macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-02-03
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I. too. want to rise today to acknowledge both the chairman and the ranking member. I know that this has not been an easy task. And I certainly want to express my appreciation to Mr. COSTELLO for the work that he has done and the friendship he has shown to Members. but also the understanding that he has had for this industry. For those of us who represent airports. I cannot deny that this is an important bill and legislative initiative. So let me thank you and thank you. as well. for the late hours that all of you who are on the Transportation Committee engaged in. Might I. for a moment. before I speak of this bill. thank the ranking member and Congresswoman BROWN and Congressman JOHNSON for saving Houston. again. in its light rail. This is something Ive worked for for almost 20 years. and the amendment last evening that would have defunded Houstons rail. light rail. was absurd and. frankly. an outrage. I hope. as we proceed. well find a way to recognize that Members projects for their constituents for regional mobility should not be tampered with by those living miles away from their community. So I am just thankful for the recognition of the importance of rail and job creation. As I indicated. I do rise in support of the infrastructure aspects of this bill. We cannot deny that I am grateful for the airport trust fund language dealing with how do you do the airport fees for the NextGen technology. but I serve as the ranking member on the Transportation Subcommittee. and there is language in there about TSO officers. Remember. we were privatized on 9/11. Despite having never been debated by the Committee on Homeland Securitythe committee of jurisdictionand having no Members being appointed conferees on behalf of the FAA conference committee. section 830 of the conference report for the FAA reauthorization has been tampered with. It limits TSAs flexibility to approve or deny an application from an airport to opt out of using the Federal screening workforce for passenger and baggage screening. Let me remind you. the airports had privatized security on the day of 9/11. Thats why we went to the transportation security officers. It places an arbitrary time limitation of 120 days on TSA to determine whether approval of an airports application would compromise security. affect cost efficiency or the effectiveness of screening capability. It increases administrative burdens on TSA by requiring a tedious paperwork exercise each time an application is denied. It provides a waiver for the existing law that requires private screening. and it says that we shall do it.
Date: 2012-02-03
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. todays vote is not an easy one. FAA Reauthorization is long overdue. and I support many of the provisions in todays conference report. It makes a muchneeded investment in our nations air infrastructure and includes important new policies to strengthen safety and improve consumer protections. But unfortunately. this is not a clean transportation bill. Inexplicably. it includes an extraneous. illconceived. and completely unnecessary labor provision that has no place in this legislation. Under this bill. it is much more difficult to organize a union for the workers who fly the planes than it is for the workers who build the planes. How does this make sense? We dont know the answer to that. because we havent had a single hearing on this issue. Mr. Speaker. I want to vote for a clean. longterm FAA reauthorization and strengthens our national aviation system. This is not that bill.
Date: 2012-02-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. let me just say that the evidence of how important this language is is by way of a group in Texas that was able to secure by legislationwith the gentlelady from the District of Columbias excellent assistancea military museum that was held by the General Services Administration. This group of veterans is making it a productive site and a productive part of our local community that evidences what we can secure with this language. Again. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. and I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-02-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of Mr. CARNAHANs amendment. and he ran out of time. First of all. I see a lot of comity and collegiality on the floor tonight. Ive known the gentlelady from the District of Columbia for a very long time. Mr. CARNAHAN said something that struck my conscience. and that is that we are able to master this legislative process that allows us to negotiate to the moment that we might get this on the floor. which I understand may be tomorrow. I would encourage whatever it is possible to do. Mr. DENHAM. Ive gotten to know youwhatever is possible for a bill as important as this. You mentioned the possibility of language. reconciliation. I cannot speak for the gentlelady from the District of Columbia. and I dont intend to do so. But I do know her as a person who keeps her word. who loves this Capitol. which she represents. and has a deep and abiding concern about the homeless and obviously this issue of the use of property. I only entreat you to see what is possible as you have debated on the floor this evening for Mr. CARNAHAN and my amendment. I would encourage that there be further discussions if you and the gentlelady can secure that opportunity. I think both would be able to hopefully have dialogue. but I do want to have on record my high esteem and respect for her leadership on these issues. You are very kind to have yielded to me.
Date: 2012-02-06
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the significance of February as Black History Month. Black History Month was first observed in 1976. and has become a successful effort to bring a greater understanding of African American history to all people in the U.S. Since the first observance of Black History Month. this country has seen increased recognition of the numerous contributions and sacrifices that African Americans have made throughout the United States. From the pioneering inventions of Garrett A. Morgan. to the famous writings of Maya Angelou. African Americans have been responsible for many of the successes and innovations that have defined our Nation. Since Black History Month was first conceived. we recognized these groundbreaking accomplishments and celebrated them together as a country. However. every great triumph is not without tribulation. Much of what Black History Month is about is the recognition of the suffering that African Americans have had to endure. After slavery was abolished. Black Americans still faced racial intolerance and inequality. We need only to look to history to reflect on a period when African Americans were denied the right to vote. Even with passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. many still chose to circumvent the law and disenfranchise voters. From literacy tests to poll taxes. these tactics were designed to keep U.S. citizens from exercising their right to vote. and to have a voice in a diverse democratic system. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was ultimately enacted that these menacing policies were outlawed. Mr. Speaker. Black History Month goes further than just the recognition of African Americans and their distinct role in shaping U.S. history. Black History Month is very much about our struggle as a Nation to uphold our democratic principles of fairness and equality for all. The struggle and triumph that is honored during this important time has come to benefit every Americanregardless of their gender. race. or creedby furthering a culture of equality. fairness. and justice. These important lessons from our past are ones that we must never forget as we move triumphantly into the future.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the incredible story of the USAT Dorchesters four chaplains. The brave "immortal chaplains." a Jewish rabbi. a Catholic priest. and two Protestant ministers. selflessly provided comfort and guidance to their interfaith community aboard the transport ship as it sunk into icy waters on February 3. 1943. These leaders of different faiths gave up their lifejackets and stood strong. singing prayers and hymns. sharing words of healing and peace as the ship went down. We are so fortunate to have Rabbi Astrachan here with us today to help honor their sacred memory. Rabbi Astrachan currently serves the same congregation in York. Pennsylvania. where Rabbi Goode. one of the four chaplains. once served. continuing to honor his legacy. The four chaplains. Reverend George Fox. Rabbi Alexander Goode. Father John Washington. and Reverend Clark Poling. serve as inspirations in their military service and their sacrifice for our country. Their quintessentially American tale of faith and courage now has an ending we can proudly commemorate. as all four of these men are honored and memorialized together on Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery. For nearly 200 years. our Nations breathtaking military cemetery has been a place to honor all of Americas fallen soldiers. providing the sacred and majestic setting fitting to our Nations heroes. Thanks to the dedication of many of my colleagues. we now have monuments at Chaplains Hill to each of these faith groups. where we can honor their sacrifice together. This is a testament to the courage and commitment of all who have served our Nation in this way. and I am so honored to share in this observance with chaplains. members of the military. veterans. religious community advocates. family. and friends.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Here we are on the floor of the House. another day when we havent taken up the Presidents jobs bill that he presented right here before a joint session of Congress last September. We have had some good news in the economy. some numbers that show that we have a fragile recovery going on. It would be a huge mistake not to do everything we can to nurture that recovery. So I hope we will finally take up the Presidents proposal. and I hope that the ongoing conference committee on the payroll tax cut will complete its work in an expeditious manner. Now. with respect to this particular bill that is before us. it raises some very serious and very complicated issues regarding budget accounting for credit programs. and I want to commend Mr. GARRETT from New Jersey. I want to commend him for raising some legitimate issues as part of this conversation. issues that deserve our attention. But it is totally premature to bring this bill to the floor without having more hearings and more review. In the Budget Committee. weve not had a single hearing on the comprehensive question of how we deal with all the credit programs and how to account for them. We had one hearing with respect to whether we apply this to the FHA. the Federal Housing Administration. but this bill goes way beyond that and would direct CBO to change its method of accounting for credit programs like student loan programs and for other programs throughout the U.S. Government. It has very farreaching consequences. This is a matter on which people whove spent their lives looking at the budget disagree. and so the Budget Committee at the very least could spend a few hours on a hearing to understand fully the consequences of doing this. I just want to read from a letter that was sent to us from the former head of the nonpartisan. independent Congressional Budget Office. Robert Reischauer. He says. I strongly oppose this change. He goes on to say: "The accounting convention used since the enactment of the Credit Reform Act of 1990 already reflects the risk that borrowers will default on their loan or loan guarantees." He goes on to say: "H.R. 3581 proposes to place an additional budgetary cost on top of the actual cash flows." And he goes on to explain what is a very complicated issue. a very complicated matter. I would say to my colleagues. not that this isnt an appropriate question for the Budget Committee to take up. but its totally inappropriate for the Congress to direct the Congressional Budget Office to take up a different accounting measure which is not ready for prime time and for which we have not had the time to fully review all of its consequences. With that. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. its unfortunate that some of our Republican colleagues cant take just a moment away from politics to celebrate the fact that we did have some good economic news over the last month. Over 250.000 private sector jobs were created. Thats good news. Is it enough? Of course not. Of course. we need to do more. which is why wed like to see our Republican colleagues bring the Presidents jobs bill to the floor of the House. Its still sitting somewhere around here. It includes a proposal to invest in our infrastructure. in our roads. in our bridges and broadband so that we can make sure that we have an economy that can compete and win with respect to our global competitors. So it would be great if we could take up that bill. In the past. investment in infrastructure has always been a bipartisan initiative. but the Presidents proposal is still languishing. With that. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Wisconsin. a member of the Budget Committee. Ms. MOORE.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I was actually reading from the original document. "Reforming Credit Reform." by Marvin Phaup and Deborah Lucas. where they say straightout here that including a risk premium in subsidy costs produces a cost estimate that. on average. exceeds outlays for realized losses. Now. we can argue whether thats an appropriate methodology or not. But the reality is it will. as a budgetary matter. systematically inflate the cash outlays for different credit programs going forward. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. again. I wish we were here debating the Presidents jobs plan. I wish we were focused on bringing to the floor the conference committee report so that we could provide relief to 160 million Americans through the payroll tax cut. With respect to the budget bill before us. as I indicated. its just not ready for prime time. You would think that before undertaking a change which seems small. is very complicated. and could have lots of unintended consequences. especially with respect to things like student loansas Ive said. if we were confining this debate and this bill to things like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I have no problem. In fact. the Congressional Budget Office already applies this methodology to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the scope of this is much. much broader than that. It goes. as I said. to all credit programs. including student loan programs. and will. as a matter of accounting. show in the budget greater dollar outlays than will actually reflect the ongoing costs of things like student loans. again. in a systematic way. The last point I want to make. Madam Chair. is one that was raised by one of my colleagues. which is: Where do you actually draw the line when it comes to moving in the direction of this other kind of accounting? Now. this bill applies to all credit programs. but there are other programs funded by the Federal Government where the costs rise and fall based on whats happening in the market. based on whats happening in the economy. There are lots of ag programs that rise and fall based on whats happening in the economy. Medicaid is a program whose costs rise and fall based on the economy. And in talking to lots of people. its not clear where you draw a bright line. and I certainly dont know where the argument ends with respect to moving toward this kind of accounting. Before we begin to move even further in this direction. I think we should have a debate on what exactly that would mean for our budget and for the American people. Again. I commend the gentleman for raising an issue. especially as its been in the context of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I think this deserves a lot more attention before you expand it throughout all the credit programs of the United States Government. Im particularly concerned the impact it would have on the affordability of going to college and student loans. And then. as I said. theres no clear demarcation between credit programs and the argument thats being applied here and to some of the other programs where the risk to the taxpayer also fluctuates based on market risk and the performance of the economy. Madam Chair. I would urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2012-02-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I do want to acknowledge today the honoring. or the recognition. of National Black HIV/AIDS Day in acknowledging the work that many organizations have done to stop the devastation of HIV/AIDS in certain populations. I will submit a statement into the record extensively acknowledging the work that has been accomplished. but I rise today to address a very important international issue that appears to be politicized by those running for President in the Republican primary. First of all. we should all be concerned for Americans who are being held by ally Egypt. and we should be concerned for the safe passage of those Americans as quickly as possible. Yet it is ridiculous to associate this incident with the taking of hostages in Iran some decades ago. But. of course. where there is foolery. there is opportunity. I call upon Egyptian Americans to work with this administration to stop the holding of American citizens and to have them released immediately. and I will continue pressing for this as the weeks and days go on.
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I rise today to urge my Republican colleagues to end the game and to give certainty back to the American people. Right before the holidays. my Republican colleagues threatened to raise taxes on the middle class because a small but very loud minority in their conference wanted to prove a point. Now were back at it again. They want to prevent $1.500 from being in the hands of the middle class. My fellow Democrats and I want to keep money in the hands of hardworking Americans by supporting the extension of the payroll tax holiday. We cannot afford to take more risks with the income of 160 million working Americans. In fact. the nojobs agenda of the Republican Conference has pushed to continue tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans while not giving breaks to working Americans and the middle class. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle if they will please come to the table for a strong and working middle class of America.
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Im always in awe at the gentleman from the Rules Committee who has just spoken so eloquently about consensus and coming together. Ive seen him in action in the Rules Committee. And certainly we thank the members of the Rules Committee for their service. We know that his history brings him here after being a staffer. so he knows this institution. He knows where all the bathrooms are. He knows about how much good we can do. Im grateful for him acknowledging our friends. Congresswoman SLAUGHTER and Mr. WALZ. who have been working and. of course. who wanted to have their bill come forward in a way that would be transparent and to have the opportunity for all facets of this bill to be understood. So I thank the gentleman from Colorado for his leadership. So it begs the question of how we have the cloakanddagger midnight legislation trick that really is not befitting of this carefully drawn initiative. Let me share with my colleagues why I am so concerned about good work that should be presented as good work. At this moment. we are trying to make sure that no one has insider trading. And if we had a sledgehammer here. we would go around and make sure to stamp it out. But we are doing it through legislation. and you cant do it by legislation and halffix it. We cant misrepresent to our colleagues and the American people. Right now. the language that was in
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman. Some single mother. some hardworking parents are being taken advantage of because theyour friends on the other sidehave taken language out that would deal with the transferring of political intelligence by political insiders. We need to be able to vote "no" on the previous question to allow this language to come up. And its a closed rule. and its by suspension. For those of you who know that. nobody gets a chance to do anything. Its a super majority. Then to add insult to injury. theyve got an expedited veto bill in here that would take away the powers of the three branches of government. slam the Congress that should be here doing its workthats what you asked us to come here to doand allow this expedited veto to go forward and to undermine the giveandtake of the three branches of government. which is what the Constitution asks us to do. I would ask us to vote "no" on turning the lights out and using dagger politics to keep the American people from knowing what is going on. I ask for a "no" on this vote.
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont . who has spent a lot of time focusing on budget issues.
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his words. I just want to hark back to what the gentleman from Oklahoma
Date: 2012-02-08
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this bill is an important. bipartisan measure. It has bipartisan support here in the House. It has strong bipartisan support in the Senate where its introduced by Senator CARPER and Senator MCCAIN and has strong bipartisan cosponsorship. Its supported by the Obama administration. But Mr. SIMPSON is absolutely right: its not the bipartisanship that makes this bill the right thing to do. Its the fact that it calls for greater transparency and greater accountability in our process. Everybody in this body has to concede that we can improve our budget process. Yes. we should work on the tax expenditure component. Yes. we should work on mandatory spending. Of course we should. But this is a simple bipartisan measure we can take to provide more transparency when it comes to over $1 trillion in discretionary spending. And I go back to where I started. Just look at this bill. 1.200plus pages. This House took less than 15 hours. less than 15 hours to review this bill. Now. given the fact that we didnt have adequate time to scrutinize this. I dont see anything wrong with saying that if the President of the United States. Republican or Democrat. identifies some savings we can make for the taxpayer that go to deficit reduction. that this Congress should have to vote on that. You dont have to say yes. You just have to vote. up or down. And for those who argue otherwise. I have to say that I dont think putting turf over the taxpayer is a winning argument when it comes to dealing with our budget issues because. make no mistake. this is constitutional. Its been designed to be constitutional.