macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 1999-04-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I think it comes down to this: We ran a pilot project on educational flexibility with 12 different States and when we got back the results of that pilot project. what we found was that essentially 9 or 10 of those States gave us back educational babble about what they were going to do with this money and how they were going to be accountable for the money in terms of the performance of their students. in terms of how well their students were able to improve their mathematics scores. their reading capabilities and their critical thinking. We got back educational babble about realizing the potential of the educational atmosphere to enhance the environment. to improve the capabilities of the students to perform better. Babble. One State. the State of Texas. came back to us and said. in exchange for flexibility our goal in the State of Texas over the next 5 years. in a numerical sense. is to have 90 percent of our students pass the Texas State Assessment. and to go beyond that. to have 90 percent of our Hispanic students. 90 percent of our AfricanAmerican students. 90 percent of our poor students. pass the Texas State Assessment. That is how we wish to be measured. and we put into the State law and into our agreement with the Federal Government that that is our goal. I do not know whether Texas will make it or not. and I am not here to micromanage the system to tell them how to make it. but at least they came forward and set down on the table a numerical means by which they were prepared to be measured. They also told us that they would be using the same assessment from yeartoyear. This bill does not require the same assessment from yeartoyear. Numerical goals. this bill does not require numerical goals. There is no requirement here that States make the effort to close the gap between minority students and majority students. and yet in the most recent assessment we have. received. after pouring billions of dollars into this program. the gap between Hispanic and white students. the gap between AfricanAmerican and white students. continues to increase. continues to increase. but there is no requirement here or accountability for school districts to try and to close that gap. There is no accountability here that we have an assessment system so we can measure that over the life of this program. I think it is important to understand that that is the difference about why we support or oppose this legislation. that this legislation continues to put the Federal Government in the position of being the enabler. being the enabler of States not having to be accountable. not having to be accountable for the performance of all students. not the average student. not some students but all students. so then we can measure whether or not we as the investors of the public money. some $60 billion to $70 billion over the next 5 years. whether or not we are getting a return on our investment that the public is in fact entitled to. We cannot assure the public that we can get that return on the investment and therefore I will vote "no" on this conference report.
Date: 1999-04-21
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu). Mr. WU. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support today of H.R. 1184. the reauthorization of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. I particularly applaud the farsightedness of the gentleman from Wisconsin . the chairman of the Committee on Science. and the gentleman from California . the ranking member. in authorizing $168 million over the next 5 years for expansion and modernization of the seismic monitoring infrastructure of the United States. Oregon is. unfortunately. at great Kisk for earthquakes. and I am looking forward to the benefits that will flow from such a modernization effort in Oregon and nationwide. My amendment. which has been incorporated into the bill. will add an additional $2.8 million over 2 years to the seismic network to procure two portable seismic networks. Seismologists routinely deploy temporary mobile networks to monitor aftershocks or to better understand the impact of an earthquake in a particular region. The two networks supported by my amendment would be a natural supplement to the permanent monitoring networks. The chairman has been conscientious in authorizing the elements of a seismic monitoring system contained in a plan that will be forwarded to us shortly by the administration. I believe these portable networks will also be part of that plan. These portable networks are very necessary to a comprehensive capability for postearthquake monitoring. I would hate to see any delay in developing them. and I urge adoption of this amendment. In closing. I would like to commend the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Science and the chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Basic Research for facilitating bipartisan cooperation in this bill within the committee and here. With that. Mr. Chairman. I urge passage of this bill.
Date: 1999-04-21
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I have no objection to this amendment. and I have no further requests for time. so I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 1999-04-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her remarks. She raises a number of very important points. We have talked about what the Vice President has done in the past. but also the fact that the Vice President has vision in talking about the future and clearly talking about issues in terms of livable communities that all of our constituencies struggle with on a daily basis. I represent a district on the east side of San Francisco Bay where people find themselves locked in on the Interstate 80. which runs through my district. at 15 miles an hour on a good morning. People have to get up at 4:00 in the morning to commute long distances to their work. The Vice President has asked that we start to address these issues and start to use his influence to get people to address these issues so that people can have a more livable community. That shows the kind of vision he has. I think also when we read in the newspaper that there is going td be an attack by the leadership. the Republican leadership. on the Vice President. maybe it is a compliment. Maybe we know a man by his enemies. because if we look at the Republican leadership it is rather shocking. Senator Lorr has a zero rating with the League of Conservation Voters. Senator NICKLES has a zero rating with the League of Conservation Voters. Our Speaker. the gentleman from Illinois
Date: 1999-04-27
Speaker: MOSES BOYD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Offwe of the Honorable Fritz Hollings. Washington. DC. DEAR MR. BOYD: Thank you for speaking with me earlier. Thirteen (13) of the 44 Y2K lawsuits that have been filed to date have been dismissed entirely or almost entirely. Twelve (12) cases have been settled for moderate sums or for no money. The legal system is weeding out frivolous claims. and Y2K legislation is therefore unnecessary. Thirtyfive (35) cases have been filed on behalf of corporate entities. such as health care providers. retailers. manufacturers. service providers and more. Nine (9) cases have been filed on behalf of individuals. This trend will continue. Thus. the same corporations that are lobbying for Y2K legislation may be limiting their own rights to recover remediation costs or damages. I have studied the Y2K problem carefully from the legal perspective. and have written a book entitled "Litigating Year 2000 Cases". which will be published by West Group in June. I frequently write and speak about this subject. I do not represent any clients that have an interest in the passage or defeat of any proposed Y2K legislation. Feel free to call me. should you have any questions. Thank you very much. Very truly yours.
Date: 1999-04-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. "Its kind of sad that its not surprising anymore." Mr. Speaker. these are the words of a high school sophomore at Irving High School in my district. She was speaking about the brutal and horrific rampage where two high school youngsters armed themselves and began a violent killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton. CO. When their campaign of terror finally ended. 16 students and teachers were dead. In addition. some 20 other students were wounded. Mr. Speaker. not only did I find myself naturally shocked by this incident. I was even more shocked by the aforementioned response to it by this high school student. Indeed. violence has so penetrated the lives of our youth that the shock value over events like those in Littleton. CO. has wom off. Between ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and young gunmen targeting minorities and athletes at Columbine High School. we certainly find ourselves in an environment where violence is expected. is the norm. and is not surprising anymore. Mr. Speaker. I would ask this mourning Nation to be more attentive to the thoughts and words of our young people. We must come together and address this deadly mix of violence and racism. If we do not. then our young people will become more jaded. disenchanted. and numb over the loss of life. If we do not address the root causes of hate. then violence will rule the day and cease to be surprising anymore. Unfortunately. we have been lacking in our commitment. zeal. and work to combat hate and violence. That is why I understand the words of this high school student and others throughout the country that look at this loss of life through such a bleak prism. I certainly cannot blame them. Althoughthe madness perpetrated by the assailants was unexplainable. the hate that motivated them was not. Mr. Speaker. what must be explained to our youth is that we will make a concerted effort to understand them. teach them better ways to resolve their problems. and present more opportunities before them while removing guns from their lives Mr. Speaker. I join my colleagues in the House of Representatives. my constituents of the 30th Congressional District of Texas and the entire Nation in sending my prayers and thoughts to .the families and friends of those people taken away from them in this tragedy. Mr. Speaker. I also pray for other young people who may feel shunned by society and filled with misunderstanding. hate. and a feeling of being losers. I pray that we can all instill in these youngsters a better sense of selfesteem and purpose. The two students who gunned down their classmates before killing themselves at Columbine High School felt that they were losers. It was that feeling of being losers that motivated them to create such a loss.
Date: 1999-05-04
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 118. legislation that would name the federal building in Austin. Texas in honor of former Representative Jake Pickle. The building is located at 300 East 8th Street in Austin. It houses district offices for Congressman Pickles successor. Representative LLOYD DOGGETT. and Senator KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON. as well as local offices for the
Date: 1999-05-04
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. many of us are aware of the contributions that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made to the sport of football. His focus on excellence in sportmanship and successful stewardship of the Dallas Cowboys will be forever cemented in the .history of the game. However. Mr. Jones has also made a significant contribution to the history of our country and the ideas of Thomas Jefferson. the third President of the United States. who drafted the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Jones along with his wife Gene. donated $1 million to a Library of Congress program that is currently rebuilding Thomas Jeffersons personal book collection that was lost in a fire. This gracious gift allows the Library of Congress to obtain lost copies of books destroyed in 1851. It will be a labor and financially intensive undertaking that will be helped by Mr. Joness assistance. Cicero once said that "to be ignorant of the past is to remain a child." Mr. Speaker. the donation by Mr. Jones will assure that we will be able to hold onto history and be less ignorant of it. while being wiser. Thomas Jefferson was not only the drafter of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. President. he was also an enlightened thinker whose ideas helped us build this country and guide her through dark times. His ideas and thoughts were shaped and influenced by books. It is appropriate that the gift from Mr. and Mrs. Jones will help restore Jeffersons rare books as he helped found the Library of Congress. As this country still wrestles with issues of equality and freedom well into the 21st century. it is incumbent upon us to refer to the highminded ideals of our Founding Fathers. The $1 million donation to the Library of Congress will help this country locate those books and remind us of our collective vision and history. On behalf of the residents of the 30th Congressional District and all Americans. I would like to thank Jerry and Gene Jones for their donation to the Library of Congress. For me. this also represents their service to our country. support of democratic ideas and persevering history. NEED IT
Date: 1999-05-20
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. and let me just say. as my colleagues know. it is with great pride that the American people point to their national park system. it is with great pride that the American people know that the Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor and sends a beacon to the world about the tenets and the values of this Nation. and it is a great pride that those assets. the Grand Canyon. the Everglades. the Statue of Liberty and others. when the rest of the world honors. honors the decision that people in this country made about setting aside those public lands for public use. and it is a great honor that the millions of Americans choose to visit those parks each year to enjoy them. to participate in them. to learn from them. But it is also a task of this Congress and of the world community to make sure that we learn more about those parks that we are able to maintain.
Date: 1999-05-20
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. we are able to maintain and protect those parks. and this Congress has a rather checkered past on that. But if we put it to the American people. they would vote to spend billions of dollars to maintain and protect the great parks of this Nation. It Is an honor to this Nation that people come from all over the world to visit these parks. that nations come to us and send their representatives here to learn how to do the same thing in Asia and Africa and Europe. all over. All over the world people want to emulate what Theodore Roosevelt started and what we have protected on a bipartisan basis. Now we have a group of people who decided that they are going to roll that back. they are going to take away that designation. they are going to remove this honor from the American people. The pride of this Nation. the beacon we send to the rest of the world. they now have decided that they want to remove this honor and start that process of denigrating these most valuable and cherished public lands in our Nation. The pride of our Nation as we send out messages to the world about conservation. about the protection of public lands. about the values of this country. This legislation is absolutely looney. it is absolutely looney. It is based in some unknown conspiracy. unsubstantiated. based upon the fact that some people believe that day in and day out they see black helicopters swooping in to protect the national parks of the United States. No. Mr. Chairman. that is not how it is done in this country. it will never be done that way in this country. and this legislation should not try to validate those kinds of crazy conspiracy theories.
Date: 1999-05-24
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Virginia very much for his contribution. His remarks point out the urgency and the danger that these guns present to young people in this Nation. He has pointed out that 13 children under the age of 18 are killed each day because of guns. Guns cause one in every four deaths of. teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19. Firearms are the fourth leading cause of accidental death among children five to 14. Clearly the easy availability and proximity of guns. handled in an irresponsible fashion. to young children is lethal to those children. We have an opportunity with the very common sense proposals that were presented in the Senate to address this matter and to address it now. with the same sense of urgency that parents are asking themselves about. whether or not they should send their children for the remainder of the school year. whether or not they sholuld pull their children out of school before school closes. whether or not they should try to find another school that they might think will be more safe than the one they are in. But what we have learned over the last 18 months. we do not know what school that would be. We do not know where a troubled child has easy access to a gun and then acts out anger. frustration or problems that that child has by shooting their schoolmates. That is why we are asking the Republican leadership to schedule this debate. to schedule this vote this week before we go home for Memorial Day. Memorial Day. a rather significant day in the history of this country. But tragically now many will be celebrating Memorial Day at the loss of their children because of these tragic shootings. I think that is why we cannot play this by the ordinary rules of legislative procedure and process and jurisdiction and all of those arguments that are designed to keep these common sense approaches from coming to the floor of the House to be voted on. Why are they doing that? Because the people who oppose trigger locks on guns that are accessible to children. the people that are opposed to getting rid of the loophole for gun shows where one can buy guns and gun shows without a background check. that one would not be allowed to if one went into a gun shop. people who oppose limiting the high density ammunition clips. they want time to regroup. to rescramble. to put pressure on the Congress. to give campaign contributions. to lobby the Congress so that they can overwhelm the judgment and the determination of the American people. The Republican leadership ought not to become a tool for those interests. because it is those interests that are keeping guns in the presence of young children in an irresponsible fashion. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon .
Date: 1999-05-24
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Oregon for his remarks. and he does point out the incredible inconsistency that we would put childproof caps on aspirin. childproof locks on gates and childproof locks on car doors. and all of these efforts to save our most precious resources. the children of this Nation. but we would not think about doing it with respect to a lethal weapon like a gun that is unfortunately all too often left lying around the house. Fiftyfive percent of the handgun owners keep their guns loaded in their homes. and 34 percent of them keep them loaded and unlocked. loaded and unlocked in their homes. and in many instances with very young children present. and tragically sometimes. as we know. children with a lot of difficult problems who end up then acting out in a fashion that is lethal to their friends and to their classmates. So I think that is why. as we see America starting to respond to the tragedies in Oregon and Colorado and Georgia and elsewhere. they start to say. why should people not have to be responsible in all the homes with locking the gun with the trigger lock. and the people who sell. these guns be responsible for providing trigger locks with the sale of these guns so that their children can be safe. so that they can know that it is the denial of the easy and spontaneous access. That does not mean that somebody someday will not hammer the lock off of the gun or. as we saw tragically witnessed here recently. break off the locks on the cabinet. but it is the standard of care that we owe our children. I thank the gentleman from Oregon
Date: 1999-05-24
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman very much for her remarks and thank her for the kind of vehicle she is going to provide the Congress to express its opinion to get this done now. As she points out. these are provisions. the safety locks on guns. the getting rid of the loophole provided by gun shows as opposed to gun shops. and multiple rounds. highdensity ammunition clippings. these are very commonsense remedies and closure of loopholes that the American people understand and that they support. The Senators in the United States Senate have passed these provisions. They should be sent over here. We should pass a freestanding bill and make sure that we can have this become law before our children get back to school. I think it is important that we address it .with that kind of urgency.. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas .
Date: 1999-05-24
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks and urge that the Speaker make this in order this week before we leave town for the Memorial Day break. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentlewoman from New York .