macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

It is clearly not a working road map for success. If the House Republicans "work harder to get less" budget were adopted. here is a sample of the pain and misery that will be visited on working families: an end to higher education tax credits. an end to needed increases in the child tax credit. the loss of access to tax credits for the Affordable Care Act. a reduction in tax rates for the wealthy. yielding average tax cuts of $200.000 for millionaires financed by a $2.000 tax increase on the typical working class family. Mr. Chairman. this "Price is not right" budget will make it harder to get to the middle and working class parents to send their kids to college. ending these higher education tax credits and cutting student loan programs and Pell grants. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has again expired.
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would just say to my Republican colleagues. if you want to vote for a defense budget in a straightforward manner the way the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended. then vote for the Democratic alternative. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I just point out to my colleagues that both of what we are referring to as Price 1 and Price 2 are a total violation of what the Budget Committee. on a bipartisan basis. has said we would not do with respect to using the overseas contingency account as a slush fund. Both Price 1 and Price 2 do that to different degrees. If you want to fund defense in the straightforward manner that the military leadership has recommended to the President and the President has put in the budget. then you should support the Democratic alternative. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am just a little puzzled by the comments from the gentleman from Florida since the Republican study groups budgetand I understand the Republican study group consists of about 170 members of a big majority of the Republican caucusfunds defense in a straightforward way that the Presidents budget does and that the Democratic alternative budget does. I am interested to hear the Republican study groups budget approach to defense characterized as a fake. I think that would be a surprise to the members of the Republican study group. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. how much time remains on both sides? The Acting CHAIR . The gentleman from Maryland has 4 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 612 minutes remaining.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chairman. in response to my good friends on the other side of the aisle. numbers dont lie. These numbers were compiled by the bipartisan Bureau of Labor Statistics and updated in early March. It clearly shows that our economy was shedding 800.000 jobs a month before President Obama took office. And then because of his policies. it has continued to grow. Mr. Chairman. 12 million private sector jobs were added in the past 60 monthsthe longest of streak on record of job growthand 288.000 private sector jobs added in February. Mr. Chairman. I now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Maryland . an outstanding member of our committee.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chair. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Republican budget looks like a blueprint. but it is not. It is more like a vague set of directions. with the most important pieces missing. This budget calls for vast cuts. but it doesnt specify what will be cut or who will suffer the pain. It claims to lower budget deficits. but it relies on accounting gimmickry. This document is not a blueprint. It is not an engineering marvel. It does not deserve our praise or even serious attention. It is fundamentally dishonest. It is a dishonest document that would hurt millions of Americans and imperil our future. The deceptions in this document have already been brought to light by some of our Nations leading papers. At this point. the fact that this budget is misleading doesnt surprise us. but the scope of the deception is absolutely breathtaking. Before we go to the great leader from the great State of North Carolina. I would like to point out who gets hurt in this budget. The Republican budget is also deceptive because it hides the fact that the "savings" they talk about. it achieves these savings at a huge cost to working families. Their budget is balanced on the backs of working Americans. This budget slashes our investment in education. It devastates our investment in research and innovation. It ignores the problems of our crumbling infrastructure. It provides no solution to the looming bankruptcy of the Federal transportation fund. and it will destroy up to 2.9 million jobs in 2017 alone. This is not general belttightening. It is the wholesale strangling of the dreams and opportunities of those who are already struggling. It could fairly be called a plan to "soak the poor." because the poor and working Americans would be hit especially hard by this budget proposal. which would allow critical provisions of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit to expire at the end of 2017. Democratic programs to help working Americans would expire under their plan. And that would increase the number of people in poverty by an estimated 1.8 million. including 1 million children. This budget falsely claims that it will. in the Republican words. "make sure that those who need assistance get more than an invitation into a broken system." It then proceeds to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $125 billion between 2021 and 2025. This would either mean the end of food assistance for millions of lowincome families or a cut in benefits below the less than $1.50 per person per meal households now receive. This budget would then further convert Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program into a block grant and drastically reduce its funding. This is not a budget for the future. It destroys the dreams of working Americans for the future. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of North Carolina
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chair. may I inquire how much time is remaining. The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman from New York has 10 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Texas has 10 minutes remaining.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Chair. the budget deceptively claims to adhere to the budget caps that are otherwise known as the sequestration levels of 2016. yet it adds tens of billions of dollars to what Republicans themselves have called a "slush fund" for defense. including lucrative military contracts. The budget dishonestly calls for another $1.1 trillion in cuts to "mandatory" programs somewhere. somehow without specifying what those cuts would be. who they would hit. or how it would all happen. And it does not balance the budget. The budget falsely claims that it will place the country on a path of prosperity and paying off the debt when. in fact. it will not. As the Nobel Prizewinning economist Paul Krugman has pointed out: If this budget were to become law. as written. it would actually leave the Federal Government several trillion dollars deeper in debt than claimed. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island . my good friend.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. I rise to urge support of the peoples budgetthe budget put forth by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This budget is responsive to working people of this country who work hard every day and play by the rules in an attempt to accomplish the noble task of providing for their families in the midst of escalating costs and decreasing wages. The peoples budget recognizes that corporate profits are at their highest level in 85 years. but workers wages are simultaneously at the lowest level in 65 years. The Progressive budget was built with the working people of America in mind. It is designed to allow working families to keep more of the money that they earn. access higher wages. and live healthy. productive lives by increasing access to health care and lowering taxes. It recognizes it is not enough to fight against efforts to take from the middle class to give tax breaks to the rich. We must also fight for tax breaks for the middle class. expand family tax credits. fight for the costofliving increases for the retired. provide universal preK for children. and help students finance their student loans. The peoples budget makes real working people of this Nation its priority. and I would urge my colleagues to support this. the peoples budget.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I. too. want to offer my appreciation to Ranking Member SCOTT both for his service on the Education Committee as a ranking member. but also for his continuing efforts and work on a very. very positive step. great step. toward changing America. There is a premise in the Republican budget. two premises or underlying thoughts that I vigorously disagree with. As I stand in explaining or supporting the Congressional Black Caucus budget. let me also say that I rise in support of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budgetand I will provide a statement into the Recordfor its efforts in improving America. But the premise of the budget of our friends on the other side of the aisle is that if you are poor. if you are in need of help. then it is either your fault or you are taking advantage of the governments charity and largess. Walk a mile in the district that I representand many districts across Americaand you will find parents who get up at 4 and 6 in the morning to jobs that are less than the minimum wage in some instances. or are the minimum wage. working very hard to support their families. Those individuals deserve an equal opportunity. I am grateful that this budget. the Congressional Black Caucus budget. talks about a comprehensive jobs program totaling some $500 billiona mere $500 billionover 3 years. We understand that people want to work. This involves a national direct job creation program. a program to assist local government in hiring and retaining teachers and law enforcement. investing to rebuild our Nations crumbling infrastructure. rebuilding neighborhoods. and. as well. understanding that you cant work harder and get less. Mr. Chairman. one of the issues that I am very supportive of in this budget. one that others would not think of. is ending the Cradle to Prison Pipeline. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: MAXINE WATERS (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentlewoman very much. I appreciate being given some time at the last minute. Mr. Chairman. the wealth gap and racial wealth gap have reached record levels. and alarming statistics tell the story. Mr. Chairman. 46.5 million Americans are living in poverty. and comparable numbers are even worse in the African American community and other communities of color. For decades. we have had policies and made funding decisions that have benefited only a few at the expense of the middle class and minorities. The Great Recession and subsequent years of budget cuts have only made things worse for these communities. While the Republicans budget demonstrates their commitment to maintaining this inequality. the budget put forth by the Congressional Black Caucus today attempts to rebuild and restore what we lost. especially in the housing sector. which is why it has my support. First. the CBC budget retains a robust Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. which Congress created to protect all Americans from predatory loans that led to millions of foreclosures. many of which were in the African American community. The CBC budget also makes critical investments in affordable housing programs. including fully funding public housing and fully restoring Section 8 housing choice vouchers lost due to sequestration. The CBC budget would also invest muchneeded resources to add over 20.000 new beds for the homeless across our country. Investments in these important rental and homeless assistance programs is especially important given the fact that we have nearly 8 million households in America for whom safe. decent. and affordable housing is not available to them. Put simply. the Republican budget would widen the wealth gap in this country. the CBC budget would help eliminate it. Further. the CBC budget strengthens our housing market. our financial system and economic stability as a whole. I urge that all Members of this House vote in favor of it and in favor of putting our country back on a sustainable economic path.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the gentlemans amendment. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 15 minutes.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. yesterday. we debated the Republican budget proposal as it came to the floor. We saw that even as Americans are working even harder every day. their budget would squeeze them more. It would squeeze middle class families and those working to join the middle class. It would squeeze students trying to get an affordable college education. It would squeeze seniors by immediately increasing the cost of prescription drugs. immediately increasing the cost of copays for preventive health services. This budget on the floor today squeezes those families even harder. even as both budgets provide another round of windfall tax cuts to the folks at the very top by cutting the top tax rate by over a third as they green light the RomneyRyan plan. This particular budget actually will slow down economic growth over the next couple of years. according to the Congressional Budget Office. Those are the nonpartisan professionals that analyze these budgets. They looked at the Republican budget and said: You know. it will slow down growth in the next couple of years. This particular version of the Republican budget will do so even more. Why would we want to slow down economic growth just as the trends are picking up? Look. we have got a long way to go to get everybody back to work. but we are on the right path. on the right trajectory. Why would we want to put on the brakes. as the Republican budget does. as well as the RSC budget. in the coming years? While the Republican budget we had on the floor just the other day has no answer. no immediate answer to the pending shortfall in the transportation trust fund. this particular budget unreservedly just divests the Federal Government of responsibility for most highways and transit projects that are currently supported by the Federal budget. I will say in closing that there is one redeeming quality to this budget. which is that this budget does not play games with the overseas contingency accounts. like the Republican budget brought to the floor by the chairman does. This does not use the socalled "overseas contingency account" as a slush fund. This budget funds defense in the same straightforward way that the President of the United States budget does. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin . a terrific member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia . a distinguished member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts . a terrific new member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. may I inquire as to how much time remains on both sides? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 412 minutes remaining. and the gentleman from Indiana has 1 minute remaining.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment in the nature of a substitute is as follows: Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the following:
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am putting forward the Democratic alternative budget on behalf of my colleagues. It is based on a very different view of how our economy in this country has grown historically and how it should grow in the future. As we have heard from our Republican colleagues. their theory of the economy is top down. trickle down. They want to cut the top tax rates for folks at the very top. the millionaires. on the hope that the benefits will trickle down and lift everybody up. We tried that under President Bush. It lifted up folks who were already at the top of the ladder. Everybody else was running in place or falling behind. We believe that you accelerate economic growth through more opportunity and more shared prosperity. not from the top down. but by making sure that hardworking Americans can earn a little bit more and go out and spend it at the shopping center and in any way they want to support their families and have a good standard of living. So while the Republican budget helps folks at the very top with additional tax rate cuts and squeezes working families. our budget provides more relief to those working families. How? We adopt. for example. the Presidents proposed expanded child and dependent care tax credit. So if you are a working family and you want to make sure your child has a safe and secure environment with quality care. like every family would who is working. we provide a much bigger tax credit so that you can ensure that quality and safer environment for your child. Or if you have a loved one at home. an elderly loved one at home. but you are working. we want to make sure that you have a tax credit so that the costs you pay for that care dont come out of your paycheck at the end. The Democratic budget is in stark contrast to the Republican budget. which actually increases the costs on working families. They get rid of the college tax deduction. they get rid of the stepup on the child tax credit. they get rid of the stepup on the Making Work Pay earned income tax credit. and of course they wipe out the Affordable Care tax credits that help millions of Americans have affordable health care. So their budget is squeezing folks in the middle and working toward the middle. They raise the interest rates on college students. We provide additional resources to help make college more affordable. and we adopt the Presidents plan for incomebased student loan repayments. They will immediately increase the cost for prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare and increase the copays for preventive care. for people who have worked hard for a secure environment. We dont do that in our budget. So this is a budget that supports working families in America and invests in our future. not one that squeezes those families harder and disinvests in America. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me and us working together to salute Dr. Elmendorf. who. by all accounts. has done a terrific job at the Congressional Budget Office. He has led that office with great professionalism. and I think he has continued to uphold the integrity of CBO. I think we have all benefited from his wisdom over the years.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Lets just dispel with a myth from the start. which is that the Republican budget balances. As we have heard. only if you believe in budget quackery does it do this. Even a newspaper like USA Today. which has no partisan bent to it. blew the whistle on all the accounting gimmicks in the Republican budget. Now. let me just say a word about revenues and taxes. The Democratic budget doesnt call for any increase in any tax rate on anybody. unlike the Republican budget that refuses to close one special interest tax break to reduce the deficit. which they say is the primary objective. Rather than close one special interest tax break to reduce the deficit. they dont touch a single onenot for corporate jets. not for hedge fund managers. I want everybody to look at this chart. This is from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. What they say is that each year there are outlays. We spend $1.4 trillion on tax breaks in the United Statesmore than on Social Security in any year. more than on Medicaid and Medicare combined. Well. if I give you. Mr. Speaker. a thousand dollars from the government. I can also deliver that same benefit by telling you that of the taxes you owe me. pay me a thousand dollars less. Maybe you have got a great powerful lobbyist who is getting you a special break. so that when the normal person has to pay regular tax rates. you get a special deduction. Now. some of the deductions are for good causes. but many are not. And where do most of those tax breaks goor should I say a disproportionate amount of those tax benefits. often put there by powerful lobbyists? Again. the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that 17 percent of the benefits of those tax breaks. special deductions. 17 percent go to the top 1 percent of income earners. So it is true. The Democratic budget does want to close some of those special interest tax breaks that go to folks at the very top rather than cut our kids education. rather than slash our investment innovation. And lo and behold. we saw the most recent example of the Republican plan to provide more tax breaks to the folks at the very top end of the income scale just today in the Ways and Means Committee. Right now you dont have any estate tax obligation as a couple if your estate is lower than $10 million. If your estate is lower than $10 million per couple. your estate is exempt. But we do have a tax rate on the amount over $10 million because I thought in this country we do not believe that people should get ahead just by the wealth they inherited from others. but through their hard work and labor. So we proposed to change the Tax Code in a way that rewards work rather than in a way that just rewards inherited wealth of $10 million. an estate that is going to help just 5.000 families. That is why the Democratic budget rewards hardworking families rather than other tax rates for folks at the top. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. it is interesting listening to the chairman. since the nonpartisan CBO says the Republican budget will slow down economic growth in the next couple of years. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan . a terrific new member of the Budget Committee.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to yield 11/2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey . another of our great new members of the Budget Committee.