macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-08-01
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Likewise. Im ready to close. I just want to say in closing that. again. Mrs. BIGGERT has done a wonderful job on this. Mr. Speaker. and should be commended for it. This is a very important and simple piece of legislation. but it will help to iron out and smooth out confusion and allow for our real estate and our housing and our home mortgage industry to move more smoothly. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for it. With that. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-08-01
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to lend my support to this extraordinary and wonderful piece of legislation. an expression of strong bipartisan support. I certainly want to thank my friend. Congressman DOLD from Illinois. for his leadership on this. Its a pleasure to join with him on the floor today to manage time on this bill. This bill. H.R. 3187. as was pointed out. is the March of Dimes Commemorative Coin Act. For 75 years now. the March of Dimes organization has worked to prevent infant mortality. premature births. and birth defects in our children in the United States and in other parts of the world. And I can think of no better time and place to honor this wonderful organization than right here and right now in the Halls of Congress. This organization was originally founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help treat and prevent polio. The March of Dimes would meet with tremendous success and. through their funding of the work of Dr. Jonas Salk. would contribute greatly to curing that disease. Having accomplished their original goal. the March of Dimes would turn their attention to promoting healthy women. healthy pregnancies. and healthy babies. The March of Dimes Foundation works not only here in the United States in local communities around the country but. as I mentioned. also around the world to educate and inform women. doctors. and policymakers on the prevention of birth defects and premature birth. This work is so vital. so very important. and really so very precious. Mr. Speaker. And a healthy pregnancy and a healthy birth can mean so much and start the child off on the right foot that will last the rest of their entire life. This bill is simple. Mr. Speaker. It would allow for the minting. the making of a commemorative coin. which basically will be a silver $1 coin. for this wonderful organization. These coins would then be sold to the general public with a portion going to pay off the cost of minting the coin. but the rest going to support the very. very important work of this foundation. So I ask. Mr. Speaker. that my colleagues join me in voting in favor of this bill. and in so doing. well be sending a big thankyou to the March of Dimes for their hard work and for their dedication over the last 75 years. Mr. Speaker. I will also mention the fact that we support them each year in our special cooking and preparation for their major fundraiser that many Members of Congress and our families and our wives take part in. What an extraordinary organization doing an extraordinary thing for those who are most precious to us. that is. the children of the United States of America. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-08-01
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. I have no more speakers. so I will just close my remarks. Again. it is a pleasure working with you on this bill. Mr. DOLD. And what a noble occasion this is for such a worthy cause. Thank you for mentioning about my wife. I give all credit to my wife for that cooking she did. I think it was shrimp and grits and lets see. and gumbo. her mothers gumbo. and it won first prize at that event. It is such a wonderful occasion. and to have all Members of Congress who participate with this fundraising effort every year is just wonderful. I just urge a unanimous vote. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. at this time. I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kentucky . a member of the Ethics Committee.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. at this time. I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri. the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just feel it is important to point out several important issues that were raised by Ms. RICHARDSON in her comments on the floor today. Much of what she has stated on the floor today was included in the views that she filed after reviewing the report that was issued. She raised these points in her views of the report. And I feel compelled to add that the committee took those views very seriously. and they responded and refuted those points in its response to her views. which is all included in the report which has been made publicly available. Everything that has been stated on the floor today by any Member. but most especially Mr. DENT. are statements that are already included in the report to which Representative RICHARDSON has responded. And again. many of the points that she raised we investigated. took very seriously. and included in response to those views. I dont think that there is anything further to add other than she has been given an opportunity to voice her concerns at every step of the process. and we have scrupulously adhered to a process to try to take her views and her suggestions into account and we have arrived at the report which is unanimously agreed on by all of the committee members. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. first of all. I want to commend the bipartisan leadership on this committee. Chairman LUCAS and the ranking member. Mr. PETERSON. for the hard work they have done and the leadership theyve provided. We are faced with sort of a dilemma here. The right thing for us to do. that we should be doing right now. that we should have been doing 2 or 3 days ago. was dealing with the 5year extension of the farm bill. That is exactly what we need to be doing. It gives consistency. It will give uniformity to our very vital food industry. I might add. Mr. Speaker. that it is needed very desperately at this time. But at the same time. we are faced with a very serious drought situation that is pummeling our country. the likes of which we havent seen in over 60 years. So the immediate and responsible thing for us to do is to respond to this drought crisis and pass this bill immediately and then resolve that the first order of business we will do when we return is take up the 5year farm bill. Might I add that while we have this disaster facing us. which is the drought. we have another. and that is the food issue in this country. especially the issue of the SNAP program. what we refer to as the food stamp program. if we do not come together with a good conference committee report that looks at this issue with the necessity that the problem presents. Under the current bill on the House side passed by the Agriculture Committee. according to CBO. there will be over 300.000 children who will go without food. There will be 155.000 veterans who will go without food. and nearly 200.000 of our seniors. What Im saying is we have not just a drought crisis. which we are going to respond to today. but we have got to come back and deal with this other crisis as we work to put together a very effective 5year farm bill.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 6233. the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act. I agree that we must take steps to assist farmer and rancher families affected by extreme drought conditions. but doing so at the expense of national conservation programs is a shortsighted approach. Conservation programs help preserve farms and ranchlands. improve water quality. and enhance soil conservation. air quality. and wildlife habitats. These funds have been essential to Maryland farmers in protecting the quality of the Chesapeake Bay. Maintaining funding for these programs and providing farmers and ranchers with the opportunity to do longterm conservation planning is one of the best investments we can make to mitigate the impact of future droughts and disasters. Instead of pitting disaster assistance against conservation programs. lets focus on our efforts on reauthorizing a fiveyear farm bill. Farmers in my district and across the Nation agree that a farm bill reauthorization will give them the clarity and economic certainty they really need to plan for their futures. I urge my colleagues to reject todays bill and move forward with passing comprehensive reauthorization.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thats the simple math of the situation. Now. I know that weve heard from the Romney campaign that thats a liberal think tank. Well. heres what the Romney campaign spokesman said about an earlier analysis from the same Tax Policy Center when they liked the results. Then they called it an "objective thirdparty analysis"Romney spokesman of an earlier Tax Policy Center analysis. That. ladies and gentlemen. is a group here in Washington that does good. nonpartisan work. and that is the result that they found. And it makes common sense. youre trying to make up $4 or $5 trillion through tax reform. youre going to switch that burden. Now. weve also heard that this is somehow going to help "make it in America." that this is going to incentivize companies to do more business here in America. The reality is just the opposite in this bill. You move to a pure territorial system. your slogan might as well be "Make It Overseas: Offshore American Jobs." Again. lets just look to the analysis done by another nonpartisan group. Mr. LEVIN has talked about the Joint Committee on Taxation analysis. Theyve already said that if you move to a pure territorial system. "you will erode our domestic tax base and increase our deficits." Why will you erode our domestic tax base? Because more companies will ship their investments and operations overseas. That means more American jobs overseas. In fact. another nonpartisan study found that this particular proposal. Republican proposal. which Mr. Romney also supports. would create 800.000 jobs. The problem is they found it would create 800.000 jobs overseas. not here in America. by setting up companies in places like the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
Date: 2012-08-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. let me just say: Let us come up with a tax reform plan that works for all of the American people. Lets come up with a plan that will help grow our economy from the middle out. not this failed idea of trickledown economics from the top down. That is what this debate is all about. Because what we want to do through tax reform is empower the middle class and empower small business men and women. You do not empower the middle class by creating a situation where. by giving tax breaks to the wealthy. you increase the deficit for the rest of the country. Because when you increase the deficit. youre asking everybody else to pay for those breaks at the very top. And people will pay by fewer investments in education. fewer investments in science and research. fewer investments that are important to empower our economy. And everybody else will be left to pick up this deficit tab while folks at the very top get another break. Lets not do that.
Date: 2012-09-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. just recently it was announced that 50 million Americans experience food insecurityand experienced it in the last year. What that means is that families in the United States suffer without food. A predominant number of those are single parents and children. What are we as a country if we allow children to go hungry in this particular great land? I just came back from Africa. and saw children who are hungry. But yet we were there to encourage better technology to promote agricultural development. But today. this Congress. this House. Republican Congress. is cutting $16 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Program. We can do better. I want to work with this Congress to ensure that 50 million Americans are not hungry in this great land. Let us revisit the cutting of the Supplemental Nutrition Program because our children are begging. theyre asking us: Do we care? We do care. We cannot cut $15 billion. $16 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Program with 50 million Americans experiencing food insecurityworking Americans. Americans with children. The time to stop is now and support those families.
Date: 2012-09-11
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. Im pleased to join my colleague. Judiciary Committee Chairman LAMAR SMITH. in bringing this bill to the floor. This is a commonsense bill. As has been noted. it makes technical revisions to bipartisan legislation enacted during the 111th Congress that created the new title 41 to the U.S.C.. which pertains to public contracts. This bill was prepared by the Office of Law Revision Counsel as part of its ongoing responsibility to draft and submit to the Committee on the Judiciary. one title at a time. a complete compilation. restatement and revision of the general and permanent laws of the United States. The bill makes conforming amendments to laws contained in title 41. corrects references that require more particular reference. In addition. the bill omits references to outdated or repealed laws. makes clarifying revisions to sections of title 41 that do not provide meanings for particular words for the purpose of clarity. and corrects two crossreferences to public laws that may have been erroneously included. The bill is not intended to make any substantive changes to the law. As is typical with the codification process. a number of nonsubstantive revisions are made. including the revision of sections into a more coherent overall structure. but these changes. as Ive said. are not intended to have any substantive effect. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Office of the Law Revision Counsel for its good work. This makes the practice of law more coherent in the United States. We have no speakers. and so I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-09-11
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I do rise in strong support of this bill. Specifically. this bill extends until September 30. 2015. these four longstanding immigration programs that are set to expire otherwise at the end of this month. They are valuable programs. and they serve different purposes. The one. the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program. allows religious workers to enter the United States to do important work. There are 5.000 religious workers eligible for these visas each year when they are called to a vocation or are in a traditional religious occupation with a bona fide nonprofit religious organization. They are missionaries. counselors. instructors. and pastoral care providers. They really help our country. The second program. the Conrad "J Waiver." helps medically underserved communities attract highly skilled physicians. This program literally provides a lifeline for communities that desperately need doctors who received their medical training in the United States. It is absolutely necessary that this program continues to exist so that States can attract medical talent and can keep the doors of small town clinics open. The third program. the EB5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program. allocates 3.000out of the EB5 categorys 10.000visas each year for EB5 investors who invest in these designated regional centers. This pilot program is important to our Nations economy as it represents. actually. billions of dollars in aggregate immigrant investment. and it creates more than 20.000 new direct and indirect jobs each year. The final program that would be extended under the bill is EVerify. the basic pilot program first authorized in 1996. Now. Chairman SMITH and I disagree on how effective this bill is. I dont believe its ready for mandatory nationwide use because of errors in the system and. more broadly. because of major dysfunctions in our immigration system. but that doesnt mean I disagree that this program should be extended. I do. This program is voluntary. and by extending the EVerify program as it currently exists. it will provide Congress additional time to work toward improving the program and fixing our Nations immigration laws so that they work for American families. businesses. and the economy as a whole. I should note that this bill received unanimous support in the Senate. Likewise. I hope that all of my colleagues in this Chamber will support this bipartisan legislation so that it can be quickly sent to the Presidents desk for his signature. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-09-11
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. we do have two Members who would like to address this briefly. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington .
Date: 2012-09-11
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1410. the Vietnam Human Rights Act. I am an original cosponsor of this legislation. and I thank
Date: 2012-09-11
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 484. I am proud to cosponsor this important resolution introduced by my good friend. fellow Californian. and cochair of the Vietnam Caucus. Representative LORETA SANCHEZ. This resolution calls on the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to respect basic human rights and to stop abusing vague national security provisions such as articles 79 and 88 of the Vietnamese penal code. articles which are frequently cited as the justification for the arrest and detention of citizens who peacefully advocate for religious and political freedom. The use of these draconian laws to silence opposition and maintain oneparty control is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution. and to speak out for the activists whose voices have been silenced by the repressive regime in Vietnam.
Date: 2012-09-12
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I urge this body to reject this bill. The surveillance bill raises several serious constitutional and civil liberties issues that Congress needs to address and has not addressed in this bill. and Id like to discuss just one of those. Congress should prohibit the Federal Government from intentionally searching for information on a U.S. person in a data pool amassed lawfully under section 702 of FISAshould such a data ever be amassedunless the searching official has a warrant. Now. the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 does not make clear that the government must obtain a warrant prior to searching for information acquired incidentally on a U.S. person in a large pool of data that the government has already lawfully obtained under section 702. should such a data pool ever be amassed. Instead. the information about the U.S. person in such a situation is subject to minimization procedures adopted by the Attorney General. and that must be approved by the FISA court. but that does not explicitly include a warrant requirement. which I think the Constitution requires. The prohibition on reversetargetingwhere the government deliberately targets a nonU.S. person for the purpose of acquiring information about the U.S. person at the other end of the lineis not a substitute for the warrant requirement to search a database for U.S. persons. should such a database ever be amassed under section 702. Minimization procedures are not a substitute for a warrant in such a case. Now. I think that the government needs to comply with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution all the time. I think that the privacy of Americans should not be subject to the lower standard of minimization procedures. Thats not in the Constitution. And I think. also. that when we think that we should trade the protections that our Founding Fathers devised for us in the United States Constitution in the effort to buy safety. were mistaken. We can be safe while still complying with the Constitution of the United States. Im mindful that we began this Congress reading most of the United States Constitution on the floor of this House. Its ironic. indeed. that we should be ending this Congress with a bill that does violation to that very body. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Date: 2012-09-12
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor a cherished colleague and dear friend in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman JERRY COSTELLO. After more than twentythree years of dedicated public service. Congressman CoSTELLO will be retiring from the U.S. Congress. Congressman COSTELLO is a true statesman. and he will be sorely missed. Congressman COSTELLO is a stellar example of the commitment needed to be an effective public servant. He began his public service at an early age. working in law enforcement while attending college. He has built his career on bipartisanship and dependability. and has always kept the needs of his constituents and the American people foremost in his mind and close to his heart. Congressman COSTELLO is a devoted family man. who treasures his wife. Georgia. their three children. and eight grandchildren. His compassion has given Congressman COSTELLO a unique perspective. making him that much more effective as a Member of Congress. I have had the distinct pleasure of working closely with Congressman COSTELLO on both the House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Science. Space. and Technology. He is an effective legislator. and has shown an unwavering commitment to furthering scientific research and building our Nations infrastructure. Having served both as Chairman and Ranking Member on the Aviation Subcommittee. Congressman COSTELLO continues to work with his colleagues on a bipartisan basis to improve the safety and innovation of the aviation industry. Mr. Speaker. the bonds that we form with our fellow colleagues in Congress are unlike anything else. and the friendship Congressman COSTELLO and I have developed over the years is very special to me. The House of Representatives is losing a distinguished colleague. and the constituents of the 12th District of Illinois are losing a loyal advocate. I have immense respect for Congressman COSTELLO. I will miss him dearly. and I wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors.