macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-20
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I rise today because it is the 107th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Cuba. May 20. 1902. Most people. Mr. Speaker. think that independence of the Republic of Cuba was obtained from Spain. It was not. The fight was against Spain for almost 100 years. Hundreds of thousands of heroic Cubans lost their lives. Then. the United States intervened to help Cuba in 1898. And this Congress was instrumental in making certain that after there was pacificationand obviously Spanish colonialism had been expelledthat the Republic of Cuba would be possible. The United States voluntarily left Cuba. Withdrew. Granted Cuba its independence by withdrawing. May 20. 1902. So. today is an anniversary of a very important occasion. Its a sad anniversary. because 50 years ago the Cuban Republic fell in the hands of a demented serial killer. a demonic mass murderer. Fidel Castro. And he continues to rule. He has been ill for some years and so he has granted some titles -of power to his brother. But he continues to be the absolute. personal. total dictator of the totalitarian circus that oppresses the Cuban people. There are hundreds of recognized prisoners of consciencejournalists. librarians. teachers. lawyers. physicians. people who simply have expressed their point of view that they want to see Cuba free. Theyre in the dungeons. And there are thousands of others who are there as well because they violated socalled laws that would not and do not exist in democratic nations. Theyre imprisoned for things such as dangerousness. Untold thousands thas are political prisoners in Cuba. suffering in the gulag because they have bothered that demonic mass murderer in some way. because they seek freedom. those political prisoners. Now the system. the totalitarian system that has lasted 50 years. is rotten to the core. Mr. Speaker. Not only does it have the abject opposition. rejection of the entire people. in consensus fashion. the entire nation. but its putrefied- Its absolutely rotten. And that system is in effect a corpse that is unburied. So. when the dictator does finally die. that circus. that system. totalitarian. oppressive system will die with them. We have seen. in recent examples in very personalized dictatorships. whether its Franco in Spain or Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. its a matter of months or years. Their systems die with them. Thats what were going to see in Cuba. Now. Mr. Speaker. I will submit for portant letter and list of signatories received just a few days ago. It was sent to the Organization 6f American States because theres this pathetic. grotesque effort to readmit the Cuban military dictatorship thats lasted 50 years into the interAmerican system. including the Organization of American States. And 300 dissidents have signed this letter. These are the heroes of Cuba. mostly young people. many of them wearing bracelets like this. calling for clfange. Theyre the future of Cuba. And I recommend to my colleagues and the American people--and Iwill put it on my Web site--that they see the names of the future leaders of democratic Cuba.
Date: 2009-05-20
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

tives Permitted for Direct Addition to Food for 5 minutes. today and May 21. for Human Consumption. Vitamin D2 [[DockMs. Foxx. for 5 minutes. today and et No.: FDA2007F0274] (formerly Docket May 21. No. 2007F0355)] received May 4. 2009. pursu-
Date: 2009-05-21
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

A capandtax energy bill -is working its way through the House. Democrats and Republicans alike want to make sure that we put caps on emissions to United.States reduce pollution in our country. but we "The longer I live. thb more conneed to. make sure we find a way of vincing proofs I see of this truththat doing. this without increasing family God governs in the affairs of men. And electric bills. losing manufacturing if a sparrow cannot fall to.the ground jobs. or losing steel jobs. without His notice. how it is probable They say we should trust China that that an empire can rise without His they wont cheat and somehow send aid? cheaper goods overhere. But this is the "I therefore begthat henceforth same country that sends us fungus in prayers imploring the assistance of their diapers. leaded toys. toxic baby Heaven. and its blessings on our delibbottles. poison dog food. harmful build- eration. be held in this assembly every ing materials. they dump steel on our morning before we prgceed to busishores. hack into our computers. and ness." spy on us. Hardly a country I would Mr. Speaker. with this advice by Bentrust. - jamin Franklin in 1787. out ancestors They say that were going to get 200 knelt in prayer each day before designtons of steel to build a windmill. and ing and drafting the powerful U.S. Conthats true. but it takes 90 tons of steel stitution. We continue that wise tradito build a clean coal power plant. What tion. Each morning we pray to the Alwe ought to be doing is spending our mighty. Then we pledge to the Flag. money tearing down our old dirty coal Then we get on with the peoples busiplants. building new ones. and using ness. our massive resources. We would do well to remember the Lets use the oil off our shores to words of the Old B ook. "Unless the fund clean coal technology. build nu- Lord builds the house. the builders clear power plants. get a million more labor in vain." "Unless the Lord jobs in America. and clean the air in watches over the city. the watchmen our country. Put a cap on emissions. stand guard in vain." okay. But lets put a cap on job losses. And thats just the way it is. Thats how we help our country.
Date: 2009-06-03
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

Mr. Speaker. I would just like to add a -few more comments here. We have no more speakers. and Ill close with that. But it has to do with this. As I discuss the issues of our returning soldiers. it is important I add this element too. and that is that we need to reflect to them a tremendous sense of hope. Many times soldiers in theater and after they return home are hesitant to talk with anybody about their symptoms for two fears: one. if theyre in theater or combat. they worry that it will prevent them from going back to their unit. If their deployment is ending. they are worried that it will delay them from coming home. and they also are concerned that it will affect their promotion. their advancement. their continuation in the military. and they dont want to let their fellow soldiers down or themselves. What our military is working on. however. is making sure they understand that our duty as mental health professionals is to make sure theyre back to. full form. and. in fact. that is something thats a change of how the military has handled this. Whereas. in the past someone would be pulled out of their unit if they could. now the work is to get them back on.their feet as fast as possible. but making sure theyre not adding risk to their fellow soldiers. Along those lines. its important we send the same message of hope. whether it is someone who is a veteran in battle. or perhaps a veteran. as my friend from Rhode Island just pointed out. someone who has faced the same sort- of problems in their neighborhood. There are also genetic aspects of mental illness that may have very lit-. tle to do with environment. There are parts that have to do with other neurological problems that occur. Overall. our advance in the mental health field has grown tremendously. It may be that you cannot necessarily do a CT scan or a x ray or a blood test to diagnose mental illness. but it is diagnosable. It is treatable. And we have to make sure that part of this resolution for Mental Health Month and the goals and ideals is to help our Nation understand that it is diagnosable. it is treatab le. We need to come to grips with it and deal with this in a way that understands that the science and the technology and the medicine behind mental health treatment gives a lot of hope for the future. And with that. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. its my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to a distinguished colleague who works ceaselessly for the security of the American people. Unfortunately. a very important amendment that he came to the Rules Committee on to be made in order. was denied on a party line vote by the majority. the gentleman from Indiana .
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I yield again 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Indiana . who is extremely concerned about this issue. and rightfully so.
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. at this point I would like to thank everybody who has participated in this debate. I think its been very fruitful. and I think its been important. I mentioned before that when I first spoke on this legislation that process is important because it affects fairness. obviously. but it also affects legislation. We are dealing todaywe are bringing to the floor legislation that I am sure will pass by an overwhelming majority on a bipartisan basis. Its important legislation. Its been drafted through the committee process in a bipartisan fashion. and thats commendable. I mentioned that on legislation like thisand quite frankly. also. on legislation thats coming to the floor soon thats more controversialopenness. as much as possible. is advisable. We saw an amendment described by Mr. SOUDER that is important because it basically. as it was explained by Mr. SOUIDER. his interventions would take out of the hands of the President the ultimate determination of whether somebody currently held at the deten tion .center in Guantanamo could be placed or not on the No Fly List. and it would say that automatically those people -would be on the No Fly List. And thats important. Its an example of why process is important because being deniedMr. SOUDER is being denied the opportunity to present the amendment. I think thats unfortunate. Anyway. as I say. the underlying legislation is one that Im certain will pass with great bipartisan support. And again. I reiterate my gratitude to all colleagues who have debated on the rule. and. obviously. I look forward to the debate on the underlying legislation. Having said that. I yield back my time.
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. -I offer an amendment. and I ask unanimous consent that my amendment be modified in the form I have placed at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment No. 6 offered by Mr. LINCOLN DIAZBALART of Florida: In section 237 of the bill. insert (a) PROCESS.-" before "Section 1604(b)(2)". In section 237 of the bill. insert at the end the following:
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. -Chairman. Id like to thank the distinguished chairman of the committee for his consideration and another clear demonstration of bipartisanship on this House floor. Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer an amendment that is a matter of simple fairness to airports that are installing congressionally mandated InLine Explosive Detection Systems. known as EDS. Airports that were offered TSA discretionary funding for EDS projects in 2008 were not treated equally. This was due to funding language that. in effect. pitted airports against each other. depending upon who was awarded in fiscal year 2008 or fiscal year 2007 appropriations. In the fall of 2008. TSA had funding at its disposal from fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2008 to distribute EDS reimbursement funds. Some airports received Federal discretionary grants for 90 percent of the costs of installing the EDS for airport baggage systems from the fiscal year 2008 appropriations. At the same time. othe.r airports were given grants for 75 percent of their costs from fiscal year 2007 appropriations. Both of these awards were distributed at the same time. in the fall of Miami International Airport. which is located in the district that I am honored to represent. and several other large airports around the country fell into the 75 percent category. and these airports are now at a competitive disadvantage which increases costs to the airlines and. of course. to the flying public who ultimately pays the bills. The TSA and the OMB made an arbitrary funding decision. They picked winners and losers based on no known criteria. This amendment simply restores fairness to TSAs discretionary funding of EDS projects and assures that these critical airport security projects can be completed in a timely basis. Again. Id like to thank Chairman THOMPSON and Ranking Member KING and their staffs for working with my office to perfect this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I yield back. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment. as modified. offered by the gentleman from Florida
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in opposition to this amendment. I happen to be one of those people who happens to have an artificial hip. Every time I go through. I set off the screener. Every time I go through. I -get handpatted down. and even though they do it in a very nice way. frankly. thats far more intrusive than going out to the Reagan National Airport and going through that particular system that were talking about with those pictures. We have been working for many years since 9/11 to try and come up with devices which will allow us to be able to detect those kinds of things that. if brought on airliners. would be a threat to all passengers. The wholebody imaging technology. which this amendment seeks to stop in terms of its application as a primary means of screening. can detect many things such as small IEDs. plastic explosives. ceramic knives. and other objects that traditional metal detection cannot detect. Let me underscore that: this device that this amendment seeks to take off the table as a primary means of screening can detect small IEDs. plastic explosives. ceramic knives. and other objects that traditional metal detection cannot detect. That ought to be enough for us to understand this. If you look at the privacy questions. lets be clear: the person who actually is there. the employee of TSA who is there when you go through this machine. is not the one who reads the picture. That person. he or she. is in another roomisolated. They never see you. They actually talk to one another by way of radio. So this idea that somebody is sitting in this little room. waiting to see what you look like. frankly. is sort of overblown. All I can say is this: I have been through many. many patdowns because I happen to have an artificial hip. Going through this at Reagan National Airport was so much quicker and so 1ess intrusive of my privacy than what we go through now. For us to sit here nowand to pass an amendment which is going to stop this development and application. frankly. I think. is misguided. With all due respect to the gentleman from Utah. who I know is sincere about that. and to the gentlewoman. who is also sincere. I would ask you to rethink this. From my experience. this is far more protective of my privacy than what I have to go through every time I go to the airport. number one. but more importantly. it protects me and every other passenger to a greater extent than any other procedure we have now. We arent doing this because we want to do it. Were doing it because we have people around the world who want to kill us. who want to destroy our way of life. and they have utilized commercial airliners for that purpose in the greatest attack in our Nations history since Pearl Harbor. E 1500 This is a device which helps us take advantage of our technological knowhow to gain an advance on the enemy. I would hope we would not do this by way of this amendment.
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to the President as he spoke in Egypt today. There are a lot of things to talk about. but in 1 minute you cant talk about most of them. Let me just make one comment. It was interesting that the President made a very pointed statement that the country of Iran deserves to have the opportunity to use nuclear power in a peaceful way. I find it very interesting that the President thought that that was a part of energy that he ought to emphasize overseas. My question is this: When will the President. when will his administration. when will this House understand that energy produced from nuclear power is appropriate not only for Iran and other countries around the world. but for the 50 States in the Union? When will the President understand that nuclear energy is a source that we ought to look at? And as the President gives us his various plans under the climate change rhetoric. why does he not realize the importance of nuclear energy for his own people?
Date: 2009-06-04
Speaker: BILL CASSIDY (republican)
Chamber: H

from Louisiana. in his practice. cofounded a health clinic to match uninsured patients with doctors who provide services free of charge. So we have some very qualified. very caring medical care providers and physicians in our class. and Im proud to serve with them. Of course. Doctor PHIL. you are among them. Would you please comment on this subject.
Date: 2009-06-09
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. at this time. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the chairman and the sponsor. the gentleman from Ohio. for sponsoring this legislation. He mentioned the history of Mr. Regula. He obviously served honorably the people of the 16th District in Ohio for 18 consecutive terms. from 1973 until last Congress. becoming the second longestserving Republican Member in the House. Mr. Speaker. Congressman Regula has a great legacy and has had a long and distinguished career in public service. always. always serving his coluntry. Early on. he served in I think the most honorable way that one can ever serve this country. and that is in the Armed Forces. in the Navy. After completing his legal education. he went into private practice of law. In the early 1960s. Congressman Regula served as a member of the Ohio State Board of Education. and then he went on to. serve in the Ohio House of Representatives. also in the Ohio State Senate prior to- his election in the Congress. Naming this Federal building in Ohio is appropriate to recognize Congressman Regulas commitment to public service. to his constituents. and to this Nation. The respect that he earned while serving in Congress is really demonstrated by what we are seeing today. the fact that this bill is sponsored by Ohio representatives from both sides of the aisle. Again. I want to thank the sponsor of this legislation. I support the passage of this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. Again. this is a man who has served this country with distinction. With that. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-06-09
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I will be brief. I want to echo the words of the gentleman from Ohio. I think they were very wellstated. I also want to thank the Speaker of the House for coming down today and speaking in such welldeserved w6rds but kind words to a man that really loved this institution. loved this country. and served both so very well.
Date: 2009-06-09
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. With that. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2009-06-09
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Well. you have worked very closely with me over the years on dealing with conforming loan limits in highcost areas for Freddie and Fannie. and in California we almost felt like stepchildren for years. The limits were so low that people in California could not be able to use them to buy a home. and they were forced into riskier loans that many times you and I fought hard to change. We have raised the GSEs and the FHA loan limit in California and are helping a tremendous amount of people refinance their homes. or people who need to sell a home and people buying a home be able to get into the marketplace at probably at least 100 basis points cheaper than thpy.would be able to get into a jumbo loan. I dont know if it is over. Maxine. I really wish I could say it was. I remember back in the early eighties when the prime went to 21.5 percent. You remember that. As a developer. I was paying a 24.5 percent interest rate for construction projects I had. and if anybody could even get a loan for 12 percent. they would buy a house at that point in time. But you couldnt get it. I hope we are doing what is right. providing liquidity in the marketplace to encourage people to take advantage of the deals that are out there today. But you see more and more lenders having to foreclose on homes. and they are putting them on the marketplace. In fact. I have a bill right now that Chairman FRANK is going to be bringing up before the committee that allows banks. instead of i.forcing those homes on the marketplace. they can lease those homes for up to 5 years. and that way you get a lot of these distress sales off the marketplace. -Hopefully we can find a reasonablebottom at that point in time anthe market -will start to come back. But you have such a glut of foreclosed properties on the market today that it keeps driving values down further and further. and that makes it more difficult for people to be able to stay in their home. because many times they owe more than it is worth. So hopefully we can get together. and we have done many of these things in a bipartisan fashion. and create a structure that will create a bottom and get us out of this. I am looking forward to that. But I am really thankful to you for . your help and your cooperation and your support for the housing market. You have a passion for that. as I do. and I know SPENCER BACHUs does and Chairman FRANK does also. and hopefully working together in a bipartisan fashion we can find a bottom and move the American people in a positive fashion forward.