macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just point out that we hear a lot about the global aggregate numbers. but the distribution of those cuts is important. If you look at the portion of the budget that we have. historically. used to invest in education. to invest in innovation. to invest in places like the National Institutes of Health. that portion of the budget is cut by 24 percent relative to the bipartisan RyanMurray agreement. And it is cut from there. So the part of the budget that does a lot of damage that we are focused on in terms of future investments. really does mean that we are going to be less competitive as a country. It will dull our competitive edge. And I will tell you. our economic competitors will be cheering. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am glad the chairman of the committee recognized that there are about $1 trillion worth of tax expenditures. What does that mean? That means tax preferences in the Tax Code. $1 trillion a year. he said. That is right. And yet. the Republican budget doesnt close one penny of those tax expenditures to help reduce our deficit. not one. It says we have to reserve all those tax loophole closures to cut the top rate for millionaires by onethird. from 39 percent to 25 percent. That is what they want to do with all the tax expenditures. Because they refuse to get rid of one of those tax expenditures for the purposes of deficit reduction. their budget does hit all these students. What is honest is to tell students who are going to college right now that this budget is going to charge them over $40 billion more in interest because now they are going to have to pay interest while they are still in college. even though it doesnt close one of those tax expenditures for very wealthy people to help meet the targets and reduce the deficit. not one. So. as we look at the priorities in this budget. we have to ask ourselves. why is it that this Republican budget doesnt call for any shared responsibility? Why is it that it does provide tax breaks to folks at the very top at the expense of the rest of the country? Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. let me just point out to the gentleman that the Presidents budget has two things in it. First of all. it actually calls for a fund to increase defense spending for readiness in fiscal year 2015. which is not included in the Republican budget. Number two. in the outyears. the President also grows our defense spending. and as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense have testified. those investments will make sure that the United States is second to none. In fact. the next 10 countries after that. together. spend much less on defense than the United States. and we will continue to have that additional robust defense spending to make sure that we are strong. but we also need to make sure that our economy is strong to support that kind of budget. and if you have got the important investments that have helped make the economy grow over time. you will not get that. Now. I will just respond to the gentlemans comments on revenue. Anytime the economy is growing. if you have a certain tax rate. you are going to get more absolute dollars of revenue in. but I mentioned that the last time we had actually had a balanced budget in this country was in the year 1998 through 2001. If you look at the amount of revenue that was coming in during that period as a percent of the economy. you will find that revenue was 19.2 percent in 1998. 19.2 percent in 1999. 19.9 percent in 2000. and so on. way ahead of the amount of revenue as a percentage of the economy that this Republican budget calls for in year 10. even though. between now and then. we will have millions more Americans on Medicare and Social Security. So. again. they just cant bring themselves to close one of these special interest tax breaks. not one for the purpose of reducing the deficit and contributing to our economic wellbeing. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would just note that it is this Republican budget here in the House of Representatives that divides America. And when we point out that this is a budget that protects tax breaks for the very wealthy at the expense of everybody else. our colleagues say. oh. no. no. that is dividing America. But what we are explaining is the Republican budget. and that is. unfortunately. what it does. The chairman originally said that only in Washington is an increase really a cut. I would just point out that in the Presidents defense budget. it goes from $521 billion in fiscal year 2015 to $646 billion 10 years from nowhardly a cut. in fact. quite an expansion going forward. I am now pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas . a distinguished member of the Armed Services Committee who has focused a lot on defense.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I now am very pleased to yield 212 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . a terrific member of the Budget Committee who is focused on lots of important issues including the challenge of poverty in America.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. the gentleman referred to tough decisions. Well. it is true that the House Republican budget is really tough on our kids education. It cuts deeply into early education. Early Head Start. and Head Start. It cuts very deeply into K12. That includes Title I and special education for kids with disabilities. As we have talked about. it charges college students higher interest rates. And it is true that the Republican budget is tough on seniors on Medicare. because if they have high prescription drug costs. the Republican budget reopens the doughnut hole so they will face $1.200 more per year on prescription drugs. So it is tough on kids education. and it is tough on seniors. I will tell you who it is not tough on. It is not tough on powerful special interests. people who are spending millions of dollars right now on TV advertising trying to influence peoples votes. It is not tough on them at all. As I said. this budget calls for cutting the top tax rate by. fully. 30 percent. Now. during the Budget Committee debate. the Democrats said. okay. the only way you can do this mathematically. if you are cutting the top rate by 30 percent. from 39 percent to 25 percent. is if you do it in a deficit neutral way. then you are going to be increasing taxes on middle class taxpayers and families to finance those tax cuts. And so we said to our Republican colleagues. if that is not what you intend to do. lets at least pass an amendment telling the Ways and Means Committee that one of our principles is at least maintaining the current progressivity of the Tax Code so we dont increase taxes on middle class families or lowerincome families to finance the tax breaks for the folks at the top. called the Protect the American Middle Class from a Tax Increase amendment. Republicans said no to that. They have got all sorts of other instructions to the Ways and Means Committee in their budget. like reducing the top rate by a third for millionaires. but when it came to instructing the Ways and Means Committee not to increase the tax burden on middle class Americans. they said no to that. So. yes. this Republican budget is tough on the middle class. It is tough on seniors. and it is tough on our kids education. but for folks at the very top. they just dont ask for any shared sacrifice. We are just pointing that out. It is a fact in their budget. The chairman talked about all those tax expenditures. $1 trillion a year worth. Not one of those tax expenditures are closed for the purpose of reducing the deficit. Now. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California . a Member of Congress who has worked hard throughout his entire career to try and make sure that our country grows and that every American has opportunity. the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. it is now my privilege to yield 4 minutes to a fellow Marylander. Mr. HOYER. the Democratic whip. who has spent a lot of time focused on budgets to empower our economy and to make sure we do so in a fiscally responsible manner.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon . a member of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York . a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Date: 2014-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We all believe in a growing economy. and we all believe in greater prosperity. The issue is how do we make sure we have that prosperity as a country. We have two very important strains in the American character. One strain is the entrepreneurial strain. the selfreliance strain. and that has helped generate great prosperity in this country. It has helped unleash huge amounts of potential. yet we have also learned as a country that there are some things we can do better by working together than if we are just hundreds of millions of people who are separately operating on their own. with things like investing in our national infrastructure. with things like investing in a worldclass college system. with things like working and investing in medical research. so that we are the worlds leader in those areas. Those are what have made us a world economic power and that have allowed us to support our military. The problem with the Republican budget is that it ignores that part of the American character. We keep hearing from our colleagues about all of those tax expenditures that are out there. but I just have to go back. Mr. Chairman. to point out that they dont close one of those tax loopholes for the purpose of helping to reduce the deficit. Because they make that decisionbecause they decide to say: we are not going to touch those very powerful special interests and the very wealthytheir budget mathematically has to come after other people in the country. after the middle class. after seniors. after our kids education. after our infrastructure. That is what this is all about. Our budget and the Presidents budget dramatically reduce the deficit. They reduce the debt as a function of a share of the economy in the outyears going down. The Republican budget didnt balance until 2040 just a few years ago. So the issue is whether you are going to be driven by the ideological target or whether your fundamental focus will be jobs and opportunity. That is what ours does. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Oregon
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. this morning. a productive meeting took place with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus with respect to the deportations going on in our Nation. This issue is critical to my district of Orange County. which heartbreakingly accounts for 43 percent of the California ICE detainer requests on juveniles. which often lead to deportations. That is why I have advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. to ensure that no one is living in the shadow of fear. As a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee. I will continue to urge the Department of Homeland Security to continue to keep in mind the harmful effects that these deportations have on our communities and the trauma they introduce into our families. into our young people. into our children. As a CHC member. I join my colleagues as we continue to act for the inclusion of the voices of our community stakeholders. so that their stories are not neglected. Madam Speaker. the time is now to vote on a comprehensive immigration reform package.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Some things do not improve with age. We are here one day later. and this Republican budget is just as bad for the country today as it was yesterday. Our Republican colleagues are going to have to choose: either you claim your budget balances or you fess up to the American people that you are keeping big parts of the Affordable Care Act. because you cant do both. As we talked yesterday. the House Republican budget only reaches their claim of balance in 10 years if they take the revenues from the Affordable Care Act and all the savings from the Affordable Care Act. And if they are going to claim that they are repealing thatas they voted 54plus times to do on this floorthen their budget is automatically out of balance. Now. all of these budgets significantly reduce the deficit as a share of our economy in the outyears. The fundamental question is what choices these budgets make in getting there. And the Democratic budget that has been proposed and the Presidents budget. all those budgets say we need to have shared responsibility and we need to work together to accomplish that goal. The Republican budget rigs the rules in the favor of the most powerful and the most wealthyright? So if you are a millionaire. under the Republican budget. you get your top tax rate cut by a full onethird. and everybody else in this budget gets walloped. So if you are a senior on Medicare. you will immediately see your prescription drug costs rise if you have high prescription drug costsright?-because they reopen the prescription drug doughnut hole. That is a choice they make in the Republican budget for seniors today. even as they choose to protect special interest tax breaks for the very powerful. They choose in this budget to say that students. while they are still in college. will be charged interest rates on their student loansthat saves them $40 billionwhile they protect tax breaks for hedge fund owners. We dont think that is the right choice. I am now pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington State . a member of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee who has always focused on making the right choice for the American people.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chair. the gentleman referenced several times the Congressional Budget Office and the economy. I urge all our colleagues to read the Congressional Budget Office report. It indicates that this House Republican budget will actually slow down economic growth over the next couple of years and slow down job growth over the next couple years. Yes. we need a simpler. fairer Tax Code. but this House Republican budget would provide a huge tax break to the very wealthy and increase the tax burden on the middle class. In fact. they cut the top rate from 39 percent to 25 percent. That is a full onethird tax cut. So millionaires get an average of $87.000 tax break. Middleincome taxpayers have to finance that cut for the folks at the top. That means an increased tax burden of $2.000 for a middle class family. That is not good. fair tax reform. For somebody who knows a lot about the economy and doing it right. I am pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky . a member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chair. I just want to respond to a couple of points the chairman made about tax reform. You know. Republican etiology in Washington has been that of trickledown economics. The idea is you provide the wealthiest people in the country with a tax break and somehow it trickles down and lifts everybody up. The problem is that theory was proven bankrupt in the early 2000s. Under the Bush administration. we tried thatlower tax rates at the top. The economy did not do any better. In fact. what we got was huge deficits. Now in this Republican budget. they are right back to the same old veiled theory. They called for reducing the top tax rate for millionaires from 39 percent down to 25 percent. and they claim that they are going to do this in a deficitneutral way. When you do the math. what that means is you are going to have to increase the tax burden on middle class taxpayers to finance tax breaks for folks at the top. Just to give our Republican colleagues an opportunity to say that that is not what they intended. in the Budget Committee. we offered an amendment calling it Protect the American Middle Class from Tax Increases. saying. okay. at least tell the Ways and Means Committee that one of your principles as you reduce tax breaks for millionaires is not to increase the tax burden on the middle class. and every Republican on the Budget Committee voted against that provision. I am pleased that we have the author of that amendment with us on the floor right now. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of New Jersey .
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of New York . a terrific member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. the gentlelady used the term "draconian" a couple of times. and the chairman keeps referring to comments that Democrats have made as "overblown." I would just remind the body that it was just a few days ago that the senior Republican. the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. called the budget we are debating on the floor of the House draconian. That is what he called itnot a Democrat. So I think Members should keep that in mind as we proceed. I am now very pleased to yield 11/ minutes to the gentlelady from Florida
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am now pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia . a distinguished member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. It does not strengthen Medicare to reopen the prescription drug doughnut hole. which is exactly what this Republican congressional budget does. If you are a senior with high prescription drug costs under this budget. it will cost you $1.200 more per year. The whole reason we closed the prescription drug doughnut hole was to prevent seniors in that position from having to undergo such economic hardship. But this Republican budget reopens that doughnut hole now. With respect to tax reform and picking winners and losers. the reality is that this Republican budget does pick winners and losers. The big winners are people at the very top of the income scale because millionaires will see their top tax rate cut by a full onethird. The result of that is that middleincome taxpayers are going to have to finance that in order to maintain what they call the deficit neutrality of it. That means that middleincome taxpayers with kids are going to pay an average of $2.000 more to finance the tax cuts for millionaires. So millionaires are the winners. and middle class taxpayers are the losers. As I said just a moment ago. we gave our Republican colleagues an opportunity in the committee to say no. that is not their intention. but they voted against the amendment to protect American middle class taxpayers. I am now pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin . one of our terrific members of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am now pleased to yield 112 minutes to the gentleman from Texas . a member of the Budget Committee and of the Ways and Means Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I hope all Members of the House will check the facts with respect to the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Medicare. If you actually look at what has happened since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. the per capita rate of increase in health care costs in this country has actually gone down. Talk to seniors on Medicare. Anybody who is paying attention right now. I ask them: What has their Part B premium done over the last couple of years? It has been steadier. In fact. this year. it went down in real terms. The value that seniors have gotten under Medicare has actually improved significantly. in part. due to the Affordable Care Act. Now. unlike the Democratic budget. which used some of the savings from getting rid of overpayments to some of the big insurance companies in Medicare and using those savings to strengthen things like the prescription drug benefit. the Republican budget keeps every dime of the Medicare savings from the Affordable Care Act. but they dont use any of it to strengthen Medicare. In fact. they reopen the prescription drug doughnut hole. They start charging seniors now for preventative health services. Ultimately. they actually end the Medicare guarantee by turning Medicare into a voucher program. so that. if you actually wanted to stay in traditional Medicare. you would be paying a whopping high premium. That is not the way we should go. and that is all in a budget that continues to provide tax breaks to the very wealthy in this country. Those are not the right priorities for America. Now. I would like to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentlelady from New York
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am now pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland . the distinguished Democratic whip. who has focused on these important issues successfully for a long time.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chair. I now yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Maryland . who is a champion of working families.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

I yield myself 1 minute. Now. my good friend from Texas pointed out that the recovery has been slow. but at least it is a recovery. It is not a loss of jobs. as we see in this chart. the long. red valley of job loss. shedding over 800.000 jobs a month when President Obama took office. and we have job growth. I would like to see it stronger and better. too. but at least it is job growth. The former President Bush left us with a $1.4 trillion deficit when he inherited a surplus and the worst job growth record in 75 years. I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Maryland . He is a former CEO of a public company which has brought great expertise to the Joint Economic Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. The gentleman from the great State of Texas says that the Republicans have been cutting the deficit. but the facts are different. Under President Clinton. we created a stunning 22 million jobs. and he left this country with a surplus. Under George Bush. in 8 years. he only created 1.2 million jobs and left us with a $1.4 trillion deficit. And in the 5 years that President Obama has been in office. he has created 4.7 million jobs. which is 5 times more than his predecessor did. and cut the deficit in half. So the record of cutting deficits is on the side of the Democratic administrations and policies. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California . a newly elected Member and a member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2014-04-09
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

I yield myself 30 seconds. The facts speak for themselves. George Bushs administration left us with a $1.4 trillion deficit. They cut taxes. led us into two wars. and they blew the deficit. Look at the Democratic deficit. We had a surplus from Bill Clinton. and President Obama halved the deficit. I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland .