macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Thank you so much for your leadership. Congressman from Miami. my good friend. Let me just say I just finished with Gator Radio. and they asked me the question. What is the role of Congress. what can we do about stopping the President from expanding the war? And I was just on the radio talking to the community and I have gotten some call back. what can we do as a Congress? I .tell people all the time I did not vote for the war. but I support the troops. And you have got your head in the lions mouth. How do you get it out? And the question is what can we do as a Congress to stop the expansion? Because I think the speech that the President gave about expanding it to 20.000 troops. that is not what he was saying. I think he was saying that he doesnt need to come to this Congress to decide that he is going into Iran or that he is going into other places. and so there is clearly an expansion of the war. And what is our role as Members of Congress when the President of the United States does not respect the Congress and does not feel that we are coequal branches and that he does not have to come to us to get permission to expand this war? The students want to know. I want to know what to tell them.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

You know. we had a closeddoor briefing yesterday. and the important point that I made is that every Member. all 435 Members of this House of Representatives have the responsibility for the security of this country. And I think we have more of a responsibility than just to give this President a blank check. And I think we owe it to this country to make sure we get more of some kind of response other than we are just expanding. and not really deal with us in a very constructive way. The second point. and I have just got two quick points. and I have a plane to catch. On the area of health care. the President talked about health care. and I am one Member that would vote for it. I believe we should have universal health care. But you have to. always dealing with this administration. it is always in the details. Now he is talking about taking money from public hospitals. And when we say public hospitals. you have got one. I have got Shands. but you have got Jackson Memorial. Taking money from public hospitals. that is unacceptable. That is the only safety net that we have. And so that is one proposal that shouldnt arrive here. but when it does. it should be dead on arrival. And the last point. I was disappointed. and I guess everybody in the gulf region was disappointed. there was no discussion about the gulf region. none whatsoever. Nothing about Katrina. Now. the American people. they saw something with Katrina that they didnt like. Not only did they see a government that was inept. uncaring. but incompetent. and yet nothing. I talked to an 82yearold lady on Thursday who 3 months before Katrina. she paid off her house. Paid off her house 3 months before Katrina. To this day she is homeless and hasent received a penny from all of the dollars that we have appropriated. Now. we have a responsibility to this lady just like we do. we are insisting. that we put almost $500 billion in Iraq and said that. oh. they dont have to pay it back. But every dime that we put into New Orleans. we are going to say they have got to pay it back. I am sure it doesnt have anything to do that they are people of color. But I have got to say we have got our challenges. I want to thank all of you 30somethingplus for your leadership on the floor and keeping these issues before the American people.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Well. obviously we have a couple of Gators here on the floor. and like I said. I just talked to the Gator network. And so it has nothing to do with age. it has to do with maturity on the issues. And I want to thank you all for bringing these issues before the American people.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Thank you. And as far as veterans are concerned. I am the second person on the committee. and I have been here for over 14 years. and I have been on that committee because I think it is. sO important that people that give their most. that we have got to make sure that we pay them back. And I am concerned that in the past under this administration. that is where we have cut. We have .cut veterans programs. and they are coming back. and they need everything. I have gone out to Bethesda. and I am planning that we all go out there to Bethesda. and every veteran in every room needed casework and assistance. So. basically we are not doing our duty. not taking care of those men and women when they come back wounded after giving their all for this country. We have got a responsibility in the Constitution. coequal branches. This is the peoples House. and we should speak up and make sure that we fund programs that will benefit those veterans. Thank you again for your leadership.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Will the gentleman yield for 1 second on that point? Because on the health care issue specifically. the gentlewoman from Florida talked about being supportive of universal health care. And. I mean. I am supportive of expanding access to health care to everyone as well. But our good friends on the other side of the aisle like to use that as a bogeyman for us and imply that that means socialized medicine. and that we want to implement this singlepayer system that is going to be government topdown health care. There are ways to expand access to health care to large populations. to almost everybody who is uninsured. and then we only have to work hard towards ensuring that last phase of the population. We can expand access to health care for all children by expanding the SCHIP program. We can expand access to health care to more older Americans by simply expanding the Medicare program and letting people from 50 to 64 years old buy into that program. Those are bills that were filed when we were in the minority and that will be filed again and that we will have an opportunity to able to pursue now that we are past the 100hour agenda. So just you having come just out of the State legislature and being a health care expert. I would just love to hear your thoughts about that.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

because I want to tell you. I am not from Connecticut. but if I was one of your constituents. I would vote for you. You are good. That is all I can say.
Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you so much. One of the things that I think is important for the Members and other folks to know is we did this 30something hour night after night in the minority for the last several years. and we want folks to know that we are not just shutting down and becoming complacent and resting on our laurels now that we are in the majority because there continues to be a need for accountability. as the State of the Union address demonstrated last night. We are going to assert Congresss oversight role. reestablish the system of checks and balances that was totally absent the last number of years. We are going to use the 30something Working Group forum to be able to do that and also talk about what Democrats are going to do. implement our agenda. talk about the priorities of the American people. I am so thrilled that we have expanded our ranks and that we have an. opportunity to interact and dialogue with you. I can tell you that on election night on November 7. I was cheering very loud that you were coming to join us in the 110th. Mr. Speaker. I am going to yield to
Date: 2007-01-29
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

and wave a magic wand and all of a sudden there is a lot of money here. Well. we have got a lot of making up to do because of the irresponsible fiscal inadequacies and inability of the Republicans to actually balance the budget. So we have got to go up and clean that mess up. We have got to figure out how to extract ourselves from this morass we are in in Iraq and then finally make the investments that we want to make. So we have got a lot going on here.
Date: 2007-01-29
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

What we talked about night after night here and what our colleagues and our leadership have all talked about. we have all been singing off the same song sheet. that we have to make sure that we handle the Federal budget just like folks struggle in America to handle their household budget every single day. not to spend more than you take in. There are families all across America. Mr. MURPHY. Mr. MEEK. Mr. RYAN. that have to make really difficult decisions. Would they like to go and buy a new wardrobe for their children? Would they like to get the car completely overhauled? Definitely important and certainly would improve their quality of life. but they cant make those decisions if the money is not coming in in order to cover those expenses. So at a certain point. if you dont stop the bleeding. if you dont make those fiscally difficult decisions. then it just gets worse. We could have been. you know. we could have played right into their hands. which is. I am sure. what they expected us to do. which was what they always accused us of being taxandspend liberals and that we were going to just give away the store and that we were going to satisfy every interest group that is ii? the column of supporters that we have. But. instead. what we did is we stuck to our principles. We stuck to what we talked about was important to the American people. not spendink more than you take in and particularly not caving to what would be politically expedient. which was the tax cuts. as you referred to. Mr. MURPHY. for people who dont need them. Because what they like to conveniently leave out is that they only count. you know. there are only certain things that they count in the ledger. They only count the things in the ledger that are actually things you can put down as I spent this much money on this particular program. But they fail to actually account for the tax cuts that pull money out off the ledger. which makes it so that there is not that revenue available to fund the needs. and that adds to the deficit itself. They also dont include Social Security and Medicare when it comes to the whole appropriation process. All of that is off budget. They dont like. to count the supplemental bills that they pass. All of that is off budget. So it is just. you know. we are going to get back to being up front and honest with the American people in our budgeting process. and we are going to get our fiscal house in order.
Date: 2007-01-29
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I see Mr. MEEK is ready to jump in here. But we are going to be the Congress and exercise our role. our accountability. our oversight. and be the legislative branch instead of the administration lap dog. Because that is what this body was for the last 6 years certainly. When President Clinton was in office. it was the opposite. It was. lets see what we can do to torture the administration and make it impossible for them to get what they wanted done and wanted to accomplish. Then. of course. President Bush comes into office and it is like they all lost their hands. They lost their hands. they checked their brains at the Chamber door. and it was whatever this administration wanted. And there is a new leadership in this institution and 32 new Members. all of whom came here to step up to the plate and ask the difficult questions and exercise this bodys constitutional role. constitutional authority granted to us by the Founding Fathers. which hopefully at some point our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will remember as well. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman.
Date: 2007-01-29
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Actually. not to be the teacher exercising oversight over the freshman. but probably give out our email address. too. so people know where they can contact US.
Date: 2007-01-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I would like to express my strong support for H. Res. 59. and the authors that made this possible. supporting the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week. Texas is an energyproducing State. and the engineering workforce plays a major role in Texas livelihoods. The fruits of engineering are technologies enjoyed by every American. -We need engineers to put creative ideas into reallife solutions. Engineers are the fabric of our workforce. They design beautiful and energyefficient buildings. and build industrial robots that construct everything from cars to computer chips with precision. Engineers are in the business of improving the quality and design of many different products such as chemicals. computers. engines. aircraft and toys. and they are an integral component to our Nations innovative workforce. We need many more than we produce. and we need many more to get graduate degrees so we can continue to produce them. I am proud to support this resolution celebrating National Engineers Week. and urge my colleagues to support it.
Date: 2007-01-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHINSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution honoring the life of Percy Lavon Julian. a pioneer in the field of organic chemistry research and development and the first and only African American chemist to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
Date: 2007-01-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on House Concurrent Resolution 34. the resolution that is now under consideration.
Date: 2007-01-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I urge support of this resolution. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

about the budget process. but from what I know. November. December is pretty late to be even working on those budget bills. Those budget bills were supposed to be done over the summer and fall. And so even giving themselves an extra 4 or 5 months to* complete those bills. they still werent done on time. And so when the Democrats finally were put back in charge of this place by virtue of the millions of Americans who stood up across this country to start putting common sense middle class values first. the people who put
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. ALTMIRE. let me just jump in while the gentleman from Florida is listening. because one of the things I think it is important to point out is when we talk in the language of government..it is difficult for regular folks to understand what we are saying. So we are talking about the CR. the continuing resolution. the terminology that we deal with on a daily basis. But that is not what sort of every day folks understand. And the continuing resolution. it is important to point out. is the budget. the Federal budget that keeps the lights on. And people will recall a number of years ago when the Republican Congress decided that. in retaliation for who knows what. because they couldnt get the Clinton administration to agree to what they wanted. because they thought that brinksmanship was the most appropriate strategy. they shut the government down. People were furloughed. Government programs that were vitally important to different constituencies around the country came to a halt. What we have done is. and Chairman OBEY has been the champion of this. What we have done is. not only have we made sure that that doesnt happen. because brinksmanship and engaging in irresponsible actions like that make no sense. we have made some difficult decisions. But we havent made irrational decisions that would be harmful to people. For example. we could have passed a continuing resolution that simply adopted the 2006 spending levels. the same spending levels that we had in 2006 and just moved forward. But that would have resulted. as you pointed out for veterans. in some cuts. And in
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Unless the gentleman from Pennsylvania knows. I do know that we got an average of 62 Republicans to vote with the Democrats on the Sixin06 agenda on making sure that the Federal Government can negotiate for lower prices for the Medicare part D prescription drug plan. making sure that we fully impleitent the 9/11 Commission Report. making sure that we repeal the subsidies to the oil industry. making sure that we do the job that the people sent us here to do and that they spoke so strongly about through their vote on November 7. An average of 62 Republicans voted with us on each of those items.
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

You know. just the way you are going back and forth on the Republicans response to the process. you know. it is just really. gosh. I cant say what comes to mind. It is galling. It really is galling that they do have nerve to talk about process. Because just in my 2 years of experience. and certainly two wrongs dont make a wrong. but there is no second wrong here. I mean. in my experience in the last 2 years. and Mr. RYAN and
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

It is nerve is what it is. It is just pure unadulterated nerve. The American people see through this. They dont have any substance to talk about. They can only whine about process. .0 1845
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I think they should have their say. I really do. Going forward. when we hear legislation and get into the regular order. we have markups in committee hearings and legislation that Members file. we will do that. But we are still cleaning up their mess. The Six in 06 agenda is an agenda of the major issues that the American people voted for us to come here and do that we offered as amendments. We offered the minimum wage. we offered fully implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. and through all of the other procedural attempts we made within the confines of their limiting us. we offered repealing the subsidies to the oil industry. We offered legislation and amendments that would have the student loan interest rate and make higher education access more affordable. And they said no. They said no. no. no. over and over and over again. Sorry. now it is our turn. It is time to implement the agenda that the American people asked us to. It is time to clean up their mess.
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

If the gentleman would yield. I would like to interject on that point. Because the funny thing. ironically funny. about what -you are talking about. where we have an average of 62 Republicans supporting the Six in 06 agenda and 57 supporting the continuing resolutions appropriations bill today. the last 2 years. our experience.
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Two things that we did not mention that were also part of the Six in 06 agenda were ethics reform and the PAYGO rules. Mr. ALTMIRE. I know you have been a supporter of both of those things. We had a culture of corruption hanging over this institution and over this Capitol. and we were able to adopt some ethics rules that make sure that we can restore the American peoples confidence in their government again. That is what our freshman class on the Democratic side ran on. One of the issues that they ran on was making sure that they could inspire their constituents to believe in what we are doing here again.
Date: 2007-01-31
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I think your comments are a good segue to where we should close which is that the Congress has now finally reasserted our constitutional role to be a check. a check and a balance over the other branches of government. particularly over the executive branch in which that authority and oversight was completely ceded over the last 12 years.I sit on the House Judiciary Committee. We had an oversight committee today on the presidential signing statement where the President. this President in particular more than any other President combined. has issued signing statements. his opinion and his interpretation of legislation which is really the judicial branchs responsibility. that he would just choose not to implement or implement in the way that he wanted to. a particular section of law. wholly inappropriate. Congress is back in our appropriate role. and I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania to talk about our Web site. but first to the gentleman from Connecticut.
Date: 2007-02-05
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in favor of H. Con. Res. 35. in support of the seventh anniversary of goals and ideals of National Blacks HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day. This concurrent resolution will raise awareness about HIV/AIDS within the African American community and will point out the devastating impact thii disease has on African American. communities. This day is a part of a national mobilization effort to get African Americans to learn about the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to the African American community. 0 The National Blacks HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a day to remember those infected and affected by this epidemic. Since the beginning of this epidemic. 42 percent of all deaths occurred within the African American community. Dallas accounts for one of the top 26 cities *where African Americans are disproportionately impacted by AIDS. From 2000 to 2005. more than half of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 32 states were among African Americans. although African Americans represented only 13 percent of the population of those states. In 2004. black men had the highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses of any raciaVethnic population. approximately seven times the rate among white men and twice the rate among black women. Black women are also severely impacted by HIV. During 20002004. approximately 69 percent of women who had HIV/AIDS diagnosed were black. We must take the lead in supporting National Blacks HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. We must continue to educate/prevent and care for our members who have been aflected by this atrocious epidemic and continue the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Date: 2007-02-05
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Honorable BARBARA LEE for introducing the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day resolution. I also thank the 396 Members who voted in support of this resolution in a true spirit of bipartisanship. And I ask the question. why is it important to support National Black HIV/ AIDS Awareness? Why? Because as of 2005. 188.000 African Americans were living with AIDS. Why? Because African Americans are 12 percent of the population and over 50 percent of the new cases diagnosed. Why is it important? Because for African Americans. HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death. -H1177 Why is it important. Madam Speaker? Because AIDS is the number bne cause of death for African American women 25 to 34. However. Madam Speaker. notwithstanding the impending crisis. I am hopeful. I am hopeful that we will allocate more funds. more funds for medication. because this disease can be treated. More funds for counseling because this disease can be prevented. More funds for research because this disease can be cured. And. Madam Speaker. I believe that we must end AIDS because it has the potential to be our end.