macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

we are going to take the public- money. and we are going to give it to the HMOs. or we are going to make sure that we are wasting it and giving it to the pharmaceutical companies. without any kind of price controls.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Essentially what that is is a manifestation of the culture of corruption. I mean. that is how you translate the culture of corruption which shows itself in individual Members in some. cases. and people who are under suspicion and investigation. although not charged. And that is how you take it. or that is how they take it a step further and translate it into policy. I mean. when we are providing significant tax dollars for energy companies. when we are essentially ensuring that special interests have their pockets lined via people s tax dollars. then that is the manifestation of the culture of corruption and how it impacts people in terms 6f the policymaking that goes on here. And we talking about thirdparty validators. It would be easy for us to just -say what we think standing on this floor. But. you -know. it would be very easy forus to lay out. you know. progressive liberal Democratic organizations to validate what we are saying here. I am going to readyou a few thirdparty validators who laid out their opinion of the Presidents budget in the last several days. Goldman Sachs. for example. They said that the deficit forecasts that were laid out in the Presidents budget this week were unrealistic. - � Bushs budget proposal -assumes that the Federal deficit would jump from $318 billion last year to $423 billion in 2006. then slide back down to $183 billion in 2010. Those factors led Goldman Sachs economists to tell clients yesterday that the deficit forecasts are unrealistic.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

No. And also not a liberal organization is the Heritage Foundation. who says that the budget does not deal with retirees. Brian Riedl. budget analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. said that Bushs budget is clearly not enough to feasibly solve the most important.economic challenge of our era. how to deal with 77 million babyboomer retirees. The Concord Coalition. also not a liberal bastion. said the White House was working off very unrealistic assumptions. Robert Bixby. executive director ofthe Concord Cbalition. said of the Bush budget. when you look at the bottom line that they are putting out. it is important then to look at the assumptions. And I think there are some very unrealistic assumptions there that would probably keep the deficit much higher than the administration is showing. When I say that my firstgraders could sit down and -write a similar budget that bears the same resemblance to reality. I am really not kidding. You know. I am not just being tongue in cheek here. The President owes the American people the responsibility that he has taken when he took his oath to uphold the Constitution. a budget with realistic projections that does not just paint the rosiest picture possible so that he can coast through the rest of his term.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

To take that a step further. and. Mr. RYAN. before I do that. we have used this chart repeatedly because it is so illustrative of the stark ineptitude. for lack of a better term. of this administration. you know. compared to all of the other previous administrations combined. I am wondering. sometimes people catch this Special Order hour. and sometimes they do not. I know we have a. Website. and we have recently revamped it. and my understanding is that the charts. that we -use are going to be available on our Website in the event that people want to go and look at them more closely. Is that right?
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

We have sort of interchangeably been talking about two different things. There is the debt. and then there is the deficit. Both things are startJing when it comes .to this administrations record. Under this President the deficit and the national debt are out of control.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Right. The deficit is the annual ongoing difference between the revenue we take in and the money we spend. And then the debt is what we have to borrow in order to stay afloat. . Over the last 5 years. it is clear that President Bush. has lost control of both. Under this President we have gone from .a projected 10year surplus of $5.6 trillion to a projected deficit over the same period of $3.3 trillion. which is an $8.9 trillion reversal. Under President Bushs budget. when omitted costs are included. we have deficits for as far as the eye can see. You have a projected rise in the deficit to $556 billion by 2016. And when we talk about omitted costs. people might say. what do you mean by omitted costs? Like the. fact that this budget does not include any spending on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan after next year.. Now. I wish. oh. were that to be true. that we would now be in a position where Iraq would be. and the Iraqi people would be. able to sustain themselves without our assistance. Unfortunately. we have created a situation in which that continues to be impossible. and it is a virtual certainty that we are going to need to spend money after next year in Iraq and Afghanistan. despite the Presidents claims. When omitted costs are included. the Presidents budget does mot cut the deficit in half by 2009 as he continues to claim that it will. . What continues to be mindboggling is that we could fix this if you go back to the pay as you go rules of the 1990s. which is what turned the deficits into surpluses. tough votes that people took. Like you said. there were Members that lost their seats. but at the end of the day. it has to be more important to do the right thing than to continue to be. here for each one of us. and that is something that we have to in-.. ternalize. This is a good job. This is a job that we all really enjoy. I have not met a Member of Congress who does not .like the job a lot. and that fs why many of us. most of us. fight hard to keep it every election cycle. But at the end of the day. you have to be willing to look yourself in the mirror and say you did the right thing and be willing to walk out of this Chamber and know that you may not come back after you did the right thing. Unfortunately. we do not have enough people who serve in this body that are willing to do that. And unfortunately. it appears to be a little lopsided when it comes to the partisan breakdown of that willingness. This is literally the worst reversal. the worst fiscal reversal. in American history. We have never had the kind of turnaround from a record surplus to a record deficit like the one we have had. And the national debt. as you said. continues to skyrocket. They have had to raise the debt limit five times. but total combined it was $2.2 trillion that the debt had to be raised since President Bush took office. I mean. it really is astonishing. IH215
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Again. I want to highlight where words did not. match deeds. The candidate President George W. Bush said before the election that we would have "universal. affordable access -to broadband technology by the year 2007.! Well. the Bush administration has had no national policy to develop a universal broadband access even though building a robust. nationwide network would expand employment by 1.2 million new permanent jobs in our country. This is the House Democrats innovation agenda. which is available on HouseDemocrats.gov. We have a plan laid out how. which includes how we would get to universal broadband access within 5 years. and that we would make sure that we grow the math and science and engineers that we need in this country and make sure that we can match our rhetoric with action.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we again want to thank Leader NANCY PELOSI for the opportunity to talk about the things that are important to the American people. Again we have laid out our vision. for Americas competitiveness into the future and how we can keep America number one and actually match rhetoric with what the President laid out in his State of the Union with action and deeds. You can get a- copy of this. you can peruse a copy of our innovation agenda. which was developed not in Washington. not sitting around a conference table in a hearing room in the Nations Capital. butout in the country. in the hightech centers around this country. with bipartisan input. with the leaders and CEOs of. some of the major technologically advanced corporations across this country that can be viewed at HouseDemocrats.gov. That is our Web site where you can get a copy of this. Again. in addition to broadband access. we are the ones that laid out our commitment to growing a new generation of innovators. We committed in this document to educate 100.000 new scientists. engineers and mathematicians in the next 4 years by proposing a new initiative by working with States. businesses. and universities to provide scholarships to qualified students who commit to working in the fields of innovation. But the Republicans could not say that they were going to do that because in every successive budget. they have cut student financial aid. You cannot make sure that you expand access to higher education in the math and sciences and in areas that are significantly underrepresented now unless you provide the aid that these students are going to need. It is ndt that we do not have the students in these programs because there is a bumper crop of wealthy kids that are just not going into the math and sciences. it is to make sure that we go into the communities across this country and encourage and nurture the desire from the smallest children and the youngest ages and across the cultural and ethnic spectrum to ensure that people of all colors. o? all economic walks of life choose to pursue math and science and engineering. I read something earlier this morning that talked about China graduating 600.000 engineers. I think the number is right. that we graduated 50.000. I believe that it is that drastic a difference in terms of the proportion. We have always been known as the innovators in the world. Every major accomplishment scientifically. at least in my lifetime. in our lifetime. has been achieved by Americans. But we are slowly but surely not going to be the leaders in those areas of science and math unless we go back to our traditional financial commitment to ensuring that kids can get access to education. fl 2310
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

And I mean. forgive me. But. come on. am I the only one that felt it was a little disingenuous to hear from this President that America is addicted to oil and we need to end that addiction? I mean. come on. Where has the commitment to that been? In the two energy bills that we were asked to vote on in the last year since I have been here. where we were basically giving away the store to the energy and oil companies? I mean. where is the financial commitment? Where has it been to exploring alternative energy sources? Has there been a miraculous transformation in the White House that I am not aware of? I just do not understand how the administration could not see that you have to. in order to get the American people to believe what you say and to have faith and restore their confidence and belief in you. you have to do what you say you are going to do. And that just does not seem to happen on almost any score. particularly not when it comes to energy independence and exploring alternative energysources. And you know. I am proud to be a member of the Democratic Caucus. because when we say something. we mean it. But when we lay out a goal. we back it up with how we might do it were we incharge. You know. we would make a
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we spent a. great deal of time tonight talking about the challenges that are facing our country. and the thing that I have noticed that is the most frustrating for me. Mr. RYAN. is in the short time that I have been here. you know. I was hopeful that just like when I was in the Florida senate. I was able to work effectively across the aisle and on the major issues that were important to our State. just like I was hopeful that we would be able to do here for the important issues in our country. I was hopeful that I could come to the Congress and sit down. and I was ready to continue to work with Members on the other side on the major issues. not the issues on the margins. because. you know. you.are able to find individual Members who you can work with one on one or in small groups on various issues. but on the hotbutton issues. on education. on health care. on energy. on prescription drugs. on any of the issues that are really significant to the American people. It is like those issues are radioactive somehow. and there seems to be an impenetrable wall around the Republican Conference. where it is virtually impossible to get any Member from the other side of the aisle to sit down with a group on our side of the aisle and try to hammer out compromise. I just do not come from a place where I was used to dealing with mywayorthehighway rules of engagement. And you know. maybe now that there is new leadership in the Republican Conference. things will change. Certainly we are hearing words to that effect. It remains to be seen whether those words will be backed up by action. And I look forward to that possibility. I know you do too. Do you want to talk about the Web site and tell people how they can get in touch with us and reach out to us?
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

We have a new Web site. Mr. RYAN. We revamped it. and it has a lot of new cool bells and whistles.
Date: 2006-02-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. We do miss our good friend from the great State of Florida. who is in the neighboring district next to me. I do want to point out to people who might have seen this tonight that they not only can find.all of the posters.that we use usually on the next day once we have first introduced one on the floor. but they can also submit questions and comments to us through our Website. We want to make this as interactive as possible and get their feedback andinput. and we want to know what their concerns are. The leader has given us this opportunity to speak to the American people. and our generation is often underrepresented in terms of the things that we care about in this country. And it is a privilege to serve in this body with you. Mr. RYAN. and under the leadership of NANCY PELOSI.
Date: 2006-02-14
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. today in the New York Times Americans were told that not only had the Congress passed a royalty holiday for major oil companies but in- the most recent energy bill they had expanded and extended that royal holiday. So we have the situation today where a bill. a law that was passed many. many years ago when the price of energy was very low. has been kept on the book in spite of efforts to try and repeal it by myself and others. And now with world oil prices in excess of $60 a barrel and the oil company profits of the majors at historical record highs by all of the major oil companies. the Federal Government is going to continue to provide a royalty holiday to those oil companies that will cost us. at a minimum. over $7 billion in the next 5 years and maybe an additional 35 to $40 billion over that same period of time. The time has come for Congress to stop this program. to insist upon the renegotiation of these leases. and if the oil companies will not participate in that renegotiation they should not be allowed to bid on Federal land owned by the taxpayers of this country and continue to be able to rip off the taxpayers of this country.
Date: 2006-02-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 322. recognizing the importance of the United Service Organizations (USO) many contributions and to their vital role in the betterment of the lives of our servicemen and women. We are sending an increasing number .of soldiers. both enlisted and reserve. to serve in locations far from home. which shows that the USOs work is just as necessary today as it was 65 years ago. In 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt challenged 6 private organizations to provide morale boosting support for our servicemen and women. The USO has met that challenge headon. As a member of the congressional USO Caucus. and a member who has visited war zones around the world throughout my years in Congress. I have seen evidence of the services they provide our soldiers and the value of these welcoming facilities. The organization is wellknow for inviting Hollywood entertainers to perform concerts. boosting morale. and providing temporary reprieve from the daily stresses of their profession. However. the USO provides more than just mere entertainment for the armed services. offering less publicly known programs. such as crisis counseling and support groups for both military personnel and their families. The USO operates 124 of these facilities around the worid. including 49 overseas. As a testament of *their good work and its commitment to expanding its efforts. the USO just opened its newest facility in Kuwait. just two weeks shy of the organizations 65th birthday. This center is the 6th in the Persian Gulf region. showing that the organization has continued with its tradition of providing support where support is needed. be that at home. or halfway around the world. For soldiers unable to meet their families at a facility. the organization reaches out pro-. viding phone cards and care packages. so that at the very least. they can hear a familiar and soothing voice. and enjoys a taste of home. The USOs charter may be signed into law. but it still operates as a nonprofit. charitable organization relying on both private contributions and support of volunteers. Thankfully. the organization is in no short supply of either with scores of companies and 33.000 volunteers offering their support. The USO serves as the bridge between concerned citizens wanting to make a difference. and our servicemen in need of assistance. With that said. I can not understate the value of the organizations work in enhancing both the lives of soldiers on the ground. and their families safe at home. For all of the aforementioned reasons I hope my colleagues will vote to recognize the many contributions the USO has made in enhancing the lives of our soldiers.
Date: 2006-02-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support Of this resolution as a first step toward helping our close ally. Israel. from an increasing threat. This resolution responds to the troubling results of the Palestinian Legislative Council. PLC. elections last month. in which Hamasthe radical Islamic Palestinian organization that has sought to expel Jews and destroy the state of Israel to establish an Islamic Palestinian state based on Islamic lawwon a majority of the seats. Hamas has been recognized by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization. and has committed hundreds of acts of terrorism against Israeli citizens since its creation in 1987. The group has employed car bombings. suicide bombings. mortar attacks. Qassam rocket attacks. and assassinations to achieve its stated goal of destroying Israel. and in doing so has killed thousands of innocent Israelis. as well as several Americans. including 5 during a series of bombings in 1996. In FY 2005. $275 million was appropriated to the West Bank and Gaza. with $50 million of that funding going directly to the Palestinian Authority. We can never allow U.S. taxpayer dollars to get in the hands of a Hamascontrolled government to be. used against Israel. The Palestinian people voted and selected Hamas. but that does not mean we must support an organization that is counter to real peace in the Middle East. Elections are serious business. and I am disappointed the Palestinian people selected a group who does not want peace. I Passing this resolution is just a first step to notify a Hamas led government. the US and its allies can not support a government in Gaza and the West Bank that does not recognize Israels right to exist. Mr. Speaker. these election results are extremely troubling and this resolution shows solidarity and concern for the security of Israel and its people.-l urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution to send a strong message to Hamas that we will not recognize them as a legitimate government so long as they promote terrorism.
Date: 2006-02-15
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

If the gentleman will yield on that point. the gentleman was part of this and we traveled to North Carolina and to New Jersey and to Boston and to California and Seattle talking to people about this innovation agenda. and when we put the innovation agenda together. so many CEOs and venture capitalists and others said this is it. you are exactly on th right track. this is what America needs. It was interesting to see the President come forward in the State of the Union as you mentioned and embrace the innovation agenda. many components of this effort. Then it was so disappointing to see the budget that was published afterwards. and even more disappointing When the Republican leadership slammed this innovation agenda as just simply more spending. when in fact the President mirrored what was in our agenda right down to switch fuels.