of his support of democracy. Mr. Ferrer is a brilliant example. Mr. Speaker. of the heroism of the Cuban people. The totalitarian gulag is full of men and women of all backgrounds and ages who represent the best of the Cuban nation. Thousands languish in the gulag because. like Mr. Ferrer. they refuse to accept tyranny. Mr. Speaker. we must speak out against the grotesque disregard for human rights. dignity. and freedom just 90 miles from our shores. We must demand the immediate and unconditional release of Jose Daniel Ferrer and every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.
Date: 2005-03-03
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. as indicated by the RECORD. I was present voting this afternoon for all recorded votes except for H.R. 841. the Continuity in Representation Act. Unfortunately my card did not register when I cast my vote for that bill. If it had. it would have read that I voted in favor of H.R. 841.
Date: 2005-03-09
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. first. I would like to thank Chairman YOUNG for visiting Miami recently and spending time understanding the important transit issues that we are facing in MiamiDade County. The most important issue at this point. asthe gentleman from Alaska knows. Mr. Chairman. is allowing $100 milli6n committed by the Florida Department of Transportation for the Miami Intermodal Center. Earlington Heights connector to be .used as part of the nonFederal match towards other transit corridors in MiamiDade County. I also want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his interest. and I understand that he is also interested in even maybe going to Miami to look at that specific issue. This provision. which would guarantee -the release of the $100 million from the Florida Department of Transportation. requires legislative language that I have been working on with the gentleman from Wisconsin. also with Chairman YOUNG and their talented staffs. I understand that negotiations are continuing on this issue and will continue to be worked on in conference after the gentleman from Wisconsin has had an opportunity to visit Miami in early April. As the gentleman knows. the $100 million from Florida DOT will only be released if such language is included. This provision has strong bipartisan support among South Florida Members. Again. while this provision is not in the bill today. it is my understanding. Mr. Chairman. that we are continuing to work on it as the process continues.
Date: 2005-03-09
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I would like to begin by commending Chairman YOUNG. Subcommittee Chairman PETRI. and Ranking Member OBERSTAR for working tirelessly over the past several months to produce a reauthorization bill that effectively addresses Americas transportation needs. As we all know. nothing has as great an impact on our economic development. growth pattems. and quality of life as transportation. A reliable and efficient transportation system is critical to keeping people and goods moving and cities and communities prosperous. Our Founding Fathers believed that the freeflow of interstate commerce was one of the important foundations of this country. In this generation. ensuring interstate commerce means making sure that goods can move along our freeway and rail systems to provide the goods and services that we need in this nation. H.R. 3. the Transportation Eq-. uity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEALU) will ensure that our transportation network continues to meet the demands of our nations burgeoning economy and growing population. As it is. congestion is choking our roadways. bridges are in dire need of restructuring. and public transportation is failing to effectively meet the needs of Americas commuters. With a constrained budget in my home state of California. many of my states communities do not have enough money to fix potholes. let alone expand capacity to keep pace with our growing population. Passage of this important bill will sustain our nations economic growth and ensure our constituents are provided with the safest and most efficient transportation network possible.
Date: 2005-03-09
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. the highway trust fund has been losing revenue due to fraudulent use of offroad untaxed diesel fuel as taxable onroad diesel. Estimates of the losses to the highway trust fund at $1 billion annually. Congress first addressed this fraud in 1994 by requiring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to mark untaxed. diesel fuel. The IRS began to mark the untaxed diesel fuel with red dye and saw a dramatic improvement of 22.5 percent higher collections of diesel fuel taxes in the first twelve months. Unfortunately. criminals have figured out ways to remove the red dye from the diesel fuel and profit from the tax evasion. The IRS has been exploring exciting new nanotechnologies that can be used in conjunction with the red dye to more effectively combat this fraudulent activity. I am concerned that the IRS has not yet employed these new technologies to improve compliance and increase revenues to the highway trust fund. I am hopeful that before this legislation is sent to the President for his signature that we will be able to find a suitable legislative solution to this problem facing the highway trust fund and all taxpayers.
Date: 2005-03-10
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me say to my friend. if you really want to help poor people. build additional lanes of traffic and get some of the traffic off the road so they can get onto the conventional lanes. That is what this does. This is the only way we have found to lay new pavement in Northern Virginia. unless we can come up with billions more dollars that we cannot get into this bill. Poor people would still be able to use existing roads to get there.. This will divert traffic that is currently on those roads into other lanes as well. I agree with the gentleman in terms of the impact that this has on lowincome families. but I think the current language is not the way to do it. and I kindly ask for favorable consideration of my amendment.
Date: 2005-03-14
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I ihclude the following exchange of letters between Chairman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER. Jr.. of the Committee on the Judiciary. Chairman PETER HOEKSTRA of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and myself.
Date: 2005-03-15
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let us talk about association health plans. Over 60 percent of Americas uninsured are small business owners and their families or the employees who work in a small business. Now. if you are one of the many small business owners struggling to provide health insurance for yourself. your family and your employees. I need your help encouraging Congress to pass important legislation that would make health insurance more affordable for small business. My legislation allowing the creation of association health plans would allow small business owners to band together across State lines to purchase health insurance as a group. This week the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will vote on the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005. and on behalf of the 43 million Americans who want. need. and deserve access to affordable health insurance. I encourage the House to pass this soon. Association health plans are the answer. Let us get behind them.
Date: 2005-03-15
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to share some good news about what happened in my district this past weekend. A gentleman by the name of Fred Glass organized a welcome home to Hernando Countys National Guard unit. I was there. State elected officials were there. and local commissioners and locally elected folks were there. but most important. the citizens. family members. and businesses were there to sponsor and to welcome home the National Guard unit that was deployed for a year. Our National Guard unit served in Iraq and Afghanistan and served with a great deal of dignity. The story was told about. how at Christmastime the National Guard unit organized an ability to raise money and to give gifts to the children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Truly. this Member of Congress is very proud of the National Guard unit. They presented me with a flag that was flown during one of their missions. It is a helicopter unit. and let me tell my colleagues that the pride that they had in their duty as National Guard members certainly was very evident.
Date: 2005-03-15
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise to support including the REAL ID Act in the supplemental spending bill on the floor today. As we saw post9/11. Congress must protect our Nations borders against the threat of terrorism. Just last week. my district saw the unfortunate confluence of illegal immigration. Social Security fraud and potential terrorist threats meeting together. In my hometown of Crystal River. Florida. the nuclear power plant was found to have contracted with illegal immigrant day laborers through a contract who had used fake or stolen ID and Social Security numbers to obtain governmentissued drivers licenses. Thankfully. these menhave been arrested by the FBI and fully interviewed by Customs enforcement agents. Who is to say that the seemingly harmless workers could not have really SE been agents of a terrorist group that is intent on blowing up or hijacking a nuclear power plant? As we saw with flight schools before 9/11. it is often the little things that are overlooked in our constant fight against terrorism that lead to the biggest problems. As President Bush has said time. and time again. we have to be right hundreds of times each and every day in our fight against terrorism. and they only have to be right once. I voted against the 9/11 intelligence reform bill primarily because it omitted the ID standard reforms that the 9/ 11 Commission called for and that America needed. Had the REAL ID Act been in place. the Department of Motor Vehicles would have been required to verify the Social Security numbers used by these workers. This check would have shown that the numbers were really issued to men that had been deceased for 40 years and would have disallowed the. men from gaining access to a supposedly secure nuclear power facility. I would hate to see a future terrorist attack that Congress could have prevented by tightening our access to driver"s licenses. We need the Senate to pass the REAL ID bill. and I am delighted it was added onto this supplemental budget. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support these muchneeded reforms and to vote in favor of the REAL ID Act included in the supplemental bill.
Date: 2005-03-15
Speaker: JO ANN DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I rise today out of frustration with H.R. 1268. the Emergency Suppleiental Wartime Appropriations Act. I support passage of this legislation. as I believe it is absolutely necessary to continue to fund the important activities of our brave men and women fighting the global War on Terrorism. Our men and women depend on having the necessary equipment and systems to be successful in mission accomplishment. As a Member of the House Armed Services Committee. I am actively involved in efforts. for example. to better protect our troops while they are in harms way. With that said. the inclusion of spending projects within this bill that certainly do not qualify as either "emergency" or "wartime" is outrageous. The issue at hand is not whether or not it is necessary to fund the noble efforts of our soldiers. for that answer is selfevident. Rather. the question is about our responsibility to spend the American peoples money wisely. and in a manner consistent with the established process. I do not doubt that the nonwartime. and nondefense related projects in this bill are worthwhile. however. the decision to fund these projects should be made during the established appropriations process. Certainly. it is inappropriate for this body to have to consider legislation under the guise of emergency. wartime spending. when in fact. that description is not completely honest. Again. I support this funding legislation as it pertains to the support of our military. and our efforts to protect American citizens. and to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East. However. I do not support the inclusion of unrelated projects within this bill. and find it most unfortunate that Members of Congress are forced to vote on such legislation.
Date: 2005-03-16
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Chairman. I have listened to the debate with great interest. and I keep hearing about cuts in the budget. They are not there. All of the specific cuts are just not -there. They do not exist in this budget. What this budget does do. however. is it fulfills our Federal obligations while at the same time it reduces the deficit in half by the year 2009. We all know why we have a deficit. We have a deficit because when President Bush got elected. he inherited a recession. He inherited the burst of the Internet bubble. he inherited Wall Street scandals. and the mother of all economic and all other problems. which is 9/11. Despite that. because of the Bush policies and economic policies of this House. the economy is doing well again. If it was up to the Democrats. they would have raised taxes massively and destroyed the economy. Luckily we prevailed. the Democrats did not. And. therefore. we reduced taxes and the economy is once again doing well. But I just heard again tonight the Democrats all concerned about the deficit. Yet let me show Members what the Democrats. who tonight have been talking about how concerned they are about the size of the deficit and spending. what they proposed just a few days ago. They proposed in committee amendments that would have again increased spending by $67.1 billion. and yet they give us lip service tonight and continuously state they are concerned about the deficit. To borrow a phrase from a very wellknown Democratic leader. Democrats are concerned about the deficit. they support reducing the deficit before they are against reducing the deficit. They cannot have it both ways. We have a deficit that is caused by too much spending. We have to reduce the deficit. so lip service and lip balm is fine. but when push comes to shove. they cannot complain about the deficit and then try to increase spending. What the budget that the chairman is proposing does. it does address our responsibilities while reducing the deficit and while responsibly spending the taxpayers money. I also heard. Mr. President. put your money where your mouth is. It is not our money. it is the taxpayers money. That is the big difference. We remember it is not our money. That is why we are not willing to throw it away. It is the taxpayers money. This budget spends it responsibly. I thank the chairman for this very responsible budget and urge adoption of the budget.
Date: 2005-03-16
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the budget brought forth by the gentleman from Iowa and the Committee on the Budget. We have not only. I think. the right but the duty as the legislative branch of government to perform the oversight function of the executive branch. As the gentleman from Iowa pointed out before the Committee on Rule yesterday. we really have not done that since 1997.. The reality of the matter is that everything has been on automatic pilot basically since 1997 and we not only should. we must perform our oversight duty. -We have heard the word "draconian" with regard to supposed cuts being proposed in this budget. I think it is important to look at the facts. What the budget proposed by the Committee on the Budget calls for with regard to what constitutes the most dangerous threat on the horizon to our economic wellbeing. strength in this country. the great. extraordinary growth in what is referred to as mandatory spending. spending that is buklt into the law. that the appropriators do not have anything to do with because it is built into the law. this budget initiates a process of review and of study. oversight. so that the growth in what is almost 60 percent of the budget and projected to continue to grow and con-. tinue to grow. the growth in the mandatory spending will be reduced from 6.4 percent to 6.3 percent. onetenth of 1 percent. Not a cut. a reduction in the growth. We have an obligation to perform oversight. Mr. Chairman. I commend the gentleman from Iowa and the Committee on the Budget as I strongly support this budget. As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process of the Committee on Rules. along with our full committee chairman the gentleman from California and the rest of the House leadership and the gentleman from Iowa . we will be doing our part to carry forth what we consider our legal obligation. oversight. We will be studying the budget process and seeing how it can better be enforced. This is a responsible budget. it is a reasonable budget. it is one meant to contribute to the continued economic health of the United States. I strongly support it and urge all of my colleagues to do so as. well.