macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 1996-04-24
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. this past weekend I participated in an Earth Day celebration back home in my district. The event was a Hometown Trees celebration and took place at the Kika de la Garza Elementary school whose principal is Mr. Jose Louis Trigo. We planted a live oak tree in -remembrance of the children of the Oklahoma bombing tragedy. This was donated by first grader Amy Sojak and her classmates. Amy and her classmates are students of Miss Veronica Galvan. Fourth grade student Joel Espinoza was the master of ceremonies. And awards were presented to the following students for their essays which emphasized the special and unique benefits provided by trees: Victor Villarreal. Brandi Martinez. Andres Aguilar. Juan Carlos Lopez. and Denise Sepulveda. What was particularly exciting about the occasion is that 10 year old Victor Villarreal was recognized as the Hometown Trees National Essay Contest Winner for the Southwest region. He is the son of Guadalupe and Francisca Villarreal. Over the past 5 years. Hometown Trees. sponsored by IGA supermarkets. LouisianaPacific and CocaCola. has teamed up with thousands of local volunteers in communities nationwide to ensure that the future generations will enjoy the ecological and aesthetic benefits of trees. This year. as part of the Hometown Trees initiative. IGA sponsored a nationwide environmental essay contest for children age 12 and under. Young Victor won the contestquite an accomplishment and one of which he can be very proud. His essay was chosen for its uniqueness and creativity. It vividly captures the importance of trees from a childs perspective. It reads: "Trees are important in my hometown because at La Joya. The Jewel of the Valley. we treasure treesour jewels. They add that special spark that only nature can provide. Anything that mother nature creates. is a true treasure that no other power can originate. Treasure your jewels!" To specifically honor Victors accomplishment a tree donated by IGA and Carls Grocery was planted. It will forever be a living monument to him. These trees will be enjoyed by all the community. What made this occasion particularly unique for me is that I feel the sentiments expressed by Victory are shared by his fellow students. What I saw in the faces of the youngsters was an eagerness not just to participate in an event for the one day we officially recognize as Earth Day. but rather a desire to make every day Earth Day. This tells me that as we celebrate this 26th Anniversary we have passed on to our children and grandchildren how important it is to look after our environment in the way we live our lives every day. That is quite an accomplishmentand Victor. and all of his fellow students. are quite an outstanding group of youngsters.
Date: 1996-04-25
Speaker: ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS (democrat)
Chamber: H

appeared at the bar of theHouse and took the oath of office. as follows: Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies. foreign and domestic. that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. that you take this obligation freely.. without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter. So help you God.
Date: 1996-04-25
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. we have heard this morning. and I am glad. that after a year of threatening cuts in education funding. I am glad that the Congress and the President yesterday and today will consummate it and restore the drastic and extreme education cuts that they have been fighting a year over. and I am glad the Republican majority saw the light. 0 11i5 But. really. what I want to talk about today is the minimum wage. Americans strongly support an increase in the minimum wage. In fact. the latest national poll shows at least 80 percent of Americans support an increase in the minimum wage. and yet the majority of the Republicans oppose an increase. and some even oppose the minimum wage. In fact. yesterday the House Republican leaders decided not to even bring up a minimum wage increase for a vote. The only thing we have heard of is a measure to provide another Government subsidy for people who work at $4.25 an hour. More welfare instead of someone being able to work their way off of welfare. That is not what the American people want. Republicans talk a lot about moving people off of welfare and into work. but people need a livable wage to do this. Members can talk the talk. but they need to walk the walk. American families are working harder than ever. but it is tough to get ahead when working full time does not put enough mohey in your opinion pocket to put food on the table.
Date: 1996-04-25
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. what we are talking about is asking for a vote on minimum wage. Why will not the House allow us to vote on the minimum wage? By opposing the previous question. that is the only way we can do that. This martial law resolution gives special status to a lot of categories of bills. A minimum wage increase deserves that special status. We should be willing to give special treatment to the American families who are having to work for $4.25 an hour. In fact my colleague from Colorado talked about this should go through the committee process. My committee has tried to have a hearing on this bill. and we have not. Seventy percent of the bills in 1996. and I will yield if I have time. 70 percent of the bills on this floor this year did not go through the committee process. and yet today they are not willing to use that special exception for the working folks. He knows also the reason that we tried to have health care reform in 1993 and 1994 and not a minimum wage increase. but it has gotten so far out of whack because of inflation we need to do it. A great Senator from Texas _said what we need to do is put the jam on the bottom shelf for the little people. Senator Ralph .Yarbrough. the late Senator. said that minimum wage increase will do that. Mr. Speaker.
Date: 1996-05-01
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. last week the Houston Chronicle ran a story about how welfare pays more than the minimum wage. We hear a lot of rhetoric about moving people off welfare and into work. but the Republican leadership refuses a simple up or down vote on providing a liberal wage. Using the current minimum wage. workers putting in their 40 hours a week for 52 weeks would earn just over $8.800. A working family supported by a minimum wage earner is below the national poverty level and is eligible to collect welfare benefits.. A minimum wage increase will give my constituents and other working Americans the ability to move off the welfare rolls. but Republicans continue to oppose a minimum wage increase. Instead of bringing this issue to a vote. they have proposed yet another Government subsidy for businesses. This measure is nothing more than a huge entitlement and more public assistance. more welfare. when what we need is a job that pays enough to put food on the table. The Washington Post said today that the Senate majority leader wants to cut the gas tax and raise the minimum wage. Let us do it. I think that is a good bill. Let us do it. Mr. Speaker. Democrats want working families to work their way off welfare. It is time for the Republicans to do the same. Support a minimum wage increase.
Date: 1996-05-01
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I join my colleague from Ohio and friend in also urging all my colleagues to oppose the previous question. It was interesting to hear the gentleman from Pennsylvania. his creative thinking. talking about an increase in the minimum wage is an increase in taxes. I guess he had to get that. A lot of us Democrats last week voted for that same budget that he was bragging about. But let me talk about what we need to do today. and the rules of the House permit this. If the previous question is defeated. my colleague from Ohio will have an amendment that will be offered to increase the minimum wage. This amendment would direct the Committee on Rules to immediately consider that. to provide for a minimum wage increase. We hear a lot of rhetoric about moving people off welfare but the Republican leadership and I guess my colleague from Pennsylvania is scared of an upordown vote on a livable wage because this will move people off welfare. We hear about working families do not really exist on $4.25 an hour. but they do. We in the Democratic Party hope that we will see that increase in the purchasing power. Last week we talked about this. and I had the opportunity to quote a late and great U.S. Senator from Texas. Ralph Yarborough. All this amendment would require is just to put the jam on the lower shelf for the little people. We are talking about $4.25 an hour for people that are working hard to support their families. yet they cannot reach up to that top of the shelf to get those tax cuts that the Republican want to give to them. All we want is to increase their minimum wage a buck an hour. 90 cents an hour. In fact I am a cosponsor of a Republicans bill to increase it by a buck an hour. I am glad they have taken the leadership to do that. This is a bipartisan effort. Last week we saw. as my colleague from Pennsylvania said. 13 members on the Republican side support it. I know there are more than that as cosponsors of my colleague frajn New Yorks bill that I am a cosponsor of. All we are asking for is a fair. clean vote on a minimum wage increase. Even today in the Washington Post the majority leader in the Senate talked about let us eliminate this gas tax increase from 1993 that goes for budget reduction and deficit reduction. and at the same time increase the minimum wage. Let us do it. Mr. Speaker. I think that is a great idea. That way the little people can reach it not only in their taxes they save on their gas tax. but they get a pay raise at the same time.
Date: 1996-05-01
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Oberstar amendment to H.R. 2149. the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. This amendment. simply put. requires the public disclosure of the essential terms of contracts that could be secret and/or discriminatory. The authority to make secret contracts is particularly inappropriate When we bear in mind that under H.R. 2149 carriers. consortia of carriers. and their conferences will operate under antitrust immunity. Mr. Chairman. the combination of antitrust immunity and secret agreements undercuts the Shipping Act of 1984 which achieved a delicate balance between the competing interests of the ocean carrier and the shipper. Under the 1984 act. carriers were allowed to continue having conferences. but the essential terms of the contracts they entered into with shippers had to be publicly disclosed to ensure that they were not discriminating against shippers. ports. manufacturers. and freight forwarders. Without this amendment. Mr. Chairman. this balance will be destroyed. Carriers will be allowed to enter into confidential ocean transportation contracts and no one. not even the Federal Government. will know when these carriers or cartels choose to harm our ports or industries. Mr. Chairman. with the Oberstar amendment. significant but fair deregulation will still occur. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment that will ensure that true marketplace forces will be able to provide safeguards to protect our consumers. manufacturers. and ports from secret deals that discriminate against them. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 1996-05-07
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the House Republican symbol should no longer be the elephant. because the elephant never forgets. The House Republicans. especially the Republican leader and my friend from Texas. cannot seem to remember that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to cuts in education. Less than 1 month after we had a budget agreement that restored the cuts in education. they are back to say. let us pay for a gas tax by cutting education funding. Most Americans support a cut in the Federal gas tax. Frankly. I support one. But not at the expense of education funding. While twothirds of all Americans are concerned about the quality of education. my colleague. the gentleman from north Texas. DICK ARMEY. is proposing cutting funding for education programs in order to offset that revenue loss for a gas tax cut. Eliminating our commitment to education is like declaring war on ourselves. We need only to look at our world class competitors in other countries to see what they are doing on education. They are not cutting funding. They are actually putting more money into it and requiring more out of it. We need to hear more about preparing for a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
Date: 1996-05-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Tdxas

Mr. Speaker. what we are hearing from the other side is. "We are going to shoot the messenger and not change our message." The Speaker in todays Washington Post said he is now blaming the media for the unpopularity of the Republican Party issues. He says the media is the reason why the public strongly opposes what they are trying to do to Medicare. opposing increases in the minimum wage. cutting education and the environment. Mr. Speaker. I will be the first to admit that the media and I sometimes have disagreements. But at some level we are all accountable. We have to be accountable. Maybe it is not the messenger. Maybe it is the message. We cannot balance the budget by cutting education funding. by cutting Medicare. and by shutting down the Government and by opposing a minimum wage increase. We need to be responsible for our message. and not blame the messenger.
Date: 1996-05-08
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise to oppose the motion on the previous question to this rule to H.R. 2406. We hear a lot of rhetoric about moving people off of welfare and out of public housing and into work. but the Republican leadership has simply refused an upordown vote on a minimum wage increase. Mr. Speaker. a livable wage would give our constituents and other working Americans the ability to move off of welfare rolls and out of public housing. but the Republicans continue to oppose this minimum wage increase. In fact. all we hear in the Senate is that Senator DOLE wants to call attention to an increase of 4.3 cents in the gas tax in 1993. but not an increase in the minimum wage at the same time. What the Senator fails to inform voters is that he voted for two 5cent increases from 1982 to 1990. the socalled "Dole dime." Working Americans strongly support an increase in the minimum wage. In fact. the latest national poll shows 83 percent of Americans support an increase. Mr. Speaker. we have a golden opportunity to give American families what they really need. a decent wage for a decent days work. Mr. Speaker. it is time for a clean vote on a minimum wage.
Date: 1996-05-09
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. last year the Republican majority overreached by planning to cut Medicare by $270 billion and offering $245 billion in tax cuts. and when they did not get their way. they shut the Government down. They realized that they were out of step with the American people and the Medicare trustees who said that we only needed $90 billion in cuts or downsizing. that is all that was needed to keep Medicare solvent. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to know that they are moving in the right direction now. Their new budget only calls for $168 billion in cuts. but they still are not quite there yet. I still believe we should continue to do the financially responsible thing by reducing the deficit. If we count the capital gains tax cut and the 4.3cent gas cut that they want to do. then that adds up to $176 billion. which adds up close to the $168 billion they want to cut out of Medicare. We have reduced the deficit 4 years in a row and will continue to do so. unlike the huge Federal deficits that were run up during the 1980s. We can continue down the road of responsible deficit reduction without the irresponsible cuts in Medicare and education.
Date: 1996-05-10
Speaker: PETE GEREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and I rise in opposition to this amendment. Madam Speaker. the issue before us is not about the rights of native Americans. It is about the rights of U.S. citizens to make decisions about their own children free from the control of ancestors generations removed from them. whether those ancestors be German. French or native American. If a 14yearold girl in Atlanta. GA were to get pregnant. we might think that it would be up to that girl. her parents. the boy involved and his parents as to whether to place that child for adoption and with whom to place that baby for adoption. That is true unless one grandparent or even one greatgrandparent. alive or dead. may have once been a member of a native American Indian tribe. It does not matter that the girl. the boy. the parents. three out of four grandparents. 7 out of 8 greatgrandparents were German. French. Texan or whatever. If one greatgrandparent had been an enrolled member of a native American Indian tribe. that tribe may intervene and disrupt the adoption placement for that greatgrandchild. and countermand the decision. Madam Speaker. I yield the balance of my -time to the gentlewoman from Ohio . and I ask unanimous consent that she may be permitted to control that time.
Date: 1996-05-15
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I ask my colleagues to oppose the previous question. Unlike my colleagues from California. we will have an increase in the minimum wage. And the closer we get. just like the chart we saw earlier. like my colleague from Texas. we need to keep working at it. My good friend. the gentleman from Massachusetts . from the Committee on Rules stated earlier if the previous question is defeated an amendment to the rule will be offered. Then the Committee on Rules will immediately report a resolution back to the floor with the minimum wage increase. They take care of the germane questions within the committee. They just need to do it. to provide for the consideration of a bill to increase the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 an hour beginning July 4. This is a fourth time in the last month we as Democrats and a few Republicans have stood here on the floor and tried to give hardworking Americans a raise. Four times we have tried to do this. I have been asked. why are we doing this four times in the last month? I say we are fighting for an increase in the minimum wage. I remember a quote from Martin Luther. 475 years ago. when he stood on the steps in Germany and said. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen. That is why we are here. We are here 4 times and we will be here another 4 times and another 40 times until we see a clean vote on the minimum wage. Eightythree percent of Americans favor an increase in the minimum wage. Yet this morning we have heard. and every time we hear that the majority party still argues that an increase is higher unemployment. increasing the number of welfare recipients. They claim that most minimum wage earners are teenagers. The facts point to the other direction. It is just not true. You need to come to reality and. thank goodness. we are seeing an increase in Members from the Republican majority voting for a minimum wage increase. I hope we see that five more today because we will have an increase in the minimum wage if we only have five more Republicans join us Democrats today. The facts agree with the need for an increase. I ask my colleagues to vote for it.
Date: 1996-05-15
Speaker: PETE GEREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this bill. but I rise particularly to offer my support for the Taylor amendment. The Taylor amendment includes a provision that honors our colleague and friend. the Honorable SONNY MONTGOMERY. No finer gentleman has ever served in this House or lived a life more dedicated to the armed services of our Nation. This honor included in the Taylor amendment is richly deserved.
Date: 1996-05-16
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I agree with my colleagues. we do not need to make Medicare a partisan issue. The problem that we have is that last year it was apartisan issue. and it continues to be. Let me give you an example of how this administration is dealing with the Medicare crisis. Here in Congress We were unable to come up with an agreement on the Medicare insolvency. and yet there is a program called Operation Restore Trust not only in my State of Texas but a number of States. That program was just given over $4 million last year. and yet it returned 10 times that amount to the Medicare trust funds. I believe this is an area that we need to devote more resources. The President has requested $597 million. for antifraud activities. which is $150 million more than current spending. Let us give him that in this budget agreement we are talking about today so we can deal with Medicare fraud. The problem we have is that they will not do it. Last year they wanted to cut the effort for Medicare fraud. and that is where the seniors know that we can get the money to protect Medicare. There is no silver bullet for balancing the budget. You have to do it every day. every year. and leaving the scene of the battle is not the way to do it.
Date: 1996-05-20
Speaker: JIM EXON (democrat)
Chamber: S

who have solved them all because we are in a situation where none of us in this body even vote for 67 percent of the national budget--do not cast a single vote. It all just "goes out." automatic pilot.
Date: 1996-05-22
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I am glad to follow my colleague from Georgia talking about that. If he had his way. we would still be 25 cents an hour from 1938. That was the first minimum wage. After months of blocking attempts to increase the minimum wage. the House Republicans are finally going to allow us to have a vote. But my colleagues should not be fooled by this sham. It is not an increase. it is actually a cut. It is exempting millions of workers from the minimum wage. This bill only will attach special intrest provisions to exempt those millions from minimum wage. Eighty percent of the American people support an increase in the minimum wage. but the Republicans want it without the gimmicks of the exemptions for restaurant workers. the exemptions for computer operators. the exemptions they are providing. They are actually taking people off the minimum wage benefit. That is what this sham is about. They do not really want a minimum wage. Just continue to listen to them. They do not want an increase in the minimum wage. They do not want a minimum wage. They want everybody to work for a quarter an hour.