macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-01-25
Speaker: BONO MACK (republican)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3801. This criticallyneeded legislation will provide law enforcement officials with a powerful new tool in the ongoing war against illicit drugs. It imposes tough new penalties on smugglers who use ultralight aircraft to illegally bring drugs into America. But just as importantly. it sends a clear signal that we are going to do whatever it takes to protect our borders from the raging narco wars which are plaguing Mexico today. Last year. I was proud to support my close friend and colleague. GABBY GIFFORDS. in her efforts to pass similar legislation. and Im honoredin her last official actto do so again today. For many people. this is a bittersweet moment because of GABBYS difficult decision to retire from Congress after more than five years of outstanding public service to the people of Arizona and to America. But I see this more as a celebration of her lifeand a celebration of whats still to come in her lifeas GABBY continues to make a miraculous recovery which is nothing short of a miracle. So. in some ways. you can view her retirement today as a glass halffull story. Yet when it comes to GABBY GIFFORDS. the glass is always fulland usually overflowing with love. kindness and devotion. She has been such an inspiration for me and for millions of Americans as well. Throughout her life. GABBY has had such a special way of bringing diverse people together and finding solutions that benefit everyone. We will miss her in Congress. but I know deep in my heart that we have not heard or seen the last of this extraordinary woman. God bless you. GABBY. and thank you for your tireless dedication to America and to your fellow human beings. When God created miracles. he certainly had you in mind.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Every February. Americans across the country open their hearts to the countrys hospitalized veterans by sending valentine cards to VA medical centers in conjunction with the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week. For several years. students in our Third District of Texas have participated in the annual Valentines for Veterans program as a creative way to thank our brave men and women in uniform for something we love so muchour freedom. Last year. 19 area schools in our district participated. and this year. I encourage all our schools. families. and businesses to take part in making this day special for our Nations veterans. Every year. I look forward to delivering these cards to the veterans at the Dallas VA Medical Center. showing them a Texassize thank you from our schoolkids. You should see the look in their eyes when they read. our veterans. words of appreciation. After all. they are the true reason we remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 496) adjusting the amount provided for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the One Hundred Twelfth Congress.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. At this time. Madam Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi . the chairman of the Subcommittee on Elections on House Administration.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. Im prepared to close out the debate. I have no other speakers. So if the gentleman would finish his time. I would be happy to as well.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I would just say that this is an effort on our part to give an example to the rest of the government. This will be a culmination of about a 10 percent cut overall to the committees of this House. We have had combined cuts in terms of our own MRAs. that is. the amount that each Member has for his budget. And I think as we go forward and having to make some very difficult decisions with respect to future controls of spending on the Federal establishment in its entirety. it will serve us well that we have shown the way. that we can make difficult decisions in this regard. and that this is an appropriate. responsible action to take. With that. I would urge my colleagues to vote for H. Res. 496. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on House Administration be discharged from further consideration of the concurrent resolution authorizing the printing of the 25th edition of the pocket version of the United States Constitution. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on House Concurrent Resolution 90.
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Standards for the Electronic Posting of House and Committee Documents and Data. which were adopted by the Committee on House Administration on December 16. 2011. be printed in the CONGRES-
Date: 2012-02-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the Standards for the Electronic Posting of House and Committee Documents and Data.
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. just a couple of weeks ago. this administration announced a position that amounts to an assault on religious liberty in this country. Their narrow definition of what constitutes religious action. religious belief. and whether or not the Federal Government can cause you to take actions against your own conscience is a serious matter that ought not to be determined by the Friday release of a decision made by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This is an issue that goes beyond the Catholic Church and Catholic institution. It goes to the essence of the First Amendment protections contained in the Constitution with respect to religious freedom. We had better understand exactly how important this issue is. and we had better understand how it has to be addressed directly and cannot be compromised by saying were not going to take away your religious liberty for a year. That is not a compromise. That is a form of political extortion.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman. Madam Speaker. let me just point out a couple of things in response to what has been said on the floor about the bill before us. Had we adopted. had we accepted the Senate bill. we would have had 16 drafting errors not corrected. 16 misstatements in the Senate bill that drafted the wrong provisions of the ethics laws that already existed and would have ensured that what was said on the Senate floor and is being said here would not be enforced in law. number one. Number two. if we had taken the Senate bill. the absolute prohibition about Members participating in IPOs would not be before us. That is an addition that we have in the House bill. That is an additional prohibition. That makes that an illegal act. It has not been in the past. The Senate bill did not even talk about that. Third. with respect to the issue of political intelligence. I respect the Senator from Iowa very much. but I doubt he has ever prosecuted anybody and put them in prison for conflict of interest during their public service. I have.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I understand when you do that. you have to deal with the very careful constitutional questions of people dealing with their right to apply before the government their grievances. That has become known now as lobbying. It is a constitutionally protected activity. And the idea that we have a Congress committed to transparency means that we give out as much information as we possibly can. Those are difficult. conflicting interests that have to be carefully determined if were going to deal with the question of political intelligence. It does us no good to pass a bill that will be rendered unconstitutional. And it does us no good to not carefully consider this. As a matter of fact. on the Senate floor. it was Senator LIEBERMAN who asked his fellow colleagues to give them time on the Senate side to study the issue so that. precisely. they would not render the bill unconstitutional. I might add that Senator LIEBERMAN also served as Attorney General of his State. and knows whereof he speaks.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. Madam Speaker. at the very outset. I would like to thank Members on both sides of the aisle for attempting to try and deal with a serious issue. Id like to particularly point to staff who have worked over this last weekend. including four attorneys on my House Administration Committee. who spent a good portion of this last weekend going through the Senate bill and trying to come up with what we believe is a responsible bill. a tough bill that could pass this House. and frankly did not include the errors that we found in the bill on the Senate side. Several months before the STOCK Act debuted in the Senate. questions were raised publicly about the application of existing laws relating to insider trading. Specifically. there were questions as to whether or not the current laws applied to Members of Congress or their staff. As chairman of the Committee on House Administration. I and my staff carefully reviewed current law. and we concluded that the prohibition on insider trading and the criminal penalties associated with it are very much applicable. and not just to Members of Congress and staff of the legislative branch. Let me be clear. Let us disabuse anyone of the notion that somehow they could engage in insider trading between now and the time the bill gets on the Presidents desk and he signs it. It is already illegal. That is the advice Ive given Members when Ive been asked. Thats the advice Ive given to the press when theyve asked. Its the advice thats been given by the Ethics Committee to Members of Congress and to staff. No one within the House of Representatives or the Senate or the executive branch or even the judicial branch. regardless of responsibility. title or salary. should be under the false impression that they are somehow exempt under these laws. They are not.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I would be very happy to respond to that. and I will a little bit later on in my statement. Thank you very much. In addition to the Congress sometimes dedicated to redundancy. there is a question of clarification. The fact that weve had questions asked of us over the last several months as House Administration chairman. as the Ethics chairman has done. gives rise to the question that some have asked. and we have tried to disabuse them of that notion all along. Although we create and uphold the laws of the land. we are not above them. As their elected representatives. we owe our constituents the assurance that the decisions we make here in the peoples House are. in fact. for the people and not ourselves. This assurance. Madam Speaker. must be governmentwide. America not only needs to know that all of their government officials are subject to insider trading laws. but also need to know and need proof that they are adhering to them. which is exactly what the amended version of the S. 2038 accomplishes. In 2010. the Supreme Court issued a decision in Skilling v. United States that set out several specific questions that it said must be answered in criminal statutes on honest services. The Senate bill ignored the Supreme Courts guidance and failed to answer the questions it set out. The amendment does more than eliminate the Senates defective provisions and numerous drafting errors. Our bill before us also strengthens the previous House and Senate proposals by first clarifying the broad application of insider trading laws. making sure no one questions it. As I say. it is already against the law. and no Member ought to rush out now and attempt to use his insider trading information for insider trading thinking that he or she is not covered. They are already covered. It expands the financial transaction disclosure requirements. We are going to be required now. in terms of actual financial transactions. to report within a 30day period as opposed to doing it quarterly. Were also going to be required to disclose our mortgages. which are not required right now. So we are expanding the disclosure requirements. We extend the postemployment negotiation restrictions. We expand prohibitions on influencing private hiring decisions. This is an additional point. I would say to my friend from Michigan. the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. we end the preferential treatment of government officials by prohibiting them from accepting exclusive access to IPOs. That has not been against the law. Theres been some suggestion that might have been carried on by some Members. I have no evidence whether it has or it has not. but that is an additional prohibition placed in this. which I believe was not in the Senate bill. is not under current law. but it does make it explicit. Members of Congress cannot participate in accepting exclusive access to IPOs.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I would be happy to if they dont know that already. But when you read the newspapers. you would think that somehow it is proper and appropriate. I want to make it clear not only to our colleagues but to the American public. it is against the law now. it has been against the law. If anybody has evidence of this. they should report it to the proper authorities because it is against the law. Madam Speaker. the amendment before us. when applied to the underlying bill. creates the clarity and accountability necessary to ensure that government officialselected. appointed. and otherwiseadhere to Federal insider trading laws. It prohibits Members. officials. and employees of every branch of government from using nonpublic privileged information for personal gain. and it creates a disclosure mechanism for finding out when they do so. Additionally. the bill denies pensions for Members convicted of crimes. That is an addition to current law. It eliminates bonuses for senior executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae. That is an addition to current law. And it directs the GAO to utilize-
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on House Administration be discharged from further consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 99. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. Rigell Rivera Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney RosLehtinen Ro skam Ross (AR) Ross (FL) Rothman (NJ) RoybalAllard Royce Runyan Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Sanchez. Linda T. Sanchez. Loretta Sarbanes Scalise Schakowsky Schiff Schilling Schmidt Schock Schrader Schwartz Amash Bachmann Blackburn Campbell Flake Blumenauer Burton (IN) Cardoza Carney Edwards Schweikert Scott (SC) Scott (VA) Scott. Austin Scott. David Sensenbrenner Serrano Sessions Sewell Sherman Shimkus Shuler Simpson Sires Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Southerland Speier Stark Stearns Stivers Sullivan Sutton Thompson (CA) Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tierney Tipton Tonko NAYS 15 Huelskamp Long Lummis McClintock Neugebauer
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the Speaker. At this time. I would recognize the gentleman from Mississippi . We are trying to keep it to about 4 minutes apiece. And Im not just saying that because youre ready to talk. but thats the time we have.
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for his comments. It is now my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from Indiana
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for his comments. It is now a pleasure on my part to be able to recognize for his words the gentleman from Michigan .
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for his powerful words. At this time I would yield to the gentleman from Tennessee. Dr. ROE.
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for his remarks. Mr. Speaker. it is my privilege to share the last 9 minutes with the gentleman from New Jersey. the man I call the William Wilberforce of this Congress. Mr. CHRIS SMITH.
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I would ask. Mr. Speaker. that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order this evening.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I rise today in support of freedom and liberty. the basic principles our country was founded upon. Its a sad day for America when our President infringes upon our religious rights. a fundamental right protected by the First Amendment. The President announced he will make a socalled accommodation on the ObamaCare rule requiring religiously affiliated organizations to offer insurance plans that cover contraception. Even though the President slightly backtracked his attack on religious freedom. he did not go far enough. The new rule still mandates that religious organizations with moral objections will be forced to act against their religious beliefs. This is not about health care. its about our rights under the First Amendment. And this is yet another example of why we must repeal ObamaCare in its entirety. adhere to the basic tenets of our Constitution. and stop the administrations severe overreach. The sooner we repeal ObamaCare. the sooner we restore freedom and liberty to all Americans.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. pursuant to the order of the House of February 29. 2012. I call up House Resolution 562 directing the Office of the Historian to compile oral histories from current and former Members of the House of Representatives involved in the historic and annual Selma to Montgomery. Alabama. marches. as well as the civil rights movement in general. for the purposes of expanding or augmenting the historic record and for public dissemination and education. and ask for its immediate consideration.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin . a distinguished member of the Committees on Education and the Workforce and Transportation and Infrastructure.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. it is my privilege to yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from Alabama . a member of the Committees on Armed Services. Agriculture. Education and the Workforce. and she cosponsored this resolution.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. at this time it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana . a member of the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. At this time. its my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia. the majority leader. Mr. CANTOR.
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. May I make an inquiry as to whether the gentleman on the other side. Mr. LEWIS. has additional speakers?
Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I just want to echo the words of my friend. Mr. LEWIS. Let us have all Members vote for this resolution. It is a recognition. a simple. straightforward. symbolic resolution recognizing the efforts of so many. as embodied in the gentleman. Mr. LEWIS. and others who worked so hard to change this country for the better. Im honored to be here on the floor with Mr. LEWIS today. I appreciate the chance I had to be with him in this march several years ago. I encourage all Members to take part in that. either this year or in the future. and I ask all Members to support this. With that. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-03-05
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 35) to establish the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies for the inauguration of the Presidentelect and Vice Presidentelect of the United States on January 21. 2013. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
Date: 2012-03-05
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Call

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 36) to authorize the use of the rotunda and Emancipation Hall of the Capitol by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies in connection with the proceedings and ceremonies conducted for the inauguration of the Presidentelect and the Vice Presidentelect of the United States. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.