macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. before I turn to one of my colleagues. let me say in response to my friend Mr. HENSARLING that the American people are well aware of what was happening to the economy the very day the President was sworn in as President of the United States: losing 800.000 jobs every month. the economy in free fall. almost 9 percent in negative economic growth. Peoples retirement savings had dropped by onethird compared to where they were in 2007. Thats the economy the President inherited. As a result of the extraordinary measures taken by the President. by the previous Congress and. most importantly. with the fortitude of the American people. what we see is this. After the day the President was sworn in and when the economy was in free fallthose were jobs lostwe began to lift ourselves slowly out. We have now had 25 consecutive months of positive private sector job growth. Is it enough? No. Of course. we had no help from our Republican colleagues in working on the turnaround. The Presidents jobs bill that he submitted to this House last September is still sitting here. Fortunately. we finally did a piece of it with the payroll tax cut. My Republican colleagues say they have an answer. Their answer is back to the old trickledown economics: another round of tax breaks for the folks at the very top. and somehow thats going to trickle down and lift everybody up. Do you know what? We tried it. It didnt work. It was called 8 years of the Bush administration. We had two backtoback tax cuts at the end of the 8 years. a net job loss in the private sector after those 8 years. and we had big deficits. The last time we had a balanced budget here was in 2001. which was before those policies. So it is important for us to get the history of the past right in order to make sure we know how to move forward properly in the future. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. BLU-
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I would just point out that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has stated that as a result of the economic recovery bill and the extraordinary actions that were taken. over 4 million jobs were created or saved. That means a lot to the people who didnt lose their jobs and to the people who were losing their jobs at the rate of 800.000 per month when the President was sworn in. Are we where we want to be? Of course not. Are we a lot better off than we were? Were pulling ourselves up. The last thing we want to do is go back to where we were. Nobody on the Democratic side has said we can deal with this on the tax side alone. I keep hearing that. Its just not true. We just voted on a bipartisan basis in August for a trillion dollars in cuts. What we propose is what every bipartisan group that has looked at this challenge has said: you have to do this through a combination of cuts. but you also have to get rid of all that porkbarrel stuff in the Tax Code and use some of that to reduce our deficit. Ask the folks who have been making over a million dollars a year to help pay more for our common defense. That is just common sense. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas .
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I also urge all our colleagues to support our troops and support our military. and the Democratic substitute that we offered would have made sure that the sequester on defense spending did not take place. I have great respect for the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. MCKEON. who just spoke. Heres what he said not long ago. He said: We need to address our budget problems comprehensively. through smarter spending and increased revenue. He also said: If it came that I only had two choices. one was a tax increase and one was a cut in defense over and above where we already are. I would go to strengthen defense. In our Democratic substitute. we said lets close some of those tax loopholes to generate a little more revenue to help pay for defense. lets ask people who are making over a million dollars a year to get rid of some of their tax breaks to help pay for our common defense so that we dont have to have a budget that whacks everybody else in the country. Thats what the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said. I agree with him. He got beaten down by many in the Republican Party after he made those comments with them saying. oh. you violated that pledge that says were not going to raise one more penny of revenue to reduce the deficit. But he was candid. Unfortunately. neither he nor any one of us are going to have a chance to vote on the Democratic substitute that makes sure that we dont have the defense sequestration. We just do it in a balanced way. through cuts as well as closing some of these tax loopholes. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Florida .
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First. I would just like to respond to the chairman of the Budget Committee and point out that the Rules Committee waived three rules to bring the Republican legislation to the floor. It couldnt waive one rule to allow a Democratic substitute to have an upordown vote. And the one rule you wouldnt waive is the one that rigs the process against closing special interest tax loopholes. To the chairman of the Agriculture Committee. I think everybody needs to know that the Ag Committee didnt reduce one subsidy to ag businessesnot one. Even though the overall Republican budget says it should be $30 billion. theres a bipartisan bill that would do that. but not one. Instead. they took $33 billion out of food and nutrition programs. Now. we should be very clear on this. People say that theyre going to make sure that everyone whos eligible to get food stamps will. And then they say. under SNAP. suggesting that there are a lot of people who are getting it who are cheating. Thats not true. All those other people are eligible. Theyre eligible. And its not Democratic scare tactics saying all these people are going to lose their access to food and nutrition programs. Its the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. the referee here. that was never contested by our Republican colleagues in the Budget Committee. They say 22 million American households with children will see their food and nutrition support reduced. 2 million Americans. approximately. will lose all access to the food and nutrition programs through SNAP. 300.000 kids will lose the school lunch program. Those arent our facts. Thats what the Congressional Budget Office says. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Oregon .
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I know it makes our Republican colleagues feel better when they pretend that these cuts dont harm real people. but the reality is they do harm real people. and the cuts that were made in Energy and Commerce will mean that 300.000 children will no longer get health care throughout the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Thats not my fact. Thats from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. We have heard a lot about the fact that cuts to the prevention fund to help provide for healthier starts. that wont have any impact. We hear these stories coming up. I would just like to put in the RECORD information from the Centers for Disease Control that refutes this urban legend that somehow these funds were used to spay or neuter dogs. These things just arent true. The reality is that it will mean 326.000 women will not get breast cancer screenings and 284.000 will not get cervical cancer screenings. Thats what happens when you zero out the prevention fund.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. it is serious. and the Democratic substitute proposal would have prevented those cuts from going across the board in defense. as well as the nondefense part of the budget. Unfortunately. our Republican colleagues dont think it is serious enough to ask oil companies to do without taxpayer subsidies to help cover the cost. They apparently dont think it is serious enough to ask people making $1 million a year to help with our deficit reduction to pay for the military that we have. I yield 2 minutes to the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee. Mr. FRANK. to talk about some of the impact of this on taxpayers.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We keep hearing from our Republican colleagues that theres nothing more important than making sure we defend our national security. We agree that thats essential. We also agree that we need a strong economy. Whats confusing is. if thats so important. why are our Republican colleagues refusing to ask the big oil companies to give up their big subsidies? Theyve said they dont need them. So. Mr. Speaker. again. we also keep hearing that these cuts arent going to have an effect. Theres the old saying that youre entitled to your own opinions. but not your own facts. What weve been talking about are facts from the Congressional Budget Office about the number of kids that would lose their health care and the number of struggling families that would lose their food and nutrition support. I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Puerto Rico
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the words the chairman of the Government Reform Committee said with respect to Federal employees. If you listen to the comments of a lot of these colleagues. they have made Federal civil servants scapegoats. and. in fact. their budget thats before us today does hit Federal employees. So the folks in the intelligence community who helped track down Osama Bin Laden. what do they get under this proposal? A 5 percent pay cut. How about the folks at NIH who are. every day. looking to find cures and treatments for diseases that plague every American family? A 5 percent pay cut. How about the nurses who work in the Veterans Hospitals? A 5 percent pay cut. And yet. you dont cut the direct payment subsidies to agriculture. You dont cut the subsidies to the big oil companies. You just want to whack Federal civil servants. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland . who has been working on this issue for a very long time.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman from Maryland. It is now my privilege to yield 3 minutes to another great Member of Congress from the State of Maryland . the ranking member on the Government Reform Committee.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. with respect to the Child Tax Credit. I would like to insert into the RECORD a letter we received from the Catholic bishops on this subject. In part. it reads: I reiterate our strong opposition to an unfair proposal that would alter the Child Tax Credit to exclude children of hardworking immigrant families. The bishops also talk about the devastating impacts of eliminating the Social Services Block Grant.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee. the gentleman from Michigan .
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. were still waiting for this House to take up the Presidents jobs bill that was submitted last September. Weve seen 25 consecutive months of positive private sector job growth. It was a whole lot better than where we were in January when the President was sworn in. losing 800.000 jobs a month. But we need to sustain that recovery. and were still waiting. The clock is ticking. Lets take that legislation up so that we can accelerate the recovery. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Texas. representing the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Ms. SHEILA JACKSON LEE.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we keep hearing about waste. fraud. and abuse. We all need to do everything humanly possible to make sure theres no waste. fraud. and abuse. We keep hearing about these people who are receiving assistance under Food and Nutrition programs like they are cheating the system. They are eligible for the program. And that is why the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that 22 million households with kids are going to see their food nutrition cut. not because theyre getting it somehow fraudulently. It is because what the Republican proposal does is cut it off. Almost 2 million people will be eliminated from access to the Food and Nutrition program. I now yield 11/2 minutes to the gentlelady from Wisconsin . somebody who knows a lot about these issues and is a terrific member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I was glad to hear that last colloquy. because this Republican proposal cut the Food and Nutrition programs in the Ag Committees jurisdiction and then didnt ask for one penny from the ag subsidies. If our Democratic substitute had been made in order. that was one of the cuts that we made in order to prevent devastating cuts to the Food and Nutrition programs for over 22 million American families with children. I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Vermont .
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 2 minutes. As we said at the beginning. there is no disagreement over the fact that we need to have a plan to reduce our deficit. The question has been how. And there is no dispute about whether we need to replace the sequester. the meatax cuts that will take place automatically January 1. Again. the question is how. The Republican approach once again asks nothing of people who are doing so well in this country. people who are making over $1 million a year. And because they ask nothing of them. their budget hits everybody else. The figures were talking about today. these are about real people. These are figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as to the impact of their proposal: 300.000 kids will lose their health care coverage under CHIPs. 22 million kids will see their food and nutrition support under SNAP reduced. 2 million people will see all of their food and nutrition support eliminated. Those are facts. I know people want to pretend that this doesnt impact real people. That makes it easier to say were not going to ask big oil companies to get rid of their subsidies if we can pretend that the cuts dont have an impact. but they do. And thats why every bipartisan group thats looked at this budget challenge has said we need a combination of cuts. We did a trillion more. and we have cuts in our substitute. but you also need to get some revenue by closing some of these tax loopholes. Mr. Speaker. the Democrats had a substitute amendment. The Republicans wont even let us have a vote on it. They waived three provisions in their rules to bring up their proposal. They wouldnt waive one to hear an alternative. We keep hearing that its so important to reduce the deficit. apparently. not important enough to ask for one penny from people who are making a million dollars a year. We keep hearing that the impact of sequester is going to hit defense. But again. not one penny from the oil companies to help take a balanced approach. I urge rejection of the Republican proposal. I wish we could have an upordown vote on the Democratic substitute. That would be democracy. but maybe thats asking too much these days. Mr. Speaker. I now yield the balance of my time to a lady who has spent her life fighting for justice and trying to make sure that is reflected in the budgets that we present to the American people. the distinguished Democratic leader. Ms. PELOSI.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I ride in strong opposition to the draconian cuts to health care. food stamps. and other essential programs that are being proposed by the House majority in H.R. 5652. Last summer. this Congress and the Administration agreed on a path to reduce the national deficit by over $2.1 trillion. Over half of this amount was going to come either through a bipartisan agreement by the socalled "Super Committee" or through sequestration. I do not like sequestration. It is an inefficient way to make spending decisions that affect millions of Americans. However. this is what was agreed to and for the House majority to go back on that agreement and not have an open and frank debate on how this chamber can agree to reduce our national deficit while preserving essential programs and services is more than just disappointing. For millions of our fellow Americans. it is a matter of survival. This legislation would result in cutting food stamps by over $33 billion dollars. Nearly 50 cents of every dollar into food stamps helps children get the food they need to grow and thrive. H.R. 5652 would gut vital health care services. including ending the Prevention and Public Health Trust Fund. which is essential for finding better ways to promote wellness. prevent disease. and protect against public health emergencies. This bill would also reduce matching state funds to Medicaid. as well as make it more difficult to qualify for the program and make devastating cuts to the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It would make sharp cuts to the Social Services Block Grant program. which could result in 1.7 million children losing access to protective services. 450.000 children being denied foster care. and 640.000 children losing child abuse prevention services. This legislation would also eliminate the FDICs ability to unwind financial institutions that are "too big to fail" in an orderly way. eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus (CFPB) funding source. and cut pension contributions to federal workers. I stand with our nations servicemembers and am committed to making sure that they have the tools and resources necessary to protect America from any and all threats. However. support for our nations heroes should not and cannot come at a cost to Americas most vulnerable. We can find a better way to balance our priorities. protect those in need. and honor our servicemen and women. I call on Members on both sides of the aisle to join me in finding a better way to reduce our deficit while protecting children. the needy. and Americas men and women in uniform and vote against this legislation.
Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise this afternoon to pay tribute to the Nations mothers and to be able to wish them a wonderful and happy Mothers Day. This morning I had the privilege of going to the womens war memorial at Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath for our fallen women who fell in battle and in service to their Nation. many of them were mothers. I stand today to say to them. even in the loss of life. we thank you. We honor you. I honor my mother. who lost her life in 2010. Ivaleta Jackson. along with my aunt. Valerie Bennett. along with my living aunt. Vickie Bennett. and as well Audrey Bennett and some of the mothers of my community: Ruby Mosley. Dany Simmons. Sylvia Gonzalez. Ester Campos. So many mothers who have served their communities. The late Beulah Shepard. So many of them. But I want to say to the Nations mothers that we have an obligation to ensure that your children are protected and that the lives of women are protected and that we recognize and respect all of the service. all of you that are stayathome mothers who take care of the children at home. those who work. those who work and have children. To those who do so many things. I am so honored to be able to say. you are. in fact. Americas sheroes. We honor you this weekend. But. actually. as were taught. we honor you every day of the year. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
Date: 2012-05-15
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4240. the Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012. I commend Chairman ROSLEHTINEN and Ranking Member BERMAN and the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for bringing this important measure to the floor. Ambassador Lilley. as director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and Congressman Solarz. as chairman of the House subcommittee on East Asia and later as cochairman of the Committee on Human Rights in North Korea. refused to stand by silently as the North Korean government oppressed. abused and murdered its own people. Their leadership and advocacy helped to raise awareness about the deplorable conditions endured by the North Korean people. including the governments practice of executing onthespot attempted defectors. This resolution encourages the United States government to continue working with foreign governments and with the Peoples Republic of China in particular. to help resettle refugees who escape North Korea. Additionally. the bill recognizes the efforts undertaken in North Korea by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and encourages the board to meet its goal of broadcasting 12 hours of daily radio transmissions into that country. The United States has the largest international refugee resettlement program in the world. Since this Act was originally passed. 128 North Koreans have been successfully resettled. including 23 in the last year. The success of this program is a fitting tribute to the memory and work of Ambassador Lilley and Congressman Solarz.
Date: 2012-05-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 568. a bipartisan resolution affirming that it is our nations policy to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability and emphasize that containment is not a viable option. Iran is developing the capability to quickly produce a nuclear weapon at a time of its choosing. Irans acquisition of such a capability would create a significant new regional danger and be an immediate threat to Americas interest and allies in the Middle East. A nuclear Iran would most likely trigger an arms race in the region that could destabilize an already fragile peace and threaten the global economy. It is imperative that our nation continue to strengthen existing diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran and force it to change course before it is too late.
Date: 2012-05-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. theres nothing more precious than the Nations children. Of course. we love and respect our seniors. respect our families. and respect our men and women in the United States military. In fact. America has a great future. But all of us realize that that future is grounded not only on our democratic principles. but on what we do for our children. Bullying in the Nations schools is at epidemic proportions. Two weeks ago. in my community. one young person took a sock with a lock in it and caused another young person to leave that school in an ambulance to go to the hospital for some 15 to 20 stitches. Weve seen the results of bullying that resulted in the suicide of one college student and the suicide of a 13yearold. And weve certainly seen the movie "Bully." I want to thank Lee Hurst for joining me last week in listening to the stories of those who tell real stories. Today. I introduced H.R. 5770. which is a bullying prevention law. including the reauthorization of the Juvenile Block Grant. It is imperative that this Congress make a national statement that bullying is unacceptable. but more importantly. that we give the tools to school districts around the Nation and communities to intervene and prevent bullying. Our children are precious. I ask my colleagues to join in a bipartisan manner on this legislation.