macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. later today. Mr. THOMPSON and Mr. DEFAZIO will offer an amendment seeking emergency assistance for an economic disaster that the Bush administration is creating on the Oregon and California coast. and that disaster is about to strike hundreds of small independent businessmen who fish for a living. These individuals are going to lose the economic support for their families. They are going to probably lose the ability to keep their boats so they can fish if the recovery takes place. and they are going to end up deep in debt. It is just unfair that this would happen. especially when this is a disaster that was created by the Bush administration. They ought to take responsibility. They ought to be held accountable for their actions. and they ought to provide relief to these hardworking families who are so much a part of our community and our culture and our economy. And they ought to do it now. The Congress can correct this matter later today by passing the amendment. Unfortunately. we have been put on notice that that wont happen. so we are going to put you on notice. We are not going to relent on this effort until some relief is forthcoming from the administration. as has been asked by the Governor of California. the Governor of Oregon. the delegations in the Senate. but nothing from the administration except obstruction and an economic disaster for these families from the coast.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia changed her vote from "no" to "aye."" So the motion to .rise was rejected. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. my amendment would increase the appropriations for the National Weather Service by $2.7 million. The current appropriation for the weather service is at $882.3 milliqn. My amendment would increase that amount to a total of $885 million. which I think was the briginal recommendation from the budget office. I want to thank my colleagues on the Science Committee for assisting me. Mr. Chairman. in recent years. both in Texas and around the Nation. we have suffered catastrophic hurricanes. The Midwest is tormented by tornados. as well as Texas. The West lives with a threat of a doomsday scenario. earthquakes. tsunamis. So weather predictions are very. very important. We have determined that the weather predictions have saved lives. We have not been able to save materials. so much. but they have saved lives. We all saw what happened with the hurricanes of Katrina and Rita. Although the National Weather Service did its job in accurately predicting the magnitude and the path of the storms. city. State and local Federal officials wereslow to act. Traffic was snarled. and all of us know exactly what happened after that. . The good work of the National Weather Service is at the root of an effective natural disaster preparedness. and the .3 percent appropriations increase will strengthen support for the -weather service to help it perform even better. We do not want to discourage them by cutting their budget when we need their services so accurately. The timely and accurate information provided by the National Weather Service is a testament to its effectiveness. On the front page of the weather services Web site is a map of America depicting current weather conditions. as well as storm watches and warnings. We can click on any region of the country and get instant access to weather and climate news for that area. The National Weather Service also pulls realtime information on flood warnings. and it collects hourly data on temperatures throughout the day. There is a wonderful section on weather safety that provides sound guidance on issues such as heat. lightnfng. hurricanes. tornados. floods and even topics like FEMA and the Red Cross. In Dallas. we are sensitive to the issue of flooding. Downtown Dallas relies on an antiquated 30mile levee system to keep it dry from the Trinity River and its floods. It is getting worse because of extensive development in the counties west and north of the city. The 50yearold levees may not be able to handle all the runoff that they were designed to contain. So this is extremely important for that area. The flooding that would take place as predicted in Dallas would flood all of downtown and all executive offices. hospitals. medical centers and what have you. I feel this is a modest amount of money to place back with NOAA and the weather. service. and it comes out of the general Department of Commerce administrative funds. I hope that I can get support.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the Committee also for working with my colleagues. I ask unanimous consent to vacate the requests for recorded votes on the five amendments on which proceedings were postponed. to the end that each of them stand adopted by the voice vote thereon.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to the Stearns amendment. This amendment would allow States and localities to discriminate against taxpaying American citizens. This "amendment forces the Federal Government to disenfranchise American citizens from our most. precious right of voting. Unfortunately. a misinformed few from the other side of the aisle have confused this issue. The Voting Rights. Act has nothing to do with immigration. Let me repeat that: section 203 of the Voting Rights Act has nothing to do with immigration. One hundred percent of the people served by section 203 are U.S. citizens. I know a little bit about this. Both of my parents are naturalized citiiens. My mother is an elementary schoolteacher who teaches other peoples children English. She has difficulty sometimes. Mr. Chairman. if we want to spread democracy around the world. we should not be disenfranchising American citizens who want to vote here. That is why I strongly urge a "no" vote on the Stearns amendment.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I yield -myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I am going to not offer my amendment concerning the Juvenile Mentoring Program but will present this one concerning the Delinquency Prevention Block Grant program. Initially. the amount of money designated earlier for these programs was $33 million. That was the initial amendment. However. that has been reduced to $7 million. and I rise today to support the funding for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Grants. because the funding is limited. Mr. Chairman. as violent crime continues to rise throughout this country. it is important that we give our young people the support they need to become productive adults. Delinquency Prevention Block Grants do just that. These grants provide assistance to atrisk youth through a number of programs. including family strengthening programs. drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs. gang prevention programs. job training and employment programs. and youth development programs. These activities are designed to prevent and reduce juvenile crime in communities that have a .comprehensive youth crime prevention plan. Simply building more prisons is not an effective crime prevention strategy. Mr. Chairman. we must give our children a path to success. not a path to prisbn. Delinquency Prevention Block Grants give our young people a chance to excel and become productive adults. Through youth development. prevention and intervention efforts. we can keep our children safe and out of trouble. Research has shown that early investment in youth can dramatically reduce youth crime and violence. Additionally. delinquency prevention programs offer a considerable savings in the long term. For every dollar invested in prevention programs. we save about $4 to $7 in the long term. Providing all children and youth with constructive programs and alternatives is essential for our Nations atrisk children. We must give our youth every opportunity to grow into responsible. productive. healthy and lawabiding adults. I ask my colleagues for their support for this important amendment. Mr. Chairman. I will not offer the amendment earlier we talked about. I ask for support for this one. I think this is the one that we had discussed. The one that I withdrew had to do with the mentoring program that I was told already had funding in under various organizations like Girls Clubs and Boy Scouts and organizations like that. So that is the one that I withdrew. This one was altered to show $7 million. which had been $33 million. That was an agreed amount. It is reduced to $7 million.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman WOLF for agreeing to enter into this colloquy with me on the subject of intellectual property rights. Discussions of international trade and intellectual property rights are often dominated by talk about China. but I would like to bring up that there .is no country in the world who is doing a worse job at fighting piracy right now than the country of Vietnam. Ninety percent of all the software used in Vietnam in 2005 was pirated. That is more than the deplorable rate of 86 percent that China has. Piracy in Vietnam is costing our businesses $45 million a year. I know that the chairman shares my disappointment with the lack of action that we have seen from the administration on this issue so far. but despite Vietnams complete failure to protect intellectual property rights. the administration and certain Members of this House want to grant Vietnam permanent trade relations and WTO membership. I think that it is a huge mistake.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. as you know. I represent the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam in the world in Orange County. California. and certainly our number one issues with respect to how people are treated in Vietnam are the human rights issues. the issues of freedom of the press. There is no press that is not stateowned. I remember being with an archbishop. and he said that he couldnt even pass out information inside the church after the churph service because that would be considered the printed word. and that would not be allowed because he was not a state agency. as well as confiscation of land rights. which I have got a bill in the House and we are working on to try to get that returned to religious institutions. But certainly there are moneys in this bill for intellectual property rights. and I would hope that this administration would concentrate some of that. Of course. we need to do it on China. It is a large economy that is growing there. But I think we really need to send a message. As I stated before. I have voted every single time against normal trade relations with Vietnam because I believe that their human rights record is so atrocious and they really havent changed it. By the way. I have also been denied three times entry into Vietnam in the last few years. simply because I continue to bring up these issues. So I hope that the chairman will Work with me. especially as we move forward as the President is deciding to go to Vietnam and as many in this House have decided to push for WTO entry and for normal trade relations with Vietnam. I would hope that people would begin to read some of these reports to understand just how terrible the human rights conditions are in Vietnam. With that. I thank you for the time. Mr. Chairman.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I thank my colleague from New York for yielding me time. I rise to strongly oppose this amendment. which if enacted will lead to more accidental gun shootings in this country. including more deaths of children. Just last October. this Congress passed a piece of legislation that brought broad immunities to the gun industry. And we can have our differences on that issue. But as part of that legislation that was passed by this Congress and signed by the President back in October. there was a provision. Child Safety Lock Act of 2005. Let me just describe the purposes: To promote the .safe storage and use of handguns by consumers. to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to or use of a handgun. including children who may not be in possession of a handgun. Who can argue against those purposes? That was the intent of the legislation. It said. if you are a gun dealer and you are selling a gun. lets at the very least ensure that you have to sell at the same time a gun safety lock to protect against accidental shootings. We know the terrible statistics of accidental shooting deaths of children in this country. Lets not change what this Congress did on a bipartisan basis. And when this came up in the Senate. there was a bipartisan vote in support of this.
Date: 2006-06-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise to express my support for the fiscal year 2007 ScienceStateJustice Commerce appropriations bill. The subcommittee has taken a difficult allocation and done an admirable job of funding important federal programs within these agencies. I am particularly grateful to the subcommittee for dedicating funding for Houston Community Colleges Public Safety Institute within the Department of Justices accounts. The Houston Community College has taken the steps to build a muchneeded Public Safety Institute in Houston. Texas. PSI will be a stateoftheart facility that will offer specialized training for area fire fighters. law enforcement. medical technicians and other first responders. While Houstonarea first responders will be the first to benefit from PSIs training programs in biohazards. command and control. shipboard spills and swift water rescue. I have no doubt that first responders from across- the stateif not the Nationwill soon be traveling to PSI for this hightech training. Houston is home to the countrys fourth largest metropolitan area and the Nations second largest port in terms of foreign tonnage. We are also home to the worlds second largest petrochemical complex and the worlds single largest petrochemical refinery. Given the critical nature of these assets. the PSIs training programs will help further not only our local law enforcement butalso our homeland security. Mr. Chairman. with great pride that we are working to secure federal funding for PSI. which will be located in our district. While no training scenario can fully simulate a true emergency. the offerings at PSI will be as close as technology will allow. First responders will benefit from PSIs "skills village." which will house a number of structures that simulate a realworld training environment for participants. PSI will also house a 10.000 square foot bum building to create firefighting scenarios and a 10.000 square foot tower for fire and rescue training. I appreciate the subcommittees recognition that PSI is an important project worthy of federal investment. The Congress can be as proud as I am that this funding will further PSIs mission to provide comprehensive training to the firefighters and local law enforcement who serve as first responders to any threat the City of Houston. and the national security assets in our area.
Date: 2006-06-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. parliamentary inquiry. Am I correct in my understanding that if the motion to adjourn carries that there will be no opportunity to address the minimumwage issue before the Congress goes home for the July 4 break. and these men are raising their voices because they dont want to deal with the minimum wage? Is that whats going on here today? Could you answer my parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Speaker? We need to understand whats going on here.
Date: 2006-06-29
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. during the State of the Union message. I thought I was having a flashback. I thought I was watching "Dallas" and J. R. Ewing was talking to us. But. no. I was actually listening to the President of the United States. George W. Bush. and he was saying that we were hooked on oil. Funny. We are hooked on oil. Yet that was the same day that oil companies announced the largest profit in the history of the United States. $39 billion. Yes. folks. we have got a problem. an energy problem. But let us not compound it by destroying Floridas coasts. In the past. the Florida delegation has always worked together. unified. to protect the coast of Florida. As former Governor and Senator BOB GRAHAM used to say. if you live long enough. you will be a Floridian. Eighty percent of the Floridians do not support drilling off the coast of Florida. Vote "no" on this horrible bill.
Date: 2006-06-29
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 4761. the Offshore Drilling bill. I do so not because I am categorically opposed to expanding the scope of offshore drilling. but because I believe this bill does so in an irresponsible fashion. As proponents of the bill have correctly stated. Canada and Norway have both allowed offshore drilling in an environmentally sound manner. In particular. I believe we can increase our supply of clean natural gas through expanded offshore drilling. This bill. however. would create a blank check for oil and gas driliing without adequate oversight and environmental safeguards. Moreover. this bill diverts muchneeded funds from the Federal Government to the States and creates hurdles for States that would prefer to optout of costal drilling. In order to create incentives for states to approve offshore drilling. the bill would divert money from leases in Federal waters to States. This includes existing leases that are currently generating Federal revenue. This loss of funds would only increase our ballooning deficit. As the Bush Administration itself has reported to Congress. this bill will reduce Federal revenue from oil leases by several hundred billion dollars in the years ahead. The bills proponents claim that states can choose not to drill off their shores. But the hurdles it creates makes opting out difficult. In order to protect their waters from drilling within 50 to 100 miles. governors would have to get the concurrence of their State legislatures within one year to petition the Department of the Interior to prevent natural gas only leasing. and within three years to prevent oil leasing. States must repetition every five years to maintain the protections. And the legislation entices states to drill within 50 miles of the coastline by offering between 50 and 75 percent of the revenues if they optin. With such an incentive. valid environmental concerns may easily lose to fiscal ones. Mr. Speaker. we must to take action to develop a comprehensive energy strategy. That requires a policy that includes energy supply. energy efficiency. and energy conservation. We can increase our domestic production of oil and gas through responsible offshore drilling. This bill does not do that. Moreover. this bill does nothing to promote renewable sources of energy that are critical to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. We must adopt a comprehensive longterm energy policy in order to achieve important national security. environmental and economic objectives. Unfortunately. this bill represents a lost opportunity to meet these goals.
Date: 2006-07-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague. Mr. LARSON. for his leadership on this. And. Mr. DELAHUNT. thank you. Let me just begin where you left off.
Date: 2006-07-10
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. I think Mr. Rubin is right on point on that very important issue. and I do think it is important to listen to what many of the experts in this area say. The President claims that he keeps listening to the experts with respect to the decision made in Iraq and elsewhere. The interesting thing is many generals and other experts have said that Rumsfeld and others. the Secretary of Defense. in fact. ignored their advice. But if you just go back to last March when the President took a visit to south Asia. he made a couple of stops. He stopped in Afghanistan. he stopped in India. he stopped in Pakistan. One of the great ironies is that the very day he made a stop over in Afghanistan. General Maples. who is the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. was testifying before the United States Congress. In fact he was testifying over in front of the Senate and talking about the danger of the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. .Now. the President at that time was probably as close as he will ever get to Osama bin Laden. He was in Kabul. Afghanistan. going over to India and Pakistan. and yet. at the same time he has been talking about reducing in effect our commitment to Afghanistan in terms of our military presence. and this .country has not yet made its financial commitments as well. but that very day General Maples was here testifying that. in fact. the continued presence of the active Taliban and al Qaeda resistance in Afghanistan was heating up and that the Taliban was coming back. He quoted many statistics. This was back in the spring. Since then things have only got worse.