macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-10-17
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. thank you very much for your courtesy. I thank my good friend Ms. MATSUI for hers as well. Again. with regard to the underlying legislation. its important legislation. I think its a good work product thats come forth from compromise. people reaching out from both sides of the -aisle and working together. But the rule. unfortunately. is most unfair. as is typically the case with this new majority. Mr. Speaker. I will be asking for a "no" vote on the previous question so that we can amend this rule and allow the House to consider a change to the rules of the House to restore accountability and enforceability to the earmark rule. Under the current rule. so long as the chairman of a committee of jurisdiction includes either a list of earmarks contained in the bill or report. or a statement that there are no earmarks. no point of order lies against the bill. This is the same- as the rule in the last Congress. However. under the rule as it functioned under the Republican majority in the 109th Congress. even if the point of order was not available on the bill. it was always available on the rule as a question of consideration. But because the Democratic Rules Committee. specifically exempts earmarks from the waiver of all points of order. they deprive Members of the ability to raise the question of earmarks on the rule or on the bill. "Id like to direct our colleagues. Mr. Speaker. to a letter that the House Parliamentarian. Mr. John Sullivan. recently sent to the Rules Chair. Ms. SLAUGHTER. which confirms what we have been saying since January.. that the Democratic earmark rule contains loopholes. In his letter to Chairwoman SLAUGHTER. the Parliamentarian states that the Democratic earmark rule "does not comprehensively apply to all legislative proposition at all stages of the legislative process." I will insert this letter in the RECORD at this point.
Date: 2007-10-17
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida changed her vote from "yea" to "nay."1 So the previous question was ordered. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. Stated for:
Date: 2007-10-17
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today in honor of Staff Sergeant Lillian Clamens. who was killed in Iraq on October 10. 2 days before she was scheduled to come home. when insurgents launched a rocket attack on her unit. I want to extend my deepest condolences to her husband. Raymond. her three children. Victoria. Alana. and Ayinde. her parents and all of her family and friends. Staff Sergeant Clamens was a true American patriot devoted to her family and her country. She served in the Army Reserve for more than 15 years and was assigned to the 1st Postal Platoon. 834th Adjutant General Company. in Miami. Prior to her deployment. she worked as an administrative clerk at the U.S. Southern Command in Doral. She exemplified the best our Nation has to offer: a loving mother of three children. a devoted wife. and a soldier selflessly committed to serving our country. Madam Speaker. her life will continue to inspire all those who knew her and many who frankly did not know her. The United States and our world is a far better place because of her service. The best way to honor her is to replicate her devotion to her country and her family. She gave the ultimate sacrifice tohelp defend our freedoms and advance liberty for so many others. She was a true American hero whose dedication to freedom and family. Madam Speaker. made a difference in this world. I join all Americans in expressing my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Staff Sergeant Lillian Clamens. Her commitment to. and pacrifice for. our great Nation will never be forgotten. She has the deepest gratitude and devotion of our Nation.
Date: 2007-10-18
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

Madam Speaker. yesterdays headlines started that more people will die from MRSA infections than die from AIDS. but thats just the beginning of the story. for actually some 90.000 people will likely die this year from an infection they pick up in a hospital or receiving health care. Tragic news. We also hear about students in school who have died from MRSA infections. But the point is hospitals are taking actions to reduce its infection rates. and yet Congress is not doing anything to help address this issue. We can do something about it by passing legislation Ive introduced. H.R. 1174. the Healthy Hospitals Act. My legislation would require hospitals to report infection rates. After all. people can find out if their airline is on time. why not be able to find out if your hospital is infection free. Nineteen States currently require reporting. and several other States are considering legislation. Medicare earlier this summer began denying hospitals reimbursement for hospitalrelated infections. - It is long overdue that Congress act. Lets standardize hospital reporting practices and fight hospitalrelated infections. I ask my colleagues to please cosponsor the Healthy Hospitals Act.
Date: 2007-10-18
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. October 21 through October 27 will be National Save for Retirement Week. I hope folks take a few moments next week to look at their personal savings to see what more they can do to save for retirement. Saving for retirement can be an overwhelming task if left to the last minute. Just like most things in life. if you fail to plan. you plan to fail. Retirement doesnt have to- be that way. You can choose to save. To learn retirement planning tips and to complete a ballpark estimate on how much it will cost you to live in retirement. go to the Web site choosetosave.org. Its time for you to start planning your future retirement today. Do it now.
Date: 2007-10-18
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today to support the Presidents veto. It is important for the American people to understand- that this debate is not about whether or not to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program. but how we reauthorize it. This bill completely misses the mark. It is a massive expansion of a govemmentrun program that takes resources away from the very children it was meant to help. In this country there are millions of lowincome uninsured children who are currently eligible for government help. but are not enrolled. I firmly believe it is our responsibility to cover the neediest of Americas kids first. The bill the President vetoed did just the opposite. The Democrats bill diverts money away from those who need it the most in order to cover kids who already have private health insurance. One in every three kids covered under this bill already has private health insurance coverage.- Because the Democrats care more about how much they can expand taxpayer funded entitlement programs rather than helping those who actually need help. I will vote to sustain the Presidents veto. Out of respect to the American taxpayer and the uninsured kids who need our helpCongress can and should pass a more fiscally sound bill that puts the poorest kids first.
Date: 2007-10-22
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 813. the Santa Ana River Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2007. which will significantly increase Southern Californias water supply. The Santa Ana River Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2007 authorizes federal funding for a number of important local water projects. When complete. these projects will increase Southern Californias water supply by over 37 billion gallons per year. Because of dwindling supplies. increasing demands. and looming drought. Southern California communities continue to seek nontraditional methods to produce dependable water sources. I am pleased that the House has recognized the importance of addressing the chronic water shortages in Southern California by providing thefunding resources necessary to help local water agencies improve water reliability and diversity. H.R. 813. the Santa Ana River Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2007. will improve Southern Californias water supply by developing wetlands in the Prado Basin. and expanding groundwater desalination in the Chino Basin. and constructing regional brine lines. Specifically. H.R. 813 authorizes the federal government to spend $20 million to develop largescale wetlands along the Santa Ana River in the Prado Basin. to purify the River before it replenishes Orange Countys groundwater supplies. This expanded natural treatment system will provide an additional 24.5 billion gallons of water per year. In addition. H.R. 813 authorizes $50 million in federal funding to expand groundwater desalination in the Chino Basin from the current 2.9 billion gallons per year to 13 billion gallons per year. This will provide a new fresh drinking water supply for Jurupa Community Services District. Santa Ana Mutual Water Company in Riverside County. and the cities of Norco. Chino. Chino Hills. and Ontario in San Bernardino County. Also. the bill authorizes $40 million in federal funding to provide methods to safely and efficiently discard excess brine from nearby desalination plants by constructing a line that transports residual brine to the Pacific Ocean. This will ensure salt water does not contaminate fresh groundwater supplies. If we want to sustain Americas economic growth and provide for a rapidly increasing population. we must ensure our communities have. efficient and reliable access to water resources. By encouraging the use of innovative technologies through water recycling and desalination. this bill ensures that more drinking water will be available across Southern California. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill. As it moves forward through the legislative process. I will continue to urge for its expeditious enactment.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge. the prodemocracy rally that took place in Belarus on October 7. During this event. thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the capital city in support of democracy and to demand free and fair elections. The protesters shouted "Belarus and Europe." and they waved European Union flags to express outrage against Alexander Lukashenko. That is the person the State Department has labeled "the last dictator of Europe." It is time for this dictator. who cheated his way into office by stealing the elections last year. to step aside. step down. and let the people decide who should lead their country through legitimate and clean elections. The world must not tolerate evil dictators. and this one must step aside to allow Belarus to join the modern world rather than suffer under the oppressive and selfish rule of one man. I applaud. Madam Speaker. the courage of the protesters who took to the streets in Belarus. and I stand with them in their quest for freedom. democracy. and the rule of law.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. as we listen to the comments of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. it is obvious that what they intend to do is to make this "SCHIP Week" and "SCHIP Month." You kind of wonder why they are doing this. Reflect back on last week when we had a most important vote scheduled for this floor that somehow was removed. It was called the FISA vote.. It is the question of how we enable ourselves to protect us and our children and our grandchildren against the attacks of those who are terrorists around the world. We do it in many ways. but absolutely essential is intelligence. Madam Speaker. the FISA bill. the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. would have been destroyed by the bill placed on the floor last week by the majority. the socalled RESTORE Act. It actually gave greater protection to Osama bin Laden in a telephone conversation than an American citizen in the United States accused of a crime. RESTORE: What does it mean? Repeal Effective Surveillance Techniques Opposing Real Enemies. Go out to NSA and see what they are doing. Understand what we need to do in this country and then bring a bill back to this floor that restores the ability of the United States to find out about our enemies before they attack.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. according to the FBI testimony before our House Committee on Homeland Security: "The European and American experience shows that prisons are venues where extremists have radicalized and recruited among the inmate population." Now. this is not just a theoretical concern. We all remember the case of Richard Reid. apprehended while attempting to detonate a bomb on a U.S.bound commercial flight in December 2001. Well.. that same Mr. Reid is believed to have been radicalized by an imam while incarcerated in Britain. In 2005 we learned of the California prisonbased case of the "Assembly of Authentic Islam." These individuals were involved in almost a dozen armed gas station robberies in the Los Angeles area. with the goal of financing terrorist operations. They were indicted by a Federal grand jury for conspiracy to levy war against the U.S. Government through terrorism. And in April of this year. in a hearing that we held out in Torrance. California. Sergeant Larry Mead of the Gang Intelligence Unit. Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. testified that "analysis shows that radicalization and recruitment in U.S. prisons is still an ongoing concern." Similarly. in a recent report. the NYPD noted that prisons are "an excellent breeding ground for radicalization." The key to the success of stopping the spread of radicalization is identifying how radicalization begins and eliminating its breeding grounds. We know we have difficulties with this phenomenon in our prisons. but we dont know enough about it. We need to have collaboration between the Federal prison system authorities and the State prison system authorities and within the prison system authorities themselves. We need to bring together the best thinkers on this. the best people who have experience in dealing with this already at the ground level. and. in fact. this bill does that. � Radicalization is not that well understood. and through this bill we will take an indepth look at how it occurs. The commission provided for in H.R. 1955 would give our government an indepth. multidisciplinary look at radicalization. And why is that important? Because no one has the single answer on this. Yes. we have the background of prisons as the general background to look at the radicalization in prisons. but how does it occur? Why does it occur? And why are we seeing a rise in this at this particular time when it is perhaps most dangerous to the American- people? Radical Islam and its advocates around the world are a threat to America. but we have to understand we might develop a threat within the United States. as evidenced already by certain actions that have occurred. And therefore I would suggest that we vote "yes" on H.R. 1955 so we can get. the facts upon which we can plan for prevention. not just taking care of the problem after it occurs.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This very important bill will play a key role in protecting our homeland. As events abroad have taught us all too frequently. homegrown extremists and terrorists pose a serious and deadly threat to the general population. The recent attacks in Great Britain. as well as the foiled plot in Germany. prove that we must prevent the spread of violent radicalization within our own borders. They do it there. we certainly need to do more here. Here at homeour -intelligence and law enforcement officials have done an exceptional job of keeping America safe from such threats. Over the last 11 years. we have seen plots against the Sears Tower in Chicago. Ft. Dix in New Jersey. and JFK Airport foiled by our Nations vigilant network of law enforcement and intelligence personnel. The bill before us will serve to strengthen those homeland defense efforts by preventing ideologies that promote violence and terrorism from taking root in American soil. We know that al Qaeda seeks to spread their evil philosophy everywhere. even into the minds of our own U.S. citizens. To combat radical Muslim extremists ceaseless efforts at expansion. this bipartisan bill will create a commission to study violent radicalization and work with all levels of government both here and abroad to examine strategies to deal with this phenomena. This bill has an estimated cost of approximately $20 million. This number pales in comparison to the cost in human suffering and economic devastation a homegrown terrorist attack might bring. As Americans. we must never give up fighting the forces of hate and violence espoused by al Qaeda. and I believe this bill is a valuable weapon in that struggle. I commend the chairwoman. and Ranking Member REICHERT for their tenacity in bringing this bill to the floor. and I support it.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania . a member of the Homeland Security Committee.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. let me just use the balance of my time to say that I thank the chairman for the work he has done on bringing this to the floor at this time so we can complete action with the Senate and get it to the Presidents desk to be signed. I would also like to mention the ranking member of the full committee who could not be here because he is still returning from the funeral for his mother who passed away this past week. Mr. KING has done tremendous work on this. particularly the amendment for liability protection for the sellers of ammonium nitrate if they act in good faith to protect the American people. Mr. KING has done yeoman work in this regard to this and other bills. I hope that we would recognize that at this time. Again. Mr. Speaker. this is an example of a bipartisan approach to an issue that affects all Americans. Democrat. Republican. independent. whatever. It October23. 2007 is of the utmost importance. And once again. I thank all the members. Democrat and Republican. who worked on this. and I thank my chairman for bringing this to the floor and allowing us to vote on this time. I would ask for Members to have full support for this bill. Mr. SpeakerI I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my overwhelming support for H.R. 327. This bill addresses a glaring need for mental health support at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Medical personnel easily identify and treat physical injuries related to combat. However. more difficult to identify are those brave men and women that bear the mental scars of war. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a very real and potentially deadly condition if not properly treated. The reality is we as a Nation ask a great deal of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. They deal with extreme condi tions. heavy body armor and separation from their families. In addition. these soldiers are constantly looking over their shoulders not knowing whenor *here the next attack or LED will come from. Many times. they witness firsthand the deaths of those they serve beside. Underthese extreme conditions. it is no wonder that those who have served so bravely come home and find it very difficult to put these experiences behind them. PTSD is gaining more attention. and rightly so. As a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. we are seeing more servicemembers returning home with these types of stress disorders. If not properly treated. those suffering from PTSD may turn to drugs or alcohol to cope. Some may even take their life. That is why the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act is such an important piece of legislation. It ensures when a veteran is having trouble with any mental illness they have a place to turn. It ensures that at each VA medical facility there is a designated suicide prevention counselor who will engage in community outreach to veterans and improve the coordination of mental health services. The bill also makes available mental health care 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. There is also a tollfree hotline for veterans staffed by appropriate mental health personnel. In conclusion. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 327 provides a necessary service to our Nations veterans. and I would urge all of my colleagues to support this measure.
Date: 2007-10-23
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Thank you. Mr. BOOZMAN. and thank you. Chairman FILNER. I appreciate your bringing this to the floor. Its an important piece of legislation. And I think what everyone has said is absolutely true. Mr. Speaker. as a former POW in Vietnam for nearly 7 years. and I was there for two tours too. Mr. BOSWELL and I both. I find this vandalism unconscionable and unAmerican. Why on Earth would someone want to reignite the pains of the past? Defacing the wall was the ultimate act of cowardice. Why anyone would want to destroy a sacred monument in Washington. DC. is beyond me. Even though I did two tours in Vietnam. I spent most of my time in captivity. I didnt get to know a lot of the brave men and women who died in action. those who have their names etchdd into the shiny. marble dark wall. But I did get to know a great American very well. His name is Ron Storz. a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and a fellow fighter pilot. Originally from New York. Ron was shot down on April 28. 1965. I was shot down barely a year later. on April 16. Because our captors tried to blame a handful of us for overthrowing the Vietnamese Government. they labeled us diehards. They threw 11 of us in solitary confinement in adjacent cells. Of the 11 of us. only 10 came home. Our captors killed Ron Storz after he went on a hunger strike. It breaks my heart to .think that someone would senselessly harm and deface the names. the honors. the legacies of great patriots like Ron. You can find Rons name on panel 1 of the east wall. I deeply hope and pray the loved ones of those men and women memorialized on the wall know we remember their selfless family members and thank them for their dedicated service and ultimate sacrifice. These men and women listed on the wall all demonstrate why America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. These valiant warriors fought to protect and defend this great Nation.. and we should not allow someone to tarnish their good names. and we must condemn this vandalism. I thank you both.