macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2002-04-30
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me express my appreciation for those who have helped to work on this resolution. because it is one that hopefully will start the ball rolling in getting some corrective action taken. I stand before my colleagues today as a former health care professional to share really disturbing news. Sadly. in the year 2002. decades after the end of legal segregation. inequality based on race and ethnicity exists within our health care system. African Americans are 30 percent more likely to die of heart disease and cancer than Anglo Americans. Hispanics are more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic disease or a condition such as a heart attack. diabetes. or cancer than Anglo Americans. Infant mortality rates are more than twice as high for African Americans than Anglo Americans. In 2000. 47 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases reported in the U.S. were among African Americans and 21 percent among Hispanics. Unfortunately. the bad news gets worse. Despite this glaring data revealing the health disparities between minorities and white Americans. the National Academy of Sciences tells us that minorities lag behind white Americans on nearly every measure of health care and treatment and are dying at higher rates. Minorities are less likely to be given appropriatecardiac medication or to undergo bypass surgery to treat a cardiovascular disease. Minorities are less likely to be placed on a waiting list for kidney transplants or to receive kidney dialysis or transplants. My father was one of those. Minorities with HIV infection are less likely to receive antiretroviral therapy and other stateoftheart treatments which could forestall the onset of AIDS. And minorities are less likely to receive appropriate cancer diagnostic tests and treatment. . There is really more bad news. Significantly. these disparities in treatment exist even when insurance status. income. age. and severity of conditions in minorities and whites are the same. The good news is that we can address this problem by educating the public and the medical community about these disparities and take action to reduce them. House Concurrent Resolution 388 is a step in the right direction. I agree with the gentleman. the chairman of the committee. it should not -be a campaign issue. It is a serious issue that must be addressed. It would establish a National Minority Health and Health Disparities Month and calls for the government. private and nonprofit sectors. and the medical community to promote educational efforts. perform research. and conduct health care- programs so that we may end health care disparities. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and work toward the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in health care so that we can have some good news to share in the future.
Date: 2002-04-30
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I want to first applaud the achievement of Chairman CASTLE and Congressman KILDEE and their staffs for their work on this bill. Both members have championed the need for quality education research and this legislation reflects their leadership on this issue. H.R. 3801 complements the bipartisan effort that started with the No Child Left Behind Act. In that landmark reform measure. - states and schools district are now accountable for providing a quality education to all children. And. -the availability of scientifically based research that demonstrates what works and what � doesnt work will be critical in this effort. H.R. 3801 establishes the framework to make this happen. This legislation injects a much needed culture of science into education research through the newly established Academy of Education Sciences. The Academy will be responsible for ensuring that the research used by school districts in their reform efforts will be of the highest quality and meet the highest standards. The Academy will also conduct new research and be the arm through which this research is disseminated to the field. H.R. 3801 will bring research directly into the classroom where it is needed the most. Through a system of regional technical assistance. school districts will be able to receive support tailored to their needs. And. perhaps most important this legislation authorizes a new level of investment in education research to match the demand for quality science on what works to improve education. Again. I commend the work of my colleagues Congressmen CASTLE and KILDEE and look forward to working with them as iL continues through the legislative process. Again. I want to applaud the work of the chairman and ranking member.
Date: 2002-05-02
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this resolution. and say that I would have preferred Members to have had an opportunity to vote on H. Res. 405 by the gentleman from Wisconsin .
Date: 2002-05-02
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I intend to vote "yes" on H. Res. 392. Although I have grave concems that passing this resolution will further inflame tensions in the Middle East. I am voting for the resolution in part to dispel any notion that I am antiIsrael or that I am not sensitive to Israels right to selfdefense. I strongly support Israel. but I also strongly support efforts to bring about peace in the region. which will allow the Israeli and Palestinian people to live together side by side without having to endure an endless cycle of violence. In the past. the House has passed similar resolutions that I believe have been counterproductive to the peace process. I fear that we are doing that again. Our own Secretary of State and National Security Advisor have expressed reservations with moving forward with this resolution because of the delicacy of the situation in the Middle East. I agree with them. We should not be bringing up this resolution at this time. That is why I intend to vote "no" on the rule goveming debate over H. Res. 392.
Date: 2002-05-07
Speaker: T ORRICELLI (democrat)
Chamber: S

Madam President. I rise today to acknowledge the Reverend Dr. S. Howard Woodson. Jr.. after whom Calhoun St. in Trenton is being renamed. It has been an honor for the State of New Jersey to have the service of an individual with the immense.talents of the Reverend Woodson. In his efforts to serve the community. Reverend Woodson has used his leadership skills to effect positive change throughout the State. After moving to Trenton in 1946 and becoming pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. the Reverend Woodson became actively involved in the civil rights movement. As Chairman of the segregated board of the Carver YMCA. he fought to be granted independent status by the National YMCA. which led to the establishment of its own branch. freeing it from the supervision of the central office. This was a first for the Nation. During his time as President of the State Conference of the NAACP. he convinced then Governor Richard Hughes to convene the first statewide conference on housing discrimination. out of which grew important minority housing legislation. Over the course of his political career. the Reverend Woodson .had the distinction of being tlae first person of color elected as councilmanatlarge in Trenton. He was also the first person of color to serve as Chairman of the Ranking Legislative Committee. Assistant Democratic Leader. and Speaker of the State House. But. the impact of the Reverend Woodson extends beyond his work in the areas of civil rights and politics. Through his leadership. Shiloh Baptist Church was able to erect a new center of worship and began numerous community outreach programs such as the Clean Neighborhood Drive and a Neighborhood Get Acquainted program. I am proud to extend my congratulations to the Reverend Woodson on this special occasion.*
Date: 2002-05-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I appreciate the opening statement of the gentleman from Ohio . The American people appreciate the importance of health care. Families struggle every day with whether or not coverage is accessible to them. There was no great glee in the land when they killed the Clinton health care plan. We had 38 million uninsured people. and we now have 42 million uninsured people. In spite of the recitation that the gentlewoman from New Mexico cites. we still have 42 million people who are uninsured. Why? Because we have created a hodgepodge of programs where they have to be a detective to figure out whether or not they are eligible. They move andlose programs. their children move and lose programs. whether they are employed. not employed. whether in school. out of school. whether on or off of Medicaid. all of these programs. They spend all of their time worrying about eligibility. and they are covered for very little period of time. The gentlewoman has also suggested that this is part of a grander plan to bring a $350 billion prescription drug program to the floor. That is not it at all. $350 billion is for everything they say that they want to do in Medicare. The program is less than half that amount. which has been proven to be inadequate to provide a prescription drug benefit that is useful without the people on Medicare paying out thousands and thousands of dollars before they get any real advantage to the program. So the question here is not whether or not people think health care coverage is important or not. The question is. What is the Congress going to do about it? What is Congress going to do about these 42 million Americans? What is Congress going to do about the children who are growing up in families where at least one person is employed. and in many cases both are employed. and they do not have access to health care? The programs that we have put in place so far. while commendable. still leave millions of Americas children and working people without insurance. Yes. we have made it more deductible for small businesses and individuals. but the fact is that even small businesses and individuals cannot afford to provide the insurance that Americans need so desperately.
Date: 2002-05-14
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2051. the Regional Plant Genome and Gene Research Expression Act. H.R. 2051 has been a collaborative effort between me and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Science. the gentleman from Michigan
Date: 2002-05-14
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his comments and would like to respond. I believe he misunderstands this bill. The thrust of this bill is one of basic research at universities. The bill seeks to address the deficiency in basic genomic research on crops that can be grown in the developing world. More importantly. the bill seeks to create strong partnerships with developing world institutions from the very beginning. In order to be eligible for funds under section 4 of this bill. research institutions are required to partner with their colleagues in developing countries. This partnership will not only help strengthen the scientific capacity of developing countries but will ensure that the basic research that is performed focuses on what. developing countries perceive their own needs to be. Additionally. the bill allows for research on the impact of plant biotechnology on the social. political and environmental conditionsin countries in the developing world. This provision will allow researchers to investigate many of the claims that my colleague from Ohio raises. This bill does not force farmers in developing -countries to adopt fancy technologies. It does not force the importation of genetically altered foods outside the country. On the contrary. it seeks to encourage the adoption of the very simple technology of a better seed that was developed in conjunction with scientists from the developing world. All of us here recognize that world hunger is an enormously complex problem with no simple- solution. This bill does not pretend to hold the answer. What this bill does is provide the means for scientists in the United States and in developing countries to work together to contribute to the much larger solution to the very serious problem of hunger. malnutrition and disease in the developing world. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2002-05-14
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Ohio just gave all the reasons why this bill should pass. This is a bill on research where it can establish partnerships. The grants can only go to universities and nonprofits. Profit businesses can join the partnership. the consortium. but no money flows in that direction. The paper the gentleman read prior to that last statement is 3 years old. With research. that changes. This bill only speaks to research and who can be a part of the partnership. of the consortium. It is not public dollars flowing to profit organizations. It is what we will hear more of in the future. publicprivatetype partnerships. No public dollar flows to a profit organization. The dollars go to the universities. and that is where the research takes place. and it includes persons from the developing countries to be a part of the research. Mr. Speaker. I would urge passage of this legislation. It is good legislation intended to do a good job.
Date: 2002-05-14
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. one more time let me say that the gentleman from Ohio has made the case for this bill. This bill speaks to research partnerships. including developingnation participation. There is nothing in this bill that requires any kind of deportation to these developing nations. It provides a way by which they can be part of research that will provide them foods that will probably help with immunizations. extra vitamins. but only after the research is done with the involvement of scientists from the developing countries. Mr. Speaker. I would urge the passage of the bill. I think that the opponent has misunderstood the bill.
Date: 2002-05-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. last night and this morning. Americans got some very. very disturbing news. America was informed that sometime last August. the President of the United States was informed of efforts by bin Laden and his followers to engage in a hijacking scheme against American citizens. That information. while disturbing. was not acted upon. with no information flowing to the American people. It is suggested that this was done because it was a hijacking in the normal sense of the word. The fact of the matter is. we know that a major plot was interrupted to crash a number of 747s in Southeast Asia into the Earth simultaneously. and we know that an effort was interrupted to crash a plane into the Eifel Tower. We know that we interrupted the millennium scheme. While it is disturbing that this effort was not taken as seriously as it should have been. it is also very disturbing that this information and the briefing of the President of this information has not been released to the American people or to the Congress of the United States for over 8 months.
Date: 2002-05-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii . the subcommittee ranking member and a wonderful worker on this issue.
Date: 2002-05-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . a leader on this issue in our committee and in the House and the Nation.
Date: 2002-05-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. as we close this part of the debate. I simply want to say that it is rather interesting that the party who took over the Congress on the theory of a Contract on America. of no unfunded mandates is about to foist onto the States of this Nation billions of dollars of additional costs. Their answer is flexibility. Yes. those States can choose to cut job training. Those States can choose to cut educational benefits. Those States can choose to cut child care. They can choose to cut the quality of the child care. They can choose to cut the TANF grant to these families. That is not flexibility. That is a failure to meet the task at hand. IJ 1245 While we increase the requirement of people that need to go to work. and I think we should. the fact of the matter is we do not provide the States the means to support those individuals while they go to work and get off of welfare. This is an unfunded mandate. it is that simple. because this bill. the Republican bill before us. fails to meet the demands that are going to be placed upon the States to provide the child care services. The notion that somehow everybody who left welfare is now out of poverty and that children are out of poverty. the average person leaving welfare left and earned $12.000 a year. $12.000 a year. Mr. Speaker. That does not sound like we lifted them out of poverty.
Date: 2002-05-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. tomorrow the chickens come home to roost for the Republicans. After destroying a $5 trillion surplus and giving away $4 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest people in the country. tomorrow the Republicans must take the first step in authorizing an additional $750 billion in deficit spending. Mr. Speaker. $750 billion that this Nation does not have because of the Republican giveaways in the tax cut. and $750 billion that unfortunately now must come directly out of the Social Security Trust Fund. Remember all of those promises about a lock box. about a super lock box. how they would never use Social Security for any other purpose? All of those promises go by the wayside tomorrow. because tomorrow is the first step when the Republicans vote to increase by $750 billion of spending that is taken directly from Social Security. LI 1015 What does that mean to Social Security recipients? It means that Social Security is less secure. Eventually. it means that the age limit is going to have to be raised. and then the Republicans will have to work on their plan to privatize Social Security. The last time they privatized something. it was the energy markets. and the next thing we saw was the Enron Corporation.
Date: 2002-05-21
Speaker: SUSAN C. YOUNG (democrat)
Chamber: H

or material concerning him for any other purposes whatsoever. except with the prior written consent of Mr. Hope or his authorized attorneyinfact or successors in interest. Any authorization received by your organization from the federal government. or any agency thereof. to rename the Chapel shall be conditioned on this limitation. Your proceeding with the securing of Federal authorization for the renaming of the Chapel as permitted hereunder will constitute your agreement with the foregoing. Sincerely. BOB HOPE (by Dolores Hope. attorney in fact).
Date: 2002-05-22
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise insupport of the Rangel Amendment to H.R. 3129. the Customs Border Security Act of 2001. As a Member of Congress. and as an African American. I cannot tolerate the practice of stopping and searching American citizens for no reason other than their race. As I studied H.R. 3129 that is what I feared would happen. As I thought about this issue. I realized that the words that went to the core of this issue had been written over two centuries ago. and could be found within one of the documents sitting on my deskThe Constitution of the United States. For the Constitutions Preamble states: "We. the people of the United States. in order to form a more perfect Union. establish justice. insure domestic tranquility. provide for the common defense. promote the general welfare. and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Let me repeat the key phrases that are critical to this issue: "We. the people of the United States . . . establish justice. insure domestic tranquility. do.ordain and establish this Constitution." The attitude demonstrated by too many law enforcement officers must change from inaccurately resuming the guilt of people of color. This is the least that our Constitution requires of them. H.R. 3129 is bad for Americas citizens. However. the Rangel Amendment addresses the core concern of Customs: that Customs inspectors are not personally liable for monetary damages in civil suits involving personal searches. the amendment also .ensures that there isrecourse for potential abuses of civil rights by providing recourse against the U.S. government. Section 141 of the bill provides immunity to a Customs officer conducting a search of a person or property provided he or she was acting in "good faith." The term "good faith" is not defined in the bill. An officer could engage in blatantly discriminatory conduct. but if he in "good faith" believes that he was justified in doing so. he could not be held liable. Customs officers are already entitled to qualified immunity that protects them from unwarranted claims related to illegal and unconstitutional searches. This bill would expand immunity so as to make it nearly impossible for a person seeking redress for an unconstitutional search. No law enforcement official is entitled to this broad grant of immunity and the Customs Office. which has a documented history of racial profiling. should not be an exception to the qualified immunity standard. Given that Congress has recently expanded the police powers of government officials. it should not at the same time cut back on the mechanisms in existing law that are designed to ensure police powers are not abused. It is our duty to breathe life into the words that protect every American Citizen. no matter the color of their skin. We must remember Dr. Martin Luther Kings words: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 3129 and support the Rangel Amendment. 0] 1545
Date: 2002-05-22
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: . California

Mr. Speaker. evidence continues to mount that we suffered a major. major failure of intelligence prior to September 11. Our colleague. Senator JOHN MCCAIN. writes in this mornings Washington Post that asking and urging and demanding answers by various agencies. the Federal Government failing to understand the enormity of the danger facing the United States is .an obligation shared by all elected officials. We were told in Newsweek earlier this week that even after the President asked. What is going on here. his intelligence advisors were unable to tease out the facts or decipher the information. Mr. Speaker. that is why we need an independent commission. We need an independent commission to determine the facts. Senator MCCAIN goes on to say. "It is hardly a surprise that in a lively democracy. the partisan and institutional loyalties will influence both sides of an honest debate challenging and confronting Federal Government." That is all the more reason to consider impounding an independent commission of trustworthy and experienced statesmen who are not entirely devoid of partisan loyalties. George Will. the columnist. then goes on to suggest such Americans as George Schultz. Sam Nunn. BOB GRAHAM. DICK LUGAR. Senator Danforth and others who can make up that commission. We owe it to this Nation. We owe it to the families of the victims [From the Washington Post]