macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. Members. when the U.S. economy is showing signs of progress. our House majoritys threatening to take 2 percent of the gross national product out of our economy. killing the gains weve made. and doing it on the backs of the people who need help the most. the middle class and the unemployed. Even though we were able to extend the payroll tax cut. unemployment insurance. and also the Medicare physician payments for just 2 months. millions of Americans dodged an average of $1.500 from a GOP tax hike. Now its time to get to work and pass a yearlong extension of these three important programs. We cannot afford to take more risks with the incomes of 160 million Americans the way the House majority did at the end of 2011.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I thank the members of the Judiciary Committee. both the chairman and the ranking member. and. as all have applauded. Congresswoman SLAUGHTER and Congressman WALZ for their continued leadership. And I am very pleased to have been one of the. as they say. longsuffering cosponsors since. I believe. the 110th Congress. Its important for our colleagues to understand that I think we all come here with the intent to serve this country. and to serve it well. And I believe that when we selfregulate. we only enhance this institutional body that has such enormous history because of the changing times. I dont believe that Members of Congress are spending their time dwelling on information that they have and using it for selfpurpose. but we now stand here united saying that Members of Congress. employees of Congress. and all Federal employees are prevented from using any nonpublic information derived from the individuals position as a Member of Congress or employee of Congress. or gain from performance of the individuals duties. for personal benefit. 1l 1000 That is waving a flag to all of our constituents. to the Nation that says that were here to stand united for you. I hope that helps us as we move forward on payroll tax relief and unemployment. But there is a challenge that I think we have missed. and I think Senator GRASSLEY has carefully analyzed why he is in essence offended. even with 16. if you will. drafting errors. which I hope that as we move to conferencethat we must dowill be corrected.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman for clarifying it. I still think that we should rush quickly to conference because what is missing from thisand we cant say it more often than over and over again. from the Abramoff matter that all of us knew of years ago and by "political intelligence" refers to information that is potentially marketmoving. is nonpublic. or not easily accessible to the public. is gathered and analyzed. Therefore. we are missing a large gap by leaving out the provision on political intelligence. a $100 million industry. Yes. were going to support this legislation. but we cant get to conference soon enough to make this bill comparable and ready for the American people. We must regulate ourselves because they have trusted us to lead this Nation.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today to debate the S. 2038Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge. STOCK. Act which would amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 and the Ethics in Government Act. The legislation would require the Senate and the House of Representatives to implement an electronic filing system for financial disclosure forms and provide the public with online access to that information in a searchable database. S. 2038 also would make clear that Members of Congress. Congressional employees. and federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for personal financial benefit. In addition. the legislation would require more timely reporting of information about financial transactions by Members and staff.
Date: 2012-02-09
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. as a cosponsor of the original House STOCK Act. H.R. 1148. I commend my colleagues TIM WALZ and LOUISE SLAUGHTER for their leadership on this issue and will support the version of the legislation we are being asked to vote on today so that we can send it to conference and finalize a stronger product for the American people. While there is broad. bipartisan agreement that Members of Congress. their staff and executive branch officials should not be profiting from nonpublic information. there are other steps we can and should take to promote transparency and protect the integrity of government. For example. the Senatepassed bill and the original House version of the STOCK Act would require public registration for the "political intelligence" industry. That requirement was stripped from todays legislation. Madam Speaker. while I believe this particular version of the STOCK Act can clearly be strengthened. I will support it to move the process forward.
Date: 2012-02-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Boone Pickens is right: It makes no sense to export our natural gas when manufacturing is coming back. I join with Mr. LATOURETTE for an open rule. This is not a comprehensive rule and. as well. theres no oversight and regulation. and that means no environmental oversight. Minority contracting needs to be in place. And if you want to do something. look at H.R. 3710. my deficit reduction. job creation. energy security bill. This is a bill that needs to go back to the drawing board and really do. as the President said. an infrastructure bill that will help all Americans. be paid for. and not take pensions off the backs of Federal employees. With that. Madam Speaker. I ask for a "no" vote on the rule.
Date: 2012-02-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I support the Keystone pipeline. but I found out this last Monday. and Ive asked. and I know the chair of our Energy Committee has heard me ask about a project labor agreement thats for the whole pipeline but it doesnt cover Texas. The largest State along the route does not have a project labor agreement with TransCanada. TransCanada maybe didnt deceive me. but they sure didnt answer the questions when I asked them in our committee. Ive talked to them about that. I know our labor support nationwide. they have a project labor agreement from the Canadian border to the Oklahoma border. but not for the biggest part of it. in the State of Texas. and Im going to work with them because its important to see that the job be done safely.
Date: 2012-02-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak of a loss that so many have spoken about over the last week. and that is the loss of Whitney Houston. I would imagine that everyone would acknowledge the beauty of her music and certainly the beauty that she was as a person and a human being. What a very sad loss for her daughter. Bobbi. and her mother. Cissy. her aunt. Dionne Warwick. and the extended family members who loved her dearly. We cannot help but be reminded of Whitneys beautiful voice singing "The Star Spangled Banner" after and during the Gulf War. Or the words that she sang. "Yes. Jesus Loves Me" in the song that she sang in the first acting effort that she did in "The Bodyguard" that was so superb. And we cant help but be reminded of that song "I Will Always Love You" that has touched everyones heart. Whitney touched our hearts. And my constituents. Kim Burrell. Bishop Woodard and others. are deeply saddened. And our good friend. Congressman DON PAYNE. who has been in touch with the family and is helping. he has been a comfort as well. I simply wanted to say: Whitney. youve given us much joy. Well remember your music of the seventies and eighties. Many of us danced to it. but many of us were made happy by it. And we realize that your legacy will survive. We thank you. and we thank your wonderful family for sharing you for some more than 20 years. And we thank you for that beautiful. beautiful voice that sang "The Star Spangled Banner" like weve never heard it before. We will always love you. God bless you. and may you rest in peace.
Date: 2012-02-16
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor. it cannot save the few who are rich. Mr. Speaker. there is an effort afoot to move Medicaid from a needsbased program to a block grant program. This. of course. by some estimates. would save approximately $180 billion. Yet the question is not really how much money will it save. The question is. How many people will have their bodies healed by virtue of a reduction in the moneys that would go to Medicaid? How many lives will be saved is the question we have to ask ourselves. In a country that is the richest in the world. the rich must pay their fair share of taxes so that all can benefit from the tax coffers and so that those who are poor and those who need health care can get a fair amount of health care. I remind you again of what Kennedy said: If a free society cannot help the many who are poor. it cannot save the few who are rich.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I thank my colleague. Mr. HOYER. This bill accomplishes three very important objectives: it extends the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans. it extends unemployment insurance to millions of Americans who are out of work through no fault of their own. and it supports the Medicare program. So I am not here on the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote against this bill. In fact. Im confident it will pass. The bill is also significant for what it will not do. Unlike the original Republican House bill which cut compensation for current Federal employees by about $40 billion. this bill does not cut compensation for any current Federal employee. not one cent. Let me repeat that. Im pleased that Senator CARDIN and I and other members of the conference committee were successful in holding harmless our hardworking current Federal employees. That being said. Im going to vote "no" to send a message that enough is enough when it comes to using the Federal workforce as a piggy bank to fund our various national initiatives. Heres why. While no current employees are impacted by this bill. it does cut compensation for future employees hired starting in January 2013. and that will. as Mr. HOYER said. it will make it much more difficult for us to attract the Federal employees we need to do our national work together as part of our Federal service. And indeed. onehalf. a full half of the 10month extension for unemployment insurance that benefits the entire country. $15 billion is financed by cutting compensation for future Federal employees. That is a disproportionate share from the Federal workforce. The Federal workforce has already contributed over $88 billion toward deficit reduction by the denial of two COLAs and the proposed COLA cut this year. and the Republican transportation bill would cut another $42 billion from Federal employees to finance our national highways. Thats a ridiculous approach. Federal employees. as Mr. HOYER said. are willing to do their fair share to help reduce our deficit. but stop singling them out and making them scapegoats. They had nothing to do with the financial meltdown on Wall Street. They are not the drivers of our national debt. And I am sick and tired of hearing some Members of Congress badmouthing and belittling Federal employees.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

They are an easy political target for some. as Mr. HOYER said. but it is irresponsible to denigrate their good work. These are the men and women who care for our veterans and many of our wounded soldiers. These are the people in our intelligence community who helped track down Osama bin Laden. These are the folks at NIH and elsewhere who help find treatments and cures. that help prevent diseases that plague every American family. They are the folks who protect our borders. They are the folks who help run the Medicare and Social Security system. Theyre the folks in the Capitol Hill Police that protect this great center of democracy right here. So while this conference report does many good things. we need to send a message that its time to stop scapegoating Federal employees and using them as the piggy bank for our national objectives.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the importance of extending the payroll tax cuts for middleclass Americans. but with a few concerns regarding the source of its funding. The recent compromise on H.R. 3630. the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act. highlights the critical need to have sensible negotiations with the average American in mind at all times. I believe that it is a success that this Congress was able to extend the payroll tax cut. which will provide a typical middleclass family with an additional thousand dollars in their paychecks over the course of a year. For most low- and middleclass families. a thousand dollars can go a long way to buy food for their family. put gas in their car. and cover minor medical expenses. The payroll tax cut extension also continues federal Unemployment Insurance programs through the end of 2012. providing jobseeking Americans additional time to find work in a persistently sluggish economy. I understand that the final version of the payroll tax bill puts off a 27.4 percent reduction in pay to Medicare doctors by making a handful of health care cuts. The nearly $20 billion cost of the socalled "doc fix" is covered largely by a $6.9 billion cut to Medicare hospitals. as the federal government decreases how much they will pay hospitals and doctors when Medicare enrollees fail to pay their premiums and copays. It also slashes $5 billion from a fund earmarked for preventive medicine established in the 2010 health care law. cutting a third of the total money appropriated for the fund under the law. Mr. Speaker. President Obama has already imposed a twoyear pay freeze and proposed only a marginal pay raise for 2013. which together save about $88 billion over ten years. I am concerned that H.R. 3630 would force newly hired federal employees to pay 1.5 percent more. permanently. for retirement benefits. This would save $15 billion. for a total budget savings from federal employees of $103 billion over 10 years. No other group of Americans has been asked to sacrifice in this way. I worry that this action would undermine the federal governments ability to attract and retain the highest level of skilled talent it needs to deal with the challenges facing us. Singling out federal employees for disparate treatment threatens to do permanent harm to a federal civil service critical to meeting the increasingly complex and deeply important tasks of government.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

changed their vote from "nay" to "yea." So the conference report was agreed to. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. Stated for:
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I am very proud to stand with IBEW in my district. the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. when they have challenged a company that is in fact doing poor work in our city. so much so that the city electrical inspector had to shut them down. When are we going to be for our workers and to help them? I rise today to indicate my support for the payroll tax legislation that just passed. It was. in essence. after long months of negotiation and pleading for the 160 million people to get payroll tax relief and to get those who are unemployed seeking work to get their due in unemployment insurance. It does have the opportunity for 99 weeks for those in districts that are suffering from unemployment. It doesnt take any money from Medicare. doesnt raise the benefits. And certainly. it doesnt require those onerous burdens of unemploymentGED and drug testingexcept in certain circumstances. But why in the heck did we have to burden our Federal employees by taking the skin off their back to pay for this bill? Lets respect and know that our Federal employees serve us. Lets get a better policy to be able to help Americans provide for the unemployment. and yet not put the pain and burden on Federal employees. I oppose that and will continue to oppose that. But Im glad that there are those who will get payroll tax relief and unemployment relief.
Date: 2012-02-17
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak in support of the rights of women. I do this. Mr. Speaker. because we live in a world where its not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. And it doesnt look right for us to conduct a hearing dealing with the rights of women and not. NOT. and not have a woman on the panel. We would not dare conduct such a hearing discussing the rights of men and not. NOT. not have a man on the panel. It is not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. Some may argue that was right. I will always argue that it was not. and that it did not look right. We must make the adjustments so that women can make decisions about their rights.
Date: 2012-02-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I serve on the Homeland Security Committee and have the privilege of serving on the committee dealing with foreign affairs here in the House. I rise today to. as usual. offer our deepest sympathy for all of our soldiers that have fallen in battle. But I am particularly outraged at the incidents that are occurring around the unfortunate burning of the Koranfor which our President appropriately extended his apology. as we would want if someone had burned Bibles. But it is outrageous for our soldiers to be in harms way. for them to lose their life. It is time now for the Afghan national security forces to stand up and be security forces. Its time for President Karzai to indicate that he will not be driven out by the Taliban. And its time for us not to allow the Taliban again to grip ahold of the Afghan people. This is a tragic and horrible situation. None of us would have wanted it to occur. But we cannot stand for our soldiers to be in the eye of the storm and be shot for something that they did not do. intentionally or individually. So I would ask that our soldiers be taken out of harms way around any Afghan national security forces that we cannot vet and ensure that they are intending to do the right thing. We need to hear from President Karzai in a way that denounces this horrible action. And we must stand up to the Taliban and have a transition out of Afghanistan in which the Afghan national security forces are protecting their people. and theyre allowed. in essence. to have a nation that protects women and children and families. and has the adherence to the law that requires human decency.
Date: 2012-02-29
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. a man who saw the duality in being a legislator and a man of faith. once noted that "all religiously based values dont have an a priori place in our public morality." I think my colleagues have forgotten that message in recent days when it comes to womens health. ignoring the important impacts that access to contraceptives can mean for women. Contrary to what some of my colleagues may believe. contraception is not a cheap. easily accessible solution for all women. An objective. nonpartisan panel developed recommendations for contraceptive coverage paid for by religiously affiliated employers. The Obama administration adopted new regulations based on these recommendations. These regulations were not designed to jeopardize anyones religious freedom. These regulations were designed to protect the health needs of women. period. We should be doing everything possible to support womens health. not attacking women for demanding better health care.
Date: 2012-02-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Yesterday. Mr. Speaker. I had the privilege of meeting with leaders who treat women as OB/GYNs from Baylor College of Medicine and from St. Joseph Hospital in Houston. Texas. They acknowledged the importance of access to womens health care. In a hearing in Judiciary. a very renowned doctor. an OB/GYN. indicated that thousands of women are impacted with respect to cervical cancer by having access to contraceptives and to be able to be treated properly. Let me be very clear: Now. with the established compromise. no religious institution will have to pay any money. One of the witnesses who happened to be a bishop said. Thats fine. Im not interfering with what some woman does elsewise. So why do we have this crisis? We have a settlement to resolvethe protection of religious liberty and the protection of womens rights. May I quickly indicate that just recently I introduced H.R. 83 that has to do with preventing bullying. And with the tragic incidences of the last 48 hoursnow three young people deadits time again for this House to move again on a bill that deals with best practices to help our schools understand how to help our children. I look forward to this legislation moving forward. I also look forward to acknowledging that access to womens health saves lives. Lets save lives.
Date: 2012-02-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I rise in opposition to the rule. and I rise in opposition to the legislation. There is going to be an argument today about science. This bill makes it very simple. It ends that argument. It simply says that we will use the science that was in effect in 1994. We use the science thats what. 18 years ago? That will be the science for the purposes of this legislation. You might as well tell the people of California to use the same telecommunications systems they had in 1994. no iPhones. no BlackBerries. no advancement in knowledge. skills. training. or technology. Its a pretty simplistic approach to science. You might say its mindless. The Federal Government is going to come in and tell the State of California that it cannot use its regulatory process or scientific process to determine whats best for its State. As the Attorney General of our State says and the Supreme Court says. the Federal Government simply cannot commandeer the legislatures of the States. but thats what this legislation does. I love the fact that we have people here with wonderful conservative credentials who are now suggesting the Federal Government should preempt California law. preempt the California Legislature. preempt the Federal law. and go back to 1994. Where else would you take America back to 1994 in terms of imposing the will of the Congress on the States. and thats why almost all of the Western States. their water agencies. their executive offices. oppose this legislation. because this is the greatest preemption of State water rights in the history of this country. The people who are supporting this. these heavily subsidized farmers who have more than one or two or three subsidies from the Federal Government to grow their crops. are now insisting that the Federal Government take what is a contract right. Its a contract right. thats it. They want to turn it into perpetuity. They want the water in perpetuity. and the hell with the rest of the State of California. That obviously isnt acceptable.