macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to the Republican budget plan. which is not. as they characterize. a pathway to prosperity but a true pathway to poverty for our Nation. The Republicans explicit choice to protect millionaires and special interests at the expense of job creation is dangerous and forsakes our future. Im particularly concerned about the reckless and shameful cuts to the National Institutes of Health for the research of cures to cancer. stroke. diabetes. heart disease. and all the other illnesses that fall under its jurisdiction. That is why last week I introduced an amendment in committee that would stop these cuts. Yet each and every one of our Republican colleagues voted against it. For just half a percenthalf a percentof the cost of extending tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. we could completely reject the Republicans devastating cuts to medical research for next year. Cuts of this magnitude will slow research progress while squandering critical scientific opportunities that may one day save lives. Yet beyond the dangers posed to our Nations health. these cuts prevent us from winning the future. The Republicans cut to NIH kills jobs. NIH grants support more than 350.000 highly skilled jobs in all 50 States. plus an additional 800.000 supporting jobs created in the private sector. This means that the Republican budget puts over 1 million American jobs at riskfrom pharmaceutical jobs to medical device manufacturers to technicians working in medical labs. At the same time. the Republican path to poverty ignores the NIHs role in reducing the rising cost of chronic disease and the ballooning costs that compound our debt. We must make smart investments in our Nations medical and fiscal health. And we must make these kinds of investments now so that we may stem the tide of future disease rates. Cancer incidence is projected to nearly double by 2020. particularly among the aging baby boomer population. As one of the 11 million cancer survivors in the United States. I am living proof of the vital gains made by research at NIH. We cant stop now. Dont turn your back on the millions of Americans who are desperately holding out hope that treatments and cures are coming to them soon. Prevent these deadly cuts. Oppose this Republican path to poverty.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would remind my colleagues that those hardworking American workers paid their payroll taxes. including their Medicare contributions. and they should have the benefit of the bargain and keep the Medicare guarantee. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. of course. the private sector is the engine of opportunity and the economy in this country. But we also know that there are some investments that no individual or corporation takes on by themselves. For example. the highway system and some of the big infrastructure. youve got 20 percent unemployment in the construction industry right now. If youre telling me that a greater investment in our infrastructure. roads. and bridges doesnt help generate job creation. then you should tell that to the folks who are looking for a job right now. I would also point out that the same folksthe Heritage Foundationwho said that the Republican plan that were talking about tonight was going to miraculously increase jobs are the same people who. back at the beginning of the Bush administration. predicted that those tax cuts were going to generate all sorts of jobs in the country. Heres what they predicted in blue. cut those taxes for the folks at the very top. jobs are going to go up and up and up. Heres the reality in red. We know what happened. So I would be careful about talking about how a budget is going to produce jobs. We have an alternative budget that has the right balance between cuts and shared sacrifice and will generate jobs. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from California .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. weve been hearing for days about how the House Republican budget is courageous and bold. But this budget is neither courageous nor bold. Its not courageous to throw poor kids out of their Head Start classrooms but continue subsidies to Big Oil and their record profits. Its not bold to slash Pell Grant scholarships to millions of students and to keep the incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas. Its not bold nor smart to slash funds for new clean energy research and make future generations of Americans more dependent. not less. on dictators and dangerous fossil fuels. And its neither bold nor courageous to end Medicare for seniors. shifting thousands of dollars of costs onto the backs of the elderly to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. For 45 years. seniors have relied on Medicare to provide health care during their retirement years. The Republican budget would end that guarantee. Seniors would no longer be guaranteed the coverage for basic health services like diabetes and cancer screenings. Instead. seniors would have to scrounge to find higher cost private health policies. What insurance company is going to write an individual policy for a 70yearold that is even remotely affordable? Because of these high costs. more and more seniors will go into debt under this plan. They will be forced to sell their homes and rely on their children to pay for basic medical costs. That is not a dignified retirement. That is not America. Yes. we need to ensure that Medicare is sustainable for seniors and sustainable for the taxpayers. But one thing is certainthe Republican budget does not save Medicare. it ends it. Mr. Chairman. this budget is not bold. and its not courageous. It might be easy for the Republicans to make cuts on the backs of those who cant afford highpriced lobbyists. But it is not easy for the middle class working people and seniors on whose back the burden is being placed. The Democratic budget is a fair and balanced approach. and it asks all Americans to share in the burdens in reducing the deficit and the debt and strengthening our economy. I urge my colleagues to vote down the Republican budget to end Medicare and to vote for the Democratic budget that is fair and balanced.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. we do need to reduce the deficit in a predictable. responsible way. That will require spending cuts. and it will also require shared sacrifice. The reason that the fiscal commission said that the Republican plan was unbalanced is they try and do it all one way. History has shown that doesnt work. I yield 21/2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. this is simple mathematics. When you went from the Clinton rates for the folks at the very top and you dropped the tax rate. we ended up losing a lot of jobs because of the economy. You also lose revenue. And when you do that. you shift the burden onto other people. whether you do it by cutting Medicaid. whether you do it by terminating the Medicare guarantee. or whether you do it by cutting education. Thats just mathematics. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. there are two parts to the Tax Code. There is the corporate Tax Code. We need to clean up the corporate Tax Code. We agree with the fiscal commission. Youve got to get out a lot of clutter. a lot of the tax breaks. In fact. we dont think you need a study to decide to get rid of the tax breaks that reward corporations for shipping American jobs overseas. We dont think you need to study the question about whether we get rid of big taxpayer subsidies for the oil companies. So. yes. we should take a look at the corporate Tax Code. But in the other part of the Tax Code. the individual Tax Code. what the Republican plan does is actually give the folks at the very top another 30 percent break. We have been talking about going back to the Clinton rates. The Republican plan gives you another 30 percent break. You know what? They say we are going to do this in a revenueneutral way. Well. the result is middle income taxpayers are going to pay more to give the folks at the top another big break. With that. I yield 21/2 minutes to somebody who knows a lot about this subject. the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee. the gentleman from Michigan .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the Small Business Committee. the gentlewoman from New York .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. Republicans originally fought the creation of Medicare on the grounds that it was socialism. Apparently. they havent changed their minds about that as they try and terminate it and put seniors into the private insurance market. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Wisconsin .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. one of the other things that China is doing is theyre investing an awful lot of their resources in clean energy like solar power and like wind power. The United States should be winning that battle and not our international competitors. Someone who knows a whole lot about that is the next speaker. the ranking member on Natural Resources.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would remind my friend Mr. GINGREY that. when Mr. Bush became President. he inherited a $5.6 trillion surplus. By the end of the 8 years. it was gone. Now. with respect to tax rates and jobs. what this chart shows is that. when the highest income earners in the country were paying the lower rates during the Bush administration. you actually lost jobs versus during the Clinton administration when. at the higher rates. 20 million jobs were created. The point is not that higher tax rates increase jobs. The point is that small differences in the top tax rates are not the main drivers of our economy. They are not the main engines of job growth. The figures tell the story. Trying to tell another story is just antihistorical. The reality is that the numbers show. during the Clinton administration. we had very strong growth. During the Bush years. we ended up losing over 600.000 jobs. So lets at least get our history straight. With that. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentlelady from California .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman is absolutely right. We need to come up with a plan that puts the country on a predictable. steady course of deficit reduction. and we need to do it in a balanced way. The chart the chairman showed about revenues presumed we wouldnt have certain changes in the revenue. For example. that we wouldnt say to the wealthiest. we want you to pay the same rates you were paying during the Clinton administration when the economy was roaring and jobs were being created. There is a reason the bipartisan fiscal commission called the Republican plan unbalanced. And this is what it is. Under the commission plan. they have a balance of spending cuts and revenue increases. For example. they say the folks at the top. they should be paying a little more. In fact. $2.5 trillion more over the next 10 years than the Republican plan. Because they dont do what the commission recommended. they have to cut into Medicaid. which will hurt seniors in nursing homes. disabled individuals. poor kids. everybody who depends on that already stretched program. They have to terminate Medicare. So those are choices they are making. They have made a onesided. lopsided choice. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I was pleased to hear my friend is interested in getting rid of the subsidies for Big Oil. We can do it tonight or tomorrow. All youve got to do is vote for the Democratic alternative. And. by the way. you can. at the same time. get rid of the tax breaks that reward companies for shipping American jobs overseas. We dont have to study about it. We dont have to send it to the Ways and Means Committee. We can instruct them tomorrow. tonight. and we will get it done if you vote for the Democratic alternative. With that. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from New York .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I welcome our friend from Georgia. and I would just say that we agree on one thing: that this budget does pose a fundamental choice. And thats what were here to debate about. And we believe that its just wrong to be providing another round of big tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans when youre ending the Medicare guarantee. when youre cutting investments in kids education. Those are choices that we shouldnt be making. We are going to present. and have presented. a Democratic alternative that we think provides a balanced approach. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I have to show us this chart again because I just need to remind the body that during the Clinton administration. when we had the folks at the very top paying a little bit higher rate. 20 million jobs were created. When that rate was dropped for the highincome earners at the beginning of the Bush administration. not only did it contribute to deficits going up. but at the end of that period over 653.000 jobs were lost. Now the point isnt. again. that by changing the tax rate that was the driver. The point is that small differences in tax rates are not the main engines of economic opportunity. And we need to make choices here. Again. they choose to provide tax breaks to the folks at the very top and end the Medicare guarantee. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois . who has been a champion of Medicare. Medicaid. and a whole number of other issues important to our seniors and Americans.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. hardworking American people have been paying their Medicare payroll taxes day in. day out. month in. month out. The choice we have here is whether we are going to make good on that Medicare guarantee or whether were going to say to the folks at the very top. We just cant take you back to the tax rates that were in place during the Clinton administration. Why would we say that to people who have been putting their payroll taxes into Medicare? Why would we say were going to end the Medicare guarantee? With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Texas .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I. too. remember the Voyager spacecraft and also the Apollo program and Moon launch. Great examples of things that individuals and corporations cant do by themselves. things that we have to do by coming together as a people behind a purpose. The Republican budget. if you look at the longterm forecast provided by CBO. essentially says when you project out here. given the assumptions they were given. you eliminate all of the Federal Government except defenseand even defense is at a smaller share of GDP when you get out there than it is today. That is the kind of result that you get.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Reclaiming my time. look. the issue here is what is the appropriate role and size of government. There is no doubt that we have to take what we think should be a balanced approach that involves both cuts and. as the fiscal commission. the bipartisan fiscal commission says. youve got to deal with the revenue piece if youre going to do deal with this problem in a realistic way. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia .
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Thank you very much. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I appreciate it. Let me commend you for the excellent leadership that you are providing in this fight. Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress. this is America. This is the greatest country in the world. And we are great because we have certain values. Paramount among those values is the sense of fairness. Now. let me tell you what the flaw is in the Republican budget. The flaw in the Republican budget is it is not fair. Whatever polls we read. wherever we look. the American people are beginning to see it. How can you justify cutting seniors. cutting young people. cutting the lowincome. cutting the middle class while at the same time giving over a trillion dollars to billionaires and millionaires in this country? That is the disconnect. Mr. Speaker. I dont care which side youre on or where you are in this country. The American people know that we. yes. must bring down our deficit and cut this debt. It has become a national security issue. For 8 years since Ive been in Congress I have been arguing for that. standing up for paying down our debt. During the years of the Bush administration. which. lets tell the truth. was a primary cause of us being in the position that were in now to have three wars going at the same time. And so ladies and gentlemen. in conclusion Im just saying that the point we have to make is it is not fair to cut this budget on the backs of the poor. the elderly. and the young while at the same time giving billionaires over a trillion dollars.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. we ask every American to read this budget. this Republican budget. and see whether or not it reflects their values and the choices that they would make. We believe when they do that they will reach the same conclusion that the bipartisan fiscal commission did. which is that its simply unbalanced. its simply unfair. It puts all the burden of the sacrifice on working men and women. And it does provide those folks at the very top once againweve seen it beforewith a big tax break. When it comes to Medicare. its a fact seniors are no longer going to be able to choose to stay in Medicare. Theyre going to be forced into the private insurance market with everincreasing costs and everdeclining support. That is rationing care. Thats what insurance companies do. If you dont have enough money to buy the benefits that they are offering. you dont get them. If your doctors not on that plan. tough luck. So those are the choices that were making this evening. And I hope as we go forward the American people will look very closely at this proposal. Im confident theyll reach the same conclusion the bipartisan fiscal commission did. which is its just not balanced. and it doesnt reflect American values and priorities.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have to say that to say this plan saves Medicare is in my view Orwellian. It does remind me of the phrase from many years ago that you have to destroy the village in order to save it. I have to say that if you look at what were doing here. youre saying to seniors youve got to go into the private insurance market. Now. the chairman mentioned a couple other examples of the private market. But in this case weve already experimented. through Medicare Advantage. with that kind of private plan within Medicare. And you know what we discovered? That you had to subsidize them at 114 percent of the feeforservice program. It cost us more for Medicare Advantage. In fact. one of the reforms that we made as part of the Affordable Care Act was to say were not going to ask the taxpayers and folks who are on Medicare feeforservice to subsidize those private plans that are running over cost. And you know what? In this budget our Republican colleagues kept that reform. If it was so great to have the Medicare Advantage plan. how come they took part of the savings from that plan? They did not. So it is a big mistake to say to seniors were going to throw you into the private insurance market with an everdeclining voucher premium. The reason this isnt premium support. it doesnt support the premium. What Federal employees and Members of Congress have is a premium support system through a fair share formula. This is not a fair share for seniors. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from California . former insurance commissioner for the State of California.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. may I inquire how much time remains? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 214 minutes. The gentleman from Wisconsin has 73/4 minutes.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

And thats because you dont like the answer youre going to hear. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Georgia controls the time.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I yield myself the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 21/4 minutes.
Date: 2011-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Weve had a spirited debate this evening about fundamental choices that we need to make as a country. We all agree that we have to reduce our deficits in a predictable. steady way. The question is how do you do it. and we believe. as did the cochairs of the bipartisan fiscal commission. that the Republican plan is unbalanced. and its unbalanced because it asks very little of the folks at the very top and reduces dramatically our investments in our kids education and it does end the Medicare guarantee. Seniors will no longer be able to stay in the Medicare program. They will be forced into the insurance program. It immediately does end the prescription drug benefit. something we worked hard to close. the doughnut hole. It ends the effort that was put in place under the Affordable Care Act to end the doughnut hole. So I would say to the gentleman from Georgia who spoke earlier. those seniors who are calling his office. they will lose that benefit in closing the doughnut hole right away if this Republican budget passes. For other seniors and people who have been paying in the Medicare system through their payroll taxes. we want to make sure they have the benefit of the Medicare guarantee. Throwing them into the private insurance market and giving them a deal that Members of Congress do not give ourselves is wrong. It is absolutely wrong. We have a fair share deal. and we are asking seniors to take a raw deal. We have a true premium support system for Members of Congress where the Federal Government shares the risk of increasing costs. Under the Republican plan. they are asking seniors to do what they dont want Members of Congress to do: take all the risk of the rising costs. Those are not choices that reflect American values and priorities. We should not be giving tax breaks to the folks at the top and ending the Medicare guarantee.