macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-13
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Reclaiming my time. if you had one. it was not evident. It was absent because one of the main reasons that the people insisted upon putting Democrats in the majdrity and moving this country in a new direction is because there was an absence of reform here. an absence of oversight. an abdication of the Congress responsibilities. And thats why Democrats are in charge. Thats why we are making sure that we actually reform the process. put transparency into the appropriations process. own up to the earmarks that we sponsor and make sure that people know what were asking for when we want to bring home funding to our districts. not do it in the shadows as was the practice up until the 110th Congress.
Date: 2007-06-14
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Thank you. Mr. Chairman. I rise -to offer an amendment that would add $1 million to the FEMA management and administration account so that childrens disaster planning materials can be developed and implemented. Children are often neglected when it comes to preparedness and response. Nothing shows this more than the chaotic evacuations during Hurricane Katrina when hundreds of children were separated from their parents or guardians because a simple system of writing down names of evacuated children was not implemented. Childrens unique needs are often overlooked because of the fallacy that children can be treated like "little adults." Children are among the most. vulnerable members of the population and their needs are vastly different. For example. I had a meeting with the chief of the Division of Community Pediatrics from the University of Florida and he brought to my attention that emergency evacuation equipment is often bought for adults. but children cant be transported in adult equipment and often that type of equipment is missed. My amendment would make sure children dont go unnoticed when we are thinking about preparedness materials. Children represent nearly 25 percent of the population. and they need their own set of disaster planning materials. Children should be learning thq importance of making an emergency plan. what to ask their parents and about the need for an emergency contact and identification card. In addition. children often take the preparedness message back home to their families. Involving and educating children is the best way to get many of the adults who dont always hear the planning message. Getting children ready for disasters can make the difference between success and failure. I urge my colleagues to support "my amendment to incre6 se funding for childrens disaster preparedness materials. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-06-14
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer an amendment to grant additional funding to the Inspector Generals office so that they may enforce section 8 and small disadvantaged business contracts at the Department of Homeland Security. Jd~he f4 200
Date: 2007-06-15
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr.. Chairman. -first of all. I want to thank Speaker PELOSI. Chairman OBEY. and Chairman EDWARDS for bringing this bill to the floor. The motto of the former Veterans Secretary. my friend Jessie Brown. was "putting veterans first." Well. the leadership they have shown.bringing the largest increase in the history of veterans funding to the floor. over $7 billion. I have got to thank you. sir. I have served on this committee for 15 years. and for 15 years we have struggled to put the veterans first. And I am so pleased that the House of Representatives under your leadership has finally put the veterans first. Mr. Chairman. I rise on my amendment to bring attention to a travesty occurring in my district. A travesty not just affecting my district. but this regional hospital affects Florida and Georgia. The Gainesville VA Medical Center is 40 years old and looks every day of it. There are five beds to a room. no shower. and no place for families. This facility received one of the highest rates of returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans- and is being shortchanged by a lack of proper facilities. The bed tower project includes 228 singlepatient bedrooms for surgical. medical. and psychiatric patients. This includes extra space for support of the psychiatric care inpatient program. Finally. the building itself was required to be structurally strengthened to protect it from potential terrorist attack since we are part of the national emergency response system. The current design will be completed in June 2007 and will be ready to be released for bid in Since the approval by the National CARES Commission and initial funding allocation. much has changed in the construction world. The dual impacts of Hurricane Katrina and the construction boom in China have caused the costs of all construction in the" U.S. to rise. � The total estimated construction cost is over $103 million. The original projection was $64 million for construction. That leaves a shortfall of about $40 million. Every month of delay costs about $1.1 million. An additional $40 million is needed in order to complete the project. The men and women returning to Florida and southern Georgia will be greatly impacted. and I would like to work with the committee to resolve this matter. Mr. Chairman. do I have the word of the chairman to look into this matter?
Date: 2007-06-15
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Thank you. Mr. Chairman. And once again thank you for your leadership. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.
Date: 2007-06-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this appropriations bill and thank Chairman OBEY. Chairman EDWARDS. and our ranking members for their work in setting a new standard for funding our veterans program. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of this appropriations bill. and to congratulate Chairman EDWARDS and Ranking Member and Chairman OBEY for their work in crafting this bill that sets a new standard for funding veterans programs. For the first time since the veterans service organizations began producing their independent budget. Congress has met and even exceeded their request inthis bill. The bill appropriates a total of $87.7 billion for veterans programs. which marks a $6.7 billion increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs--the largest increase in veterans health care funding in the77year history of the VA. This level of funding lets veterans. our troops. and their families know this Congress is goir g to make sure the promises we made to the men and women who fight for our country will be fulfilled. even after they are done with their service. The wait times at VA medical facilities have increased in recent years. the number of veterans has increased and will continue to grow in the coming years as service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan. and unspeakable conditions at Walter Reed uncovered earlier this year all require attention. and this bill ensures there is funding to address these problems. During a time of war. we need to demonstrate a strong commitment not only to our troops currently serving. but to those who have returned from service and those who fought to defend our country in previous conflicts. I would also like to offer my support for a project request to provide funding for a fire station at Ellington Field. and I hope the chairman will give it strong consideration as projects are funded. The existing fire station at Ellington fiela is in a rapidly deteriorating condition and does not meet OSHA or Air Force standards. Roof leaks and lack of insulation result in equipment being destroyed and extremely high operating costs. New firefighting apparatus must be parked outside the station because they will not fit into the truck bays. This fire station supports all flying operations at Ellington Field including Air National Guard. Army National Guard. U.S. Coast Guard. NASA. and civilian aircraft. Construction of a new fire station at Ellington is critical for the Texas Air National Guard and all units stationed at Ellington Field. Mr. Chairman. I again applaud the leadership from the chairmen who drafted this bill. and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
Date: 2007-06-15
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the important legacy of Virginia Graeme Baker. a 7yearold child who was the unfortunate victim of entrapment by a residential spa drain. On June 15. 2002. Graeme attended a pool party with her entire family. her mother Nancy and her four sisters. Everyone was having a great time swimming. when all of the sudden. one of Nancys daughters came running to tell her that Graeme was in the spa. Nancy ran to the edge of the spa. and all she saw was dark and bubbling water. Her daughter. frantically crying and pointing into the tub. insisted that Graeme was there. Nancy jumped into the spa and saw Graeme with her eyes pinched closed. her hair and limbs moving with the current of water from all the jets on the side. Graeme was entrapped by the powerful suction of the drain spa and could not free herself. Nancy pulled and pulled with all her strength to help her daughter. It eventually took the strength of two adults to free Graeme from the spa. It was sadly too late. Graemepassed away in the hospital later that afternoon. I can only imagine the immeasurable grief that her mother and Graemes entire family went through. Today. Mr. Speaker. is the fifth anniversary of Graemes death. and I want to take this moment to acknowledge the enormous loss suffered by the Baker family. Following Graemes death. Nancy and her fatherinlaw. former Secretary of State James Baker. became and still are tireless advocates for children and childrens safety. When I met Nancy. I was immediately taken by her tragic story of the loss of her daughter. I was most affected by Nancys incredible desire to ensure that what happened to Graeme did not happen to any other child. Nancy has channeled all of her energies into raising the issue of pool and spa drain entrapment. a hidden hazard responsible for hundreds of injuries and numerous deaths. to a national audience. Her passion is an inspiration to me. and I am proud to sponsor the Pool and Spa Safety Act. H.R. 1721. in memory of Graeme Baker. I want to acknowledge and thank my colleague Congressman FRANK WOLF of Virginia. the lead Republican sponsor of this bill. Chairman BOBBY RUSH and Chairman JOHN DINGELL for their support of this badly needed legislation. The progress made on the Pool and Spa Safety Act would not be possible without the hard work of the entire Baker family. I hope my colleagues. Mr. Speaker. join me in honoring Virginia Graeme Baker. a remarkable little girl. and her -mother Nancy whose dedication and tenacity is truly .makb ingkthe world asafer place for all of our children. : PEAK OIL
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Sure. About 2 weeks ago I returned from Colombia. and it was my second visit in just 7 months. Colombia is one of the countries that President Bush negotiated a free trade agreement with without really seeking the advice of those Members of Congress who have been vocal opponents to the NAFTA trade model .which he based this agreement on. And I have to say at the outset. Colombia is a beautiful country. Its people are a Warm people. We were well received there. And so I want to be very clear that I am for expanding trade with countries around the world. but in a way. that is fair and balanced to both our workers here in the United States and also the workers in the countries that we seek to engage in trade with. Just for the record. Colombia has a_ horrible record on human rights and labor rights violations. In Colombia. more trade labor unionists were killed there last year than in all the countries of theworld combined. So it has an abysmal record with respect to violence towards people who try to organize workers to help lift them out of poverty. And. nobody really wants to talk about that dirty little secret of Colombias. because -they want to talk about how much better things are in the first 6 months of this year. The statistics do show that there is an improvement. I will grant them that. and I applaud that. Bt it still means that about 99 percent of the murders that happened last year have gone unsolved. and nobody has been brought to justice for that. And the reason- why trade labor unionists are targeted is because they speak out on behalf of people who are. living in poverty. who are earning wages that dont allow them to support themselves or a family. Theyre work:ing in dangerous working conditions. And I have to say. on the trip that I just most recently returned from. we really werent given a lot of time to go and actually talk to the workers themselves about their experience. We were basically told by the government that things are getting better and things were improving. Interestingly enough. the first trip that I took to Colombia last November. I met with labor organizations. civil rights groups and advocates. and I met with the workers themselves who told me. "dont be fooled by the rosy picture that our government has painted. Its very dangerous here in Colombia to speak. up if you are working in dangerous working conditions. Its very
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

here. a member of the Appropriations Committee. And I know she will have something to say about this as well. But I wanted. to remind my colleagues about the history of the 12 years that the Republicans Were in control of this House. from 1995 through 2006. Well. for that 12year period. the 12 budget cycles that we had. I dont know if any of my colleagues would like to venture a guess. how many times in those 12 years do you think the Republican Congress finished the appropriations process on time? How many times were all the appropriations bills completed by October 1. which. under statute. is the beginning of the fiscal year? The gentlewoman from Florida.
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. ALTMIRE. at the risk of being the little girl who shoots her hand up in the first row of the classroom. that would be the last time Democrats were in control right before the 1994 switch from majority to minority.
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Lets zero in specifically on what we did compared to what they did. If you recall. that was the energy bill that they held open for 40 minutes longer than our normal time limit so they could twist enough arms to get the votes to ensure that they could give the oil companies $14 billion in subsidies. give them those subsidies in the face of world record profits. Now. you know. we support profit. Profit is a good thing. Profit is not a bad word. its a good thing. But when you are doing what they did. which was forgive the royalties that the oil industry would have been required to pay the Federal Government. they are supposed to pay the Federal Government to use the land that they drill on in exchange for the oil that they pull out and make a profit on. And the Republican majority gave away the $14 billion and said. no. no. no. very profitable oil industry. thats okay. you dont have .to pay us. Just put that in your pocket. no problem. And what we did. as part of our 100hour agenda in the Six in 06 bills that we passed when we first became the majority is we passed a bill that repealed those $14 billion in giveaways and said. what we are going to do with that money is we are going to use it to fund alternative energy research so that we can make sure that we truly make a commitment to wean ourselves off of our addiction to foreign oil. which were nice words that the President said in the State of the Union last year. but then promptly he signed that energy bill that gave $14 billion in subsidies away to the oil industry. So I just wanted to jump off that poster because it really needed to be zeroed in on.
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

If the gentleman will yield. I am so pleased. We are all pleased that we have been joined by Mr. ALTMIRE and the 40 other Democratic freshmen in his class who are majority makers who came to Congress to help us move this country ina new direction and make it possible to move this country in a new direction. The stark contrast you are talking about. where you have tired old. same old. do business as shall Republicans standing with the Republican standing with the Presidefit. supporting his veto. his suggestion that he would veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill. Now. I sit on the Appropriation Committee so I know what is in that bill. and had an opportunity to comment on it and participate in it. and I am proud to have supported it. But I would like Mr. ALTMIRE. given that he is part of the new direction Democrats and our freshmen class who brought us to this point. to outline for us. lets talk just exactly what the President is talking about vetoing. Lets outline that for folks.
Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Were PAYGO rules. in other words. not spending more than you are taking in. were those in place before Democrats took over the Congress?
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the Bishop/ Courtney/DeLauro Amendment. The amendment would unfairly target a single liquefied natural gas project. "Broadwater." that is midway through a very extensive Federal and State regulatory process. Interfering with this regulatory review would undermine the very process that is designed to provide a thorough assessment of environmental. safety. security and energy supply impacts of the project. I understand the desire of the proponents of this amendment to ensure the ultimate security of their constituents. but I hope this amendment is not simply a red herring to utimately stop further efforts to site LNG terminals across the U.S. LNG has a record of relative safety for the last 40 years. and no LNG tanker or landbased facility has been attacked by terrorists. Since September 11. 2001. the U.S. LNG industry and federal agencies have put new mesures in place to respond to the possibility of terrorism. Federal initiatives to secure LNG are still evolving. but a variety of industry and agency representatives suggest they are reducing the vulnerability of LNG to terrorism. Here in America we only have two options to increase our supply of natural gas to meet our energy needswe can build more LNG import plants and we can produce more gas offshore. There is no alternative to natural gas in many cases. Unfortunately. the opponents of both options are often the same peoplethey oppose LNG and they oppose drilling for gas. Without increased exploration or LNG facilities. where will we receive the energy America needs in the immediate future? Natural gas is the cleahest energy source we have besides solar or wind. and it is a critical fuel for industrial facilities and is a feedstock for the petrochemical industry that makes plastic. If we cannot produce natural gas here. we are going to have to import gas to heat our homes and import more plastic in bulk or in consumer products. That hurts our balance of trade. For these reasons. I urge my colleagues to oppose the BishopCourtneyDeLauro Amendment. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the HincheyWolf amendment. Today. more than ever. America needs a transmission grid that will deliver reliable and affordable electricity to consumers across the Nation. The Energy Information Agency projects that electricity consumption will increase 43 percent by 2030. Other studies project growth and demand to grow by 19 percent over the next 10 years. while power capacity will grow by only 6 percent over that same time. It stands to reason were going to have to move power where we have excess to where we need it. Recognizing the fact the Energy Policy Act of 2005. EPACT. allowed for the designation of national interest corridors where congestion in the electricity grid is jeopardizing reliable service and raising the cost to electricity consumers. this designation is not a mandate that a transmission line be built but. instead. an incentive for stakeholders to address the grid capacity issues. FERC is authorized to get involved only if the State is unwilling to or cannot act. then only after exhaustive Federal considerations. The HincheyWolf amendment. unfortunately. seeks to block funding for the National Electricity Transmission Corridors as contained in the authorizing legislation. Failing to address congestion and transmission infrastructure will do absolutely nothing for electricity consumers who will see their energy bills continue to climb in the future. And more blackouts. Our constituents deserve a robust energy transmission infrastructure. and EPACT encourages congested States to resolve the problems in a timely manner. And we know the issue of blackouts. particularly in midAmerica to the Northeast. I urge my colleagues to oppose the HincheyWolf amendment because all it will do is raise electric prices because we cant move power where we really need it.
Date: 2007-06-20
Speaker: HERSETH SANDLIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

regarding a prohibition on the use of funds for the diversity visa program. An amendment by Mr. PENCE limiting the use of funds for the Palestinian Authority. An amendment by Mr. PENCE regarding a prohibition on funds for U.S. contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Gaza. An amendment by Mrs. MUSGRAVE regarding an acrosstheboard reduction in funding. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by Mr. JORDAN of Ohio reducing funds in the bill. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by Mr. CONAWAY regarding use of reductions made through amendments for deficit reduction. An amendment by Mr. HENSARLING reducing funds in the bill. An amendment by Mr. TANCREDO prohibiting funds to enforce certain guidelines regarding relations with Taiwan. An amendment by Mr. BLUNT prohibiting funds for the International Seabed Authority. An amendment by Mr. SHADEGG prohibiting funds for countries providing assistance to Iran related to nuclear and missile programs.. An amendment by Mr. SHADEGG prohibiting -funds for countries providing refined petroleum to Iran. An amendment by Mr. OBEY regarding earmarks. and An amendment or amendments by