macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-03-31
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chair. I rise in opposition to H.R. 658. While we need a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. todays legislation takes us in the wrong direction. Our nations aviation infrastructure critically needs rehabilitation. On its 2009 Report Card on Americas Infrastructure. the American Society of Civil Engineers gave aviation infrastructure a "D." Investments in improvementsto renovate runways. taxiways. and terminals and to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) to modernize air traffic controlwould enhance passenger safety and reduce delays. They also create jobsapproximately 35.000 jobs per $1 billion of investment. However. rather than making the improvements our aviation system requires. this bill cuts funding back to FY2008 levelsa $1 billion cut in the first year alone. And funding would stay level. despite increasing need. each year until FY2014. Cuts to the Airport Improvement Program alone would cost our nation 70.000 jobs over the next four years. This bills funding reductions have a very real impact for passengers. Cutbacks to FAA operations could result in furloughs for hundreds of safety inspectors and slow certification of new equipment. A reduced budget could also postpone needed investments in air traffic control towers. lighting systems. and navigational aids. And the delays to NextGen implementation will result in more delays. more gridlock. and more runway incursions that endanger passengers. Additionally. this bill contains a poison pillone that neither the President nor the Senate will accept. It repeals a National Mediation Board rule. finalized last year. which allows workers to organize based on a majority of votes castthe same way members of Congress are elected. Under this legislation. if a worker does not cast a ballot in a union election. he or she would be counted as a "no" vote. This is unfair and undemocratic. Mr. Chair. our aviation infrastructure has serious needs. We need a serious bill to address them. Lets end arbitrary and damaging cuts and poison pill provisions and consider a bill that puts Americans to work rebuilding our nation.
Date: 2011-03-31
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 138. after line 9. insert the following (and conform the table of contents accordingly):
Date: 2011-03-31
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong support of this amendment. This amendment really restores democracy to the American workplace. and it restores the American principle of majority vote and majority rule. The decision by the National Mediation Board to begin recognizing election results based upon who actually votes in the election is correct and a long time coming. It was a fair and open process that included a 60day comment period and public hearing with 34 witnesses. and their actions were upheld in court. Think of this in our committee. Our rules are a majority of those present and voting. No committee in this Congress would operate under these rules because they would not be able to prevail on any of the votes because people could just stay away and they would be counted "no." No PTA would operate under these rules. They may have a very large membership. So we ought to restore democracy. protect American workers and vote for this amendment. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1255. And I say to my friend from Georgia that no matter how he slices it. if you are saying in this bill that if the Senate fails to act. then H.R. 1 becomes law. check Websters. Thats deeming. This is blatantly unconstitutional deemandpass legislation offered by Representative WOMACK. and it makes me wonder what sort of April Fools Day joke is being played on the American public. To be sure. Congressman WOMACK cited constitutional authority for his bill. First. he cites clause 7 of section 9 of article I of the Constitution for the concept that Congress has the authority to spend money by passing laws. He then cites clause 1 of section 8. article I for the idea that Congress shall have power to lay taxes and pay the debts. But what my Republican colleague fails to cite is clause 1. section 1. article I for the fundamental concept that Congress shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. As much as we dont like that much of the time. that is what the Constitution says. I also refer him to clause 2. section 7 of article I that lays out the basic constitutional construct that a bill becomes a law if. and only if. it is passed by the House and the Senate and signed by the President. The House has no magic wand to do this all on its own. Glinda. the good witch of the north. is not coming to save you. H.R. 1 is more like a product of the wicked witch of the west. Perhaps at the start of the next Congress we should show the "Schoolhouse Rock" video "I Am Just a Bill." as a refresher on how a bill really becomes a law. It appears reading the Constitution on the floor hasnt stuck so well. Now. while today is April Fools Day. it also feels a bit like Ground Hog Day because here we are again deeming to pass the majoritys jobkilling spending bill. H.R. 1. In case anyone has forgotten. that jobkilling spending bill would destroy 700.000 jobs and threaten the economic recovery now underway. The Democratic minority remains committed to our goals for the 112th Congress to create jobs. strengthen the middle class. and responsibly reduce the deficit. I say defeat this misguided legislation and make sure that Members of Congress arent paid when government employees arent.
Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I quarrel with the understanding of the gentleman on the other side of the aisle about the Constitution. There are three branchesthe judiciary. the legislature. and the President. Thank God there are because that means that we have the ability to be reasonable and practical. recognizing we have a responsibility to reduce the debt but not killing off seniors and those in classrooms. I just came from speaking to Spelman College. a group of women in a Historically Black College. Women who are ready to go out and serve America. and they realize that their education is a gift. But they want to give back to America. This ridiculous $61 billion in cuts wants to make sure that we dont have the American Dream. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee. I sit and listen to those voting the war of drug cartels on the border. but $400 million is going to be cut out of the Homeland Security funding so that it impacts ICE agents. it impacts Border Patrol agents. it impacts intelligence gathering. These kinds of nonpractical ways are undermining America and Americas dream. 700.000 jobs is just the beginning. Its the floor. not the limit. For those of you who seek a single tunnel view of how we run this country. have mercy on those who are in need. This is the wrong direction. Sit down at the bargaining table. Lets reassess what we need to do and stop putting your ideas on the back of Americans who need to be able to have the American Dream.
Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. generations of our nations children have learned about civics and our American form of government in elementary schooland through iconic television programs like PBS Schoolhouse Rock. where a singing Bill explains to his youthful audience the process by which. if hes lucky. he can become a law. To this day. countless Americans still recall how the hopeful Bill gets stuck in committee before making it to the House floor. then has to start all over again in the Senate and even get signed by the President before finally becoming a law. Today. the Republican majority wants to defund public television and pass legislation saying that an action taken by a single chamber of Congress can become law. Our old friend Bill is distraught. After all these years. was he just getting a runaround? Were those pesky steps in the Senate and the White House really necessary? What is he going to tell the kids? How could he possibly have gotten it so wrong? Madam Speaker. fortunately for us. and for the school children of America. Bill did not have it wrong. Article I. Section 7 of the Constitution clearly states: "Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate. shall. before it become a Law. be presented to the President of the United States." Madam Speaker. the clock is ticking. The nation is waiting. The time for gimmicks and distractions and game playing is over. We have serious work to do. Lets move past this foolishness and negotiate a responsible continuing resolution for the American people.
Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Its time to cease fire and sit down and negotiate. One would believe that Im speaking about the conflict in the Mid East and about Libya. What Im really speaking about is the Governor of the State of Texas and the challenge that we have of ensuring that $830 million comes back to the State of Texas for our school children. Earlier today. I had the privilege of speaking to a group of students from Spelman College. an Historically Black College. and I told them their greatest contribution can be to go into the elementary schools and the secondary schools and talk to them about the value of education. We cant see America lose its excellence in education. see children in 60person classes. teachers thrown out in the street. We need the $830 million in the State of Texas. Lets resolve our differences. Lets give a commitment to the Secretary of Education that you will use these dollars for education only. Parents and teachers and students and those who are committed to educating our children. the best and the brightest. deserve that kind of commitment. What is America great for? Its great because weve given the opportunity of education to all people. Texas. its time to cease fire. Sit down. negotiate. and receive $830 million Federal dollars on behalf of the children of Texas.
Date: 2011-04-04
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I was detained in my congressional district. therefore I could not be present for the vote today on Monday. April 4. 2011. If I were present I would have voted "yea" for the following bill: H.R. 1246To reduce the amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Defense for printing and reproduction.
Date: 2011-04-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. our soldiers on the front lines all over this world understand what a fight is about. If you have ever visited them in Iraq and Afghanistan. they have values. They know about their grandmothers and grandfathers. and they know about their families back home with their children. They know what they are fighting for. They will understand that we are here fighting for values. This government shutdown is not the blame or the fault of the President of the United States or the Democrats in the House or in the Senate. There has been an offer of $73 billion. It is a question of whether or not you want to solve this problem on the backs of grandmothers and granddads. on the backs of the families of the military persons who are on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you want to throw college students right out on their rear that are right in the middle of their school term by canceling their Pell Grants? Do you want to tell mothers taking their children to the clinic that there is no more Medicaid for them? Do you want to turn the lights out and close the door and say: America. we dont have any more values. I do not want to shut this government down. You are not going to shut it down on my watch. if we can work together. I am going to stand and fight for values. and were going to pull together. We will stand and we will survive. However. let them shut the government down. if the Republicans refuse to compromise. Shut it down. Shut it down. But the Democrats are going to stand for the values of protecting the most vulnerable in America. and we will win.
Date: 2011-04-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas .
Date: 2011-04-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII. further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas will be postponed.
Date: 2011-04-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Strike sections 2 and 3. redesignate section 4 as section 3. and insert after section 1 the following:
Date: 2011-04-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chair. I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII. further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas will be postponed.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 1. rule I. I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speakers approval of the Journal.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. 1 year ago this House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation that would have prevented children from being abused in classrooms. but. unfortunately. it never became the law. In the year since then. children have suffered and have been abused in school. and parents have felt completely helpless. In 2009. the Government Accountability Office told our committee of the shocking wave of abuse by untrained school staff who were misusing emergency interventions. Most of these victims were children with disabilities. Some were 3 and 4 years old. In some cases. children died. Restraint and seclusion should be used only as a last resort and by trained professionals. but the GAO found that was not the case. This is unacceptable. and yet it is a reality for too many children across the country. A media report out yesterday highlights that these horrific abuses continued through this past year. In Chicago. a 4yearold boys wrists were taped together with painters tape and then duct tape because he refused to take a nap and he didnt wash his hands. In Fayetteville. North Carolina. a 5yearold students arm was broken when a teacher held him down. In New Orleans. a teacher handcuffed a male student by his ankle to a chair because he didnt follow the teachers instructions. This abuse of children and the death of children has got to stop.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I stand here this morning very troubled because the Republican budget will end Medicare and eliminate the guaranteed coverage. This is unAmerican. It slashes Medicaid for seniors in nursing homes. health care for children. and Americans with disabilities. This is unAmerican. It increases the cost of college education for close to 10 million middle class students and their families. It gives away billions in subsidies to tax breaks for Big Oil. and it gives tax cuts for the wealthy that will add $1 trillion to the deficit. It gives tax breaks to corporations that send jobs overseas. Yes. we must cut. but we must cut with common sense. We must not gut the future of America. It has to be sensible.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the ranking member. and I thank the Members on this floor today. I believe that this is one of the most serious debates that we will have in the history of this Congress. It is whether or not America belongs to all people and not special interests. Coming from the State of Texas. I can tell you that statistics will say that we probably have the highest number of men and women serving in the United States military. a large number of bases. a large number of veterans. and we well know the values of those men and women who sacrifice and leave their families and go overseas. But I said yesterday on the floor of the House. we have values. As my colleagues have said. can we say it one more time? We will support a clean CR to pay our troops. to pay their families. to keep the doors of our hospitals open. to provide Medicare for our seniors and Medicaid and education for our children. But. no. friends on the other side are strangled by special interests. picket signs and loud shouts about "shut it down." The President has already said he will veto this silly legislative initiative. Why are we in the midst of a serious budget debate? By the way. the Ryan budget that has been put out by the Republicans will deny 66 percent of citizens. of seniors. off of Medicare. They will be off. We will not balance the budget under the Ryan budget until 2040. It will cause $8 trillion more debt. Its hard for America to understand this complicated process. It seems so confusing. but. my friends. were talking about last year where people have already committed. making commitments to pay their bills like you would make commitments. And then in the middle. you would be shortchanged or cut off. Where is the heart on the other side? Yes. yesterday I said shut the government down if you have no heart because were not going to compromise our values.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. if the majority were genuinely interested in avoiding a government shutdown. they would bring a clean. one week CR to the floor to give the current negotiations time to reach a successful conclusion. But thats not what were being asked to vote on today. Instead. in the most cynical demonstration of bad faith. todays legislation combines funding for our troopswhich every Member of this House supports. and which a clean CR would providewith controversial cuts and ideologically extreme poison pills that the majority knows the nation doesnt want and the Senate and the President will not support. As a result. in this moment of truth. the majority is deliberately choosing to dive headlong into a government shutdown in order to pander to its Tea Party base while the rest of America yearns for honorable compromise and adult leadership. As Ranking Member of the Budget Committee. and someone who actually supported the last two CRs. I am willing to work in good faith with Members on both sides of the aisle to break the current impasse. But I will not participate in this kind of eleventh hour partisan gamesmanship when our federal governments operations are at stake.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. today I was unavoidably detained and missed the following vote: Motion to Recommit H.R. 910 (rollcall No. 248). Had I been present. I would have voted "yea" on this motion.
Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

If you could yield for a moment. I want to thank the gentleman for the clarification. for separating out. I want to add something. Medicare is a program that is going to be wholly privatized and income driven without any basis in substance. meaning. plainly. if you are more wealthy. this has nothing do with how you would do Medicare today. as someone suggested that you staggered the amounts on income. This has to do with. if you can even get Medicare. it will be because you have enough money to get Medicare because it will be in that system. Then. of course. there is some little secret backroom corner where they throw something out about a public system that is not even defined. But you make a very good point about nursing homes. which I have a lot in my district. In fact. we are always hearing from them regarding maintaining their status. And certainly we are very keen to make sure that these nursing homes meet their own standards. But they provide refuge and rest. if you will. for not only the seniors. but the frail and the disabled. And I just want to paint this picture for you. Mr. GARAMENDI. I just want to paint the picture for you of no room at the inn. lights out. doors wide open. and the drumbeat playing as people are being rolled out of nursing homes in wheelchairs. with crutches. some on beds. Maybe we can just imagine the tragic scenes of Hurricane Katrina. when nursing home residents were pouring out of nursing homes in the wake of the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Well. let me tell you. weve got Hurricane Ryan. and there is a disaster coming. And. frankly. with all good intentions of our good friends on the other side of the aisle. if we had sat down at the table of compromise and projected how we can best serve America by reducing the deficit. the debt. and recognizing that we have morality and we have values that will help this country. Might I just say that we are talking about seniors. but dont forget there are many. many families that take their children to pediatricians on Medicaid. and thats their primary care provider just like Medicare. So I would just simply add this word that I am not ready to bury Medicare now. and I believe there is a rejuvenation. there is a rebirth coming. and that is the American people saying. no. not on my watch. This is a nonstarter. and I am glad to be standing with you today.
Date: 2011-04-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to oppose H.J. Res. 37. a resolution disapproving of the recent FCC net neutrality rule. The FCCs net neutrality rule is designed to ensure that the Internet remains affordable and accessible to all Americans. This goal is critical for Americans to engage the world and for the Internet to continue to be the engine of economic growth. job creation and innovation we have known it to be. To continue fulfilling this vital role in our society and economy. the Internet must be unencumbered and free from arbitrary or commercially driven disruptions. The FCC rule is tailored to achieve that objective. Mr. Speaker. the FCCs net neutrality rule is the product of years of careful analysis. deliberation and review. The question of whether the FCC has the authority to issue the rule will ultimately be decided by the courts. We should not be considering such a serious matter under the expedited procedures and closed rule before us today. I urge a "no" vote.
Date: 2011-04-12
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Reserving the right to object. and I will not object. I would just like to commend the gentleman for bringing this measure and how important it is that the Holocaust be remembered right here in the heart of our Capitol. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation.