macleginn/stanford_congress_record_longer_speeches huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Well. if the gentleman will yield. I have a hard time understanding in particular how a country like France who has twice had to first suffer the humiliation of being taken over and then had to wait for the American GIs to liberate them. How. out of anybody in the world. how France. how France could have taken up the attitude that they did. Look. they have the right to do what they want. they are free. they are a democratic government. but I think it is important that we recognize and we realize what that attitude was. Americans. bright. vibrant. with a lifetime to live. Americans gave their lives. gave their lives to liberate the people of Iraq. [ 1630 And the French know it is not that they were praising them. which is what they should have been doing. they were criticizing them. They were again doing everything in their power to make it not succeed to the point of giving passports to the leaders of that regime. I have a hard time believing that. Out of everybody in this entire world. if there is one group of people that should have understood the beauty of freedom. how frail it is and how sometimes you need some help from outside. it is the French. it is the French. And I will never forget the writing. the graffiti on that grave of British soldiers on French soil. British soldiers that died also liberating France in World War II. The writing of graffiti on this grave that basically said take this trash. trash. these are people who died to liberate a different country. off our soil because it is polluting our soil. It is a very sad. sad. sad day for the entire world when people Just disregard the truth. disregard reality. have no semblance of gratitude. of respect. and wh6. I guess. believe that they are the only ones that deserve others to die for their freedom and then they criticize those that died for their freedom. That is frankly for me very hard to stomach. I am optimistic. I am hopeful that they will realize how wrong they were. But still those that painted that graffiti. those have no forgiveness in my heart.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. The gentleman Just mentioned part of this plan is to create Jobs. which is what we are talking about here. The gentleman just mentioned a big part of it and that is the thing that our friends on the Democratic side say is reckless. It is reckless to give that tax credit. It is reckless to cut the marriage tax. You are taxing people because they are married. What is that all about? It is hard to believe. And yet when we hero in the House are focused on trying to create jobs and we are focuscd on trying to get some tax relief to families. get rid of some of those just incredible taxes. they say that- we are reckless. Reckless because you want to give a tax break for the children that a family has? Is that reckless? By the way. what is a tax break? It Is not a gift. All we are saying is we are going to allow those families to keep a little bit more of their money and not bring it up here. That is reckless?
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. I think that is a big part of the problem here. a big part of the philo.. sophical difference between the two sides. The other side. and they have the belief that every dollar the government has is governments money. that it is governments right to have that money. that that is where it belongs. We believe. which what I think is pretty obvious. that is not governments money. Government takes it from the people. by the way. forcefully takes it from the people. The people do not have a choice. They have to send it up here. otherwise the IRS will be knocking on their door soon. So. no. it is not governments money. It is the peoples money. So they claim we are reckless because we want government to take a little bit less of their money so they can reinvest it in their children? So they do not get taxed. we take less money. and the government takes more when they get married? No. No. It is not governments money. If the issue is. well. the government does not have enough money. hey. we all understand that we have to do what we have to do. But when you look at the fraud and the waste that exists within our government. and I have been doing a little bit of work on that and doing some research. it does not take long. you do not have to scratch real deep to see where some of the money is just thrown away. bucket loads of money is thrown away. If you ask the American people is the government. is their government. the U.S. Federal Government. is it totally efficient? Do we not waste any money? Of course we waste money. The American people know that and they do not have the ability to see what we get to see on a daily basis where the money is wasted. So for anybody to say that. no. we cannot let the people keep a little bit more of their money and we are going to take it because they got married. we are going to take it and not allow them to spend it on their kids because it is the governments money. I think that is what is reckless. That is what is irresponsible. particularly in a time like this. and that is why I have to commend one more time our President. Our President has had a lot on his mind. a lot on his plate. and yet he has maintained a strong focus on the war on terrorism. He said what he was going to do. and I know a lot of people are not used to this. he said what he was going to do and he has done what he said. But he has also maintained his focus on making sure we can provide jobs for the American people. Some I guess are happy with the status quo. The President and this House. the majority in this House are not content with the status quo. People need to be able to find jobs. high paying jobs. productive jobs. The plan this House has passed and we continue to work on provides jobs. And those that want to criticize his plan are basically saying we think the situation is fine. Everybody is okaW. What we need to do is just take more money. No. we need to take less money. provide more jobs. and leave more money in their pockets.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. One of the things that strikes me is what you just said. They have already voted for a lot of these proposals. They were in favor of these proposals. And now all of the sudden they say that those same proposals that they voted for are reckless. Again. we have to repeat what they are. the marriage tax. They say that is reckless. again. even though many of them already voted for it. That is why you have to ask the question or pose the question that you just posed to us. Why all the sudden? And they will give you different excuses at different times. Well. when the economy is not doing well this is not the time to lower taxes. Excuse me? When the economy is not doing well is not the time to incentivize the economy? If this is not the time. when is the time? Clearly we need to incentivize the economy. I think that what happens also is up here in D.C. we sometimes forget reality. We are okay up here. We are able to discuss these things on a theoretical level. But for those hard working American families who are paying those taxes. some of them may have lost a job or fear that they are losing their job. This is not theory. This is not something you can just talk about. They are desperately looking at ways we can get this economy going. They need this economy to do better. They need their taxes to be cut so they can keep a little bit more of their money. This is not theory. This is practice. This is practice. I think a lot of times up here though. you are right. maybe it is because they want their party to do better and they want the economy to be in the tank for the elections. Maybe they have forgotten or lost touch with reality. But when you go home and talk to these people who lost their jobs and are fearing about losing their jobs. and you ask them. should we now do something or -not do something to get this economy going. I think the answer is pretty clear that they want this economy moving despite what the politicians may say.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. The gentleman knows that in the State of Florida. I think it is probably similar to your State. small business is the economy of Florida. It is an Incred ible percentage. and yet when we try to help small business again by allowing those businesses to keep a little bit more of the money that they generate of their money. we are told that we are helping the rich. We are not helping the rich. We are helping the small business people in this country in the State of Florida that create the economy. that hire the people. that pay the wages. that provide the health care. that pay the taxes. I wish that the opposition would do a couple things. First. that they would bring up a plan of their own. which they have not done. Number two is that they would talk and discuss the ideas as opposed to just throw out labels to see if they will stick that are just not based on fact because somebody should tell them that small business people in this country are not rich. They are struggling to earn a living. They are struggling to pay the rent. They are struggling to keep their employees and pay their employees and pay their insurance. You better believe it that I am proud that this plan helps those businesses. It provides relief for those small businesses. but they do not want to talk about the issues and the specifics because they lose on that. So. therefore. they have to say it is irresponsible and reckless to provide tax relief to small businesses. It. is not reckless. but they cannot talk about the specifics. therefore. they have to throw out words hoping that. like a big PR campaign. people will buy it and people will not look at the facts. The problem is the American people are very wise.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Also. we have to remember it is their money. It is not a gift. That is the thing that I keep hearing. I keep hearing it over and over again how government is going to give these people this capital gains reduction money. No. no. no. All we are talking about is we are going to allow the people who own that money to be able to keep it. as opposed to send it to Washington so Washington can spend it on all sorts of things. No. we are going to allow the people to keep a little bit more of their money. It is not a gift. It is not governments money. It is their money. We should not be apologetic to want to take less of the peoples money. in particular when we see some of the waste and the fraud that goes on in Washington where we spend money on things that are frankly. for example. the debit cards that we have seen recently where people have used them to buy and to use them for personal issues. including some rather offensive things. We are talking about millions of dollars. And so we need to take more money from the people to do more of that? No. no. We need to make sure the people keep their money. as much of it as possible. I for one think we should do a lot more of that and allow people to keep even more of their money because that stays in the economy. They use it to buy things. to save and provide more jobs. That is the way this country was built. That is the greatness of this country. and for anybody to say that that is reckless is hard for me to believe.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. That is one of those issues that the other side continually criticizes and yet has no answers for. They always talk about how dependent we are on foreign oil. and there I think we all agree that we need to look at ways to be less dependent. which is why this bill is the right legislation at the right time. It has some provisions there that I think make so much sense. It would allow us to be less dependent on foreign sources of oil and also of other energies. It is done in a responsible fashion. to protect the environment. which I think is something that is very. very important. and once again. it shows what you can do. You can come up with answers. reasonable answers that are good for the country that will also provide jobs. and that is again a big focus of this Republican majority is to provide jobs. Not only now. but particularly now. and if you look at the legislation that has come out of this body so far. including that one. there is a real strong common denominator. Along with the other things that it does. that legislation would also provide jobs for the American people. highpaying jobs. by the way. for the American people. and. again. I just think we need to continue to emphasize that. I for one am not content at how the economy is going. I for one think that we need to do more. that we need to incentivize the economy. I think the American people agree with. that. and clearly. the leadership in this House has said that. the President has said that. and there are a number of pieces of legislation that go way beyond talk. These are results. These are things that we have passed that the committees have debated. that have been worked on for a long. long time. and so talk is cheap as they say. but in this case. in the energy bill. in the budget. in the jobs creation bill and so many others. it is not talk. It is results.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Transportation is key for all of it. key for all of it. Matter of fact. you look at Florida and the rest of the country. but if you look at Florida. if you look at the three biggest industries. among them are agriculture. like it is in your State. commerce. and tourism. You cannot do any of those without a good infrastructure. and the gentleman from Alaska is working awfully hard coming up with a package that I know we will all feel very proud of to make sure we have the infrastructure and. again. that also provides jobs. The building of those roads provides jobs and then everything that goes along with that.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. It is amazing how almost every job out there. whether we know it or not. is dependent on that transportation Infrastructure. Without that we would not be able to get products in and out. people in and out. nothing. It is totally dependent.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. We thought it. was the other way around. but there are obviously major infrastructure problems. and we clearly need to emphasize the roads. and I know that this Congress will be doing that. and the gentleman from Alaskas
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I worry if we do not do that a lot of people depend on their Jobs to provide health care. If it gets to where it is not affordable to employers. they are not going to provide that benefit. Just like it took this leadership to finally forget about all of the rhetoric. it took the Republican leadership to finally pass a Medicare prescription drug plan. And with all due respect. the Democrats were here for 40 years. They always talked about it and never did it. I can understand it falling through the cracks 1 or 2 years. but they never did it. It took the Republicans to do the prescription drug plan under Medicare. I was hoping that those that legitimately wanted to do it for 40 years. would have said. wow. it is about time. as opposed t6 criticizing it. I am confident it will have to be. once again. the Republican leadership. the Republican Congress that is going to have to lead to make sure we have health care that is accessible. affordable. that is quality health care for Americans. I do not know of a more important issue for American families and American small businesses. and. frankly. for even some of the larger businesses as well than to provide good quality. affordable health care. But there again. the Republican Party is going to show the leadership that it has shown on every single issue from welfare reform to Medicare prescription drug benefits. and health care is one of the issues that the Republican Party is showing that it can tackle with results.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. It is even worse than the gentleman states. It is not only that they do not want to vote for him. they do not want a vote to take place. and they are doing all of these parliamentary procedures to avoid taking a vote on Mr. Estrada. It has been a very interesting ride we have been watching. Every excuse in the book has been used against this gentleman. and they are just excuses because they are not based on facts. As we are speaking. there is kind of a pattern emerging. For some reason. they do not want to discuss the facts. and. therefore. they throw out other things. One of the reasons that they said Mr. Estrada should not be a judge on this court in D.C. is he is not qualifled enough because he had never been a judge before. I would not have a problem if that is the standard. It just happens to be on that same court those same people that are saying that about Mr. Estrada supported other judges that were never judges before that now sit on that court. If it is okay for them not to have had previous judicial experience to sit on that bench. why is it not all right for Mr. Estrada? What is the real reason? They say there are certain memoranda that he has. That is the criteria. If the Department of Justice does not show us certain memoranda that were internal memoranda that were written. that would disqualify him. If that is the standard. I do not have a problem. except there are seven judges currently that have come out of that same office where Mr. Estrada was and those documents were never requested. That is clearly not the reason. If that was the reason. the other judges would not have been able to move forward. There is a real weird double standard with Mr. Estrada. and it is so much so they do not even want it to come up for a vote on the floor. I do not have a problem with objecting to somebody. I do not have a problem with disagreeing with somebody. Thank God we can do that here in a free Democratic society. But they do not want to discuss it or debate it. They do not want to vote on it. I do not know what their agenda is. I know that the reasons that they give are not the real reasons. and that is a sad statement. It is also particularly sad because Mr. Estrada is a man who got here at age 17. He studied and worked. He did very well for himself. He went to Columbia and then Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude. He worked as a clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He worked as a prosecutor in the State of New York. He worked in the Department of Justice under two Presidents. one Republican and one Democrat. and all of those people that he worked for him said this man is a man of integrity and would be a great judge. Yet the Democratic leadership does not want him to even have a vote. That is difficult to believe.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. I can tell the gentleman without any doubt that the reasons that they are going to block even the possibility of him having a vote on the floor of the other body to the point of using parliamentary procedures that have not been used for a candidate of that court before. I can tell the gentleman the reasons they are giving are not the real reasons because we have gone through them and analyzed them. We have talked about them here on the floor of this Chamber. and the bottom line is those are not the real reasons. If those are not the real reasons. then what is the real reason? It Is very sad that a person like Mr. Estrada. who has worked so hard and studied so hard and who has lived his little part of the American dream. has done what this society has asked him to do and much more. has been an example to so many. that his case is not even being allowed to be debated on the floor and is not allowed to have a vote. The reasons given are not the real reasons. It is a sad day for the country. He is 41 years old. He had argued 15 cases in front of the Supreme Court of the United States before he was 40. Think about that. It is a shame not to have somebody of that quality on the court. It is also a shame for those of us who believe in diversity. who believe that one 3hould be judged by your qualifications and not by your race. I say that because people have used race publicly. They have said that one of the reasons that he should not be on there is because of his race. and that to me is highly offensive. You should not get a position because of your race. and you should not be denied a position that you are qualified for because of your race. Yet those are the reasons that they have given. They have given others. by the way as well. but those have proven to be false. The only one that still remains out there is when they have said that Mr. Estrada should not be on that court because of his race.
Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I would just like to state one more time that every day that goes by. we have to remember there are thousands of men and women in uniform that heroically defend our freedoms. and they do so without asking for anything. They do not get paid a lot of money. They are not there for the publicity. Every day our freedoms are being protected by men and women in uniform who are heroes every single day. Sometimes they are asked to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and to even sometimes within that scope of protecting us. to protect and liberate other people. They have been doing it for generations. They continue doing it today. Right now as the Iraqi theater is looking good and the Iraqi people are free and they are celebrating their freedom. we have to remember today there are men and women who are in harms way. We cannot forget that for one single moment. and we have to be grateful and thankful that there are people like them who are willing to do one of the greatest sacrifices one can ever do to protect our freedoms. and we can never thank them enough.