macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. as currently drafted. the Improving Government Accountability Act would authorize Inspectors General throughout -the government. and more than 60 of these offices exist. to directly submit their budget requests to Congress. By doing so. this legislation would circumvent the longstanding process under which Presidents submit to the Congress a budget proposal on behalf of the executive branch. While I understand the sponsors intent in authorizing independent budget submissions by IGs. I hiave concerns with the way the authority is currently constructed. Our concerns pertain more to the logistical nightmare than any particular objection to increased IG independence. First of all. according to the Congressional Research Service. no other offices or agencies within the executive Hi1195 branch currently are .authorized by statute to independently submit their budgets to Congress. H.R. 928 would not simply make an exception for one uniquely situated office. it would make an exception for all of the more than 60 IG offices currently in government. In other words. the Presidents annual budget would be accompanied by 60 separate IG budgets. This is inefficient. it is disorganized and unproductive. Second. I am concerned that by authorizing IGs to submit their budgets independently to Congress. we are encouraging them to submit their wish lists to Congress rather than submitting budgets that take into account the limited resources that are available to agencies. It doesnt take an active imagination to envision the increased government spending that this would cause. After all. if an IG submits its wish list to Congress. will Members of Congress have the stomach to appropriate an amount less than an IG requests? If we do. we could be painted as antioversight. a label none of us are interested in. Because of these concerns. I have filed an amendment proposing an alternative approach to the budget issue. This amendment would authorize Inspectors General to notify Congress if the budget request submitted by the agency head would substantially inhibit the IGs ability to perform his or her duties. The President would be required to include in his budget submission the original amount requested by each IG. This approach would give additional information to Congress. which is the intent. I think. of the legislation. It also encourages IGs to speak out "if their agencies try to stifle the IGs independence by reducing the IGs budget request. But it would stop short of authorizing all 60 IGs to separately submit their own budget request to Congress outside of the traditional Federal budget process. I think this amendment is a reasonable compromise which carefully balances the need for IG independence with the need for streamlined budget authority. We have enough problems enacting the Federal budget every year. we dont need to create 60 new ones. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman will yield. that is correct. Let me just add. I think that was the intent of the legislation. to make sure that the IGs werent stifled and that Congress gets -their eyes on that original request. and it would allow that.
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. this amendment would require agencies to include links on their Web pages to their IGs Web page. In addition. this amendment would require IGs to make public reports and audits conducted by the Inspector General immediately available on their Web sites. and it would require links for individuals interested in reporting waste. fraud and abuse. To the extent any of this is not currently being done by agencies and IGs. I am fully supportive of Congress requiring such information to be made available in order to increase the transparency of Federal Government operations. We are prepared to support the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. TowNs).
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to recommit be considered as read and printed in the RECORD.
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman very much for the time. Madam Speaker. weve heard a lot of comments from our friends on the other side of the aisle about what the President meant by his veto. Well. lets talk for a moment what we mean by the action were going to take. Were going to postpone action on the veto override. Were going to postpone for 2 weeks a significant decision which will allow us to begin. on a bipartisan basis. to answer this question. Im not sure I have seen a more cynical move in the House in my 13 years here. Maybe there has been one. but none comes to mind here. But we have such a priority to name post offices after eminent people this week. but we dont have the time to stay here to work on this issue. No. were gong to postpone our override of the Presidents veto because somehow we. in some silly way. say we need a timeout. We dont need a timeout. We need a timein. We need to work. There are many things the American people are concerned about. One is health care for those poor children. Thats why this program was established some 10 years ago. But the American people are also concerned about budgets that are out of control. and one of the reasons you have a budget out of control is because we take worthy programs that were designed for a specific purpose and we expand them and distort them beyond all recognition and have a program that is sold as for the children. that in some States has more adults on it than children. has more adults before youve registered the children. has gone beyond focusing on the poor children. is a program that is going to bankrupt this country because you see that repeated again and again and again. Cynicism. cynicism is postponing the action on this floor. Last time I checked. were not going to be here tomorrow. Last time I checked. were going to be out of here by 7 oclock tonight. but we dont have time to deal with this veto override so we can get about the business of truly dealing with a bipartisan approach to dealing with childrens health. Thats the message here. not defining what the Presidents veto is. but by our actions defining who and what we are.
Date: 2007-10-03
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. $peaker. I rise today to express my strong support for enacting a free trade agreement with our strongest ally in Latin America. and that is Colombia. Jn May. the House leadership brokered an agreement with the administration to pass the Peru. Colombia. Panama. and South Korea Free Trade Agreements. in that order. Mr. Speaker. And. actually. I am very pleased to see that the House Ways and Means Committee took action this week on the Peru Free Trade Agreement. I think its a great step in the right direction. However. I am concerned about the apparent lack of support from the House leadership for a Colombia Free Trade Agreement. an agreement that publicly was committed to by the House leadership. Mr. Speaker. it is imperative -that this Congress pass a Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Excluding our strongest ally in Latin America from preferential trade treatment would send a devastating message to the region. That message would be that if you are a strong ally. the strongest ally of the United States. if you are willing to stand up to antiAmerican dictators like Mr. Hugo Chavez. and if you are willing to fight the narcoterrorists. this United States Congress will not support you. A free trade agreement with Colombia would not only help further bolster the Colombian economy and help show our strong support for their efforts in fighting the war on drugs. it would also help the U.S. economy by opening up our business to this huge democracy. this huge export market. Mr. Speaker. we cannot send the world the message that if you support the United States. if you are willing to stand up even against our enemies. that this United States Congress will not stand with you. Please. lets not slight the Colombian people and their democracy. I urge the Democratic leadership and the House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Speaker. to bring forward a Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Date: 2007-10-04
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

Mr. Speaker. last April. 33 students were killed at Virginia Tech. That tragedy exposed problems with Federal laws that are a barrier to schools communicating with parents when a student has A serious problem. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 states that students records cannot be released except "to protect the health and safety of the student and others." Unfortunately. the interpretation of that law is so unclear that schools are fearful of being sued. The justreleased report from the National Association of Attorneys General Task Force on Campus Safety calls for an update of the FERPA law that would allow for protection from liability if schools make goodfaith efforts to protect students. faculty and staff. That is precisely what my bill. H.R. 2220. offers. a way to allow schools to communicate with parents when a student has significant mental health problems that increase the risk for suicide. homicide or violent acts while we still protect the confidentiality of records. I ask that all my colleagues join me and Representative GRACE NAPOLITANO in cosponsoring our bill. the Mental Health Security for Families in Education Act. and work to protect. our students. Lets take down the walls between parents and schools. Lets take action now to save lives tomorrow.
Date: 2007-10-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. in response to my good friend Mr. CARDOZAS point about the tradition with tax bills. yes. there has been a tradition to bring tax bills to the floor under a restricted rule. That has not precluded in the past. as we did often. the ability of the minority to offer a substitute amendment. So what I was talking about with regard to process is that there was a clear promise to move in a more open direction. to move toward more openness and more transparency and more rights for the minority. And what has happened is exactly the opposite. a doubling by the majority of closed rules that absolutely close out. in other words. prohibit. all Members from proposing amendments on this floor. So that great contrast between the promise and the performance is what I was alluding to. that unfortunate contrast. Now. on substance. again. I think that today is an example of something very positive. The congressional majority has decided to work with the minority and the President on an issue that is of importance to this legislation. And so we see legislation. much of which was proposed by the President of the United States. coming to the floor today to solve a major problem facing the American people. So while I reiterate the great disappointment that we in the minority feel with regard to the lack of performance by the majority with regard to its promise to open this House to more fairness on substance. I think its commendable that for once there is an issue of importance to the American people that the congressional majority has decided to work with the President on and with the minority in Congress. I will be asking for a "no" vote on the previous question. Mr. Speaker. 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 statenent 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. I would like to direct our distinguished colleagues. Mr. Speaker. to a letter that the House Parliamentarian. the distinguished JOHN SULLIVAN. recently sent to the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee. 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 stated that the Democratic earmark rule "does not comprehensively apply to all legislative propositions at all stages of the legislative process."
Date: 2007-10-04
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the current problems with mortgage and real estate markets are considerable. but theyre not permanent. For the individuals and families who have gotten into trouble with inappropriate mortgages. Im glad to see that their lenders are restructuring and writing down loans so people can move on with their lives. Taxation of phantom income is something Ive fought for a long time. I have confidence in the American economy and in the fact that real estate markets will rebound. Its not a permanent problem. However. this bill puts permanent relief in place and sets up a system where there is permanent assumption of sliding home prices. Instead of a permanent problem. I believe its a shortterm problem worthy of being given emergency budget designation. This would allow this phantom income to remain untaxed. and to make it unnecessary for permanent tax increases to be imposed on other Americans. The tax increase the majority has chosen as an offset is a permanent luxury tax on one in 20 American families who own a second home. The Ways and Means Committee has a track record on luxury taxes. and its not good. When the Democrats were last in the majority. they imposed a luxury tax on yachts and claimed that only the rich would pay the tax. The luxury tax on yachts really ended up being a tax on boats. It was a disaster tax on the American boat building industry and on marinas all over America. The luxury tax killed the yacht business. devastated an industry and was finally repealed with sincere regret. I fear this luxury tax on second homes will have the same effect as the luxury tax on yachts. Yet our friends. the Realtors. the bankers and the homebuilders all support the bill before us today because of the need for relief and mortgage debt forgiveness. Its clearly not a perfect bill. It should come back from conference with the Senate with only a temporary provision. then the luxury tax on second homes ought to no longer be necessary because it should be given the emergency budget designation it deserves.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Let me thank my colleague from Illinois for helping to shepherd this through today. and of course my friend from the District of Columbia who has been there from the beginning. This legislation at the very beginning had some tough sledding moving it through both Houses of the Congress. And also our thanks to Don Graham. who is really the father of this. The idea originated with him and he brought it to our attention early on in our congressional careers. and we are able to move it forward. But he brought a lot of bipartisan support from the business community to bear. I urge adoption of the bill. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise to pay tribute to an outstanding public servant. community leader and family man. It is fitting that H.R. 3518 requests the designation of the post office in Cantonment. Florida. as the Charles H. Hendrix Post Office. Mr. Hendrix retired from the postal service after 37 years of service. Starting his career as a mail carrier and ultimately serving as the post master of the Cantonment post office. he was the type of employee that exemplifies loyalty and dedication. A lifelong resident of Molino. Florida. Mr. Hendrix over the years served his community in many ways. He was a member of the Highland Baptist Church his entire life. where he served as Sunday School superintendent. He was church treasurer and chairman of the board of deacons at the time of his death. He was also a member of the Cantonment Rotary Club since 1962. He served one year as president and was an active member of the club service committee. He was also a charter member of the Molino Volunteer Fire Department. where he served as fire chief. assistant fire chief. and later as secretary of the *fire departments board of directors. once again showing his dedication and service to others in the community. Because of Mr. Hendrixs service to the community. he is remembered with appreciation as a man of great integrity and willingness to help others. It is for these reasons that we name the Cantonment. Florida post office for Charles Harold Hendrix. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Madam Speaker. I yield such time as. she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida. the author of this legislation.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of my bill. H.R. 3530. which will rename the post office on Highway 41 in Inverness. Florida. after Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver. Aaron was a resident of my district from Floral City who gave his life for his country while serving in Iraq. After graduating from Citrus High School in 1989. Aaron Weaver joined the Army. Aarons grandfather served in World War II and the Korean War. and his father was a very proud marine. Following in the family tradition. Aaron and his two brothers joined the military as well. As a member of the elite Army Rangers in 1993. Aaron Weaver received the Bronze Star with valor for extreme courage for saving another soldiers life in the battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. Weavers actions that day and the battle in Mogadishu were portrayed in the book and film "Black Hawk Down." Aaron Weaver also fought another battle. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer. but would not let that get in the way of his mission to serve his country. The cancer could have easily been his way out of Iraq. but instead. Aaron urged his officers to let him enter the combat zone. In Iraq. Aaron served as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and arranged to have his medical checkups for cancer while he was there. Aaron was actually on his way to a checkup not long before his tour of duty in Iraq was to end when his helicopter crashed on January 8. 2004. in southern Fallujah. I hope that in the simple of act of renaming this post office that we will memorialize Aarons incredible story. Aaron Weaver epitomized courage and patriotism. We must never forget his great sacrifice to our Nation. Madam Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I want to pay tribute to a remarkable soldier. and another true American hero. Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver. who at the age of 32 paid the ultimate price while in defense of his country. On January 8. 2004. he was on his way to have his blood work tested for cancer when the Black Hawk he was riding was shot down. killing all on board. As was noted before. Aaron was a testicular cancer survivor. He was still being treated when his unit was called to active duty in Iraq. He could have stayed at Fort Bragg. but that wasnt like him. His father said. He wanted to go to Iraq. When youre in a close group like that. you dont want your friends to leave you behind. As an Army Ranger. Weaver survived the October 1993 battle of Mogadishu in Somalia that was recounted in the book and film "Black Hawk Down." His heroism in saving a friends life was also featured in that documentaryon the battle. Not only was Chief Warrant Officer Weiver a fighter. he was a husband. a father. and a son. He was proud to serve his Nation. And with gratitude for his bravery and sacrifice to his country. I would urge all members to join me in supporting H.R. 3530. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from New York for introducing this bill. Martha Coffin Wright was the quintessential womens rights pioneer long before most women entertained the notion. She. along with her sister. Lucretia. spent their entire lives fighting for basic rights for women. She had a strong. independent mother who served as a powerful role model. In 1848. Mrs. Wright decided. along with others. to hold a convention in Seneca Falls to discuss the need for substantial womens rights. The significance of that first convention was recognized by Congress in 1980 when Womens Rights National Historical Park was created. The bronze statue to Mrs. Wright at the park shows that at the time of the convention she was 6 months pregnant while she participated in the convention. This was particularly remarkable at a time in history when women didnt often go in public as an activist. much less when they were pregnant. After the Seneca Falls Convention. Mrs. Wright served as president and in other leadership positions in many other womens rights conventions. Martha Wright was also a fervent abolitionist. and her home in Auburn. New York. was a station on the Underground Railroad. She often allowed fugitive slaves to sleep in her kitchen. Martha Coffin Wright was truly a woman whose significant accomplishments and contributions to both womens rights and civil rights set her apart as a leader and pioneer. Because of these. I rise today to recognize Martha Coffin Wright on the 200th anniversary of her birth and induction into the National Womens Hall of fame. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2007-10-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I think the key here is that this legislation is needed. You have defective pricing legislation. You have Qui Tam actions. You have the Procurement Integrity Act. The language in this bill that concerns me is not the fact that its intent to defraud. thats in a lot of legislation. Its materially overvalues any good. And I cant find any precedent for that in the federal acquisition regulations. I cant find any precedent in terms of what this means and how a prosecutor could take this from materially overvaluing any good. That is a very subjective measurement. There are a lot of unintended consequences. And I suspect this bill will pass today. although not with my vote. But I hope we can improve it if were going to make this actual law.