macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. the gentleman. who is a good friend of mine. did he know that in his district. 19.900 more working families would have their taxes increase if this bill passes? And in my own district. 57.757 families would have their taxes increased if this bill passes today. 57.757 in my district in the State of Texas.
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. 11.207 would see increases in taxes- from earned income - tax credit. but also your district would benefit from the increased taxes.
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman will continue to yield. the number. the 11.000 number is based on the number of constituents you have that are eligible for the earned income tax credit.
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. conservative estimates of the tax increases for earned income tax credit constituents will increase. I am opposed to the bill because my taxpayers will pay more. but do not take my word for it. Take Jack Kemp. who last week said: I hope you guys do not go too far on removing the EITC because that is a tax increase on low income workers and the poor which is unconscionable at this time ...
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentleman discontinuing his presentation. inasmuch as it is totally unrelated to what we are speaking about on this side. agriculture. Again. I protest the process. On that side they have legislation that was not approved by the committee. which is. in my years here. in the history of this Congress. basically the first timp that that has been done. I am terribly embarrassed. one. and upset and frustrated that this process has gone on. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California .
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the previous speaker if he realizes that this legislation will reduce by half the ricegrowing area of Texas. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina .
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 5 seconds to say to the gentleman from Texas. Mr. SAM JOHNSON. we have a plan that balances the budget. We have a plan that balances the budget. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Alabama .
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. today the House will consider a substitute to the Gingrich budget bill. This substitute contains agriculture provisions that will reduce the deficit $4.6 billion over 7 years. These are the provisions that were considered by the Committee on Agriculture and failed on a 22 to 27 vote. In spite of the fact that they were desirable policy. they did not meet the committees reconciliation obligation. Many of my colleagues across the aisle regretted that they could not support it because it did not meet the requirements of the budget resolution to balance the budget by 2002. Today. my friends. you can now support reductions of $4.6 billion for agriculture. not $13.4 billion in cuts--three times that size. and reap the benefit of a balanced budget because the substitute also balances the budget by 2002. Yesterday. I heard my good friend Chairman ROBERTS testify before the Rules Committee what his freedom to farm provisions would do as part of the Gingrich plan. Chairman ROBERTS said American farmers would pay $15 billion less in interest expenses because of a balanced budget. Mr. Chairman. the substitute will reduce the same $15 billion in interest expenses for American farmers because the substitute also balances the budget. Chairman ROBERTS said American farmers will have increased planting flexibility because of freedom to farm in the Gingrich budget plan. Mr. Chairman. American farmers will also have increased planting flexibility in the substitute budget plan. Chairman ROBERTS said that freedom to farm will lock up the baseline for farmers so that when we will have to pass more cuts in coming years. and he said not to fool ourselveswe will have more deficit reduction bills just like this one. that farm spending will be protected. Mr. Chairman. I do not know why there will be more reconciliation. perhaps the tax cuts are too high or the spending cuts are not real. but if you vote for the substitute. there will be no need for future reconciliation because it will balance the budget. Chairman ROBERTS said that freedom to farm was a marketoriented plan. Mr. Chairman. unless. by marketoriented. Chairman ROBERTS means the unimpeded opportunity to .lose your shirt. the substitute bill is also marketoriented. Farmers will respond to market prices in their planting and marketing decisions. But when farm prices are driven down by large supplies. poor economic growth. or an overvalued currency. as happened in the past. the substitutes farm program will increase payments to farmers to partially offset those market losses. And when prices are high. govemnment payments will decline or cease altogether. reducing benefits when farmers do not need them. Under freedom to farm. farmers will receive the same $6 billion in 1996. for instance. whether prices are lowbaseline levels. or above. as USDA has recently projected them. and requiring only $2.8 billion in payments to farmers.
Date: 1995-10-26
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to thank all the members that worked with us in the Committee on Agriculture. I am saddened by the fact that the legislation which appears in the reconciliation is not the product of the Committee on Agriculture. I am concerned about that. But the Stenholm proposal balances the budget in. 5 years. The Committee on Agriculture has met its commitment. We have reduced over $50 billion in the past 10 years. No one can point the finger at the Committee on Agriculture that we have not done our share.
Date: 1995-10-30
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. now I am personally aggrieved that I would not even move the gentlemans inner feelings of his heart when he is preparing. here at Halloween. to dismantle American agriculture. to cut its throat. to bleed it to the last drop of blood. and it had no impact. Mr. Speaker. that is what I call the arrogance of power. The gentleman has just demonstrated that very well. Mr. Speaker. very respectively and kindly and with the admiration and respect that I have for the gentleman. I am personally aggrieved that I would not move the gentleman at this point.
Date: 1995-10-30
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me also compliment the gentleman from Pennsylvania for bringing that up and if he would look at what Secretary Reich has said. That bill that we passed here. there is no mandate from the Department of Labor on any of those investments in housing. But the argument should be I would rather them invest in housing here than in Beirut. Lebanon where some of them may get the same rate of return they would instead of downtown Houston. I rise tonight to support the motion to instruct. I support a balanced budget but not the effort that the majority is trying to do. It is ironic that our Speaker and supporters approved this budget plan just a few days before Halloween and here we are going to have it tomorrow. When one looks at the facts. it is clear that their budget and their rhetoric are the ones that are scaring the American people. They are scaring seniors on Medicare. college students and the workers who are depending on those pensions instead of this raid on the pension plans. Perhaps the single biggest trick is that the Republicans are cutting Medicare by $270 billion in order to pay for the $245 billion budgetbusting tax cut. The fact is that Medicare is cut to pay for tax cuts is highlighted by the Medicare cuts are 3 times greater than what the Medicare trustees have said they needed to do to ensure Medicare solvency to the year 2006. If you do not think that is scary enough. listen to this from a distinguished Member from the other body: I was there fighting the fight. voting against Medicare. 1 out of about 12 because we knew it would not work in And from a Member of our own body: "Now we dont get rid of it." that is being the Medicare they are trying to save supposedly. "in round one because we dont think thats politically smart and we dont think its the right way to go through a transition period. But we believe its going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it." Voluntarily leave Medicare? The budget plan will force seniors out of Medicare. That is not voluntary. It is forcing them out. The promises from the Republicans to strengthen and preserve Medicare are scary Halloween tricks on senior citizens. Let me remind Members what the gentleman from Michigan said. that in 1990 we had a $290 billion deficit on a yearly basis. This last year without one Republican vote we had $164 billion.
Date: 1995-10-31
Speaker: GERALDINE B. WILSON (democrat)
Chamber: S

MacDill Air Force Base. Tampa. FL. DEAR MRS. WILSON: Reference is made to the letter from General McCormick notifylng you that the missing status of your husband has been terminated. In order that you will have all the information presently available to us. I would like to advise you regarding the possible recovery of his remains for return to the United States. The truce agreement reached with the Communist forces provides for certain activities in connection with the recovery of remains of our honored dead from Communistheld territory. It also provides that the specific procedures and the time limit for the recovery operation shall be determined by the Military Armistice Commission. Until the necessary arrangements for the operation have been completed. we will not know when recovery and return of remains can be initiated. I appreciate the anxiety you are experiencing. and regret that no information other than that which as now been furnished you is available at this time. You may be sure. however. that we will notify you immediately when further information becomes available. If I may assist you with any unusual problems or circumstances regarding the above matter. please do not hesitate to contact me. Correspondence should be addressed as follows. to insure prompt delivery to my office: Director of Supply and Services. Attention: Mortuary Branch. Headquarters. United States Air Force. Washington 25. DC. Please accept my sincere sympathy in the great loss you have sustained. Sincerely yours.
Date: 1995-10-31
Speaker: BAL ENGER (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. today is Halloweenthe Democrats favorite day. All this year Democrats have made a concerted effort to scare people. They have tried to scare children with school lunch horror stories. They have tried to scare seniors with their Mediscare tales from the crypt. And they have tried to scare the poor with EITC ghost stories. Democrats have lost the battle of ideas. plain and simple. The only weapon they have is distortion and fear. They have no mandate. They have no positive message of hope. And the only way they can influence policy is to scare the wits out of the American people. Madam Speaker. fear is not a hallmark of sound political leadership and scaring people is what bullies do. I challenge our friends on the other side to stop the horror stories. take off your masks. and join our effort to save Medicare. reform welfare. cut taxes on families. and balance the budget.
Date: 1995-11-01
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. Members. we hear talk about the 7year balanced budget and the 10year balanced budget. We did not develop the debt that we have or the deficit in 7 years or even 10 years. In fact. in the 1980s. the deficit exploded. but it took us decades to get the financial house in the shape that we have it now. In fact. in 1992. the last year of a Republican administration in the White House. we had a $290 billion deficit. This year. that deficit is down to $163 billion. Now. whether we talk about 7 years or 10 years. that is all a political game. What we are talking about is that we reduced the deficit under a Democratic President. without cutting Medicare. without cutting education. and without raiding the pension plans. We do not need to let Medicare wither on the vine. Mr. Speaker.
Date: 1995-11-02
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. yesterday my Republican colleague followed me here and talked about the difference between the debt and the deficit. Well. I know very well the difference between the debt and the deficit. I know we have almost a $5 trillion debt. The deficit. though. in 1992 under a Republican President was $290 billion. For that year. that deficit. Last year it was only $163 billion. That is what I call progress. and it was not done during the 1980s. In fact. during the 1980s. our debt exploded to that $4.9 trillion or whatever it is. But the truth is really out. We need to balance our budget. but we do not need to do it on the backs of education or Medicare. and that is wrong. That is what the American people are saying in all the polls. Mr. Speaker. the comments of our Speaker and also the leader of the other body last Sunday in the Washington Post demonstrate the true sentiments of the Republicans on the Medicare plan. Cut health care for seniors as much as necessary to pay for that tax cut. not balancing the budget but for a tax cut. It is disgusting to see a PR campaign used to provide for a tax cut. Mr. Speaker. I hope the conference committee and the President will veto that plan.
Date: 1995-11-02
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me the time. Mr. Chairman. I would like to commend the gentleman from Wisconsin . my colleague on the committee. for his genuine concern and dedication to education. But even with that I must oppose his amendment. Major authorizing legislation like this should be given careful consideration in a separate bill and obviously should not be attached as an amendment to an appropriations bill. It should go through the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities that I serve on with the gentleman from Wisconsin . I believe that the proposal should go through that committee and have full hearings. In fact. the Gunderson amendment could actually be instituted by the local community without having to have the structure coming through this Congress. They can create their own programs that they want to. and it does not have to be through the U.S. Treasury. They could do that if they wanted to. without this Congress telling them. Let the local people make the decision. whether it be in my district or here in D.C. The Gunderson amendment could have dramatic effect because of the private school issue and the Constitution. But let me also say that the concern I have is it may be cherrypicking or picking good students out of the D.C. school district and only to go to certain other school districts. I am concerned because we need those children in the public schools.
Date: 1995-11-07
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. I would like to yield to the gentleman from California so that he could tell us the changes made in the Senate version as related to the original House revision.
Date: 1995-11-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I am glad my colleague from California. as a new Member of this House. talked about the balanced budget. But in 1992. under the Republican leadership. we had a $290 billion deficit. And last year. under this current year. we have $164 billion. It is going in the right direction without cutting Medicare and Medicaid. It is now November 8. 40 days after the beginning of the fiscal year and only 5 days before the current .continuing resolution expires. And what have we seen under this revolutionary Congress? We only have two bills that have been signed into appropriations bills. 40 days late for our fiscal year. Is that fiscal responsibility? We are aiming for default by the extremist Republican majority. In fact. only two bills at 5 percent of the Federal discretionary funding have been approved. What we are seeing is gambling with the stability of our economic system in the United States based on the Republican majority. They are too busy cutting Medicare. cutting education funding to make government do its job. and that is really to have a balanced budget.
Date: 1995-11-08
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New York for his kindness. Mr. Speaker. I join all of my colleagues in extending our sympathies to the family of Prime Minister Rabin. Mr. Speaker. I wanted to inform my colleagues that in the city of McAllen. TX. Sunday evening there was a memorial service conducted by Rabbi Lipper of the Temple Emmanuel. I was honored and privileged to have been asked to give a part of the eulogy. since I knew the Prime Minister for many years. Mr. Speaker. I would like for my colleagues to know. the passing of Prime Minister Rabin is a loss to the world. Mr. Speaker. it is a loss to all of those that honor and love peace. I think that we should continue. and his legacy should be that there shall be peace throughout the Middle East. and that there should be the recognition that Israel is a land and a people and a democracy. and that we instill in all of the people in that area that this should continue and that we truly achieve a peace where all can live as equals under one God who made us all. and that we make this the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin.
Date: 1995-11-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I join with all the Members and rise strongly to support Senate Concurrent Resolution 31 honoring slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. As an Israeli war hero. both during the war of independence in 1948 and also the 1967 war to unite the historic Israeli nation. he served his nation and was an inspiration to people all over the world. Mr. Speaker. I met Prime Minister Rabin several times and I was impressed not only with his commitment and dedication to his nations security. but also to the realization that peace was not only in. the interest of the Palestinians. but also in the interest of the Israelis. He. more than any person I think I have ever met. Mr. Speaker. exemplifies a verse in the Old Testament. Isaiah 2:4: He will judge between nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation. nor will they train for war anymore.
Date: 1995-11-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague. the gentleman from Texas. for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the conference committee report in its entirety of Senate bill 395. based on three reasons. One. it is safe for offshore drilling. We are only dealing with new leases or expanded leases. and also the jobs and economic growth that my colleague. the gentleman from Colorado. talked about. Let me explain. We are talking about the impact on the current budget and this resolution will help balance our budget. The agreement requires the Department of the Interior to exempt from royalties only new leases. or expanded production. it is production that may not be utilized. We may not receive one penny in royalty. but if they do expand it. if they do have new leases. we will see additional revenue. That is where I see the plus for our Treasury. This resolution also talks about expanded production under existing leases. but it mandates some of the royalty exemptions if the Interior Secretary determines this production will not be economic without royalty relief. We are giving the Department of the Interior the ability to say. "If you will do it. then we will give you that benefit." We are really just letting them say. "OK. depend on the market. and if it will work. it will help the Treasury and also help in the creation of jobs." Let me talk about offshore drilling. because in Texas we do that a lot. I go to Galveston. TX. and see the wells out there and I am concerned. like everyone else. about the pollution in our waters. But. in the latest study I have. it shows that offshore oil production is responsible for only 2 percent of spills. whereas transportation is 45 percent of whatever pollution may be. and waste and runoff is 36 percent. We can solve a lot of problems with pollution of our waterways and our bodies of water if we just clean up what we put into the sewers. but the offshore production is one of the safest. ways to produce energy. We have had production off our coasts. successful production. Again. this would benefit not only those of us who live along the Gulf Coast. but would also benefit the economic security of our Nation. That is why. Mr. Speaker. I encourage the adoption of the conference committee report.
Date: 1995-11-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. later tonight my colleague. the gentleman from North Dakota. EARL POMEROY. will come before the House on a special order for an hour. and talk about his concern and his experience as a former insurance commissioner in his State on the effort to support and protect American pensions. I rise tonight to talk about that and congratulate my colleague in his effort. About 2 weeks agoOctober 27the Senate. by an overwhelming vote of 94 to 5. agreed to drop the pension reversion provision from the budget reconciliation legislation. In a bipartisan show of support for the working people of this country. the Senate said no to allowing companies to pilfer the savings of Americans. Today. I join my colleagues in urging the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to delete the House pension reversion provision from the budget reconciliation legislation. This type of provision does not belong in reconciliation. This provision should be addressed separately and the committees with jurisdiction and substantial interest should have time to hold hearings on the proposal. This Republican proposal will allow companies to take money from employee pension plans that they say are more than 125 percent funded. These excess pension assetsthe funds not needed to pay immediate pension benefits--can be used freely for purposes that are certainly not in the interest of retirees. Allowing companies to strip socalled surplus pension assets from employee pension plans will take us back to the 1980s. when companies took away more than $20 billion from over 2.000 pension plans. covering nearly 2.5 million workers and retirees.
Date: 1995-11-09
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. if I could ask the folks to direct their attention to the poster. during the 1980s. over $20 billion was removed from our retirement systems because many companies used their pension funds for leveraged buyouts and others were simply taken over so they could raid their pension funds. In 1982. it went from $404 million all the way up to 1985. $6 billion were taken out of pension plans by companies. In 1986. 1988. and 1990. these were effectively brought to a halt because Congress realized that peoples pensions were in jeopardy by these raids and these reversions on pension plans. The proposed change in the House reconciliation bill would allow employers to remove assets just like in the 1980s. if their liabilities ar less than or more than 125 percent or less than 125 percent. They could remove it for any purpose. Changes in the interest rate and the stock market could change the pension plans to weather their needs. The other body voted 94 to 5 to remove what the House did. I hope our conference committee would also remove it.