macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. As we have heard throughout the debate. there is a fundamental difference in how the United States grows our economy. I think if you look. historically. the reason we have grown the economy over time is because. for a long period. especially in the postwar period. as Americans worked harder. they were able to translate that harder work into higher incomes. We are supporting a tax system that rewards hard work. Our colleagues continue to stand by a tax system that actually gives better treatment to what is called unearned income. compared to earned income. In other words. if you earn income simply through making money off of money. you actually get a lower rate than money earned from hard work. like most Americans do every day. When you look at the fact that 17 percent of the tax breaks in the country go to people in the top 1 percent. it is the Tax Code itself that is currently rigged in favor of powerful special interests. Why should it be rigged against working people and in favor of people who can afford to hire powerful lobbyists to get tax breaks for themselves that benefit nobody else? That doesnt make any sense. Today. just today. in the Ways and Means Committee. as I said. the committee that deals with taxes. our Republican colleagues are saying that they want to get rid entirely of the estate tax. Right now. if you are a couple. $10 million of your estate is exempt. You dont pay a penny. but. yes. we do ask people who have accumulated lots of wealth to contribute a little bit to the country that helped them develop such a great lifestyle. I thought we were a country where we wanted to reward people who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps through hard work. yet we have a Republican budget that says we are going to provide 5.500 families with this huge tax break today. At the same time. we are cutting our investment in education. an investment that we know helps millions and millions of American families earn a better living over time. but. no. lets cut that. Lets increase the cost of student loans. Lets give 5.500 families a huge tax break. Teddy Roosevelt would be turning in his grave at this Republican budget. He would support the Democratic budget that lifts up everybody. makes sure everybody gets a fair shake. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. how much time remains on each side? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 3 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 3 minutes remaining.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me just. again. underscore a couple of key points here. We saw. during the early years of the 2000s. what an economy based on the trickledown theory looks like. right? Under President Bush. the theory was. okay. we are just going to cut tax rates for millionaires. thinking that the benefits were going to lift up everybody in the economy. What happened in the real world to that economic theory? It crashed and burned. The reality was that people at the top did very well. God bless them. they did great. but everybody else. they were running in place. Paychecks flatlined. wages stagnant. and this has been a chronic problem for some period of time. then we went off the cliff. When President Obama was sworn in. we were losing 800.000 jobs every month. Now. we are coming out of that. Millions of people have gone back to work. We have got a long way to go. but we are coming out. The Republican budget. according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. will slow down economic growth in the next couple of years. Why would we want to do that? Again. their theory is lets accelerate economic growth by trying. again. what failed before. Look. the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. They want to cut top tax rates for folks at the top again. They want to eliminate the estate tax that will benefit 5.500 households. run up $269 billion on the deficit. That is what they want to do. The Democratic budget does something very different. We want to empower hardworking American families. We want to change the incentives in the Tax Code to incentivize higher pay. For example. we say that corporations should not be able to deduct CEO and executive bonuses over $1 million unless they are giving their workers a pay increase. right? Pay your CEOs whatever you want. but you dont get a taxpayer subsidy for those deductions if you are laying off workers or you are cutting their wages. Corporations deducted about $70 billion in CEO bonuses over a 3year period. from 2007 to 2010. We say: Why should the taxpayers be doing that for corporations that are cutting pay for their employees? Our Republican colleagues continue to embrace a tax code that is rigged in favor of folks who have powerful lobbyists here to get special interest deductions. That is why the top 1 percent get 17 percent of the value of all those tax breaks. Lets have a tax system that incentivizes higher pay. Lets invest in our kids future. not slash our investment in education and innovation. Lets invest in the future of America. That is what the Democratic budget does. I urge adoption of the Democratic alternative. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII. further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Maryland will be postponed.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: TED LIEU (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chair. during rollcall vote No. 136 on H. Con. Res. 27 Ellison Amendment 1. I mistakenly recorded my vote as "no" when I should have voted "yes."
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: TED LIEU (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chair. during rollcall vote No. 137 on H. Con. Res. 27 Butterfield Amendment 2. I mistakenly recorded my vote as "no" when I should have voted "yes."
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 5 minutes.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. let me start with something. I think. Members who are listening to this debate should know already. which is that the Republican budget does not balance. not by a long shot. It assumes the revenue from the Affordable Care Act even though they claim to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It doesnt account for the costs of additional tax cuts that are coming through this House as we speak. and. if the revenue from that were lost. their budget would be even further out of balance. In fact. just today. in the Ways and Means Committee. they are increasing the deficit by over $250 billion over 10 years by giving a huge tax cut to 5.500 families in getting rid of the estate tax. Now. everyone should understand that the estate tax only applies to couples with estates worth over $10 million. They are saying that people with estates worth $10 million. who have done really well. shouldnt contribute anything toward investments in our country. even toward deficit reduction. That increases the deficit right away and puts their budget even more out of balance. so this doesnt come close to balancing. While it is actually cutting special interest tax breaks for folks at the very high end of the income scale. it actually disinvests in the rest of the country. They dramatically cut the portion of our budget that we use to invest in our kids futures. in early education. in kindergarten through grade They make it harder for students to afford college. They say they are going to start charging students interest while they are still in college. even though we have record student debt of over $1 trillion in this country. They make it harder on seniors right away. Seniors will pay more for prescription drugs. seniors on Medicare. seniors will pay more in copays for preventive care. If they really got rid of the Affordable Care entirely. seniors would also be paying higher part B premiums. That is what they say they want to do. get rid of it entirely. The Democratic budget which we put forward presents an alternative. We were disappointed that this body voted against that and decided. instead. to support a budget that squeezes hardworking families and is hard on everyone in America except for those who are already at the very top. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. let me just emphasize a couple of specifics in the Republican budget that is before us. We havent talked a lot about seniors in nursing homes. You know. twothirds of Medicaid goes to help seniors and disabled individuals in nursing homes. and yet the Republican budget cuts $900 billion from Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office says one of two things will happen: either States will increase taxes back home or seniors will get less care. The Republican budget provides less for our veterans this year than the Presidents budget. less by $1.9 billion. $19 billion less for the Veterans Administration over the next 10 years compared to the Presidents budget. At the same time. their budget plays games with defense spending. That is why we have socalled Price 1 and Price 2. Neither Price is right here. They both play games with our defense spending by using our defense overseas contingency account as a slush fund. something the Republicanled Committee on the Budget said last year they would not do. In fact. they said it was a backdoor loophole that undermines the integrity of the budget process. This is the committee report. This is the Republicandrafted committee report when Mr. RYAN was chairman of the committee 1 year ago. Tear it up. Just as they said what they are doing would violate the integrity of the budget process. it does. That is exactly what it does. It plays games with our defense spending. The Presidents budget. the Democratic budget. did this in a straightforward way. We said. look. Joint Chiefs of Staff. our military leadership says that they need a certain amount for funding our defense needs in our base budget and a certain amount for overseas contingencies. The Presidents budget and Democratic budget funded that. Republican budgets. all of them. all of the ones here. play games with that. Mr. Chairman. I hope as we consider this Republican budget that plays games with defense spending. which disinvests in America and in our future. and which squeezes hardworking Americans every day even harder. working families. seniors. studentsthe only people it says. "Dont worry. You dont have to do more to help this country move forward" are folks at the very top. They get a tax rate cut. and they dont cut a single special interest tax break. That is the wrong way for America. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I claim time 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. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have heard that. despite all these claims. the Republican budget doesnt balance. I just read from USA Today. They dont have a stake in this battle. They said it is "fanciful at best." And it is interesting that if that is the number one priority of our Republican colleagues. why is it they dont cut one single special interest tax break to help reduce the deficit? Not one. There are $1.4 trillion a year in what the Congressional Budget Office classifies as tax expenditures. These are tax breaks. That is $1.4 trillion a year. That is more than we spend on Social Security every year. It is more than we spend on Medicare and Medicaid combined every year. They dont cut a single one of those. Maybe it is because 17 percent of those tax breaks go to the top 1 percent of income earners. And this is in a budget where their whole economic theory is based on the idea we are going to cut tax rates for the folks at the very top. The Ways and Means Committee just added over $280 billion to the deficitor is in the process of doing itto help 5.500 American families. So they dont cut a single tax break. In fact. they are giving bigger ones to families with estates over $10 million. 75 percent of whom have estates over $20 million. But they cut education. They dont fund the Veterans Administration at the level the President does this year. It is $1.9 billion less-$19 billion less than the President for the Veterans Administration over 10 years. And how about the folks that are working hard every day in our veterans hospitals. those nurses. Federal employees? How about the Border Control Agents? How about the FBI? How about the folks in the intelligence community who helped track down Obama bin Laden? How about all of them? You know what the big thank you to them is? They cut Federal employee pay by 5 percent. They dont want to do that in a straightforward manner either. Here is how they do it. They are going to require all those Federal employees to put about 5 percent more into their pension without increasing the pension by a penny. That is what they do. Thank you. Thank you to the folks who are taking care of veterans in those hospitals. Thank you to folks in the foreign service who are putting their lives at risk. A lot of those people in the foreign service have given their lives overseas for this country. The big thank you from the Republican budget is not just no COLA. It is cut by 51/2 percent. effectively. in a budget that doesnt cut a single tax break. where 17 percent of those tax breaks go to the folks at the very top. where a lot of those tax breaks are in this Tax Code because someone had a powerful lobbyist who got them a special break that is not available for other Americans. This budget is wrong for America. and I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. as the gentleman just recognized. this is a huge departure from the way this House of Representatives has dealt with our military spending in the past. In fact. it is a departure that the Republicancontrolled Budget Committee said violated the integrity of the process. The Budget Committee specifically said it would oppose increases above the levels the administration and our military commanders say are needed to carry out operations. That is what the Budget Committee said last yearRepublicans. This year. forget it. Just have some amnesia. Lets play games with our defense spending. Mr. Chairman. I want to go back to an issue that has come up a couple of times during this debate regarding economic growth. As I said. the Congressional Budget Office has indicated that the Republican budget will actually slow down economic growth in the next couple of years. Just after we are regaining momentum. they are going to slow it down. The Congressional Budget Office said something else that is interesting. It says. as you look ahead over the next 10 years. the biggest single factor with respect to growth rates that dont keep up with the past averages are demographic changes. the fact that baby boomers are going to be retiring. and they are not going to be in the workforce. You just have to look at the CBO report from this budget year. So. you would think that one way to deal with that would be to pass immigration reform. In fact. the Congressional Budget Office says that that will help spur economic growth. It will also help add to the solvency of Social Security because you will have more workers today supporting the baby boomers who are retiring over the next couple of years. If you really want a progrowth budget. you would support the Democratic approach that provides help to struggling families working every day. invest in our future by investing in our kids education. and pass comprehensive immigration reform. There was a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate last year. Over here in the House. what happened to it? It is not that there was a vote on it and it went down. We never even had a vote here in this body on comprehensive immigration reform. one of the things that the budget pros and the economists say could help spur our economy in the years ahead. something that is supported by the Chamber of Commerce. as well as folks in the labor community. No. Republicans didnt want to do that. They didnt even allow a vote on that bill here in the House of Representatives. That would have been a progrowth effort. too. Mr. Chairman. instead of those progrowth efforts. efforts that will help shore up Social Security. all we get is the same oldsame old. another budget that refuses to cut a single special interest tax break to help reduce the deficit. provides more tax breaks for folks at the top. and is based on a failed theory of topdown/trickledown economics. We can do a lot better. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. to the Republican leader. let me just say I think there is a lot of confusion on the Republican side. This is the first time since I have been on the Budget Committee that we have had two official Republican budgets on the floor of the House. That is a little bit of confusion here. I am really pleased to be joined by superreinforcements. a gentlewoman who understands that we power our economy by making sure we have an economy that works for all people. not just folks at the very top. that economic growth is based on an economy where hard work translates into higher incomes for everybody. and that we have a tax system that rewards work. not one riddled with tax breaks where 17 percent of those tax breaks goes to the top 1 percent. That is a tax code written by lobbyists. We want a tax code that is fair to the American people and the American worker. Mr. Chairman. I am very proud to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California . the Democratic leader.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chair. as Leader PELOSI just said. this really comes down to what vision you have for what has helped power our economy. The Republican theory of the case is that our economy is powered by providing tax rate cuts to people at the very high end of the income scale and somehow the benefits of that will trickle down and lift everybody up. The problem with that theory is it already crashed in the real world. Right in the early 2000s. that is what President Bush did. Incomes for folks at the top went up even more. but everybody else was running aground. running in place. or falling behind. That is why we presented a budget based on an economy that accelerates because more Americans are able to make bigger paychecks through harder work. and that is why we proposed to change the Tax Code from one that is currently skewed and tilted in favor of unearned income and simply making money off of money and against people who make money off of hard work. Why is the Tax Code skewed that way today? Probably because a lot of people who could afford to pay a lot of wealthy lobbyists made it that way. Yet the Republican budget doesnt close a single tax break for the purposes of reducing the deficitnot corporate jets. not the tax provisions that perversely encourage American companies to move jobs and capital overseas. We proposed to close those tax loopholes and bring those jobs and that capital back here to the United States to help power our economy. not the economies of our global economic competitors. So I hope that this Congress will reject a view of the economy that is based on the idea that everyone can only do well when the folks at the top get a tax cut as opposed to an economy where we are all in it together. I yield back the balance of my time.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. sex trafficking is one of the worlds most monstrous. pervasive. and underpenalized crimes. Up to 300.000 American children are at risk of being trafficked annually. The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. which I coauthored with Congressman POE and which passed this House unanimously in January. clarifies that the true criminals are the traffickers who enslave adolescents and the johns who prey upon them. The bill would create stiffer penalties and enforcement for the demand side of human trafficking and provide restitution to the survivors. The bill has strong support in the other body. but it is being complicated by a proposed expansion of the Hyde amendment. which I do not support. We must pass this bill. The Senate should either take up the Housepassed version or find some other compromise. The voiceless victims of modernday slavery in its most horrific form of cruelty cannot afford to wait any longer.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. earlier today. my colleagues and I debated and passed a budget about which I have quite a few concerns. Budgets are statements of values. They should map out the priorities we have for our Nation. The resolution that the House adopted earlier suggests that our priorities are the interests of the top 1 percent of earners. the interests of corporations. Certainly. not the interests of working families. Mr. Speaker. according to a Pew Center analysis of census data. 4 out of every 10 households with children now have a mother who is either the sole or primary bread winner. That means that 40 percent of families are led by woman. As we approach the end of Womens History Month. my Congressional Progressive Caucus colleague and I have come to the floor this evening to talk about the impacts of the Republican budget on women. As I have said. women now lead 40 percent of our Nations households with children. a huge socioeconomic shift for this country. but when you dig deeper. 25 percent of those households are singleparent homes where women are the only provider. Those women need health care to be able to keep going to work. As we know. Mr. Speaker. not every employer offers health care. Fortunately. 5 years ago. we passed the Affordable Care Act. and now. more than 16 million Americans have access to health insurance. many of them for the first time. The Affordable Care Act gave women more control over their health than they have ever had before. with free preventative care. including annual screenings. and free coverage for contraceptives. There were also a host of benefits. economic and otherwise. The Congressional Budget Office projects that combined Federal spending for Medicare. Medicaid. and the Childrens Health Insurance Program. commonly referred to as CHIP. will be $682 billion less over the 20112020 period than projected in 2010 without the Affordable Care Act. Our national healthcare costs have. indeed. slowed dramatically. The uninsured rate for workingage adults dropped 35 percent. from 20.3 to 13.2 percent. but it seems that all the bills benefits dont mean much to my Republican colleagues who have found a huge and factually questionable portion of their budgets "savings" from repealing the law. Mr. Speaker. we have just discussed the impact of health care and the Republicans budget repeal of the ACA. Without access to the health care they need for themselves and their families. Republicans must be assuming that women will be able to take paid time off for work. Unfortunately. we passed the wrong budget for that. To tell you a little more about this problem. it is my pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan