macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-05
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 269.
Date: 2009-05-05
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I rise in support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of House Resolution 269. which seeks to support the goals of Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. I want to �thank the gentlewoman from Arizona for introducing this resolution and bringing muchneeded attention to motorcycle safety in our Nations roadways. With May once again bringing warm weather. highways nationwide will witness the seasonal rise of motorcycle riders. The popularity of motorcycles climbs every year. with motorcycle registrations increasing by over 60 percent from 1998 to 2005. . In anticipation of this rise in ridership. .it is important to educate the public about motorcycle safety. Public awareness of motorcycle safety benefits everyone sharing the roads. not just the motorcyclists. by reducing the number of carmotorcycle crashes. In 2007. motorcycle fatalities. increased for the 10th straight year in a row. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. there were 5.154 motorcycle fatalities and 130.000 injuries in 2007. This tragic statistic is much higher than the 2.116 fatalities and 53 million injuries recorded in 1997. One of the most effective ways to reduce motorcycle crash fatalities is to encourage riders to always wear a helmet. NHTSA estimates that helmet usage saved the lives of 1.784 motorcyclists in 2007 and could have saved another 800 lives if the motorcyclists killed in nonhelmeted crashes had been wearing their helmet. Throughout the month of May. safety groups across the Nation will host educational events and media campaigns highlighting these safety tools and promoting safe driving practices. Through these efforts. we can work to reduce the number of preventable tragedies that far too often devastate our communities.. While I was a State legislator. I fought hard to keep helmet laws in place. But. sadly. my home State of Florida now allows people to ride without helmets. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility.. Motorcycle accidents without helmets increase the insurance rates. burden the health care system and cause great iain for families. I thank the gentlewoman from Arizona for introducing this resolution and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting its passage. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-05-05
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 367) supporting the goals and ideals of National Train Day.
Date: 2009-05-05
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 367.
Date: 2009-05-06
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I am proud to support S. 386. the Fraud Enforcerent and Recovery Act of 2009. The bursting of the housing bubble and the subsequent deterioration of the economy revowaled fundamental weaknesses in our mortgage and financial industries. Predatory lending and discriminatory practices coupled with a lack of regulation and oversight resulted in rr any people being steered towards loans that fRey could not afford. or being given higher cost loans than they qualified for. Fraud. by definition. is the crime or offense o deliberately deceiving another in order to d image them--usually to obtain property or services unjustly. The practices that I just discussed certainly fit this definition. Mr. Speaker. during the height of the housirg bubble. many were blinded by greed. and tkeir actions played a large role in bringing a)out the economic hardships that we hear a)out on a daily basis. We must never allow such practices to happen again. and those gjilty of mortgage fraud should be sought out aid prosecuted. This bill would do precisely that. It would expand the definition of "financial institution" to irclude mortgage lending businesses or any. person who makes tederally related mortgage Icans. It also extends the prohibition of pro-. vding talse information for mortgage documents to employees and agents of the mortgage lending business. This bill also takes a comprehensive ap- poach to investigating and enforcing mortgage fraud. It authorizes monies for a wide swath of government agencies to strengthen their individual efforts and therefore strengthening their collective efforts. Mr. Speaker. much work remains to be dane as we move forward.. and while this p ece of legislation is not the beallendall soIttion. it is a meaningful first step. and I support it in lull. I thank my friend and colleague Representatiue JOHN CONYEAS Jr. for introducing this legi. lation.
Date: 2009-05-06
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Well. I thank you. my friend. I will pick up where you left off because I happen to have a copy of the letter that Chairman Bernanke sent to the Honorable ROBERT MENENDEZ. This ties into what you said as well. Congressman CLEAVER. In this letter he indicates. "A recent board staff analysis of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and data sources does not find evidence that CRA caused high default levels in the subprime market." He also goes on to say. "The CRA statute and regulations have always emphasized that these lending activities be consistent with safe and sound operation of the banking institutions." clearly indicating that the CRA is not at fault. I would like to do this just for a moment and then we will come back to more of why Its not at fault. But Id just like to say this. Assume for just a moment for the sake of wholesome argument and helpful debate that the CRA is at fault. just for a moment. Then we have to ask ourselves: As those who. by the way. have been saying and continue to say that its at fault. we would have to ask ourselves if they had control of the U.S. House of Representatives. the U.S. Senate. They had control of the executive branch of the government. even had control of the Supreme Court. and they had all .of this at the same time. If the CRA posed the hazard that they contend it poses. and they said that they made statements at the time that the CRA was not functioning as it should. then why didnt they do something when they had control of the House. the Senate. the executive branch of government as well as the Supreme Court? It would have been easy to generate legislation that could have gone from one House to the other. It would have been very easy to get the President. who apparently would have been in agreement. to sign it. But the truth is that the CRA was functioning well and has functioned well. In times of crisis. it is very unfortunate that the least among us will sometimes be blamed for what others have done. This is not the time to blame the CRA or the persons that the CRA might benefit for what has happened. Why? Because if we do this. we will allow ourselves to be distracted flrom the real causesthese exotic products. And not all exotic products are bad. but many of them are harmful and hurtful. These exotic products like these 3/27s and 2/28s that we talk about. exotic 1roducts that allowed people to get into homes. but it didnt enure to their becoming homeowners. We developed a society wherein people became homebuyers such that they could simply get into a home with no assurance that they could pay for the loan that they were purchasing. So we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted with this CRA stalking horse. if you will. We must focus on the real causes so that we can come up with real solutions. I would yield to you. Mr. CLEAVER.
Date: 2009-05-06
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me say. clearly. when you have a mortgage before I make my comment. Mr. originatorand many mortgage originators are good. and I thank the gentleman for pointing out that we are not here to indict an entire industry. But we are saying that the bad actors. there was no cop on the beat here for the people who would transgress. That when mortgage originators were given additional money in order to steer a homebuyer who was seeking a mortgage. to a higher priced loan. that is the kind of thing that would get people into a whole lot of trouble. particularly when that same mortgage originator would say. "Oh. well just do stated income." "Oh. you dont have to verify income." "Were just going to underwrite your mortgage during the teaser rate period and not during the entire length of the loan." These are the kind of things that got people in trouble. There is one of our colleagues that is fond of saying: Oh. predatory lending. predatory lending. What about predatory borrowing? Have you beard this term before? Well. predatory borrowing. what happened is that people would get a financial incentive to steer you away from that lower interest rate loan to that higher interest rate loan and keep the cream. yield spread premium. This Is what got people steered to the higher priced loans. So that is part of the problem. The next part of the problem is that when those mortgage originators did that loan. they could sell it on the secondary market where it was almost never scrutinized as whether it was a good loan or bad. that it would just be sucked up and it would be packaged up .into a mortgagebacked security. And those mortgagebacked securities would be packaged up into collateralized debt obligations. And some of these loans that were nonperforming. and there were large numbers of them. people would go out and buy insurance or. quoteunquote. insurance on these securities. but they were never required with these swaps to have enough money to cover if in fact the value of the security went down. So when they started going down and people said "pay me." thecompanies that wrote these swap agreements werent able to cover. and when they couldnt cover. then some of them started going under.
Date: 2009-05-06
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

It is important to point out. also. that this credit default swap market was not regulated. that AIG had about $440 billion plus of credit default swaps. It is also important to point out that the AIGs of the world. in an effort to cover themselves. would go to bond rating agencies and they were paying those agencies to rate these bonds. And. in so doing. they were getting products that were not totally reliable because of the way the payment system was working.
Date: 2009-05-06
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

That. is exactly right. It also promoted. as a result of this. this new industry that AIG became sort of the father of. in a sense. or at least the biggest benefactor of this credit default swap industry. such that they could capitalize on what became a form of gambling. if you want to know the truth. It really was a means by which one person was willing to bet that a default wouldnt take place on something that a third party was ultiriately going to have to pay for at some point in time. It really was a lot of confusion that was created. I would like to say this and digress for just a moment. because I think it is important. Our chairperson. the Honorable BARNEY FRANK. has been wrongfilly accused in this process. And I want to stand and say before the world that this is absolutely untrue that he i3 in any way associated with the ills that we find ourselves having to cope with. I say this because at the time when all of this was taking place. the persons across the aisle who had the opportunity to do something about it. they had the House. they had the Senate. they had the Supreme Court. they bad the executive branch of governnment. yet they didnt do anything. about it. But now that the Honorable ]EARNEY FRANK happens to have some iafluence because he is the chairperson of Financial Services. but all of this took place before he became chairperson and. as a result. he is trying to clean up something that took place on someone elses watch. He is dutiful and mindful of his watch. and I think we ought to let the world know that he has been a fine chairperson who has tried to clean up the problems that have been created.
Date: 2009-05-12
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker.1 rise in support of H.R. 2020: the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of Advanced computer networks are the wave of the future. As technology has improved. we are better able to predict the paths of hurricanes. the - force of tsunamis. or even the trajectory of comets. Advanced computing is a broad area of active research. The Texas Advanced Computing Center. in Austin. has scientists who are using supercomputers to simulate aidlow and manage shock waves tor nextgeneration. hypersonic aircraft. Other researchers there have been working to understand the process by which enzymes convert plant matter into energy. with the goal ot creating more efficient enzymes. Then we could more quickly convert waste to energy. High speed computers have also enabled scientists to develop realistic models of the human lung. Teams of Texas researchers are working to develop a new tool to image. understand. and diagnose how air flows through the thousands of branching passageways of the lung. and how abnormalities can lead to illness. There are so many useful applications for high speed computers and advanced networks. The federal government invests more than $3 billion on the Networking and Information Technology Rdsearch and Development (NITRD) program. It is essential that such a large investment is spent wisely. The Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recently provided recommendations on how to improve our federal efforts in computer network research. A key recommendation was to support highrisk. multidisciplinary research. I -support this suggestion. For tar too long. federal investments have been made in "safe research." or research that has a certainty of getting a result. .The negative consequence is that science moves along at an incremental snails pace. Investments in highrisk research may never come to fruition or payoff. However we must support research of this nature. Scientists must be unfettered to think more creatively. Then. they have the freedom to tackle big questions that sometimes take more time and moreexperimentation to answer. As a previous chair of the Research and Science. Education Subcommittee. I have long been a strong supporter of this kind of research. I support H.R. 2020 and urge my colleagues to support it also. .H5417
Date: 2009-05-12
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: engaged

in developing this resolution. Texas. Madam Speaker. let me thank and I would like to thank them. They my colleagues who are managing this are the American Nurses Association. bill today. the Emergency Nurses Association. the It really is a delight and a privilege National Black Nurses Association. to offer a resolution recognizing Na- and the National League for Nurses. tional Nurses Week. which is May 6 Todays resolution honors the good through today. the 12th. work that all nurses do. the profession that has more patient support than any other. Along with my many supportive colleagues. I want to thank the House leadership for bringing up this important resolution and I urge support for the resolution.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

bf California. Mr. Speaker. I would like to announce that at 9:13 a.m. this morning I. became an aunt. LINDA SANCHEZ. one of our colleagues. of course. my sister. and her husband. Jim Sullivan. gave birth to. a baby boy. 7 pounds. 14.6 ounces. and his name is Joaquin Esteban.And I would just add that both mother and child are doing great. I just spoke to my mom. whos in town. so were pretty excited. Thank you.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 2187 into the RECORD.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to th& gentleman from Iowa . who has been a driving force behind this legislation and one of the original cosponsors of this legislation.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I yield 3 minutes to the original author of this legislation. who has been pushing school construction legislation for a number of years. the gentleman from Kentucky .
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I yield 2 minutes to- the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu). a member of the committee. Mr. WU. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2187 and the underlying legislation. I thank Repretentatives CHANDLER and LOEBSACK for introducing this bill. I especially appreciate Chairman MILLER working with me to add seismic retrofitting. more efficient storm water runoff systems and additional clean energy sources to the allowable uses of funds In this bill. So many of our Nations schools are in urgent need of upgrading. The funds in this bill will do more than help create safe schools. It will help our schools actually return money to our communities by saving energy and creating jobs. I have firsthand knowledge of how creating safe and green schools can improve learning environments and student outcomes while saving nioney for taxpayers. In McMinnville. Oregon. the newly built Sue Buel Elementary School. which I had the pleasure of visiting in February. a building built in 1929. was replaced by a new school which was the first school in the State of Oregon to earn a gold LEED certification. The school was built with lowchemicalemitting materials. an energyefficient heating and ventilating system. and 96 rooftop solar panels that return over 19.000 watts of power back to the local electricity grid. Perhaps the most exciting thing about visiting Buel Elementary was seeing how engaged the students. nany of whom are on free and reduced lunch. how engaged those students are in their school and in learning about their environment. The school itself creates a sense of pride in the .students and keeps them excited about learning. This bill will help ensure that our children have a safe and healthy learning environment. with the added benefit of creating jobs during these difficult economic times.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I yield 2 minutes to Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Al GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman MILLER for his outstanding work in Congress and thank Mr. CHANDLER for sponsoring this piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman. the cost of energy is increasing. This bill will help us by saving energy. It will help us in the years to come by reducing the amount of energy that we will use. Unemployment is at 8.9 percent. This bill will put people to work in a crucial and critical area. the area of construction. because the bill is all about construction and reconstruction of some of our facilities. and more. of course. This bill is one that we all agree is needed. The need for it is undeniable. The question becomes. then. are we going to make our children a priority. That is really the question that I ask Members to consider. Will we make our children a priority? Yes. there are times when we cannot afford to do things. but there are also times when we cannot afford not to do things. This is one of those things that we cannot afford not to do. And there are times when you have done everything .that you can. you have not done enough. When you have done all that you can do. you have not dons enough. On occasions when you have done all that you can do and you havent done enough. you have a duty to do all that you can. This bill does all that we can do at this time to help this generation compete in the global economy. I beg. I besiege. and I implore my colleagues to make our children a priority and support this bill.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. I spoke on the floor earlier today in support of H.R. 2187: The 21st Century Green High.Performing Public School Facilities Act and the amendment that I cosponsored with Mr.. BRIGHT (AL). Ms. KOSMAS (FL) and Mr.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. Members of the House. as has been stated earlier in this debate. this is a very important piece of legislation that is geared to improve the condition of school buildings all across the country. and it does so while promoting energy efficiency through green buildings and creating jobs to help stimulate our economy. I have a managers amendment which I believe further improves the bill by providing equitable treatment of charter schools while ensuring that the school district can put all of its funds to good use. by allowing schools to give priority to projects designed to remove hazardous material like asbdstos and carcinogens. by setting aside more funds for tribal and outlying areas. and finally. allowing funds to be used for water supply and building envelopes. I think these are valuable changes. I want to thank Representatives POLIS. MATHESON. KIRKPATRICK and PINGREE for their insights and leadership on these changes. Mr. Chairman. critics of this legislation have argued that it intrudes on the traditional role and responsibility of the States. But this is not about Federal versus State and local control of school construction and repair. It is about meeting the urgent needs that will help revamp this Nations schools. improve student learning and global competitiveness. lower the costs for schools and taxpayers. and help us create jobs. I urge support of the managers amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. the managers amendment I would hope would pass. The discussion about what was the Polis amendment in the committee to make sure that charter schools got a Tair share of this money in fact remains intact. The problem with that amendment in the committee was that new charter schools would have in fact been precluded from having access to that money since they werent in existence and the amendment originally spoke to those charter schools in existence. As with the original amendment. this will be- done in consultation with the school board. If there isnt a demonstrated. need among the charter schools. the money goes back into the pot for the use of the schools. Thats. in fact. how it was done in the original amendment. Mr. POLIS. as the author of that amendment. has agreed to this change to make sure that we inelude all charter schools at that time. I urge passage of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-05-13
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the chairman for yielding. This is a great piece of legislation that you have allowed me to cosponsor with you. This is going to help the schools in my district. Many of them have suffered enormous damage. This Member has done us a service. I salu te him for what he has done. I also thank the ranking member. Mr. MCKEON. for agreeing to the amendment.