macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. let me start by commending Chairman PETERSON. Ranking Member GOODLATTE and others on the committee for putting together the good compromise that we have today on the floor. Im pleased to have worked with my colleagues ROSA DELAURO. BART STUPAK. JOHN LARSON. and others to try and establish greater transparency and accountability in our energy futures market so that we can wring out that component of the price that is due to excessive speculation. Like any compromise. this bill doesnt contain everything that everybody wants. but its a very important first step to getting at this issue that is affecting consumers every day. Specifically. I am pleased that this legislation for the first time provides new authority for the CFTC to police the overthecounter markets and take corrective action where necessary. It also goes a long way to cleaning up the current mess regarding bona fide hedging exemptions so that they are distributed based on true physical. rather than purely financial. risk. It also establishes position limits where necessary and at the same time safeguarding the importance of liquidity in the market. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the chairman. the ranking member. and all the people who came together to take what I think is an important first step toward addressing this issue and thank the chairman for saying as new evidence becomes available and collected. we will go farther as we determine necessary.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I want to thank Representatives HODES for introducing H.R. 2851. also known as Michelles Law. and for his hard work in bringing the legislation to the House floor today. H.R. 2851 is named in honor of Michelle Morse who was diagnosed with cancer while she was attending college at Plymouth State University. While Michelle was facing one of the most difficulf times in her life and desperately needed time off to deal with her diagnosis and receive treatment. her health insurer informed her that it would not cover her for chemotherapy treatments unless she continued in school fulltime. As a result. Michelle had to keep up with her course work at the same time as she was receiving 48 hours of chemotherapy a week. She died in November 2005. Michelles law declares that no college student should have as difficult a road as Michelle. Students should have the ability to focus on treatment and recovery before returning to school. H.R. 2851 amends ERISA. the Public Health Service Act and the Internal Revenue Code to require employers and health insurance companies to continue covering college students for up to 12 months if. as the result of an illness or injury. they need to take time off from school to receive treatment and to recover. The rights provided under the bill are in addition to those already provided under ERISA. COBRA and HIPAA. The bill also preserves stronger state laws. In fact many States are ahead of Congress on this issue and have already enacted laws that mandate insurers to cover children over 18 under a family plan regardless of the childs school status. Nine States have laws similar to H.R. 2851 and require health plans to continue insuring students who withdraw from school or change their status due to an illness or injury. However. the state laws do not cover employer sponsored health plans regulated by ERISA which is one of the critical reasons H.R. 2851 is needed. Receiving a cancer diagnosis or suffering a serious injury can be devastating. We must ensure that students who are seriously ill or injured do not have to choose between their health and their health insurance. H.R. 2851 is a common sense bill that will benefit many young people facing adversity. I urge all of my colleagues to vote "yes" on H.R. 2851.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank my colleague. Mr. PALLONE. for his leadership. and Chairman DINGELL and the Energy and Commerce committee. Mr. WAXMAN. and so many others. who have brought this legislation to the floor. finally. after so many years and so many battles. This is a very important day for the American people. The Food and Drug Administration. as we know. has the power to regulate and oversee all sorts of products that are sold today. many that are not addictive. Yet we have always had this big hole in that regulatory authority when it came to very addictive products of nicotine and the tobacco products. On those issues. the FDA has been sidelined. and the result is the big tobacco companies have taken advantage of that opportunity and exploited it and they have marketed these tobacco products to generation after generation of young people through flavored cigarettes and tobacco products and on all sort of things. In fact. when you think about it. they have got to do that. In order to continue to make a profit. they have got to continue to hook one generation after another. Its great that we are finally gathered here today to say to the FDA: You do have authority over this very important area. Lets make sure that future generations of young people do not get addicted. This has a huge cost to our society. obviously in dollars. but even more importantly. the people who die every year as a result of this. We have an opportunity today to begin to put an end to that cycle. I am very proud that in our State of Maryland we have made progress on this on a State basis. We have tried to increase the tobacco tax to reduce tobacco use among young people and use those proceeds for health purposes. But you cant have every State fighting alone to have a successful national program.. You need one entity that has this power to help protect the American people. especially the young people of this country. I thank the committee for its leadership.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

All of these individuals were prominent and prolific in their concern and care for me and in their well wishes. I am also grateful for the prayers and support of my constituents in the First Congressional District of Illinois. and a host of others throughout the U.S. and around the world. My standing here today is a testimony to your prayers and to Gods grace. So. Madam Speaker. I stand here today. After decades of neglect. this 110th Congress will soon pass landmark legislation that comprehensively overhauls and reforms our consumer product safety laws and revitalizes the beleaguered Consumer Product Safety Commission. This conference report represents over a years work. It represents careful. often painstaking negotiations between House and Senate Democrats and Republicans. It wasnt easy. but. in the end. conferees were willing to make smart compromises and bridge their many divides. Indeed. this conference report is the very definition of bicameral.- bipartisan cooperation. Madam Speaker. on May 15 of last year. I held my first hearing on toy safety in the subcommittee. Since then. the Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously reported to the House floor H.R. 4040. the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act. and the House passed the bill 4070.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of this conference report and commend the conferees for their decision to prioritize public health in this final legislation. At the end of last year. as the country was awash in reports of unsafe levels of lead being found in childrens toys. I expressed the hope that this Congress final CPSC Reform bill would embrace the improved recall notice and strengthened enforcement authority in the Housepassed bill while going beyond the Housepassed legislation to broaden the .scope of mandatory product testing. enhance a familys right to know about dangerous and defective products on the market. andprovide robust whistleblower protections for those courageous enough to bring serious safety hazards to light. After months of negotiations. I am gratified that this conference report accomplishes all of these objectives. H.R. 4040 retains the House bills original focus on ensuring meaningful public notice for product recalls and empowering states Attorneys General to help enforce Federal law. Additionally. todays conference report requires mandatory premarket safety testing for lead and other safety standards in toys. cribs and other childrens productswithout preempting stronger State protocols like those we have in Maryland. It requires the CPSC to create a searchable and userfriendly public database on deaths and serious injuries resulting from consumer products so that parents have access to the information they need to protect themselves and their children. And it provides important whistleblower protections to private sector employees who report violations of CPSCenforced product safety requirements. Finally. this legislation takes the long overdue step of banning lead above truly minute amounts from products intended for children under twelve. and it outlaws a number of dangerous chemicals called phthalates from childrens toys and child care items. Madam Speaker. this conference report represents a vitally important bipartisan agreement on behalf of Americas families. I urge a "yes" vote. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H

of Ca Speaker. I move to suspei and pass the bill and extend the basic pilot employment eligibility and to ensure the protecti Security beneficiaries.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. MrKE McNULTY has served our country well for many years. He will be retiring at the end of this Congress. One of the things he has stuck up for most was disabled workers who need their Social Security benefits. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee. he has worked very hard on this issue. I would yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York .
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. at this time I would like to recognize a member of the Judiciary Committee. SHEILA JACKSONLEE. for 2 minutes. a valued member of our committee.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. at this point I would like to yield 5 minutes to the author of the bill. a freshman leader in this area of the bill with Mr. JOHNSON. Congresswoman GIFFORDS from Arizona.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. at this point I would like to recognize Congressman MOORE from the heartland of the country. Kansas. for 2 minutes.
Date: 2008-07-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. there are lies. darn lies and statistics. Isnt that the joke? There have been a lot of figures thrown out here today. I think it is important to note that. according to the GAO. of the 7 million employers that are in the United States. less than 1 percent actually use EVerify. And the GAO also tell us. based on their analysis. that the SSA records contain errors about 4.1 percent of the time. 4.1 percent over 163 million workers is a lot of folks. So we have our work cut out for us. I will note that there are 11 different bills that have been introduced by Members of this House with different ways and ideas on how to improve the employment verification system. We need to do an improvement of this system. I hope that that will be a bipartisan effort. But we are not going to get that done between now and November. And so it is important that we extend the existing program so that at least we have this in place. I would note that Mr. Camarota and the Center for Immigration Studies is not the USCIS. That is sort of a think tank that wants to restrict immigration. It is an advocacy group.. But the real point is that you can track immigration. both legal and unauthorized. into the United States based on the exchange rate between the peso and the dollar. And as our economy weakens. you see less individuals either coming or staying. That doesnt mean that we dont need to get this system improved and that we dont need to have a comprehensive reform of our immigration laws and system. because what we have now is not working as well as it should be in the interests of our wonderful America. I am happy to support this extension at this time. I have appreciated working with the ranking member of the full committee. Mr. SMITH. in getting this bipartisan consensus. I hope that we can get this through the Senate promptly. And as I said in my opening statement. I have every. expectation that the necessary improvements to the EVerify system or the employment verification system will not take 5 years. Hopefully. that will be done well before the 5 years has expired. and that we will be pleased with the necessary improvement that we will craft together.
Date: 2008-07-31
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 6599. a bill to fund U.S. Tnilitary construction and maintenance and the operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill appropriates a total of $118.7 billion for military construction and veterans programs. $10.3 billion more than the current level and $3.4 billion more than the Presidents request. This funding will provide compensation payments to millions of veterans and their survivors. pension payments and financial assistance to their widows and children. and is the primary support for their military related medical care. The Veterans Department oversees the largest Federal medical care delivery system in the country. with 153 hospitals. 50 residential rehabilitation treatment centers. 135 nursing homes. and 1.089 outpatient clinics. The almost $94 billion set aside in this bill is a significant increase over the Administrations request and will help fund medical administration. operations and maintenance of medical facilities such as Walter Reed. and important medical. trauma and mental health research. This bill also provides the funding for the BRAC. We all know there is a massive military base closure and realignment underway in this country. The potential for increased traffic congestion at these new military facilities. such as the one being constructed in my district in Bethesda. MD. can be disruptive for the citizens who currently live in these communities. I want to thank the Committee for working with me to insert language in this bill directing the Department of Defense to aggressively plan and budget for the Defense Access Roads programs that should help alleviate some of the pressure on the communities that are dealing with BRAC. This nation has 23.500.000 veterans and 35.900.000 family members of living veterans and survivors of deceased veterans. That means close to 20 percent of this countys total population are potential recipients of veterans benefits. We have a responsibility to support the past and present servicemembers and their families who have served and sacrificed for us. Providing quality healthcare and decent living conditions for them and their families is the least we can do for these brave men and women. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this important piece of legislation.
Date: 2008-08-01
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. the 2009 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill allocates $47.7 billion to the Ddpartment of Veterans Affairs. This is $4.6 billion above 2008 and $2.9 billion over the Presidents request. for veterans medical care. claims processors. and facility improvements. This bill makes available resources to support military construction projects and ensures Americas servicemen and women have more effective training facilities. and better housing. health care and day care facilities. I would like to take this opportunity to once again commend my colleagues. Congressman EDWARDS and Chairman OBEY for providing a comprehensive Military Construction and Veterans Appropriations for FY 2009 possible. This Congress has made veterans our No. 1 priority. We understand the needs of our returning heroes and we will ensure that they receive the quality of care they deserve.
Date: 2008-09-08
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight deeply saddened by the passing of my friend and colleague. Congresswoman STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES. Congresswoman TUBBS JONES was an extraordinary woman. wife. mother. and leader. Congresswoman STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES made history by becoming the first AfricanAmerican woman to be elected to Congress from her State of Ohio. Throughout her career. Congresswoman TUBBS JONES demonstrated a serious commitment to her constituents and represented them well. She dedicated her life to uplift and inspire those around her. Her dedication. strong will. and spirit gave hope to so many people. Congresswoman TUBBS JONES and her work will never be forgotten as she lives in us all. She has left her mark in history. in Congress. and in our hearts. I will deeply miss her and my thoughts and prayers are with her family.
Date: 2008-09-08
Speaker: JOHN DINGELL (democrat)
Chamber: H

from Michigan. [ 2230 He knows about this country and its needs. Why cant we get together. Mr. DLNGELL and Mr. BARTON. and lets have a bill that is comprehensive. a little give and take on both sides of the aisle. because its for the American people. and lets worry more about them than the next election. The next election. Mr. Speaker. will take care of itself. Let the people judge on that. I am going to tell you. when you go back home I am hearing from my constituents. and I know everybody in this House Chamber is hearing from their constituents. We can do it. Its time. Its time to do it. and its time to do it now. I think it would be unconscionable if we go home 3 weeks from now and we have not done this. I am willing to stay. I am willing to stay. and 134. maybe even 194 Republicans. and hopefully some good. rock solid Democrats will stay with us this time until we get an energy bill done in a comprehensive. bipartisan way.
Date: 2008-09-09
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would.like to thank not only Congressman DANIEL E. LUNGREN for cosponsoring this bill with me. but also note the important support of Dean Larry Kramer. the dean of the Stanford Law School. whose original idea this was. and we two California Members took it up. I think that our country will be enriched by the enactment of this measure. It has been mentioned. and we all know. the top law graduates of the top law schools in the country are recruited to serve as clerks in the judicial branch. and as a consequence of that experience. those top legal minds then go on to fabulous careers. understanding the law from the point of view of the judiciary. Well. theres nothing wrong with that. but we also want to have top legal minds that relish and appreciate the law from the point of view of the legislative branch. and that is really the grit and the intent of this measure. As has been mentioned Im Sure. the program created by the bill will have clerks chosen from a pool of exceptional law school graduates who have demonstrated commitment to public service. No fewer than six clerkswill be chosen for each Chamber. The clerks will be divided equally among the parties. and they will receive the same pay and -equivalent benefits as firstyear law clerks in the U.S. District Court for theDistrict of Columbia. As the dean of Stanford Law School. Larry Kramer. said. "This bill will serve an important role by educating young lawyers and future leaders of the profession about the legislative process. It will be enormously beneficial for both the profession and the public if some of the Nations brightest young lawyers begin their careers in the legis-. lature and so develop and can convey to the public an appreciation of Congress and the legislative process equal to that lawyers have shown for courts and the judicial process." I would like to mention that we were not able to include the Congressional Research Service in the legislation at this time. However. if there is a bipartisan effort to achieve that in the future. I would welcome that collaboration and understand we may yet have the opportunity to do that. So in furtherance of this bill. I would hope that our colleagues would support it. I would again like to thank my colleague. the former Attorney General from California. DAN LUNGREN. for his cosponsorship. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2008-09-09
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

You thought that .might be the case. But the point I was making on colloquies and committee reports is this: Justice Scalia saysand I think properlythat the role of the judiciary is to interpret the Constitution and the law. not to make it up themselves. And so to the extent that there is unintended ambiguity in a law that is written by the Congress where the committee report or colloquy can give the court some insight into what the intentions were on the part of the legislative body. then that is a helpful thing. And understanding how that develops would be enormously useful. There are times. as the gentleman knows. where ambiguity is the oil that makes the legislative process work. I remember Wilbur Mills suggesting there could not be an agreement on what Medicare would cover. that it would cover a "spell or illness." And maybe that was necessary in 1965. but it was not the kind of ambiguity that could have been resolved through a colloquy. And I thank the gentleman.
Date: 2008-09-09
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I was expecting one person here to be a speaker. that person has not shown up. So maybe I will just make a few additional comments in the hopes that their elevator can get to the second floor. And that would be that. in addition to the Dean of the Stanford law school we were advised that the progress of this bill is being watched by law professors and deans throughout the United States who have really resolved that this is going to be a very positive thing for the development of American law. I would just note also. as Mr. LUNGREN has pointed out. we do these things sometimes very quickly. I think the addition of six top law students in each bodyas the ranking member of the full committee has suggested. as time goes on maybe we will find that it works so well it should be expandedI certainly do think. however. it is appropriate to start at this level. do an assessment. And I think our committee. the Administration Committee. will be in an ideal position to do an assessment. But no doubt. if we have some of the smartest young lawyers in the United States here in this institution. they will not only bring the knowledge of this institution out to the world after they become top lawyers. but they will also help us become even more excellent legislators. So I think that this is a benefit that really there is no down side to it. So it has really been a pleasure to work with the bipartisan cosponsors of this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.