macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I am asking why it is that the standing rule of the House. the normal rules of the House that we have been operating under. rule XXII. clause 4. what is it that has changed that that makes it impossible for me now to offer a motion to send the clean CR to the White House where the President can sign it tonight? What is it that has changed the standing rule of the House?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. so a special order has changed and modified the standing rule of the House. am I right about that?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. under the regular order of the House. would any Member of the House. including myself. be able to call up a motion to immediately send the CR to fund the government to the President of the United States. to immediately call up and have a vote on that?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. just so I understand the response. under the rules of the House. you indicated that the standing rules of the House have been put aside in favor of H. Res. 368. is that correct?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. am I correct that section 2 of that new rule says that any motion pursuant to the standing rule. clause 4 of rule XXII. may now only be offered by the Republican leader or the designee of the Republican leader. is that correct?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. the rule that has now been placed over the House in substitute for the standing rules of the House gives only the majority leader or his designee the ability to move up and ask for a vote on the clean Senate bill that would go to the White House. is that correct?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. it seems pretty clear that we have taken the normal rules of the House. Mr. Speaker. and substitute in its place a provision that says. "only the Republican leader can make a decision-"
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. the House floor is starting to feel like a new episode of "The Hunger Games." Every day. the Republican leadership tries to find a new way to pit one desperate group of Americans against another. Today. because of the shutdown. Republicans are pitting kids with cancer against kids who are hungry. This bill is designed to release funds for the NIH today so that they can reduce funding for programs for kids. programs that keep children with the nutrition that they need. For a little bit longer. they can go hungry while we take care of the kids with cancer. I dont buy their newfound concern about NIH funding. and the American people arent buying it either. What did they think was going to happen when they shut down the NIH? Did they have any working knowledge of what takes place at the NIH? The gentleman from Arkansas has just related the integral nature of the NIH to universities and research facilities all across this country. and yet they thought it was free to shut down the NIH? Now theyve discovered that hundreds of children are receiving treatment at the NIH for cancer. and now they think the NIH ought to be open. but theyre not sure that the Head Start reductions ought to be brought back? This means kids cant get their meals during the daysome 85.000 kids in Arkansasand theyll go without nutritional assistance because of this shutdown. What about those? Are they next in the barrel here? Will you come and rescue them? Will you come and rescue the Head Start children who are losing the opportunities to go to school? What about the active servicemembers who are now facing 4day school weeks in their classrooms? What about the elimination of important summer programs because of the shutdown? When are you going to take care of the military services children? What is this going on here? Every day. we pit one unfortunate victim of this shutdown against another helpless victim of this shutdown. and they think that they can cure it one bill at a time.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

There are millions of people all across the country and millions of businesses and millions of unfortunate people who have nowhere else to go to get help because of diseases. because of the threats to their lives. I thank the gentlewoman for bringing this opposition to the resolution to the floor. I would hope that all Members of Congress would just do what they can do. which is. in the next couple of hours. simply have a clean CR to open up the government. Let the people get the services that they need. and let the public servants who provide them those services go back to work in the name of country.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I have the great privilege of representing the congressional district that is home to the national treasure that we call the National Institutes of Health where you have scientists doing critically important work. looking for treatments and cures to diseases that plague every American. These are scientists. Theyre not Republican scientists. Theyre not Democratic scientists. Theyre scientists. Theyre very smart people. Ive heard from some of them. and they say they are not fooled by the cynical ploy in the House today because they know that the fastest way to open up the National Institutes of Health would be to take up the clean Senatepassed bill and send it to the President tonight. Thats how you help the National Institutes of Health. They also have kids in schools. so theyd also like to keep open the Department of Education and help the Department of Veterans Affairs. They know that the way to do that is not to cherrypick little pieces of government and leave the rest of it to die on the vine. but to pass a clean CR and keep NIH open. the Department of Veterans Affairs open. all the parks open. the Defense Department open. to keep the government open. Why hasnt that happened? The Speaker of the House refuses to hold a vote in this peoples House. Whats he afraid of. the democracy? Whats he afraid of. we are going to vote to open the government? Because thats exactly what would happen. If you want to help NIH. vote for the clean CR. Get it done tonight. Quit the gameplaying.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. the chairman of the committee says that we should think of the impact before we act. that we should think of the impact on the parks before we vote against this bill. Did you think about the parks when you voted to shut down the government? Did you think about the impacts? The gentleman from Montana yesterday came to the floor and said its hurting the local economy. The gentleman from California came and said its hurting the towns around Yosemite. Was he thinking about that when he voted originally to shut down the government? He was prepared to sacrifice the local economy. He was prepared to sacrifice the towns around Yosemite when he was on the jihad against American citizens getting access to health care. He was fully prepared to sacrifice the parks and the economy and fire recovery. But you know what you found out in the last 24 hours? That millions of Americans went to find health care. to sign up for health care. to get access to health care. And millions of Americans decided that youre doing the wrong thing in shutting down their government. So when you were on the jihad against Americans access to health care. shutting down the parks wasnt a problem. Shutting down NIH wasnt a problem.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: BEN RAY LUJAN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New Mexico

Mr. Speaker. the House Republicans are not fooling anyone. Right now is hunting season in New Mexico. The Republican bill does nothing to keep open access to hunting on Federal lands. on the BLM or Forest Service. The Republicans are keeping hunters stranded and turning a blind eye to the small business owners and guides that depend on hunting season. Hunters across America. call the House Republicans and tell them to let us vote on the clean Senate CR.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Im trying to understand why a motion to keep the entire government open is not in order on this measure. Why would the rules have been written in a way that a simple motion to keep the entire government funded now would not be in order in the peoples House? Why would it be written in a way that this House cannot work its will on keeping the government open? This is the peoples House. Why would a rule be written in a way that we cannot have a vote to keep the entire government open now. tonight? So we apparently have a rule in this House that says were shutting down democracy tonight. We cant have the opportunity to have a vote to keep the government open. Thats whats happening here. Lets not play any games. my colleagues. That is whats happening here. You know if we had a vote tonight. it would pass.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I would like to be further heard because. as I understand what the ruling was. it was because this measure before the House is limited to one little tiny sliver of the government. that a motion to keep the entire government open is not in order. Is that correct?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Yes. My argument is that our government is a whole. And the question is: How can you say that it would be totally irrelevant to the purpose of funding government operations to offer a motion that would keep all the government operations open now? How can that be?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. Im just trying to understand how it is that in this House there was a rule that was written that would deny the majority an opportunity to vote?
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Reserving the right to object. and I am not going to pursue my objection. But I want to congratulate the chairman and our committee for what I think is an enormously important visa. helping people who have helped us. particularly in Iraq. And with that. I thank the Judiciary Committee for its work. and I withdraw my objection.
Date: 2013-10-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. yesterday. I heard the story of a mother who had lost her son. who had a preexisting condition and was not able to get insuranceonly when a benevolent hospital took him in and determined. at the time. that he had Stage 3 cancer. because he had no insurance. because he had needed a colonoscopy. If he had had ObamaCare. he would have had the ability. at least. to get insurance without worrying about the preexisting condition. Emotions are high. but for the right reason. There is no reason that eliminating ObamaCare. as is being discussed on this floor. should be tied to opening the government back up. All the Republicans have to do is to pass. with the Democrats. a clean CR so that people might live. Their story is like taking away the civil rights laws that President Johnson helped pass because they did not like it. They would hold up the government and close the government. For me. this is civil rights for all Americansto have the right to live. to have the right to have health insurance. It is not a budget issue. It is an issue to be done down the road. Vote for a clean CR. Mr. Speaker. there are a lot of emotions because this is about life and death.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: DANNY K. DAVIS (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Illinois

Mr. Speaker. I come to the floor today to express condolences to the family. friends. and parishioners of Bishop Raphael Bell. who passed away this past Sunday while preaching a sermon in his pulpit. As a matter of fact. his wife had suggested that he not go to church. but he indicated that he would go because he thought it might make him feel better. He was 90 years old. He grew up the son of a sharecropper in Mississippi. moved to Illinois. founded several schools and colleges. became the senior bishop of a diocese. wellloved. wellrespected. a tremendous personality. I came to know his family when I taught his nephew 40 years ago and have observed him ever since. I just wanted to say to his family. friends. and parishioners that they have been graced by the presence of a tremendously great individual who died doing what he liked to do. and that is preach the Gospel.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. it is important to look at the impact of the shutdown and a looming government default on our financial markets. On the shutdown. if the SEC uses all of its rainyday money. it will be forced to close some key market oversight functions. There would be little to no oversight of exchanges. And if there were more trading glitches like the one that closed NASDAQ last month. the SEC wouldnt be able to respond quickly and problems could quickly spiral out of control. This could irreparably damage confidence in the safety and integrity of U.S. financial markets. and Ive always said that markets run more on confidence than on capital. On the debt ceiling. defaulting on Treasury bonds could be truly catastrophic. The assumption that Treasury bonds are risk free is the most fundamental assumption in the financial markets. It underpins the entire worlds bond market. If Congress doesnt lift the debt ceiling and we default. Treasury bonds would. for the first time in our history. no longer be risk free. The value of bonds around the world would instantly fall. and billions of dollars of wealth would be destroyed in the blink of an eye. The dollar could even lose its status as the worlds reserve currency. We need to end the shutdown and lift the debt ceiling today. Jobs. growth. and the financial security of our country depend on it.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker and Members. here we are. Day 4 of the government shutdown. all because the Republican majority didnt get their way on a bill 3 years ago. Theyre so obsessed. in fact. with eliminating the Affordable Care Act that theyre willing to risk the functions of the United States Government. just to prove a point. Its really amazing and. yet. so sad. And now that theyve seen the polls and realize the American people dont support what theyre doing. their response is to pass a few bills to only reopen a few agencies within the government. Again. amazing. We need to open the whole government. And yet. congressional Republicans dont care about the consequences of a shutdown. even though theyre significant. Thousands of people are furloughed. Critical programs and services across the country have been shuttered. and all because congressional Republicans are in denial of the Affordable Care Act. It is the law of land and has been for 3 years. and has survived 42 legislative attempts to repeal it. Its time to move on. This is not a serious. responsible way to run the United States of America. and you know it. Stop playing games and pass a clean continuing resolution.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the ranking member for the time. Madam Speaker. I thank the chairman of this committee and the ranking member of the full committee and I thank the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee. There may be no other Member that has as much respect as I have in working with the chairman of the Defense Subcommittee. and I thank him for his service. All of us want to be helpful to the men and women that we care about who rise up and serve us. whatever call. as civilian soldiers. So today I want to offer a solution. Rather than this bill. I would like for our leadership. the Speaker. to bring to the floor a clean bill to open the government. I want my National Guard in Texas1.900 of themto be able to be paid. But I also want their families to have the Affordable Care Act. and I also want to make sure that they have infrastructure. maintenance of existing equipment. and procurement of new equipment. research and development. facilities maintenance. commissaries in the United States. I hear that there are 20 or 30 or 40 Republicans ready to vote on a bill that will open the government. Lets open the government to serve our National Guard.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: DAVID SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. the Republican Party is a party with such a rich legacy. Its the party of Abraham Lincoln. who saved this country. its the party of Dwight David Eisenhower. who put the expressway and the interstate system together. its the party of Everett Dirksen. and without him we wouldnt have the Civil Rights Act. its the party of Ronald Reagan. who sat down with Tip ONeill and put the great tax cut in that helped the economy. and its the party of George Bush. who gave us Medicare part D. I bring these things out because I believe if all of these gentlemen were hereeach one of themthey would say to you. Please. lets cut this out. Let your leader. Mr. BOEHNER. bring a clear. clean CR for just 6 weeks. Thats all were asking. This is what that leadership would be. This is what Mr. BOEHNER wanted to do. JOHN BOEHNER is a decent man. Thats what he wanted to do. I urge you to do what is right. Honor the rich legacy of your party. If you want to honor the veterans who gave their lives to fight for us. they would say. Dont use us for a pawn here. Open it all up for all America.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.J. Res. 72. the partisan resolution that would cut over $6 billion from our nations veterans from what this House passed in June. There are many issues that divide our two parties. One of the issues that has always received bipartisan support is supporting our nations heroes and their families. Unfortunately. due to the extreme views of some in the Majority. this chamber is now considering a resolution which would cut $6.2 billion from the VA and excludes funding for several VA programs which are vital to the thousands of veterans in my district. including national veterans cemeteries. medical and prosthetic research. and grants for state veterans homes and state cemeteries. Mr. Speaker. our nations veterans deserve better and I call on this chamber to demand a vote to fully fund the VA for the entire year. Every day that goes by without providing full appropriations for the VA is another day that our brave veterans are being harmed and denied the support and services they paid for in blood. sweat. and sacrifice.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. two heroes of mine. World War II veterans. Representative JOHN DINGELL and Senator Robert Dole. plainly said that piecemeal or partial spending plans do not adequately ensure that our veterans are served or protected. I have in my hand today a letter from the Majority Leader. Mr. REID. whom I thank him for his service. and a letter from our Democratic leadership here in the House. It simply pleads with the Speaker of this body. rather than piecemeal the American Dream. rather than respond in a way that leaves 800.000 Federal employees unemployedand God knows the tragedy of this poor person who came on the hill in a black car. No one knows what drove this person to do this. What I would say to you is: Lets get our wheels back on. serve the American people. bring them back. vote for a bill today that will open the government. I will stay here until we get that bill on the floor. Piecemeal is undeserving of America and all whom we love.
Date: 2013-10-03
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I am encouraged to hear my Republican colleagues stand in support of the District of Columbias ability to expend its own local funds. I agree. As a member representing a district that neighbors DC. I have been a longtime supporter of budget autonomy for our nations capital. It should be able to spend its local dollars without waiting for approval from this Congress. I hope my colleagues will remember this debate and work towards a longterm legislative fix for this issue. However. we have a way to solve the immediate problem for the District of Columbia E1424 today. If we take up the Senates clean continuing resolution. we can send it to the President for his signature tonight. giving DC the necessary authority and letting those federal employee residents of DC and all our Congressional districts go back to work tomorrow. We could reopen the National Institutes of Health. our national parks. and the Veterans Administration. And we could ensure that all Americans have access to the government services they need. I call on my colleagues to bring up the clean CR and end this shut down today.
Date: 2013-10-04
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize the tens of thousands of men and women who work in one of the fastest growing manufacturing regions in America. Houston and Harris County. Texas. Today is National Manufacturing Day. In our district. which covers the Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel. there are over 125 chemical manufacturers. refiners and supporting facilities. employing over 33.000 people. The chemical. oil. and gas industries are the new face of manufacturing in America. Houston is the energy capital of the world and has benefited from this energy renaissance taking place in Texas and the gulf coast. Houston has been the national leader in job creation in recent years and was named Americas number one exporting region by the Department of Commerce in July of this year. sending over $110 billion in manufactured exports overseas. I proudly stand with Americas manufacturing sector. which is the backbone of our Nations economy and our middle class. I look forward to this Chamber taking up legislation this Congress to provide the support and statutory clarity our manufacturers need to continue being the international leader in innovation and exports.
Date: 2013-10-04
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. just a few minutes ago. I stood with hundreds of American workers who came to this place that they consider a place of responsibility and respectholders of the Constitutionto beg for their jobs. They represent a small segment of 800.000 Federal employees. As I was standing there. a representative. Ms. McNeill from AFGE. indicated that this morning she had just received a call from an unemployed Federal worker and an unemployed husband. a wife and husband. Theyre in crisis. The woman is now being abused. and they had to escort her to a sheltercrisis. Mr. Speaker. Its not about surrendering. Its about caring about the American people. Its about caring about Diane. who was able to get health insurance after being diabetic and hearing bad things about ObamaCare. And its about Senator Dole and JOHN DINGELL. two World War II veterans who have said: Dont insult us with this piecemeal. A Republican and the dean of the House want us to stop and put a clean CR for the American people and to end this crisis. Im here to end the crisis right now.