macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-11-15
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

In that vein. we actually have an email from one of the folks out there in blogger land who wants us to talk about and ask the question. Mr. Speaker. are the rules that have been enacted for the operation of our U.S. House of- Representatives constitutional? And if not. what is the remedy for that? There is a person from Vermont..Can a lawsuit be brought about legal or unconstitutional House rules? In other words. all Americans must have representation in their government. Mr. -Speaker.. and if Democrats are ignored because of House rules. not allowed hearings likethe ones you are talking about. not allowed to offer an amendment on the House floor to legislation when we. are duly elected in the same way. putting our pant legs on one at a time just like they do. or a skirt. like I do on occasion. because of House rules that give full power to a majority political party. half the coqntry does not have representation in the daytoday business of our own government. That is the bottom line. We are shut down. And this is not about whining. This is not about. gee. we cannot get in our say. This is about that we were duly elected just like every one of the other 434 Members of this body. and it is not like that in the U.S. Senate. In the U.S. Senate. the minority is treated with respect. Itdoes not always go their way. but they can at least make an impact.. It is truly enough. What is more unfortunate is how the Republican leadership in this Chamber misrepresents how the process works here. as if we are allowed to call hearings whenever we want to or have subpoena power in the Katrina committee that was created a few weeks ago. They really. consistently. at least since I have been here from the beginning of this year. if you recall during the Schiavo case. facts were not relevant. They just made it up if it suited their argument.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. in this mornings Washington Post. ofie of the papers columnists implied that I and other Members who oppose Medicare cuts are simply "demonizing Republicans." Well. Mr. Speaker. I hate to break it to you. but I am more concerned with the people who. live in my district than the current image problems affecting the Republican Party. Truly. what concerns thepeople in my district is what Congress is considering doing this week. . 1 We are right now waiting to see the latest version of a bill that takes away food from children. makes it more difficult for young people to go to college. and slashes funding for foster parents. I know that many. of my colleagues would like to spin this bill as a fine example of fiscal discipline. but rather than taking from children. why do we not think we should start with. oh. I do not know. honestly accounting for future deficit projections. or eliminating billiondollar pork barrel projects for the chairmen of certain committees. or how about an open and competitive bid on huge government contracts. Five years ago. Mr. Speaker. this country had record surpluses. In half a decade. we have dishonest accounting. the largest deficit in history. and a budget reconciliation process that is conducted behind closed doors. Believing that America can do better is not a partisan attack.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. when I was coming up. my favorite television program was Robin Hood. The Republican budget coming up this week is one example of what I call "Reverse Robin Hood." robbing from the poor and working class to give tax breaks to the rich. billions -of dollars of tax breaks. Let me tell you one of the examples of this policy and who it is going to hurt: single mothers seeking child support. students struggling to get ahead and pay for their college loans. foster kids. the sick and the poor whose only access to health coverage is Medicaid. those whose nutrition depends on food stamps or school lunches. The budget is an outrage. one that clearly and forcefully paints a world of two classes of Americans. And with insult added to injury. it punishds those who have committed no crime but to be old. young. sick or uneducated. It punishes the working poor. Mr. Speaker. the Republicans practice reverse Robin Hood.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. the managers of the bill jointly submit this statement to explain and clarify the intent of certain provisions contained within the legislation. With respect to amendments made to the Occupational Safety and Health. OSH. Act in section 311 of the legislation. the managers recognize the historic and unique nature of this disaster inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. and is taking the extraordinary step of authorizing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA. to use volunteers in light of the historic scope of that devastation. Section 311 of the bill is intended to allow OSHA to utilize qualified safety professionals as volunteers to assist in a variety of projects targeting health and safety identified by OSHA. It is the managers expectation and intent that these volunteers would be qualified by virtue of experience. and would need little additional training based on their professional work experience or other recognized safety training prior to being deployed in needed areas. With respect to section 312s providing authority to the Secretary to purchase and distribute equipment and supplies to public or private entities engaged in projects related to worker safety. it is the intent of the managers that these funds be used to assist in relief and recovery efforts. and not be used to pay private entities to comply with preexisting requirements or obligations under the OSH Act. Finally. with respect to title Ill. subtitle A. the Pension Flexibility for Displaced Workers Act of 2005. it is the managers expectation and intention that the Secretary will exercise the authority .provided under that section judiciously and upon careful consideration of the appropriateness of any waiver. suspension. or exemption authorized thereunder.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

"of California.. Mr. Speaker. I couldnt agree more with my colleagues and the parents whose children were subject to a flawed. distasteful survey in Palmdale. California. The survey was- clearly improper. However. I disagree that we should condemn the decision of the 9th Circuit Court. We should hold the Palmdale school district responsible for the cdntent and the manner in which the survey was conducted. . School districts should and must ensure that parents are fully informed about all survey topics. In addition. school districts must guarantee that parents consent to their childrens participation in a survey. I will be voting no on H. Res. 547 because I believe it misses the markthe Palmdale school district should be condemned for conducting the survey as opposed to condemning the 9th Circuit for their interpretation of the Constitution.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this legisla-. tion to authorize a memorial to the victims of Ukraine Famine. The dreadful famine that engulfed Ukraine. the northern Caucasus. and the lower Volga River area in 19321933 was the result of Joseph Stalins policy of forced collectivization. The heaviest losses occurred in Ukraine. which had been the most productive agricultural area of the Soviet Union. Stalin was determined to crush all vestiges of Ukrainian nationalism. Thus. the famine was accompanied by a devastating purge of the Ukrainian intelligentsia and the. Ukrainian Communist party itself. The famine broke the peasants will to resist collectivization and left Ukraine politically. socially. and psychologically traumatized. The death toll from the 193233 famine in Ukraine has been estimated between six million and seven million. This memorial will authorize the Government of Ukraine to build a memorial on federal land so that no one will forget what the Ukraine people suffered at the hands of a dictator and the horrible consequences of forced collectivization. Again. I urge passage of this legislation.
Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise to support this bill. It is imperative that we get a cost of living adjustment to those who have put their lives on the line to protect the freedom of this country. The 4.1 percent cost of living increase is very important to our veterans. I am pleased that Congress is passing a clean bill. There are no riders that would dilute the effectiveness of our commitment to our Nations veterans. However. it is important to continue this bipartisanship into the heavier lifting that will occur in the next days and weeks. It is imperative we keep the reconciliation bill free from cuts in veterans healthcare. It is imperative we do not subject veterans healthcare to an across the board cut. It is imperative we fully fund veterans healthcare next February. whenthe President submits his Fiscal Year 2007 budget. We do not need another emergency supplemental appropriations bill to cover shortfalls in operations and maintenance. Let us do right by our veterans and not pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and recovery efforts from Katrina with cuts in veterans healthcare. r_
Date: 2005-11-17
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for all of his work on the legislation. and I thank. the chairman of the subcommittee for all of his work. Like so many others who have already spoken. it is clear they were not dealt a very fair hand. or the hand that they needed. to take care of needs of this country. I am most disappointed in the funding of No Child Left Behind. At a time when school districts are entering into the most expensive part of No Child Left Behind. when they are being required to restructure entire school districts. entire schools. when they are trying to meet the demand and the requirement of a law that we have a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. which requires substantial retraining of teachers. the attracting of new teachers. the paying of incentives for teachers to go to the most difficult schools. at that very time the Federal Gdvernment walks away from the com.mitment under No Child Left Behind.. The Federal Government starts to decrease its participation when the States and the school districts and our schools need it more than ever. It really shows such little confidence in the future of our young children. It shows such little confidence. in the ability of our school districts to restructure themselves to meet the demands being placed upon them. We see cuts here in technology. grants that are absolutely essential for the future education of our children. We see teacher quality grants cut. Those are absolutely essential to improve the quality of our teachers .in our classroom so they can engage in that kind of professionalism. What is most startling is that these cuts in education come at a time when. I am not saying put more money in education Mr. OBEY is not telling you that. but the American business community is telling you this is the most crucial thing you can do. The American Electronics Association. made up of some of the most successful companies in the history of this country. their number one priority was to fully fund No Child Left Behind. The Semiconductor Association: fully fund No Child Left Behind. put money into graduate school education. put. money into highly qualified teachers. And this budget goes in exactly the other direction. We do not have the confidence that is necessary and demanded of this country in the future and the confidence in these young people and the necessary investments to be made in them. It is so discouraging to see the lack of confidence in our young people that this budget demonstrates.
Date: 2005-11-17
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker. last week the Republicans were unable to pass this bill because of the severity of the cuts. They have since then done a lot of horse trading about those cuts and apparently. now tonight. they have the votes. But the one thing that remained consistent throughout all of that horse trading was they never lost. their appetite to raise the cost of student .loans. According to the CBO. this budget will add almost $8 billion in new cost onto the backs of students and onto their parents as they borrow money to pay for higher education. a higher education that is absolutely essential today to fully participate in the American economy. They will add almost $5 billion in new consolidation loan fees and higher interest rates that go directly to those students borrowing money. They mandated a 1 percent insurance fee. $1.47 billion. on the backs of these students. Repealing the lower interest rate caps. $505 million to these students. A 1.5 percent origination fee. $350 million to these students. So that the average student today who borrows $17.500. you .will increase their cost of that loan. and that education $5.800. Not according - to me. but according to the Congressional Budget Office. You can say all you want. but none of you apparently raised ybur hand and said. How about helping the students? How about reducing the taxes on the students? How about reducing the $8 billion in new taxes on these students? Students who are goingto Kansas. they are going to UT. 30 students here are going to Georgetown. Nobody raised their hand on behalf of these students or their families who are going deeper and deeper in debt. Just 2 weeks ago. we got a report that the cost of a college education is outstripping the ability of middleclass families to pay for it. and certainly lower income families to pay for it. Earlier this day. you took away the promise of this President to increase the Pell grant by $50. He originally promised to raise it to $5.100. But. no. you couldnt keep that promise. the President couldnt keep his. you didnt keep his promise. nobody kept the promise to the students. Somehow you are just not able to keep your promises. What happens is that these students here are punished because of your inability to keep your promises. No. the House is not out of order. you are out of order because you are hurting the students of this Nation. you are hurting their families. you are piling on the debt. you are piling on the interest rates. you are increasing the cost to the students and to their families. You ought to be ashamed of it. Because the taxes that these kids are oing to have to pay and their families pay are way beyond what is fair to do to them. It is a tragedy. an absolute tragedy that you would do this to young people.
Date: 2005-11-17
Speaker: NANCY PELOSI (democrat)
Chamber: H

for working so diligently with me to bring this bill to the floor. Rosa Louise Parks was a great woman who simply sat down in order for us tostand up here today. I believe that it is only fitting that we honor this great American by placing a -lifesized statue of her in the U.S. Capitol for all to see. I urge my colleagues to bestow upon Rosa Louise Parks this honor and include among the collection of statues here in the Capitol the very first statue of an African American woman. Support this resolution in honor of the mother of the civil rights movement. Rosa Louise Parks. Once this bill has been passed by Congress and has been signed into law. I look forward to my role as a member of the Joint Committee on the Library in overseeing the commissioning of the statue. It will be a high honor for me to be part of this effort to further pay tribute and honor to this heroine of mine and to all Americans who is also from my home State of Alabama. Mr. Speaker. I would like to now yield to the distinguished Democratic leader. the Honorable NANCYPELOSI.
Date: 2005-11-17
Speaker: JESSE JACKSON (democrat)
Chamber: H

who was the author of this legislation. By the time we all got to Rosa Parks funeral. we already had over 100 cosponsors of the bill and this action tonight will deliver on the. promise that many of us made at that funeral. I considered it a great privilege to speak there. On behalf of the Democrats and the Republicans in the Congress. I said that we would soon have a promised statue in the Capitol. Congressman JOHN CONYERS of Detroit has been a godfather to all of this effort and he deserves a great deal of recognition and credit for this. I said at the time that Rosa Parks loved young people. That was her focus. While we were all praising her for her past actions. she was always concerned about the impact on the future for Americas children. She was the mother of the modern civil rights movement. She was the mother of modern society because she made such a change in America with her courage. She came to the Capitol to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. It was a proud day for all of us. She brought luster to that award by accepting it. She came here. as was mentioned. to lie in state. the first woman to lie in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol and she will return to the Capitol in a statue to be an ongoing inspiration. We in Congress think we have a special relationship with Rosa Parks. She will live here with us as a constant inspiration of her courage and inspiration to future generations. When they visit the Capitol they"iwill be sure to see. observe and be inspired by the life. the courage and the incredible contribution of Rosa Parks. I commend all of my colleagues. Congresswoman MILLENDERMCDONALD. Congressman CONYERS. and Congressman JACKSON for their role in making this possible. It is an honor to be part of this effort. I look forward to the day when all of us can converge on this Capitol for the unveiling of this magnificent statue.
Date: 2005-11-18
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. a little over 24 hours ago. an American military hero suggested to this country that this Congress should debate the policy. the current policy in Iraq. He had some suggestions on how that policy should be changed. He believed. as we believe him. that he was doing this for the sake of our troops. for the sake of our country. for security in the Middle East. and the security of this country. In those 24 hours. he has come under -unrelenting attack. characterizing him as an individual. as. a Member of Congress. as to his motives. as to what he proposed. as opposed to what he said he proposed. Those attacks came from the President of the United States.. from the Vice President of the United States. from the Speaker of the House. and from so many Members of this body who challenged his patriotism. challenged his character and chal�lenged his integrity because he simply dared to kick open the doors of Congress and suggest that we debate the pressing question of this Nation that the people of this Nation want us to debate. Not that he would win that debate. but that he wanted that debate to take place. and that for that. all of his years of service to this country were openly challenged and mischaracterized and slandered. I do not know where we went wrong. I do not know where We went wrong because I went through the debates in this Congress in Vietnam and Central America. and Mr. MURTHA and I could not be on more opposite sides of those issues. And many people I served with in the history of this Congress. but never in those debates did people assassinate the character of one another. We challenged the evidence. we challenged the assumptions. We challenged what was said. but we never ever. ever. did this to -one another because -we respected one another. having differing views coming from different parts of the country with different backgrounds. [ 2106 Where did we go wrong? Maybe tonight Mr. MURTHA gave us another gift. Sometimes when you hit bottom. you change the ways you do business. Maybe Mr. MURTHA gave us this. After all that he suffered over this last 48 hours. maybe this Congress will be a better place. because everyone sitting in this Congress knows who knows JACK MURTHA what has been said about him in the last 24 hours could not be further from the truth. That man is a hero. That man is a hero to this Nation. You know it and the whole Nation knows it
Date: 2005-11-18
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. on November 17. 2005. my distinguished colleague from Pennsylvania. Mr. MURTHA. the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommitteea 27 year Marine and a veteran of 3 tours in Vietnamannounced that he was introducing a resolution that was meant to stimulate a thoughtful and profound debate on how we salvage a failed policy in Iraq. Recently. a Texas soldier became the 2.000th member of the U.S. armed forces to die in Iraq since the conflict there began in March 2003. Like any milestone. the death of that soldier is an occasion to look back and see what lessons can be learned from our countrys bitter s...fice in Iraq over the past 21/2 years. One such lesson. underlined anew by the continuing" deaths of Americans and Iraqis. is the need to limit our countrys commitment to Iraq. Instead of creating a significant dialogue on this issue. Republican leadership has chosen to divide this House by generating phony. cynical. political. outrageously tricky and sneaky maneuvers like this. Mr. Speaker. too often. so many of my colleagues are reluctant to challenge this Administrations policies in Iraq for fear that anything other than staying the course will somehow appear weak. But the Presidents course is misguided. and it is doing grave damage to our extraordinarily professional and globally admired allvolunteer United States Army. To stand by while this damage is done is not patriotic. It is not supportive. It is not tough on terrorism. or strong on national security. Because I am proud of our men and women in uniform. and because I am committed to working with all of my colleagues to make this country more secure. I am convinced that we must change our course and -I commend Mr. MURTHA for standing up for what is right.